Bills Zone’s Postgame Report Card: Bills vs. Cardinals

by Michael J. Thomas

Quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe had some problems with the wild Ralph Wilson Stadium winds. He did what was asked of him and handed the ball off to Willis McGahee most of the time. Bledsoe was 8/17 for 81 yards and threw 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. He did throw a few terrible passes and should have been intercepted by David Macklin, but overall, he did not lose the game. The touchdowns helped raise the grade. Grade: B-

Running Backs: The Buffalo Bills finally have a running game. Both times that Willis McGahee has started he has ran for over 100 yards each time. He also broke the terrible streak of no rushing touchdowns for the Bills since last season. This was the first time a running back has scored a rushing touchdown since December 7, 2003 against the Jets. Willis McGahee scored 2 of them. He didn’t consistently run 4 or 5 yards each time, but he has some tough runs and also a couple long ones to get him over the 100-yard mark. McGahee had 30 carries for 102 yards rushing and also caught 1 pass for 9 yards. Joe Burns finished the game in garbage time and had 4 carries for 27 yards. Travis Henry hardly ever saw the field, and had only 1 carry for 2 yards. Daimon Shelton made some solid blocks for McGahee and even sprung him for his first touchdown of the game. Shelton also caught 1 pass for 2 yards. Grade: A

Wide Receivers: Eric Moulds was the only receiver that really did anything for the team. He caught 3 passes for 40 yards, including a sweet 8-yard touchdown where he managed to slide his feet inbounds before going out of bounds as he caught the ball. Lee Evans was hardly used again for the 2nd game in a row. He caught 1 pass for 9 yards. Josh Reed was knocked out of the game before he had a chance to see the field on offense with an injury during a punt return. Sam Aiken had one pass thrown his way, but he dropped it. Grade: B

Tight Ends: Mark Campbell was busy making some blocks for McGahee and had two passes thrown off target to him. Tim Euhus had a holding call that negated a McGahee run. However, he made up for it by catching a 4-yard pass from Drew Bledsoe at the 8-yard line and taking it into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown. He also caught another pass for 9 yards. Grade: B

Offensive Line: Another good game for the offensive line. They didn’t allow a single sack by the Cardinals. Also, they did open some holes for Willis McGahee. Justin Bannan was used on quite a few plays and did a great job blocking and pulling at LG for Willis McGahee. Sam Adams was used as a blocking tight end at the goal line and helped plow Willis McGahee into the end zone for his 2nd touchdown. Grade: B+

Defensive Line: Sam Adams was a dominant force in the middle. He fought to get more playing time with Jerry Gray a couple weeks ago and it worked. He got more playing time and was kept in for some passing plays and lots of running plays. He proved why he deserves to stay on the field as he dominated the Cardinals offensive line. Adams pressured McCown all day, and had 6 tackles, including 3 for a loss and one for no gain. His best play was when he blew into the backfield and tackled both Josh McCown and Emmitt Smith for a 7-yard loss during the handoff. Ron Edwards had another good game, netting 1 sack and 4 tackles. Pat Williams was in on two tackles and helped to shut down the Cardinals running game in the 2nd half. Aaron Schobel didn’t get a sack, but he did get 5 total tackles and pressured the quarterback several times. He did have one negative however; when he had an offside penalty that negated a fumble recovery by Ryan Denney. Denney had 3 tackles and some nice pressure on the QB. Grade: A

Linebackers: London Fletcher again proved how underrated he can be. He was a beast out there with 14 total tackles and a bunch of pressures on McCown. Takeo Spikes also proved why the Bills have a top LB combination as he racked up 6 tackles and he was in the quarterback’s face all game long. Jeff Posey had 3 tackles. Grade: A

Secondary: Nate Clements had great day in coverage. He may not be getting the picks, but he is definitely shutting some receivers down this year. Clements also had 9 tackles and 1 sack from a blitz. Terrence McGee had a okay day in coverage. He was never really burned, but he certainly didn’t shut anyone down. Lawyer Milloy proved why he was missed in the first 5 games from this game. He had 10 total tackles, batted down 2 passes and was all over the place roaming the field. Izell Reese had 6 tackles. Coy Wire managed to sack Josh McCown late in the game during a dime defense blitz. Overall, it was a pretty good day by this unit as they managed to shut down Larry Fitzgerald and held some good receivers to only 101 yards on a very windy day. Grade: A

Special Teams: The Bills finally have a solid special teams unit! It’s about time! Brian Moorman continues to help the team with his great punts, helping the Bills get an advantage in starting field position. He did another great job handling the terrible Ralph Wilson Stadium winds. He had an average of 44.1 yards on 7 punts with a 68-yarder as his longest. Rian Lindell made the only field goal, a 25 yarder. He also kicked 5 out of 6 kickoffs within the 10-yardline, including one touchback. The coverage was solid all day. The return team is why this unit was the best one out there. They racked up a total of 204 return yards. Terrence McGee took one back for 87 yards and the touchdown and averaged 38.3 yards on 3 returns. Nate Clements also had a good day, averaging 16.4 yards on 5 returns, including two long ones that almost went all the way for 40 yards and 34 yards. Grade: A+

Coaching: This was one of the best coached games yet. Each week this coaching staff looks a little better. Against the Miami game, they finished out a close one by making adjustments in the 2nd half. Again, they made the necessary adjustments defensively to shut down the Cardinals running game. They also kept with the running game, even when McGahee wasn’t getting a lot of yards per carry. The idea of putting Justin Bannan at guard surprised the Cardinals and it worked. He had some nice blocks and helped spring Willis for a couple big runs. Sam Adams also helped in the goal line bulldoze a hole for McGahee to go right in. Coach Mularkey did what was needed to fix the red zone problems and it didn’t seem to work at first as they only got a field goal. However after that, the offense was successful as they got touchdowns all 4 tries. Props go to Coach Bobby April! The special teams look great and are getting better. Terrence McGee seems to be a great choice at kick returns and Nate Clements did a good job at punts. The coverage was good too. This was the second time that the Bills were able to run out the clock to finish the game. Let’s see if the Bills can take this momentum with them against the Jets next week. Grade: A