My take on the game and the season

[Mark Vader]

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of days but I now have a chance to comment on last weeks game, and some observations from this Jekyll-Hyde season the Bills are having.

 

Since I live in the Bay Area I can only judge by what I saw firsthand at the game since it was blacked out locally.

 

The positives: The opening drive was methodical and very well played and had to be one of the best drives of the whole season.

Josh Reed: His 1st TD of the season was amazing. When he caught the ball I thought he would be lucky to get to the 5 yardline, next thing he know he's making guys miss and fighting his way into the end zone for a touchdown.

I think that Reed has definitely answered his critics, stepped up his game, and the Bills should definitely re-sign him.

Kelly Holcomb. While he was not spectacular, he did not throw an interception. Which is good in my eyes. Although he did take a 15 yard sack which he could have avoided by throwing the ball away.

Sadly thats all the positives, although I was glad to see Lee Evans get his 1st TD of the season too.

 

The negatives: The pass defense was horrendous. The blitzing scheme did not work at all.

Most importantly the play calling on both offense and defense was just not good.

 

I'll start with Jerry Gray. His call for the defense to be aggressive is good, but when it does'nt work, you have to have a Plan B, and I did not see one. This is something the Bills have done this season. We saw it in the Atlanta game too. The Bills constantly blitz, get almost no results from it, and as a result the pass defense gets torched. Gray must come up with a back up plan when something does not work. If he does not, then the Bills may have to reassess where they are with their D-Coordinator.

 

Now Tom Clements. For the entire game, and for most of the season, the offense has been very vanilla. I did not once see a deep pass attempted on Sunday, and this makes no sense to me. I wrote earlier that Lee Evans got his first TD of the season, well the bad thing about that is that this was in Week 7. Evans is a speed receiver, the Bills deep threat, and he has only one TD? If we do not use Evans' speed to our advantage, then how can we be expected to use Roscoe Parrish as a weapon? Do the Bills have no faith in either Holcomb's or Losman's arm strength?

Over and over again it's been 5-7 yard pass plays, and slants. This is eerily reminding me of the 2003 season. Once again we did not give McGahee the ball enough. Of course unlike the Saints this may have been because the Bills were far behind to even think of giving him the ball. The 4th & Goal call was ridiculous. The ball should have gone to McGahee not to Shelton, it was a very bad call.

Tom Clements has this offense doing nothing spectacular. This dink and dunk passing scheme will not get the Bills to the playoffs. They must open up more. They must exploit Lee Evans' abilities.

 

The Bills do have talent, but they have trouble being consistent, and I dod not know why. Now once again they ae in a huge must-win situation. A division game on the road at night against a team who is just as desperate and up against the ropes like us. Gillette Stadium will be extremely hostile territory, as the fans are going to be as loud as possible, since they know the Patriots need this one badly.

The Bills must play like their lives depended on it, if not the bye week may be the beggining of the end.

 

As usual I will not give up, but it is now obvious to me that with the state of the AFC, a wildcard will not do it. The only way to the playoffs in the east is by winning the division. I just hope the Bills are up for it.

GO BILLS!!!!!!!

[eball]

i am one of the most optimistic, look-for-the-silver-lining fans around, but i am very disappointed with what i've seen this season, from the top of this organization to the bottom. i don't know what it will take to bring back my optimism, and for the first time in a long time i look at an upcoming game that i believe the bills have absolutely NO chance to win. for me, that's saying something.

 

right now the aura around the bills sucks, plain and simple. i'm not blaming one person, because so many have failed. i'll never root against this team for as long as i live, but i won't exactly cry myself to sleep if they lose the next 9 games and ralph cleans house.

[Rubes]

No no no, man! Didn't you see? We actually DID throw it deep in that game, quite a few times. It was all right there in front of our eyes. Of course we're throwing deep. Definitely. Well, I'm pretty sure at least. That's what they're telling me, anyway.

 

You fans just don't realize it's a whole hell of a lot more than just saying, "Lee, go long." I mean, the quarterback actually has to throw it. How is he supposed to do that when they double-cover our deep guys every time?

 

 

Mmmm...good Kool-Aid.

[JDG]

We don't call it deep more often in large part because by the time a receiver gets deep, our QB is usually sacked. And besides, a deep pass and quick strikes will usually just mean that our defense gets back on the field quicker - which can't be a good thing.

 

JDG