A Few Thoughts About The Game

[Webster Guy]

- I disagree on Merriman Bill. He is a situational specialist at best. The guy doesn't have an every down motor anymore, and anyone who says that isn't watching the same game I am. I would rather see an OLB like Batten or Moats play in his spot and get some much needed reps. Carrington is too big to play OLB.

 

If I had the call I would play Spencer as a true DE, Davis as MLB and Batten Kelsay OLB. Call me crazy I just think that's our best 7.

 

- For Wilson to get burned on that last TD was probably good for two reasons: First of all it got our offense back on the field with over three minutes left instead of 30 seconds or something too low to score a td on. Secondly, its good training for the Patriots game when we play cover two. George won't make that same mistake again, I think he just underestimated that rookie's speed and let him get behind him. I agree with earlier comments, that one wasn't on McKelvin. There were only two receivers on the field, he knew he had deep help.

 

- Searcy's first non special teams play of his life and he picks the game winner in the home opener. Pretty nice experience for the 4th rounder. Knock it down next time buddy, it's a team game.

 

- Fred Jackson does things on his runs that nobody in this league is doing right now. That little swim move on the screen where he sort of twisted around Seymour and turned it upfield. Seriously Freddie you are amazing to watch. You embarrassed a lot of Raiders defenders today.

 

- Chan was so cool under pressure and in charge of the game right down to the end. Very focused and he even seemed relaxed. He trusts his QB and he's very hard to predict. We have never had a game coach like him in Buffalo ever. I was surprised he kicked the field goal with 6 inches to go in the first half there, that seemed Jauron-like to me, and I think it frustrates your Oline when you don't show faith in them in a situation like that, but he's doing a great job overall for sure.

 

Anyone seen RaiderJoe today?

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Campbell had a very good game. IMO, if we had to play them again we would play the exact same defense, and there is no way he completes as many passes, especially the bombs. He made a ton of very good throws. Obviously 35 points is way too much to give up. But Campbell was throwing out of his head all day, all the way up to the great Hail Mary he threw. He isn't normally going to do that, and I I don't think he's a bad QB.

Campbell was never a bad quarterback in Washington. He took a lot of heat but he had mediocre receivers, the team played poorly, and he wasn't anything special. But, agreed, he's a decent quarterback.

[Orton's Arm]

1) Here is the bottom line.....there are no better fans than us. It isn't close. Make no mistake, people know this. Fans from other teams look at us and know what we go through. There were fans laughing today when the situation looked grim. But tell me, how f&^%$&*g great was it to wind up on top against a team with some talent and a smug coach? These people stopped laughing.

 

2) Sorry to say this, but the Raiders were running succesfully against Merriman. There is no point in denying this. That said, I think that he is going to be a dominant LB on this football team. How great is that?

 

3) Very disappointing play by McKelvin on the first play of the second quarter when the receiver just took the football from him. At some point, the Levy/Jauron cancer (and yes, I am calling McKelvin a Buffalo Bills cancer) will be chopped off.

 

4) Go ahead.....compare Poz to Barnett. There is no logical comparison. Wow, this man can play football! I would take him on my football team any day of the week.

 

5) Here is the thing about my man Dareus.....The kid bit on a couple of screens. I understand this. He is a rookie and this is to be expected. My point is that without him, we would hve been slaughtered. I love the way this kid plays football. PLEASE forget the stats.

 

6)The TD run by Fred Jackson was about as nice a run as I have ever seen by a Buffalo Bills football player not named OJ.

 

7) I am going to make a statement. D. Nelson is going to be a great

receiver. I like his potential more than that of Stevie Johnson, or at least as much.

 

8) I will do it. Props go out to Spiller. He went down WAY too easy more than once, but he played well today.

 

9) I will also concede that Bell played well today. So did Levitre. They were quite the pair. Even when Fitz threw the pick, they played their positions played well. That bad pass was all on Fitz.

 

10) Speaking of Fitz, consider me of the opinion that here is no qb better suited for this particular football team right now. This man can play football, and I really appreciate this.

 

11) I want to say more bad things about McKelvin, but I'm not going to ruin a beautiful day of being a fan of the Buffalo Bills football team.

 

12) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very good post! I'll just add a few thoughts of my own.

 

1) There may be a memo circulating somewhere indicating that Fred Jackson isn't a top-10 RB in the NFL. Apparently Jackson didn't get the memo. He played a much better game than any no-name player has a right to play!

 

2) I was also pleasantly surprised by how well Spiller played. The Bills using a top-10 pick on Spiller is a lot like a homeless man who owns a luxury car using $100,000 to buy another luxury car! But that's not Spiller's personal fault, and I give him credit for playing well in limited action.

 

3) I agree with Ramius and Kelly that McKelvin's play wasn't as bad as it may have seemed. What that Oakland receiver did was just ridiculous. How often do you see receivers do that? I'm not saying McKelvin's play was perfect. But it was credible.

 

4) The Bills' D just surrendered 35 points to Jason Campbell and the Raiders. I'm curious to see how many points they'll surrender to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

 

5) Whenever a defense surrenders 35 points, it's normally easy to identify the goats. For whatever reason, that task seems harder than usual, at least for me. George Wilson had a bad game. McKelvin's play wasn't terrible, but it could have been better. But these factors alone don't seem like nearly enough to explain why Oakland was able to score 35 points. How can the Bills prevent similar point feasts in the future? Is the problem the play calling? The OLBs? Was it just a case of the Raiders offense having an absolutely incredible game?

[Hplarrm]

Campbell had a very good game. IMO, if we had to play them again we would play the exact same defense, and there is no way he completes as many passes, especially the bombs. He made a ton of very good throws. Obviously 35 points is way too much to give up. But Campbell was throwing out of his head all day, all the way up to the great Hail Mary he threw. He isn't normally going to do that, and I I don't think he's a bad QB.

I think the D troubles mostly stand to highlight the amazing work done by Gailey in his OC role, 5TDs in 5 offensive possesions is a starl dempmstration of his play calling and O despgn skills.

 

From several decades of watching too much NFL games I consider myself as having very good fan knowledge of the O game. However iy is clear Gailey gas forgotten more than I or most fans know about MFL offense.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

So, it sounds like we might need to draft a DB early next year?

Don't need a Devil on that one.

[cage]

 

3) Very disappointing play by McKelvin on the first play of the second quarter when the receiver just took the football from him. At some point, the Levy/Jauron cancer (and yes, I am calling McKelvin a Buffalo Bills cancer) will be chopped off.

 

 

No love for the Levy/Jauron show, but we should recognize that Stevie, Fred Jackson, Fitz, Kyle Williams, Demetrious Bell, Eric Wood and Andy Levitre all came from their drafts, undrafted FAs and Free Agent signings. As much as its fair to criticize their misses, their additions are the core of the team and the main reasons for the success we're seeing now.

[OCinBuffalo]

Don't need a Devil on that one.

You don't know about the OP's, and some others, "we should only draft O line" crusade. It has been going on since I have been here. Devil is appropriate, because as soon as Bill wakes up today...this post will likely cause at least a little trouble. Now, in the interest of full disclosure: Bill was right, and I as much as anyone was wrong about Whitner, and I said so...2 seasons ago IIRC.

[bowery4]

- I disagree on Merriman Bill. He is a situational specialist at best. The guy doesn't have an every down motor anymore, and anyone who says that isn't watching the same game I am. I would rather see an OLB like Batten or Moats play in his spot and get some much needed reps. Carrington is too big to play OLB.

 

If I had the call I would play Spencer as a true DE, Davis as MLB and Batten Kelsay OLB. Call me crazy I just think that's our best 7.

 

- For Wilson to get burned on that last TD was probably good for two reasons: First of all it got our offense back on the field with over three minutes left instead of 30 seconds or something too low to score a td on. Secondly, its good training for the Patriots game when we play cover two. George won't make that same mistake again, I think he just underestimated that rookie's speed and let him get behind him. I agree with earlier comments, that one wasn't on McKelvin. There were only two receivers on the field, he knew he had deep help.

 

- Searcy's first non special teams play of his life and he picks the game winner in the home opener. Pretty nice experience for the 4th rounder. Knock it down next time buddy, it's a team game.

 

- Fred Jackson does things on his runs that nobody in this league is doing right now. That little swim move on the screen where he sort of twisted around Seymour and turned it upfield. Seriously Freddie you are amazing to watch. You embarrassed a lot of Raiders defenders today.

 

- Chan was so cool under pressure and in charge of the game right down to the end. Very focused and he even seemed relaxed. He trusts his QB and he's very hard to predict. We have never had a game coach like him in Buffalo ever. I was surprised he kicked the field goal with 6 inches to go in the first half there, that seemed Jauron-like to me, and I think it frustrates your Oline when you don't show faith in them in a situation like that, but he's doing a great job overall for sure.

 

Anyone seen RaiderJoe today?

 

Good post, Chans showed confidence and would have taken a ton of heat if that last TD play didn't work out, that is confidence and balls IMO. The not going for it in the 2nd quarter was erased by that in my mind.

 

Totally agree with the bolded part I was saying it when it happened, better to let them score and get the O back out there at that point.

 

Campbell played really well today, much better than I expected and that rookie is a damn good receiver. Oakland has a tough, powerful and fast team. They sure do kill themselves with penalties though. I would congratulate Raider Joe, actually they played a decent game and honestly kicked us hard in the first half.

 

Merriman will look better against passing teams. I wonder if he is really healthy. If anyone has reason to be hiding the fact he is slightly injured, he would be the guy. I am just encouraged he is out there on so many plays, he will improve IMO. A couple of times today Kelsey looked really solid. We really did get beat on the edges a few times though. I was surprised they didn't run blitz more to clog up more lanes.

 

Kyle is so freaking fast! I thought he was off sides a few times but on replays you could see the center starts to move and he is across the line like a trackstar.

 

I might be the only one, but I liked that Searcy caught the ball slapping it out from where he was could have gone bad too if it bounced into someone else's hands. IMO nice play rookie.

 

Fred is the heart and soul of this team. Fitz is too. They both showed why on the field, they both leave everything out there.

 

McKelvin, he makes some plays but when he gets beat he does it rather dramatically. Byrd has become a beast in open field tackles. Wilson is at least as good as Donte and better in run support, he was a little slow on that one play though. The Raiders are exceptionally fast in the WR and CB spots, before the game I discounted that fact.

 

Bill are you advocating a CB early in the draft? lol, kind of sounds that way.

[reddogblitz]

McKelvin was fine. He's not the reason it was so close. He was right there on all the plays mentioned. He'll make the play next time.

 

I'm really glad we re signed Dreyton Florence.

 

Our Pass D was horrendous. Hopefully Edwards and company have some ideas on how to change that for the coming Sunday.

 

Fitz was awesome. Guy's tough and has gonads of steel. He's a gamer and a leader and it rubs off on the rest of the guys. A QB needs a good arm and Leadership. He's got the leadership thing.

 

Fred Jackson had another great game. Spiller made some plays too which was nice to see.

 

Great win.

 

On to the Patsies ...

Edited September 19, 2011 by reddogblitz

[NewEra]

I always look forward to your thoughts Bill.  Thanks again.-my 2 cents.  Fred is the best player on this team.  As some have said, including fitz, he's the heart and soul.  He's such a treat to watch and continues to get better.  I've been saying for a couple years, he's one of the best rbs in the league.  He does things out there that lots of rbs can't do.  He is not slow, as those who think he is average, always seem to say. -chan and fitz are a remarkable team.  Chans play calling and fitz' improv and ability to read defenses pre snap is magic.  -our Oline is much better than we thought.   They did well vs a big tough front today.  Pears continues to prove me wrong (I said he sucked in preseason).  I always thought bell had a chance to be special.' he's not there yet, but He MAY be our LT of the future.  He keeps improving.-I love our wrs and Chandler.  All of them have good hands and give all out effort in the running game.  With the injury to Roscoe, I'd love to see Aiken promoted.  I've seen many say he's too inexperienced.....well, let's get him some experience.  The kid is talented. I think he's gonna be a good one.-Merriman is better than you doubters think he is.  He made a couple bad reads, but continues to be double teamed (and held, with no calls).  -Barnett is special.  Adding him and ridding ourselves of Poz is major part in our success.-our CBs could be in trouble next week.  I'm not down on leodis.  I thought he had great coverage on the long balls, but the qb and wrs made better plays than he did.  Hopefully he learns from his mistake (bad ball awareness IMO).  He's a very talented athlete, just slow mentally.  Brady will challenge him the bunch.  -I couldn't be happier about this win.  Cloud 9 til next Sunday.  Enjoy it guys!!! We deserve it <img src='http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

 

Typing on my ipad is annoying. Everything is lumped together in a wall of text. Sorry

Edited September 19, 2011 by NewEra

[MRW]

Anyone seen RaiderJoe today?

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/135061-congratulations-bills-fan-great-win/

 

He and Chronic each posted with congrats, haven't seen Bump though.

[Spiderweb]

Good points on most but i take exception with a few:

 

McKelvin didn't play particularly well, but sometimes, the other guy across from you just has a hell of a game, and that's what happened today. I'm not excusing McKelvin, but the Raiders WR played great today. He displayed some excellent hands and body control to come up with some of those catches.

 

Spiller didn't "go down too easily." Huff tripped him up, which is a tackle no one can break. The other time he was smacked in the backfield the second he got the ball. His other plays he looked very good.

 

The Raiders WR made a couple of great catches when McKelvin had him well covered. The late score on the bomb was mostly on Wilson. As the safety, he was slow getting back there and seem to be running at half speed just before the catch. I hated watching our D get carved up by Campbell, but dag, watching Fitz match him punch for punch was beautiful.

 

I last drive for a score, how beautiful was that? How many times the past 10 years of so have we witnessed a total flame out in similar situations.

 

Lastly, kudos to Freddie Jackson and a solid tip of the hat for inspired play from Spiller (for a change.....).

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Good stuff Bill, agree with every one of your points except I'm on the fence about #2. Maybe you can share with us what it is about Merriman that has you so encouraged. He did look like a monster in the preseason.

 

McKelvin is a disaster. Sometimes the coverage is decent and sometimes he gets beat clean. Unfortunately even when he's there, he is useless because he never makes a play on the football. Stevie Johnson needs to show the poor kid how to go up and attack the ball in the air. Here's to hoping he's not on the 2012 roster. We are going to miss McGee like mad before the thing is over, we already did today. Despite ALL FOUR (Boss) of their top receivers being out to injury, silver helmets ran wide open through our secondary the entire game. It was baffling. Kelly the Dog is right that Campbell played well, but I thought we made it easy for him. At a certain point my father and myself agreed that we might as well start blitzing because we couldn't cover anyone anyway. It's frustrating to watch a pass defense that can't get a rush yet can't cover at the same time. Seemed from here that McKelvin got thrown at far more than Florence on the other side, who I still think is solid.

 

Don't feel like going back and quoting, but to the guy who bolded and agreed with the statement, "I like everything about where the team is at right now," yet has in his signature, "Keep hope alive, new ownership in 2011": Buddy Nix put this team together. Who do you think put Nix in a position to do so? We know the man isn't perfect, but the point stands. Ralph was responsible for the Bills' failures, and is also responsible for the Bills' successes.

 

I'm blown away by both Fitzpatrick and Captain Jackson. The Rifle said in his postgame conference that Freddy is the emotional leader and that the team rallies around him. He also mentioned 3 or 4 different times the confidence he got from the guys with him in the huddle, how good it felt to "know we were gonna get the job done before it happened." And you can see it in their play on the field. Everyone plays at full speed, everyone is decisive-- even Spiller who was the picture of indecisiveness last year. Freddy, Fitz and Stevie lead by example and this entire offense has bought into what Gailey is selling. I believe they can drop 30 on any team in the league because I am 100% sure that THEY believe it. You can make the unprovable argument that we'd be significantly better with Lee Evans, but between the guys mentioned plus Nelson and Chandler, Fitz has a healthy compliment of reliable weapons to go to, even with Roscoe out. Stevie Johnson's health is still crucial, however.

 

The reason it's good we have cap room is so we can lock up those three offensive leaders, and I fully expect the front office to make that happen before long.

 

Pears still makes me nervous, seems susceptible to the bull rush. I'm even more nervous with Chad Rinehart next to him. He doesn't look ready to me. Hope Chan can coach him up in 7 days.

 

I see the point made often that Fitz doesn't get much time to throw, but he's so damn good at reading the defense and deciding where to go with the football quickly that it doesn't even matter. It really can't be stressed enough and it's one of the main reasons we won today. He and Gailey are just a picture perfect match. Gailey is a terrific leader for a young football team, he knows what strings to pull (see: Levitre, Andy), what messages to send his players and what they need to be prepared for each week. I remember him saying during the week that he tried his best to get them to understand how physical and taxing this game was going to be, and how they needed to play 4 full quarters and fight through it. I think they got the message, Coach.

 

George Edwards...I don't know, gentlemen. They'd split their fullback out wide and he'd get a 10-yard cushion like he was Marshall Faulk. Minimal blitzing on a normally-jittery quarterback like Campbell. As previously stated, 4th and 5th WRs on the depth chart running loose in the secondary for 60 minutes.

 

Thank heaven for Marcel Dareus and Kyle Williams, the two best players on our defense are right in the middle of the line where they can control the run game and push the pocket. We really need to find a perimeter rush somehow, someway, however, or more quarterbacks will take advantage in similar fashion to Campbell. Back to the lab, Wanny.

 

I can't tell you how much fun we had watching this game today, I've never seen one quite like it. When it was over it felt like we'd survived a tornado. Guess that's part of what it is to be a Bills fan!

 

2-0! Damn that looks good! Kick your heels up and SHOUT!

Edited September 19, 2011 by Big Bad Boone

[Alaska Darin]

- I disagree on Merriman Bill. He is a situational specialist at best. The guy doesn't have an every down motor anymore, and anyone who says that isn't watching the same game I am.

I think it's a little early for this. They guy hasn't played much meaningful football in two seasons and had an abbreviated offseason this year as well. It's kind of like the season TKO had after he came back from his achilles problem - dude looked done.

 

Looks to me like Merriman is playing his way into football shape. I think he's going to be fine if he can stay healthy, but it might be next season before we see what he's really all about.

[MikeSpeed]

I find it interesting that in only 2 weeks there are only 7 undefeated teams left and that 3 of them are the Lions, Redskins, and Bills. The others are Pats Jets Texans and Packers. Only 3 of the 7 teams were in the playoffs last year.

[bladiebla]

Merriman hasnt played 3 years offcourse he's going to be rusty, his real test will come against the Pats*

 

I find it interesting that in only 2 weeks there are only 7 undefeated teams left and that 3 of them are the Lions, Redskins, and Bills. The others are Pats Jets Texans and Packers. Only 3 of the 7 teams were in the playoffs last year.

 

 

Also interesting is that out of 7 undefeated teams 3 are AFC EAST...

[Beerball]

Good points on most but i take exception with a few:

 

McKelvin didn't play particularly well, but sometimes, the other guy across from you just has a hell of a game, and that's what happened today. I'm not excusing McKelvin, but the Raiders WR played great today. He displayed some excellent hands and body control to come up with some of those catches.

 

Spiller didn't "go down too easily." Huff tripped him up, which is a tackle no one can break. The other time he was smacked in the backfield the second he got the ball. His other plays he looked very good.

Best game I've seen from him. He was effective in spelling Jackson and had some nice plays.

 

I mentioned it elsewhere, but I'll put it here too. I loved the design of our final offensive play. The fact that it was 4th & 1 made the Raiders have to play honest. We had 1 timeout left and could have just as easily run as throw. Spiller did his job on that play very well. He ended up triple covered while nobody went with Nelson. A really well designed play that was executed perfectly.

[8-8 Forever?]

1) Here is the bottom line.....there are no better fans than us. It isn't close. Make no mistake, people know this. Fans from other teams look at us and know what we go through. There were fans laughing today when the situation looked grim. But tell me, how f&^%$&*g great was it to wind up on top against a team with some talent and a smug coach? These people stopped laughing.

 

2) Sorry to say this, but the Raiders were running succesfully against Merriman. There is no point in denying this. That said, I think that he is going to be a dominant LB on this football team. How great is that?

 

3) Very disappointing play by McKelvin on the first play of the second quarter when the receiver just took the football from him. At some point, the Levy/Jauron cancer (and yes, I am calling McKelvin a Buffalo Bills cancer) will be chopped off.

 

4) Go ahead.....compare Poz to Barnett. There is no logical comparison. Wow, this man can play football! I would take him on my football team any day of the week.

 

 

 

5) Here is the thing about my man Dareus.....The kid bit on a couple of screens. I understand this. He is a rookie and this is to be expected. My point is that without him, we would hve been slaughtered. I love the way this kid plays football. PLEASE forget the stats.

 

6)The TD run by Fred Jackson was about as nice a run as I have ever seen by a Buffalo Bills football player not named OJ.

 

7) I am going to make a statement. D. Nelson is going to be a great

receiver. I like his potential more than that of Stevie Johnson, or at least as much.

 

8) I will do it. Props go out to Spiller. He went down WAY too easy more than once, but he played well today.

 

9) I will also concede that Bell played well today. So did Levitre. They were quite the pair. Even when Fitz threw the pick, they played their positions played well. That bad pass was all on Fitz.

 

10) Speaking of Fitz, consider me of the opinion that here is no qb better suited for this particular football team right now. This man can play football, and I really appreciate this.

 

11) I want to say more bad things about McKelvin, but I'm not going to ruin a beautiful day of being a fan of the Buffalo Bills football team.

 

12) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It was a win. that is all that matters in the NFL. Just like Golf, its not how, but how many.

[MikeSpeed]

Also interesting is that out of 7 undefeated teams 3 are AFC EAST...

Excellent Point! The NFC North and AFC East only divisions with more than one team undefeated.

[bladiebla]

signature

 

ROFL Feed Fred????!!!!??? LMAO, excellent on so many levels.

Edited September 19, 2011 by bladiebla