A Few Thoughts About The Game, in no particular order.....

[ajzepp]

1) On the TD catch by Gronkowski late in the 2nd half, he was being covered by Kyle Moore. We need to take a closer look at this. Gronkowski, like him or hate him, might wind up in the Hall of Fame. He might even wind up as the best TE ever. Wanny had him covered by a defensive end. Consider this post a call for the NY State Troopers to escort Wanny out of the state of NY. He just won't stop with this insame scheme, and should be fired this second. He should have been fired weeks ago.

 

 

I was very happily enjoying RedZone today until I saw this play...I immediately came online and fumed about this in the gameday thread. That was INEXCUSABLE!

[truth on hold]

 

 

I was very happily enjoying RedZone today until I saw this play...I immediately came online and fumed about this in the gameday thread. That was INEXCUSABLE!

Guys I wouldn't get too huffy about this. Pats have a ton of weapons and a smart qb who will call plays to isolate mismatches and put defenders where its not ideal. Overall gronk didn't kill us, our own Chandler had a better game.

[thewildrabbit]

The Bills finally played with some heart in this game, and it showed later on. The Bills had to fight the refs along with some very questionable bad calls, some non calls. Some bad luck where they just couldn't hold onto a INT or the ball.

 

Someone explain to me why Spiller is so amazing and yet only got 9 runs the entire game, 4 receptions (7.7 ypc avg rushing) Then Fitz with 40 attempts passing

[Bill from NYC]

Actually thought this was one of Dareus' better games.

 

Glenn had a rough 20-25 minutes, a shaky half. But he was pretty solid during the 2nd half, Fitz had all day to throw. OL played really well in the 2nd half.

 

I want more from Dareus. He really did look like he was sucking wind midway through the second quarter. And they substituted for him quite a bit. On one of the long runs up the middle, Spencer Johnson was in, and he over-pursued. We drafted Dareus to prevent this stuff. He did make a play or 2 in the second half but my expectations are much higher for a #3 overall pick.

 

Wrt Glenn, he is a rookie. I'm not worried about him. He hasn't even been a LT for a long time and is still learning. But his potential is limitless.

[BobChalmers]

11) We need a linebacker on this football team other than Barnett. I always was a fan of his, but he cannot cover Wes Welker. This is what he had to do several times. I can't stress enough how poorly this defense is coached.

 

Barnett is washed up and as bad as any of the other LB's.

 

Go back and watch the Pats* 2nd TD drive. Brady targeted Barnett on every single play. EVERY ONE. On the long scoring run, they ran directly at Barnett, and he couldn't disengage AT ALL from his block, which was the main reason for the long run.

 

If Barnett is the best of a sorry bunch of LB's, so be it, but don't pretend for a minute he doesn't also completely suck.

 

Scott is the only one that does his job - and he's an undersized nickel LB - who unlike Barnett by the way, CAN cover someone for a second or two. Barnett is bad against both the run and pass. The fact that Sheppard can't take any playing time from him just proves Sheppard is now officially a bust.

 

The Bills need to draft 5 LB's next year in the hopes of find 2 who belong in the NFL.

Edited November 12, 2012 by BobChalmers

[Wayne Cubed]

Barnett is washed up and as bad as any of the other LB's.

 

Go back and watch the Pats* 2nd scoring drive. Brady targeted Barnett on every single play. EVERY ONE. On the long scoring run, they ran directly at Barnett, and he couldn't disengage AT ALL from him block, which was the main reason for the long run.

 

If Barnett is the best of a sorry bunch of LB's, so be it, but don't pretend for a minute he doesn't also completely suck.

 

Scott is the only one that does his job - and he's an undersized nickel LB - who unlike Barnett by the way, CAN cover someone for a second or two. Barnett is bad against both the run and pass. The fact that Sheppard can't take any playing time from him just proves Sheppard is now officially a bust.

 

The Bills need to draft 5 LB's next year in the hopes of find 2 who belong in the NFL.

 

HUH?

 

Scott is terrible in coverage. Don't you remember "43 is the Mike, 43 is the Mike." They abused Scott last time the Bills played the Pats*. And he didn't play that great this game either. He had some long passes thrown against him Sunday.

 

And Sheppard isn't suppose to be replacing Barnett. Barnett is playing WLB and Sheppard plays the MLB in the base defense. When the Bills are in Nickel or Dime, Scott comes out and there are only 2 LB's on the field. And for some strange reason, eventhough it didn't work when the Bills first played them, Wanny went back to being in Nickel or Dime the entire game. When that happens the Bills get beat up in the run game, because Scott is terrible in run support from the MLB postion.

 

Not defending Sheppard, but I don't quite think you understand what is being asked of him.

[zow2]

I will say (regarding the fumbling) that New England was viciously stripping at the ball all day. Obviously Fred needs to hang onto the ball better but I only wish our LB's and DB's would fight to strip the ball as violently as New England does. I give that team a lot of credit for being coached to do that.

 

One other note- seems like alot of people here like to lament that the TV announcers always favor our opponent (i never agree with that sentiment as I think fans just want blind homerism). In any event, I thought Dan Fouts was very pro-Bills yesterday. You could tell he felt the Bills were being victimized by bad calls all day and he probably wanted to rip into the Refs. He just seemed to want the Bills to win the game for some reason.

 

Anyone notice on the officiating that NE was flagged for only the obvious (personal fouls and defensive offsides) but they weren't hit with "judgement" calls like holding and pass interference. Just flabbergasting that NE didn't hold all day yet Buffalo is called for all kinds of ticky tack judgement calls. Very frustrating.

Edited November 12, 2012 by zow2

[Dude Man]

Dareus had a couple good deflects. That first one should have been an easy INT by Scott. He blew it. That's the difference between starting ahead and playing from behind the whole game. I agree that he was less than stellar in the second half.

 

That last Fitz pass broke my heart. The game was ours and he forced a throw he didn't need to make. It was only second down. Even if TJ ran the wrong route, Fitz should not have made that throw. And Fitz was on fire the whole game. This was the first time I had confidence in his passing. Usually when I watch the games I get worried when it's not a hand off. Today I was ecstatic about the passing game. Why did it have to end like that?

 

I agree with the rest. Jones has proven his worth, Spiller is unbelievable and that scheme was awful. Some of those penalties were questionable, but not all of them. We had like the 6th fewest penalties going into the game - what happened?

 

If we play like this and Freddy doesn't fumble for the next 7 games, we legitimately could win them all. I don't think it's likely, but none of our remaining games will be as tough as the last two. Not even close.

 

The first part of the statement in bold.

 

I kept thinking to myself "Just pull one game out. Just one. Let Thursday's game mean something." All I could do was put my hands on my head and sigh.

[CodeMonkey]

I kept thinking to myself "Just pull one game out. Just one. Let Thursday's game mean something." All I could do was put my hands on my head and sigh.

It still does actually. According to this site, if the Bills run the table the rest of the season their chances of making the playoffs are 96%.

If they lose Thursday, the best they can do is to have their playoff chances be 56%.

 

Not that I think this is likely to happen, but they are not mathematically out yet either.

 

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NFL/AFC/AFCEast/Buffalo.html

[Dude Man]

It still does actually. According to this site, if the Bills run the table the rest of the season their chances of making the playoffs are 96%.

If they lose Thursday, the best they can do is to have their playoff chances be 56%.

 

Not that I think this is likely to happen, but they are not mathematically out yet either.

 

http://www.sportsclu...st/Buffalo.html

 

You and I both know, this team is not running the tables.

[Webster Guy]

If you think Dareus had a horrible game go watch it again.

 

He played his best game since Redskins last year. Run defense, batting passes, pocket pressure.

Very strong comeback game for 99.

[John Adams]

When people are pissed because Fitz only lead the offense to 31 and not 38 points, it's possible they are missing the problem.

 

Sure, Fitz is not great but WTF. The defense could not be worse.

[buffalover4life]

Did you notice the sack by Dareus and Kyle in the 3rd quarter? All four linemen were standing up and they got a great rush, but I never saw them do that again.

 

They were also 2 yards off the line of scrimmage. Its hard to stop two guys with a full head of steam.

[bluv]

Did you notice the sack by Dareus and Kyle in the 3rd quarter? All four linemen were standing up and they got a great rush, but I never saw them do that again.

They did it twice and I made a post in which I think we should use this "creep" defense more on 3rd and long and also emply more bear defenses in which we lineup Dareus, Kyle, and Mario inside and let Moore/Merriman/Anderson play more of a wide DE ala the way the 80 Bears utilized RIchard Dent. Also we need to have our DB play tighter bump and run coverage to allow the pressure to get to the QB.

[rockpile]

#6 Box of Rain - I'm impressed.

[BobChalmers]

HUH?

 

Scott is terrible in coverage. Don't you remember "43 is the Mike, 43 is the Mike." They abused Scott last time the Bills played the Pats*. And he didn't play that great this game either. He had some long passes thrown against him Sunday.

 

They are audibling to a RUN play when Brady barks that. Scott made some nice plays in pass-D - noone expects him to be a run-stuffer.

 

My problem with Sheppard as a long-term answer at MLB is that the better MLB's can play 3 downs, and since he cannot get playing time on passing downs, while Barnett can (even while playing poorly) then Sheppard is clearly terrible on passing downs.

[bouds]

PFF gave Dareus a +4.9 score. Third highest on team behind Kyle (+6.8) and Spiller (+5.0).

 

As I said earlier, it was on of his better games this season. Just needs to be more consistent, shed some pounds. I also think we need better depth behind Kyle and Dareus, need to rotate guys in and out to keep both of them fresh. Fresher the better.

 

With Wannstedt's vanilla D it's hard to really get an idea of what they're capable of on D. I don't think the LBs are very good but DL may be better with stunting and occasional blitz. As is, all they do is rush straight up. Wannstedt's idea of a wrinkle is having his DL stand up and just rushing them from a 2 point stance instead of 3.

Edited November 12, 2012 by bouds

[FanofFredJackson]

How do you spell CHOKE

 

 

BUFFALOSE BILLS