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

[Captain Hindsight]

Credit needs to go to Marrone for calling the refs out after two completely bogus PI calls. Those calls were swinging the difference to the Bears. Down the stretch out corners got away with physical play and I 100% believe it's because Marrone had the balls to stand up for his guys and call it out. Gailey would never do that. Jauron wouldn't have been aware enough to even notice it.

Agreed. This team has needed someone to flip out when the refs weren't helping us. The team responded too, no longer was that an excuse, they went and won anyway

[Deranged Rhino]

12] Nickel Robey is just a stud. That is the way to play the game. On one deep pass he made three or four textbook decisions to make the pass breakup. Even on the amazing play Cutler made to avoid a sack, Robey made a nice play. He's such a valuable player.

 

Both USC sophomores on the roster do nothing but continue to make big plays. Woods is the team's best receiver at the moment until Sammy takes the title from him. Robey is a tiny monster on the field.

[Rockinon]

Good win. Maybe it was just me but it seemed like they were rotating the D-line an awful lot today. It seemed like Jarius Wynn saw the field a lot today replacing Mario. Same thing with the rest of the starters too... hughes out a lot, Kyle Williams subbed out a lot.

Did you notice how much they were on the field? I think Chicago probably had a significant time of possession advantage. That is no surprise.

[RuntheDamnBall]

Williams, Woods & Watkins were very good! I'd say exceptional, given the off the mark passes they caught. Chandler isn't as good, though he 'shouldof' caught a drive killing drop that was expectedly off the mark.

 

The team has true NFL talent just about everywhere, and should be competitive game in and out. Manuel's lifelong lack of Touchdown experience reared its ugly head in the childish way he celebrated his bootleg score and behind the LOS toss CJ took wide open to pay dirt. Act like ya been there -even if you haven't!

 

Special Teams was outstanding, kick coverage, punts, FG's and KO's.

 

The DB's shown, IMO. Yes, Chicago has fantastic receivers. Most teams -including us, do. The strip fumble speaks to their blanket coverage abilities, sans a blown assignment on the Bears opening drive.

 

LB play seemed unheralded, but overall effective, both in run and coverage.

TE & QB. Either, or both, will hurt us -unless well hidden.

It's got to be hard finding a place to park that little raincloud, huh? Trolling EJ's play despite the W.

[Section242]

McKelvin's hands and T.J. Grahams hands are one in the same. I thought the ball was going to deflate in OT after he dropped the pick.

 

Robert Woods came up big today.

 

The PI call on Aaron Williams was awful.

 

Bryce Brown a healthy scratch.

 

Nice win on the road.

[Kelly the Dog]

How many coaches, with Fred and CJ as your #1 and #1b RB, in the middle of the first game, is going to insert the #3 RB into the game as a main ball carrier, who has never proven himself as a ball carrier in the league, and the guy has 2-3 terrific runs. That's not only ballsy but smart. I was looking forward very much to seeing the Four Headed Monster as WR and as RB, and all of them made significant plays, except for Goodwin, who didnt play much and Borwn inactive. Well done by Hackett though.

[Rockinon]

Agreed. This team has needed someone to flip out when the refs weren't helping us. The team responded too, no longer was that an excuse, they went and won anyway

That stood out to me too. This team is turning it around. They had some tough calls but didn't whine about it. Instead, they just kept playing hard and ground out a win, on the road, against what looks like a very good team.

[CSBill]

All of as sudden, the Bills Special Teams looks like a strength of this team:

• If Schmidt keeps doing what he did today = All-Pro;
  
• Gay is worth the roster spot, every kick unreturnable (one was run out, but should not have been);
  
• Sanborn never misses;
  
• And, Chris Carpenter is almost automatic … when he misses, its news.
  

[Deranged Rhino]

How many coaches, with Fred and CJ as your #1 and #1b RB, in the middle of the first game, is going to insert the #3 RB into the game as a main ball carrier, who has never proven himself as a ball carrier in the league, and the guy has 2-3 terrific runs. That's not only ballsy but smart. I was looking forward very much to seeing the Four Headed Monster as WR and as RB, and all of them made significant plays, except for Goodwin, who didnt play much and Borwn inactive. Well done by Hackett though.

 

The game plan was so good they almost managed to hide Pears ... almost.

[Kelly the Dog]

The game plan was so good they almost managed to hide Pears ... almost.

He still made his share of oh my god plays, like the one screen to Fred where he didnt block his man.

 

Chris Williams seemed to make a nice play on the critical Fred run that won the game, but I would have to see it again.

[Deranged Rhino]

He still made his share of oh my god plays, like the one screen to Fred where he didnt block his man.

 

Chris Williams seemed to make a nice play on the critical Fred run that won the game, but I would have to see it again.

 

Agreed. That hole was huge, I want to watch the all 22.

[hondo in seattle]

McKelvin's hands and T.J. Grahams hands are one in the same. I thought the ball was going to deflate in OT after he dropped the pick.

 

Robert Woods came up big today.

 

The PI call on Aaron Williams was awful.

 

Bryce Brown a healthy scratch.

 

Nice win on the road.

 

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

[Fixxxer]

This punter's bounce of the ball played to our advantage. Moorman was great when you needed a huge punt to regain field position but he was more colder than hot when trying to place the ball deep inside the 20.

Schmidt had two great punts land perfectly inside the 5 yard. Great first game as a Bill.

 

Rivers saving a Forte TD, he had all the odds to be burned on that play but he ran stride by stride with the RB and broke the pass up.

 

Name a KR and PR and be done with it. The substitute will always try to do too much when given the chance.

 

More Gragg and less Chandler, please.

 

Cordy Glenn owned Jared Allen today.

[Deranged Rhino]

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

 

The story is probably just that they couldn't afford to dress 5 RBs (including their FB). They needed the roster spot for ST, I'm sure.

[Kelly the Dog]

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

Dixon is a stud ST player. That's why they signed him. To be a ST player and a #3 RB and possibly a short yardage back. But he surprised them with his ability to run in the middle of the field and shiftiness so they gave him some carries. He was always going to be active ahead of Brown because of the ST play.

[DirtDart]

 

It's got to be hard finding a place to park that little raincloud, huh? Trolling EJ's play despite the W.

It's the same trolls that always find a way to rain on the parade. Pretty sure that black cloud follows them everywhere.

Edited September 7, 2014 by DirtDart

[SmokinES3]

This punter's bounce of the ball played to our advantage. Moorman was great when you needed a huge punt to regain field position but he was more colder than hot when trying to place the ball deep inside the 20.

Schmidt had two great punts land perfectly inside the 5 yard. Great first game as a Bill.

 

Rivers saving a Forte TD, he had all the odds to be burned on that play but he ran stride by stride with the RB and broke the pass up.

 

Name a KR and PR and be done with it. The substitute will always try to do too much when given the chance.

 

More Gragg and less Chandler, please.

 

Cordy Glenn owned Jared Allen today.

Cordy was excellent as usual, I agree. He is enjoyable to watch work. Gragg had quite a few snaps it seemed.

I figured Schmidt would be a disaster... What a pleasant surprise.

Edited September 7, 2014 by SmokinES3

[The Poojer]

Reading this thread made me nervous that I entered the wrong teams fan site... For all the bad that was spewed here leading up to this game I found myself giddy with excitement reading this thread. 1-0 going into week 2, doesn't get any f***ing better than this

[BuffaloBill]

The WR's made EJ look better. To your points Williams and Woods made some great catches in very clutch situations. Woods could have an amazing year.

[fergie's ire]

You gotta feel good for EJ. He has a relatively veteran team and he really needed to show that he could lead them to a tough road win. Hopefully he builds off of this.

 

The punting game was exceptional, I agree.

 

Although we lost Kiko and Jarius, the defense gained two solid vets from winning programs in Spikes and Graham. I'd say it might be a net positive.

 

The Refs were in preseason form (or regular season form against the Patriots).

 

I did not like Hackett's playcalling in the 3rd Q - they went into the Jauron Prevent Offense. Also didn't love using Freddy instead of CJ on screen passes, or the use of Summers (throw it into the teeth of those bad safeties; no reason to go power formation). Otherwise I liked the game that Hackett called.

 

Let's see how these guards play at home, and after a couple of games together, before passing judgment. It wasn't great, but it was better than last year.

 

What bothered me most was that it seemed to take EJ out of his rhythm. He looked great on the second drive of the game when they let him throw. In the second half it seemed like every possession was 2 runs and then EJ forced to throw on 3rd and 5 or more. A tough situation and seemed like he just couldn't get going again. I worry because it seems the coaches don't trust EJ. Now, I DO understand why they don't trust him, but if this team is going to win, we need to let EJ play. I don't mean throwing on every down....but more than they are and more on 1st down.