My Analysis

[post modern age]

This is my analysis. It is completely subjective, and it is based on what I saw with one look and what I feel about the status of this team after watching the game. I am perfectly comfortable with saying that some of what I say may be reactionary because I am very disappointed with the loss.

 

Offense

 

J.P. Losman, for the second week in a row, did not show anything other than what could be considered expected. Aside from one play in which he missed a wide open Eric Moulds, he IS, in fact, finding the open man. We can attest to this because he is not making throws to wide open receivers. He is missing short on short routes and long on long routes and I believe this is just from indecision. You miss short on short routes because you don’t want to throw a pick, and you miss long on long routes because you only want your guy to have a shot at the ball. It’s much better than him missing short on long routes, and long on short routes. That would make for a very, very long game. Losman is not a statue in the pocket, but some people are now attributing this to indecision and nervousness. There was a play in the game in which he had 0.9 seconds before the first defender was in reach of him. This is not enough time.

 

Daimon Shelton needs to stay on the ball. He is following his assignments and blocking where.he is expected to, but the simple problem with this is that McGahee is not a route runner. He audibles in his head, literally, the second the ball is snapped. McGahee had a good game. He found holes and made some where they weren’t. There are still some occasions where his mind slips him and he is dancing in the backfield. These instances seem to be most pertinent on third down. This is not acceptable. McGahee must become a route runner on critical running plays, because he is giving up good blocks otherwise. Willis McGahee is a fantastic running back, we saw that today. He still needs to recognize when the appropriate time to turn his juke switch off, is.

 

The Wide Receivers need to catch some balls. I don’t know what Eric Moulds problem is. Age doesn’t mean you lose your hands – that is usually the last thing to go. Despite the fact that they picked up the Pass Interference flag when DeAngelo Hall put his hands to Moulds face, Moulds had two hands on that ball, and needs to come down with it. The Wide Receivers also need to try and make up for some of Losman’s mistakes. I know that it is impossible to do that on overthrows, but on underthrows they need, at times, to make an attempt to come back to the ball. In this units defense, I do not recall a single reception in the last two games in which J.P. Losman has afforded his receiver the opportunity to make a move after the catch. Every effort, EVERY EFFORT, has to be put into catching Losman’s passes. Additionally, much of this would go away if our tight ends had a presence in the middle of the field. They need to start proving themselves worthy of a look.

 

The Offensive Line is the worst unit on the field. They simply do not give J.P. Losman the time necessary to make anything happen. I understand that you can’t give him time on every down, or even every other down, but about 66% of the time in this game, J.P. Losman had under 3 seconds in the pocket before it collapsed. Three seconds is not asking too much. There were a few instances in this game in which I saw Teague and any given collection of other offensive linemen assigned two one defender. Two linemen, one defender, and they let them go through. Trey Teague has got to be off the ball quicker. He is not getting off the snap fast enough, and our guards are not looking until their right until the defender is already past them. I do not think anyone expects this unit to win the war in the trenches week in and out – they are simply not that good. However, they can at least stay in the fight for a few seconds each play.

 

Defense

 

The blitz schemes that Jerry Gray has concocted is allowing for tons of penetration into the backfield, however, our defensive linemen and our linebackers just seem too slow to be effective. As Vick is a speed quarterback, obviously, last week is a better example of the fact that the defensive line is not beating the Quarterback to the punch nearly enough. Our defensive ends, with the exception of Schobel, are very un-athletic in the sense that they have a lot of moving parts that they have to get going forward before they can garner any sort of momentum. I understand the idea of a defense that doesn’t generate a lot of turnovers is upsetting and frustrating, but at the same time when our defense was simply containing other teams they were not having performances such as the last few weeks and this weeks. By the time our defensive lineman and linebackers reach position, the ball is either in the arms of a halfback seven yards downfield on en route to a single covered wide out. Ron Edwards, also, is not the problem. This entire defensive line is losing the push on run plays.

 

The linebackers played alright, okay, I give them that. They did alright, but they need to make open field tackles. Most of this linebacker unit, including Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Spikes, suddenly get their feet stuck in quick sand when they are needed most for an open field tackle. Takeo Spikes is a fantastic defensive player, and I understand that he recognizes certain plays where others may not. Maybe he is Quarterbacking this defense, I do not know. It is absolutely inexcusable, however, to be turned completely around, instructing Troy Vincent, and lose track of the snap, and in turn, your position also on the field. The linebackers need to be the most consistent unit on this defense every week, for this to work.

 

The defensive backs need to start playing up to their name on third down. I can’t understand this. This unit is the best team on the field 2 out of every 3 downs, but suddenly, they become the Kings of Buffer on 3rd down. Our defensive backs give their receivers three to four yards of breathing room every third down because they do not want to be beat with a move, and are giving up a lot of close first downs. This unit is a playmaking unit. Nate Clements can turn the face of an entire game around, we’ve seen him do it. Terrence McGee has tremendous agility and, for his size, can stay with receivers very well. DO IT.

 

Special Teams

 

This unit is consistent, but I can’t get a solid read on them. Moorman has not been as fantastic this year as normal, though he had a tremendous punt today, he also had a terrible punt that people aren’t going to be talking about because Hall coughed up the ball. That punt would have had a net of like, 30 yards, or something awful. Rian Lindell should not be the foundation of our offense this year and yet so far he has been. The cover game has been decent so far, however, I can see us giving up a touchdown or two this season. There are a lot of second to last, and last man tackles, and the rest of the unit is just quick to jump on the tackle, and so it looks like we’re smothering everybody. I am concerned there. The return game has been fantastic so far. If you give Terrence McGee time back there, he can make things happen completely by himself. Fast Freddie did okay today with some punt returns, but I can’t see him breaking one. He made some bad choices by fielding punts on the 3 and 5 yard lines.

 

Coaching

 

Unpredictability eventually becomes predictable if you do the same thing, and we saw that eventually playing towards your own weaknesses by as a surprise eventually wears our. Yes, we ran successfully to our right side initially, because the Falcons were overloading the left side, and then they stopped, and the running direction leveled off. The Bills aren’t a bad team right now. They’re not a good team at all, however. There are a few items of concern that can be fixed with scheming and coaching that can allow us to turn this thing around, but that is up to the coaching to recognize and be up front about.

 

The Fix

 

The problems with this team are vastly spread out, and the parts are greater than the whole of the problem for lack of a better term. When it was 14-13 Falcon flavor today, I said to myself that even if we won this game something didn’t feel right. We weren’t hitting the line hard, and we weren’t doing anything remotely impressive. Of course, neither were the Falcons, and maybe that’s why it was only 14-13. To me, the fix is to get McGahee to run the play verbatim in 3rd down situations, and work his magic elsewhere, its for the offensive line to work more on their vision and quickness than strength and endurance. The first team offensive line had two backups on and off today and they certainly played like backups. If you aren’t as talented in Week 3 of the season as your opposing defensive line, there is nothing that is going to make you as talented as the Week 4 opposition. You have to play smarter than they do. If we can establish an ability to make the same kind of 3rd down runs as we are making 1st and 2nd down runs, than the passing game will open up a little more, and even J.P’s mistakes will be a little less glaring with more open space downfield. The defense simply needs to finish the job. They are wearing themselves out by allowing countless 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 11’s to convert. sh-- or get off the pot. A defense this good should not crumble on third down, and its depressing to see that they do.

[Astrobot]

FakeFat?...

[post modern age]

A selfish bump.

[stuckincincy]

A selfish bump.

453824[/snapback]

 

Thanks for the good descriptions - where I live I only get to see one or two games a year.