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

[peterlaw]

1) I am just wondering.....has any NFL kicker EVER missed a field goal against the Bills?

 

2) Kiko made some mistakes, but I am satisfied that he will make plays and that today was a learning experience.

 

3) Carrington was non-productive today. That's a shame too because we really didn't need that much more to win this football game.

 

 

Is this a good time for the FO to have a chat with Carrington's agent as his contract expires at the end of this season? Hello Eugene. So your client wants the same money as the Bills other starting DE because their production is about the same. And of course starting DEs warrant a lot more $'s than Free Safeties. Shall we say $14m pa.

[dave mcbride]

First the Stats:

1. Time of Possession: NE – 37:43; BUF – 22:17

2. First Downs: NE – 26; BUF – 15

3. 3^rd Down Conversions: NE 11/20 = 55%; BUF – 4/13 = 30%

4. Total Offense: NE – 431 yards; BUF – 286 yards

5. Turnovers: NE – 3; BUF - 2

6. Penalties: NE – 4/36; BUF – 10/75

My Thoughts:

1. 3 and outs are going to kill this team. NE ran 28 more plays than we did (that’s more than 9 of our possessions right there). They had the ball almost twice as long as the Bills. When they punted with 5-6 minutes left I knew the game was over.

2. The play calling on offense was very poor. In fact it was making me wish Galey was calling the plays. We went from over 400 yards of offense to under 300.

3. The OL kept very clean pocket, Manuel wasn’t sacked once. Run blocking though was very poor. One third down the OL blocked left and the D just came right in untouched to tackle the RB.

4. The DL was mostly invisible. K. Williams had a coverage sack. The other sack was Searcy on a blitz. M. Williams again was a no-show, a few pressures but no closing speed. On running plays he never attempted to make a tackle on runner, just jogged behind them. And what was Dareus doing in coverage? Once he was lucky and got hands up, the rest of the time he stood there.

5. Ball security needs to be worked on. Three fumbles, two lost.

6. EJ’s deep ball accuracy needs work. Speaking of, TJ Graham still does not look fast or effective.

7. I don’t care what anybody says, McKelvin was not great. He had HIS best day as a pro, but was mediocre at best. He was covering an undrafted rookie and was lucky for the drops. Many times he was 3 yards past the receiver. And twice the ball hit him and he couldn’t catch it. Rogers was lucky on the interception, poor coverage after that. MVP of the secondary – undrafted rookie Nikell Robey. Honorable mention – Ron Brooks.

8. The penalties weren’t caused by rookies (perhaps the 12 men on the field, I don’t know who was at fault). The DL lines up over the ball, they need better discipline. The OL needs to watch the hands. The d*mn penalties:

a. Dareus – neutral zone infraction

b. Chandler – False start

c. Moats – facemask

d. Glenn/Urbik - illegal use of hands

e. Hughes – offsides (twice – second declined)

f. D – 12 men on the field (twice)

g. K. Williams – neutral zone infraction

h. Chandler – illegal block

i. Graham – holding (declined)

 

Good post. My one quibble: give Hackett a break. I'm pretty confident they had to run a very simplified offense given that the Qb hasn't played in three weeks and has only about two preseason quarters under his belt. Gailey is actually a very good coordinator, but recall that he had a very smart, veteran qb running the offense (and yes, that qb had lots of flaws). Anyway, sometimes an OC has to run a simple offense because of the limitations of the qb.

Edited September 9, 2013 by dave mcbride

[bills1960]

Am I the only one that thought Nickell Roby had a very solid game for his first game in the NFL?

[atlbillsfan1975]

I wish I was a Bills fan living in New York City or California or somewhere other than CNY/WNY. Then these losses would not be nearly so painful and I can post my emotionally detached comments here.

 

Must be nice!

Emotionally detach yourself from the thread and do not bother coming back the rest of the year if that is how you feel.

Buh Bye!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Thanks Bill, interesting takes.

The whole team came out a bit flat at the start of the game, the O has to look way more alive in the 1st, not good to be playing from behind. EJ seems to take time to warm up, how Jim Kelly like is that? He played good not many mistakes, all and all as advertised (I am pleased, to be saying that); I am just glad Kolb was not the starter.

 

EJ hasn't played for what, 3 1/2 weeks? He took a little while to warm up in the 1st preseason game and came out crisp in the 2nd.

 

Give him a game or 2 to get back into it.

[RevWarRifleman]

1) I am just wondering.....has any NFL kicker EVER missed a field goal against the Bills?

 

2) Kiko made some mistakes, but I am satisfied that he will make plays and that today was a learning experience.

 

3) Carrington was non-productive today. That's a shame too because we really didn't need that much more to win this football game.

 

4) I think that CJ Spiller might win us a football game this season. Maybe even two. I hope that I am right because he lost us one today with his poor play and his fumble. He owes us a win.

 

5) How can a Bills fan not be pleased by EJ? I mean seriously. His stats were not great, but he truly appears to have the brain and the body to excel in this football league. I am guessing that he was told to try not to run due to his knee injury, and I suppose that this makes sense. But I will also assert that if he was not nursing this injury, he would have won this football game. In short, I really like this kid!

 

6) Usually I cannot see much of the RG on television. Today I was lucky and will tell you that Urbik had a nice game today, and btw so did Pears.

 

7) Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine,

I can tell the Queen of Diamonds, by the way she shines.

Come to Daddy on an inside straight.

Well I got no chance of losing this time.

No I got no chance of losing this time.

 

8) I have taken some heat on this board wrt my praise of Searcy. No, I am not whining; I deserve it. The truth is that he can hurt you. That said, he remains a favorite of mine. Yes, he will give up some plays, but he is one player on this football team that gives a 100% effort. No, he does not leave one damn thing on the football field. He actually looked as if he was running out of gas on his TD. My supposition is that he might have been hurt. Mark my words, he will be a coach some day. I really do appreciate this player. And he played a GREAT game today.

 

9) McKelvin had an uneven game. Make no mistake, he did get away with a call or 2, but he also did actually make some good plays.

 

10) Another thing that I am sure of is that assuming he is healthy, Woods will be our #1 receiver in 2014. I am a bit unimpressed by Stevie Johnson, but hopefully this will change.

 

11) In all, the secondary wasn't THAT bad, considering they were playing without their 2 alleged stars, and against a certain first ballot hall of fame QB.

 

12) It sucked that Goodwin never got a chance to run out a kick. Btw, did he get hurt?

 

13) If they can play this way against NE, I think that we can assume that the Buffalo Bills will win some football games this season.

 

14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They also put a lot of pressure on Brady. Guarantee you he's a sore 36 yr. old this morning. (I Don't know if that's already been mentioned as I don't have time this AM to go through all the pages.) Yes, there's the learning curve going on this season, from the coach on down. But the Bills fought these guys right down to the wire. Go Bills!!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

First the Stats:

1. Time of Possession: NE – 37:43; BUF – 22:17

2. First Downs: NE – 26; BUF – 15

3. 3^rd Down Conversions: NE 11/20 = 55%; BUF – 4/13 = 30%

1. 3 and outs are going to kill this team. NE ran 28 more plays than we did (that’s more than 9 of our possessions right there). They had the ball almost twice as long as the Bills. When they punted with 5-6 minutes left I knew the game was over.

2. The play calling on offense was very poor. In fact it was making me wish Galey was calling the plays. We went from over 400 yards of offense to under 300.

3. The OL kept very clean pocket, Manuel wasn’t sacked once. Run blocking though was very poor. One third down the OL blocked left and the D just came right in untouched to tackle the RB.

8. The penalties weren’t caused by rookies (perhaps the 12 men on the field, I don’t know who was at fault). The DL lines up over the ball, they need better discipline. The OL needs to watch the hands. The d*mn penalties:

a. Dareus – neutral zone infraction

b. Chandler – False start

c. Moats – facemask

d. Glenn/Urbik - illegal use of hands

e. Hughes – offsides (twice – second declined)

f. D – 12 men on the field (twice)

g. K. Williams – neutral zone infraction

h. Chandler – illegal block

i. Graham – holding (declined)

 

Chandler, false start, (twice) I believe. WTF Chandler?

 

It's troubling to me that we knew about the penalties - a theme all preseason - and the coaches don't seem able to address the problem.

 

Give Hackett a bit of a break judging his play calling. He had a rookie starting against a wicked good DL, and said rookie hasn't played in 3 weeks. It was the right thing to run a simplified offense.

 

You're right on about the 3-and-outs, but it begs the question to me: do we not have a ball-control version of our offense at all? When you don't huddle and go 3 and out, you give the D all of 23 seconds off the field. At least give them 2 minutes.

 

I'm most interested to see what the Patriots look like against another team. I'm wondering if the Bills will be good, or if the Pats will be putrid. Given the number of penalties and turnovers we had, and the disparity in the TOP, last year's Pats would have hung up 40. Or 50.

[FLFan]

Thanks for posting. Guaranteed the only thread I will read today. I was very impressed with the Defense overall - solid hitting, agressive, pressured Brady. Good effort and a sign of good things to come. Obviously a very vanilla offensive plan. I thought Manuel looked good for the most part although the deep balls were disappointing.

 

A very winnable game, but too many stupid mistakes to win. A very disappointing loss but I am encouraged. this team will grow from here.

[Craig in ABQ]

A game like this is so important to a young team's psyche. I believe a few different calls by Marrone would have been the difference, particularly with time management. Up tempo is great to wear down a defense ( including ours unfortunately) but not for a team with no established chemistry, yet. The offense truly never had any consistency minus a small handful of drives, far too many 3 and outs. Marrone has to get a handle on the mistakes, they killed us, clearly. I am still pissed and depressed we lost this game. After 14 years you just hope and expect more. Finally, with what he had to work with, Pettine did a really great job IMO. I say that even knowing we didnt stop them when it counted most. But Marrone should have never had to put his DC in that position. In my mind, Marrone did not manage this game appropriately in many instances. But like the rest of you, I'll be pulling for Buffalo again next week! Go Bills!

[CodeMonkey]

Upon reflection, I wonder whether the Bills will be better or they faced a team that without Brady would be putrid. That he could win witht those receivers is amazing.

I think both ... they are better and they faced a NE team that without Marcia would have been pretty bad. They had 2 receivers that belong on an NFL team, and one of them re-injured his groin at the end of the first half and was STILL effective the entire second half.

 

And I'm not sure what everyone is praising McLovin for. He played against guys who didn't know how to run a route, plus got away with at least one obvious PI.

 

Manuel I thought played a good game considering. Spiller was awful, SJ still seems to drop the big ones, and this hurry up they are running hurt them a lot .. particularly at the end. Marrone also had a bad game with the ridiculous challenge then not slowing the game down at the end. O-Line was pretty good I thought. The run blocking must have been OK because FJ was running fine and the pass blocking seemed good as well.

 

The D -Line was MIA again. The secondary was well, the secondary. Gilmore and Byrd were both missed a LOT.

 

Three turnovers by NE is what kept it close. One on the Bills goal line after a long drive and another run back for 6 which was also pretty deep in the Bills end. The Bills tried to keep up in that category as well, and did manage to "win" the penalty contest.

 

A tough game to watch with all the mistakes and general poor play from both teams. Sadly I told my family as soon as SJ dropped that 3rd down pass late that the Pats* would win the game by 2 points. Say what you will about Marcia, the S.O.B comes through when it counts, as did the 2 NE receivers.

 

All is not lost however. Things will improve. Marrone/Hackett will figure out how to use Spiller effectively. Manuel will certainly improve as the season goes on. Gilmore will return as hopefully will Byrd. And please God let Pettine figure out how to get this high priced D-Line to play worth a ****. The secondary cannot afford to commit blitzers all the time just to get pressure on the QB.

 

I expected it to be very rough out of the gate and hoped to see improvement throughout the season. I got the first part, now on to the second!

[Kirby Jackson]

- I'm concerned about the offensive play calling. CJ is not a guy that you pound between the tackles. You have to throw the ball up top to get the safeties away from the line. This will open things up for everyone.

- Marcell Dareus played his best game as a Bill. He was absolutely everywhere. I have no idea how many tackles he ended up with but he impacted a ton of plays. That was good to see because I tend to be hard on him. Same goes for McKelvin, he was great yesterday.

- You never get a call against the Patriots. I am not trying to complain too much about officiating but Mario was being held the entire game including one if the most blatant missed calls I have ever seen. The crowd was going nuts.

- I liked what I saw from EJ. He was poised, stood tall in the pocket and I think that the TD to Stevie was an audible.

- The Oline was good in pass protection (minus a few penalties).

-Powell was really good yesterday.

-Did not like what I saw from Goodwin. He looked scared to death. I thought that he would end up being one of my favorite players but he looked like every other kid that comes out of UT. There is certainly still hope but not a good start.

-Woods on the other hand ran crisp routes. He was consistently getting open and I think that we will see him used more.

- No reason to play 2 TEs all of the time when you don't have any.

- Loved what I saw from Marrone and Pettine.

- This team is not far in this division. They should be around 8-8 I would think.

 

Am I the only one that thought Nickell Roby had a very solid game for his first game in the NFL?

 

No, he was very good yesterday.

[voodoo poonani]

 

 

Good post. My one quibble: give Hackett a break. I'm pretty confident they had to run a very simplified offense given that the Qb hasn't played in three weeks and has only about two preseason quarters under his belt. Gailey is actually a very good coordinator, but recall that he had a very smart, veteran qb running the offense (and yes, that qb had lots of flaws). Anyway, sometimes an OC has to run a simple offense because of the limitations of the qb.

 

My issue with Hackett has nothing to do with EJ or very little at least. Gailey was great at getting playmakers out in space. Hackett's run plays put the RBs directly into a pile. It wasn't the RBs fault there was no place to go. Run blocking and scheme needs to be worked on.

[Kirby Jackson]

 

 

My issue with Hackett has nothing to do with EJ or very little at least. Gailey was great at getting playmakers out in space. Hackett's run plays put the RBs directly into a pile. It wasn't the RBs fault there was no place to go. Run blocking and scheme needs to be worked on.

 

Very well said

[thebandit27]

1) I am just wondering.....has any NFL kicker EVER missed a field goal against the Bills?

 

2) Kiko made some mistakes, but I am satisfied that he will make plays and that today was a learning experience.

 

3) Carrington was non-productive today. That's a shame too because we really didn't need that much more to win this football game.

 

4) I think that CJ Spiller might win us a football game this season. Maybe even two. I hope that I am right because he lost us one today with his poor play and his fumble. He owes us a win.

 

5) How can a Bills fan not be pleased by EJ? I mean seriously. His stats were not great, but he truly appears to have the brain and the body to excel in this football league. I am guessing that he was told to try not to run due to his knee injury, and I suppose that this makes sense. But I will also assert that if he was not nursing this injury, he would have won this football game. In short, I really like this kid!

 

6) Usually I cannot see much of the RG on television. Today I was lucky and will tell you that Urbik had a nice game today, and btw so did Pears.

 

7) Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine,

I can tell the Queen of Diamonds, by the way she shines.

Come to Daddy on an inside straight.

Well I got no chance of losing this time.

No I got no chance of losing this time.

 

8) I have taken some heat on this board wrt my praise of Searcy. No, I am not whining; I deserve it. The truth is that he can hurt you. That said, he remains a favorite of mine. Yes, he will give up some plays, but he is one player on this football team that gives a 100% effort. No, he does not leave one damn thing on the football field. He actually looked as if he was running out of gas on his TD. My supposition is that he might have been hurt. Mark my words, he will be a coach some day. I really do appreciate this player. And he played a GREAT game today.

 

9) McKelvin had an uneven game. Make no mistake, he did get away with a call or 2, but he also did actually make some good plays.

 

10) Another thing that I am sure of is that assuming he is healthy, Woods will be our #1 receiver in 2014. I am a bit unimpressed by Stevie Johnson, but hopefully this will change.

 

11) In all, the secondary wasn't THAT bad, considering they were playing without their 2 alleged stars, and against a certain first ballot hall of fame QB.

 

12) It sucked that Goodwin never got a chance to run out a kick. Btw, did he get hurt?

 

13) If they can play this way against NE, I think that we can assume that the Buffalo Bills will win some football games this season.

 

14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

1) Not a game-winning kick, that's for sure.

 

2) Kiko is going to be a good one. In fact, all 3 of the top 3 picks from this year's draft are looking mighty fine to me. The one glaring mistake by Kiko was on Edelman's 2nd TD catch...that looked to be his man and him simply lost him in traffic. He'll learn.

 

3) He actually did some nice things when they kicked him inside to DT. The Pats have a very good set of tackles that present a challenge for bigger DEs; that's why Hughes had more pass-rushing success against Vollmer than Carrington IMO.

 

4) Singling our Spiller's turnover is a bit misplaced IMO. There were more mistakes made by this team than you can count on two hands. Spiller's fumble was costly, but it didn't cost them the game; at least not anymore than Goodwin's fumble, Stevie's drop, Chandler's drop, or any of the absolutely crucial penalties that other veteran guys took that negated first-downs.

 

5) Hard not to be impressed by the kid...he's going to be a good one.

 

6) I continue to say, when the OL is this team's biggest problem, they'll be a playoff team.

 

8) Searcy can do some things; he is good in run support and is a good blitzer. His coverage ability leaves a lot to be desired, and if this team needs to rely on him in that regard he's going to hurt them.

 

9) McKelvin was excellent today. He allowed 2 significant completions on those sideline stop routes where Brady makes the back-shoulder throw...hardest plays to defend in the game. Other than that, he was terrific. If he can play at that level, and Gilmore comes back 100%, Pettine's defense will be formidable.

 

10) Stevie does some great things, and I've defended him ardently in the past; I will not do so today. His drop was inexcusable and may be the one play this game that, if it turned out differently, changes the outcome in our favor. Stevie's gotta have that catch...come on, help out your rookie QB who's laying it on the line to beat your arch-rivals.

 

11) Only thing I can ask from the secondary is to shore up their tackling...it was very poor on some crucial running plays (Rodgers in particular).

 

12) No, he got benched because he fumbled.

 

13) Agreed...play that way and they'll win 8 games. More importantly, they looked like a team that should get better throughout the year.

 

14) Indeed.

 

One thought I will add: Mario had a great game today. Anyone that says differently, IMO, is simply reading the stat sheet and not watching the game. He was doubled all game long and still created opportunities for other players (Branch, Hughes, Kyle) to put licks on Brady. When they moved him around to get him singled up, he was in Brady's face every play.

Edited September 9, 2013 by thebandit27

[mikef272002]

 

13) If they can play this way against NE, I think that we can assume that the Buffalo Bills will win some football games this season.

 

 

 

I don't see what all the hype is about, we lost to a very bad NE team.. NE looked like a 6-10 team today and still beat us after we had 10 penalties. I agree the Defense did look better than years past, much better but our offense was terrible. And I don't mean the players as much as the scheme, did anyone else notice it was the same EXACT FORMATION THE ENTIRE GAME IN THE BACKFIELD.! And our run plays consisted of the same 2 runs the WHOLE game, either left or right.! It was mis usage of Spiller to get him in the open, no Draw plays, only one screen, no counters, no mis directions, no pitches, just the same run play all game from the exact same formation all game. BLAH, no wounder we couldn't run the freaking ball.!

[Canadian Bills Fan]

Easley should be given the chance of doing what he's doing or trying to do on the field.

 

I agree.

 

When Goodwin got hurt I thought for sure I would see Easley.

 

CBF

[thebandit27]

I don't see what all the hype is about, we lost to a very bad NE team.. NE looked like a 6-10 team today and still beat us after we had 10 penalties. I agree the Defense did look better than years past, much better but our offense was terrible. And I don't mean the players as much as the scheme, did anyone else notice it was the same EXACT FORMATION THE ENTIRE GAME IN THE BACKFIELD.! And our run plays consisted of the same 2 runs the WHOLE game, either left or right.! It was mis usage of Spiller to get him in the open, no Draw plays, only one screen, no counters, no mis directions, no pitches, just the same run play all game from the exact same formation all game. BLAH, no wounder we couldn't run the freaking ball.!

 

What you've just described is, word for word, the exact description of both the K-gun offense that Jim Kelly ran here and the offense that Peyton Manning has been running in Indy and Denver for the last 12 years.

[RuntheDamnBall]

I don't see what all the hype is about, we lost to a very bad NE team.. NE looked like a 6-10 team today and still beat us after we had 10 penalties.

People say this about NE every year and somehow they prove doubters wrong. BTW, If we had that many penalties, our was the worse team that day. 10-6 teams don't win with that many called on them per game.

 

I agree with you about the misuse of Spiller, especially with a weakened interior sans Levitre; it's my hope that it's an adjustment that Hackett will make quickly.

[mikef272002]

People say this about NE every year and somehow they prove doubters wrong. BTW, If we had that many penalties, our was the worse team that day. 10-6 teams don't win with that many called on them per game.

 

I agree with you about the misuse of Spiller, especially with a weakened interior sans Levitre; it's my hope that it's an adjustment that Hackett will make quickly.

 

Aren't we tired of "Hoping" every week..? With that said, I "Hope" so too...

 

Aren't we tired of "Hopeing" every week..? With that said, I "Hope" so too...

 

What you've just described is, word for word, the exact description of both the K-gun offense that Jim Kelly ran here and the offense that Peyton Manning has been running in Indy and Denver for the last 12 years.

 

Oh, so must be it works, my bad..!

[RuntheDamnBall]

Aren't we tired of "Hoping" every week..? With that said, I "Hope" so too...

No other answer to give. Even if you fire the guy(!!!!) you're hoping his replacement is not a total idiot who takes tons of time to adjust. Hackett is young, too; we've got to remember this. What they're banking on is that his creativity will balance his inexperience over time.