This Week: Does JP Air it out?

[pdh1]

With the Bills returing home, and facing a not too scary Jets Pass defense, does JP get air it out more to his talented receiver corps?

 

I say, "yes", a little.

250 yards, 2 tds, o int

 

 

Also, I hope to see our young safeties feed off the home crowd.

 

As well as they have played, they have yet to feel the buzz of a sell-out game in the Buff.

 

 

Bills 27 Jets 13

[ajzepp]

I think Jaruon and Fairchild will gradually let JP have more and more opportunities to make plays as the season progresses. As was proven yesterday, we can afford to bring him along slowly when the rest of the team shows up to play.

[Maguire's Beer]

I think Jaruon and Fairchild will gradually let JP have more and more opportunities to make plays as the season progresses. As was proven yesterday, we can afford to bring him along slowly when the rest of the team shows up to play.

777630[/snapback]

 

Right. Why pass a lot against the Jets if we don't have to do so? I like what Fairchild is doing here -- letting JP get comfortable in running the offense, without putting undue pressure on him to win games singlehandedly. The result, thus far, has been a JP who hasn't made mistakes -- in fact, we've seen a JP who actively avoids them. No reason to disturb the steady progression now.

 

That said, I doe expect that JP is going to get a few more chances at home against an inferior opponent. A 200+ yard game isn't out of the question. Then again, I assume that Willis is easily going to gain more than 100 yards.

[Pyrite Gal]

Nope. That would be contrary to both their seeming plan for JP development (do what is necessary to win and nothing more) and also for the basic O which Fairchild has seemed to develop.

 

I think in its fullblown form the Eastcoast version of the St. L type O will be a lot more pass-happy. A weak Jets D may afford opportunities to see a more realized form of O. However, even if it uses the pass more, the downfield strike and big time vertical game is likely to still be a change-up which MUST be used to keep the D respecting you. However, even the big yardage and productive plays are likely to still come from short-passes.

 

I think a good example was seen Sunday in what a more pass-happy Bills O would look like on a TD plat to Parrish which was called back by the refs (on a bang-bang call where their judgment was eaily questioned but who cares as we won comfortably).

 

JP hit Parrish on a quick opener and he went into the endzone basically untouched. It would likely have been a long yardage TD except they did not need to go that far to score, as the fleet footed Parrish once given a bit of room is not likely to be caught and can use the same return skills which make him our PR guy on any tackler he faces one on one.

 

This play was made because Reed ran a cross under Parrish and picked off his defender. Unfotunately he got called for pass interference. The play could have een implemented better if the timing was a bit better and eed made no contact until after the pass was caught, or alternately, Reed did not really have to lay a hit on the DB, simply get in his way so that Parrish got a little separation and JP could hit him.

 

Even though if such a pass play worked in a game, Parrish might get credit on a longer field for a big yardage TD, it would be a mistake to simply assume big yardage pass plays mean a vertical game rather than good RAC.

 

The key will be not so much the competition we face, but how do they deploy their DBs as we will happily take what they give us. If in fact they do line up their DBs in one-on-one coverage, JP will need to make the reads and we would see more of a vertical game with JP looping a big pass up that the isolated receiver then simply must run under.

 

In order for this to happen, the opposing team would actually have to have a lot of confidence in their defender that he is a good player. This happened Sunday where the Fins had confidence in FA acquisition and 1st round pick who had started at CB in NYG Will Allen that he could cover Evans one-on-one. This proved not to be the case so JP went up top and a PI in the redzone was the result.

 

If in fact the Jets pass defense is bad, then rather than seeing Coleman and Barnett singled up on our WRs leading to a lot of vertical passing, you will see them use something like the Cover 2 which employs the safeties as centerfielders or zone coverage rather than man-to-man.

 

If so, Fairchild and JP would foolish to throw into the teeth of that coverage and the passing game is more likely to be successful with quick slants and crosses providing separation and picks, or with a smart receiver like Reed finding the seams in the zone.

 

Expect them to pass more against a weaker D or against a team which puts a ton of guys in the box because they have to in order to stop WM. Just do not necessarily expect there to me more downfield passing in this pass-happy game.

[ganesh]

With the Bills returing home, and facing a not too scary Jets Pass defense, does JP get air it out more to his talented receiver corps?

 

I say, "yes", a little.

250 yards, 2 tds, o int

Also, I hope to see our young safeties feed off the home crowd.

 

As well as they have played, they have yet to feel the buzz of a sell-out game in the Buff.

Bills 27 Jets 13

777625[/snapback]

 

We trick the Jets and actually run the ball 40 times...

[tennesseeboy]

I think you are right. JP has thrown a few bombs, but I don't think enough to have anyone respect him yet. I suspect we will continue with the same general offensive strategy of run until they "cheat" to stop you and then go deep. What I love is the situation where they "cheat" to stop you....AND THEY CAN'T STOP YOU!!! In that case, sorry JP...you'll get modest yards and stats...but then we will get a WIN. JP will get turned loose at some point in the season. Maybe against the Jets.

[pdh1]

We trick the Jets and actually run the ball 40 times...

777687[/snapback]

 

 

Fine with me if we win.

 

I haven' seen the Jets play at all this year.

Is the O-line any good?

If it is weak, we night get 8 plus sacks, and Chad may not make it thru the game.

 

I have heard the Jets running game is awful this year, without Curtis Martin.

That really plays into the strength of the Bills D which is a terror in pass defense mode.

[ajzepp]

Right.  Why pass a lot against the Jets if we don't have to do so?  I like what Fairchild is doing here -- letting JP get comfortable in running the offense, without putting undue pressure on him to win games singlehandedly.  The result, thus far, has been a JP who hasn't made mistakes -- in fact, we've seen a JP who actively avoids them.  No reason to disturb the steady progression now. 

 

That said, I doe expect that JP is going to get a few more chances at home against an inferior opponent.  A 200+ yard game isn't out of the question.  Then again, I assume that Willis is easily going to gain more than 100 yards.

777665[/snapback]

 

Exactly....they let him manage the game and protect the ball, but then every so often let him air one out to Evans - which he ALMOST hit a couple times yesterday. If the rest of our team sucked, then this approach probably wouldn't work. But as many of us have recognized for a while now, there is a lot of talent on this team....they apparently just needed the right coach to allow them to play as a team.

 

I think the JP-to-Evans connection will hit more often than it will miss, so I think you're right about the Jets game....I think he'll break 200 yds passing.

[Peter]

Ultimately, we are going to have to be able to have some kind of passing threat. The opposing defenses are stacking the line to try and stop our running game.

 

We should be able to take advantage of that sooner or later. So far, we have not been able to make other teams pay for concentrating so heavily on defending against the run.

 

I really hope we can generate more of a passing threat against the Jets.

[Kelly the Dog]

Thank God the Bills coordinators don't have any idea of what they are going to do.

 

And that's a good thing.

 

The best coordinators create a gameplan to exploit other team's weaknesses and take advntage of what our guys do well in the framework.

 

Then the game starts. They react. They tweak. They change their minds. They see what is working and what isn't and re-evaluate. They may pass way more, they may pass way less depending on the weather, what is working, what they saw they didnt expect, who seems to be having a good day, etc.

 

I really like what I see out of our HC and coordinators so far. They are not stubborn. I would expect some games that Fairchild really airs it out because that game dictates it not because he likes to air it out.

[Buffal0 Bill5]

I think Jaruon and Fairchild will gradually let JP have more and more opportunities to make plays as the season progresses. As was proven yesterday, we can afford to bring him along slowly when the rest of the team shows up to play.

777630[/snapback]

The way this year is beginning to unfold is proof that last year was a total waste. They are doing what was promised last year, strong d, good special teams, running the ball, and putting JP in a manageable game plan to keep the pressure off him. He doesn't have to step up and win the game, just keep his head and not lose it. I think by the end of the season we will be pretty impressed with our QB. I do expect JP to pass more against the Jets, but not enough to start him on my fantasy team.

[Pyrite Gal]

Ultimately, we are going to have to be able to have some kind of passing threat.  The opposing defenses are stacking the line to try and stop our running game.

 

We should be able to take advantage of that sooner or later. So far, we have not been able to make other teams pay for concentrating so heavily on defending against the run.

 

I really hope we can generate more of a passing threat against the Jets.

777697[/snapback]

 

I really like what we have seen so far with the offense. It is not clicking yet, but given some of the hints the answer to this question may well be that if Fairchild keeps working it, and the players get more comfortable with it, it will begin to click. So far my over-arching sense in each game was:

 

1. NE- We did show some clear signs of the players not being able to execute well enough yet (and old overused GW cliche but it is overused because it often is true actually) as our offense is not dictating the game yet..

 

However, with the help of the D giving us a 7 point leg up on the first series and the NE offense looking horrible even with Tom Brady at the controls, we really had this game in our hands, but the O failed to pick up a "mere" 1 yard when if they had it would have made it very difficult on the Pats.

 

The run game was semi-productive at best as the two scored lead on the rosd simply demanded that we get conservative. The run attack had a few good plays but not enough consistency to take the game. I think this was an inconsistent blocking problem (the OL should have at least held its own on the 4th down play and good ones actually control the OL and give the RB one yard simply from falling down. our OL produced good holes on some of the very positive runs but did not do this all the time), some ineffective play calling by Fairchild (I like some of the change-ups he made going to the draw when NE was penetrating, but he does not seem to have a rhtym yet that commands the game), and though WM also failed to make plays when the call is bad or the blocking breaks down, I think though he was not elite in his production folks focus too much on his deficits to explain what we need to improve the run game.

 

Chemistry can be developed this year and the blocking can improve. Fairchild can call better plays and the run game can improve. WM is not gonna become a different player this year and whailing about him will make no difference in improving the team this year so i think the focus should be in other areas. I'd prefer folks play GM in the off-season because during the season it is all about what you can improve and change right now one week at a time.

 

The passing game was also adequate though not extraordinary. The best sign was that JP showed an impressive command of the O he did not show last year. He knew he was expected to make plays to make the TC offense work and folks even began to say he had happy feet as he was simply trying too hard to meet the expectations created by the starting job being given to him without earning it on the field.

 

He seemed to to do a good job of reading coverage approaches and identifying the open man, though in the crunch they failed to complete the pass for a variety of reasons. Again i think overblown attention is being given to a couple of bad sacks which were problems in and of themselves but not indicators to me of systemic problems which point to a clear consistent problem.

 

Having a real problem on one play does not make a pattern, Even having the same problem on two plays MAY be mere coincidence. A showing of a similar problem three times however is a clear trend. Folks seem to jumkp to conclusions that a problem which shows once is a trend, It MAY not be.

 

At any rate, the biggest deal in the NE game I can see was actually execution by the players. After they screwed up the 4th and 1, it was a huge letdown for us and gave great confidence to them. They still needed to score twice to tie even after we missed the 1st and gave them the ball deep in their territory. They took their increased confdence and scored twice and failed to be productive as we were on our heels and even gave up the winning points on a safety.

 

Overall, the 10 point performance by the offense was not even adequate, but given they were competing on the road against the seasoned Pats, while moral victories are worthless, there were some good signs from the O, particularly in comparison to last year.

 

2. MI- The O was pretty impressive this game as amazingly they went two straight games with zero turnovers. This is key as the D is performing well enough with a bunch of rookie starters, that it is more important for the O to not make mistakes in order to get us a W than for it to win the game. In fact it is wehn they try top make a play on O on the road that bad things happen. You cannot reasonably faul them for going for it on 4th and 1 against nE as a mere yard would likely hace earned them a win on the road. Yet, it is just this type of failure that can cause this young team to get killed and I'm glad Jauron was aggressive and went for it, but I think it would be hard to reasonably blame him if the had simply taken 3, but still the seasoned Pats had come back and beat us. However, if we are gonna lose I would rather die trying like we did so I have no problems with the choice.

 

The aggressiveness carried over to this game and the Bills won this one comfortably. As will be the case ith this team, it took a combination of consistent but not extraordinary offenisve work, AND great D works with the sacks and INT, AND good ST work with the punt block to make this work for a W.

 

The O did it's part with a boring but wonderful game called by Fairchild which was actually pretty horrible in terms of first half passing production, However, the running attack was adequate though also unsuccessful in producing many points in the first half. However, not making big mistakes was the key for the O as our D pressured them and the MI O was bad.

 

The running game was adequate with seemingly better timing on the play calling from Fairchild and also generally better blocking by the OL. I think losing Villy for Preston is unfortunate due to our lack of depth but is an upgrade. The passing game hun around and hung around unti lthe aerial attempt got a pass interference and set up a nice scoring pass.

 

We also got a glimpse of how our O is supposed to work with Parrish initially getting TD through RAC, but the Bills getting called for a personal foul on the pick block by Reed.

 

Still overall I was impressed and the key thing is we got the W.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

I say no. I think they continue to pound Willis, play great ST's and defense, and let JP manage the game.

[Swift Sylvan]

I say no.  I think they continue to pound Willis, play great ST's and defense, and let JP manage the game.

778079[/snapback]

 

Didn't Willis have a great game at the end of last year to the point that he and Chris Villarrial complained that MM didn't run the ball more? So....if it ain't broke....

[Fan in San Diego]

I would like to see some play action pass plays when they stack the line with 8 in the box to shut down Willis. Yesterday, we kept pounding the ball in that scenerio. To loosen them up we need to pass in that scenerio a little more.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

I would like to see some play action pass plays when they stack the line with 8 in the box to shut down Willis. Yesterday, we kept pounding the ball in that scenerio. To loosen them up we need to pass in that scenerio a little more.

If they stack the box, then for SURE you'll see JP air it out. I just don't think that any team will WANT to stack the box, with JP's arm.

[nemhoff]

I say no and I say play it like the Chargers are with Rivers. Run the Ball - a lot!! Allow JP to grow up in gameplay experience. The boy needs confidence and the ability to play the whole game efficiently. Something that he was not allowed last year. If our D can continue to hold, bend and not break, it will give us the chance to be balanced and not have to air it out.

 

i am also concerned about our Oline pass protection, they still need a lot of work especially Villy.

[Acantha]

Is the O-line any good?

If it is weak, we night get 8 plus sacks, and Chad may not make it thru the game.

777692[/snapback]

While the defense played a great game yesterday, don't let Culpepper's lack of decision making warp your vision that much.

Pennington is an accurate QB using the short to midrange game. He doesn't hold on to the ball too long and generally makes good decisions when he has to get rid of the ball quickly. I think too many people ignore how much his injuries have hurt him the past few years.

The best thing the Bills can do is stop the running game and try to put the Jets into as many 3rd and longs as possible. Our speed in the secondary is perfect for those floaters Pennington throws on passes over 15 yards.

 

I liked what I saw yesterday, but don't think that one really good game against a horrible offensive line and a lost QB means we will be breaking season records for sacks this year.

 

I think more than anything I'm looking forward to seeing the game plan this week against a team with very different strengths and weaknesses. Win or lose, it will answer a lot of my questions about this coaching staff.

[Risin]

We should be able to take advantage of that sooner or later. So far, we have not been able to make other teams pay for concentrating so heavily on defending against the run.

777697[/snapback]

 

 

What do you call the play that help setup our only TD?

 

[BoondckCL]

I would love for Losman to air it out and finally do it to spite the douche bags at ESPN.

 

A prediction: 18/25, 235 yds, 2-1 TD-Int.

 

Willis McGahee: 24 carries, 102 yds, 1 TD.