Temper our enthusiasm

[DrDawkinstein]

temper THIS enthusiasm!

 

GO BILLS!!

[MattyT]

The damp rag strikes again.

[GG]

I blame the QB.

[Lofton80]

We beat a tough physical team on the road in the heat coming from behind in the final 5 minutes. I will temper nothing. It still feels great a day later. Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!

[otisly00]

Agreed, yesterday was close and most here are letting their happiness over the win erase a few very obvious problems.

 

1. Play calling, only 1 shot taken down field the entire game. The Jags were aware of this and were playing heavily in the box and stopped Marshawn very effectively. Up until the deep completion to Evans the only difference between this year and last was the use of the screen pass as a check down option. Poor Edwards was resembling Kelly Holcomb by the 4th quarter, unleash this kid and let him throw it around a bit, at least it'll spread the defense.

 

2. Fundamental tackling: how many missed tackles were there in yesterdays game by the Bills? The Bills failed to wrap up ball carriers and Garrard on numerous occasions thus making this game much closer than it should have been.

 

Both of you jokers go crawl back into a hole. what can the Bills do to make you feel better about a 2-0 start? every team has injuries, i'm sick of hearing about that as excuses for the first 2 weeks. did we get a mulligan last year since we had 134 guys in IR? no. play-calling? really? We moved the ball all day; and had the ball for 1:30 (or something close) in the 3rd quarter; and we scored on both possessions in the 4th quarter. what else do you want?

 

yes, tackling was bad; but Garrard is a big dude, and who knows if the sweat, wetness, heat or whatever played a factor. i'm not too worried about our defense as we have for the most part shut down Seattle and J-Ville.

[ricojes]

Both of you jokers go crawl back into a hole. what can the Bills do to make you feel better about a 2-0 start? every team has injuries, i'm sick of hearing about that as excuses for the first 2 weeks. did we get a mulligan last year since we had 134 guys in IR? no. play-calling? really? We moved the ball all day; and had the ball for 1:30 (or something close) in the 3rd quarter; and we scored on both possessions in the 4th quarter. what else do you want?

 

yes, tackling was bad; but Garrard is a big dude, and who knows if the sweat, wetness, heat or whatever played a factor. i'm not too worried about our defense as we have for the most part shut down Seattle and J-Ville.

A very good point! Fred Jackson and ML slipped a bunch of tackles as well. I don't think you can easily dismiss the heat and sweat factor, although a couple missed tackles were just lazy arm tackle attempts. All these "we won, but..." whiners are just waiting for that first loss. They are just disappointed they will have wait and change their "I told you Buffalo would lose to Jax" post to something else now. If you can't be happy with 2-0, there isn't much you can do. These will be the same idiots that hopefully will one day be posting "the Bills won the SB, but....".....GO BILLS!!!

[Defender51]

Agreed, yesterday was close and most here are letting their happiness over the win erase a few very obvious problems.

 

1. Play calling, only 1 shot taken down field the entire game. The Jags were aware of this and were playing heavily in the box and stopped Marshawn very effectively. Up until the deep completion to Evans the only difference between this year and last was the use of the screen pass as a check down option. Poor Edwards was resembling Kelly Holcomb by the 4th quarter, unleash this kid and let him throw it around a bit, at least it'll spread the defense.

 

2. Fundamental tackling: how many missed tackles were there in yesterdays game by the Bills? The Bills failed to wrap up ball carriers and Garrard on numerous occasions thus making this game much closer than it should have been.

 

 

Point number 2, I concede. Tackling at times was atrocious. But, point number one I have to take up arms against. While I agree that we should go downfield more often, in a game such as this one where we were having some manner of success underneath (thanks Freddie Jackson) and we are playing a TOUGH defense on the road in a sold out stadium....eh...I'm ok with what they did. They did what they did when they had to and it worked. Maybe on another day it won't and I'll be right up there with you.

 

As for the killjoy that started this thread. I agree it's just week two. I've been saying that we need to prove more...but proving more starts in the week that you're in and the opponent that you're against. Go ruin someone else's day, huh?

[Joe Miner]

The only thing that left me a bit worried from yesterday was our inability to stop their run.

 

Yes I know it was a hot day, but that shouldn't be an excuse IMO.

 

These players haven't lived their whole lives in Buffalo, and some of them are very recent member of the Buffalo community. They should be just fine playing football on a hot day. I guarantee that they have all played in the heat before.

 

We let an injury decimated O-Line push us around in the run game yesterday, and that's a bit of a problem IMO. It's not the end of the world, just something we need to improve. Other than that, I think the Bills showed a lot of positives yesterday, and we are certainly headed in the right direction.

 

Next week will give us another opportunity to stop the run, as will the game against St. Louis. IMO, by the time we get to some divisional games we should be well tested against some teams with good rushing attacks, which can only help us.

 

Consider me reservedly optimistic.

 

Also, we still need a better push in our own run game from the O-line. Hopefully when Peters gets fully back into form, we'll start seeing more of that push. I'd really like to see a 100yd game from Lynch that isn't made up of a lot of sub 3 & 4 yard carries with 1 big run mixed in.

[EndZoneCrew]

We are 2-0, which is nice. You can only beat the teams on the schedule which we have. But folks we have beaten two very injured teams, missing a lot of their stars and depth. The collective records of the teams we have beaten if 0 for. They have won nothing. They are terrible teams. Granted we’re better, but how much better, we won’t know until we actually play someone who has won a game, and has most of their players there.

 

Until then count me as one who still thinks the bandwagon bus should remain in the garage.

 

Please....if I want to be excited....I can....Who the hell are you to tell me otherwise?

[SwampD]

The Bills are good.

[colin]

we have played great, but to be at the next level i really do think we will need some contributions from our top 3 picks.

 

hardy showed what he can do, but we need to use him better. i expect peters to be on form by week 4, which means we can sling the ball down field and maybe improve our running as well.

 

i really think jax is a big tough team and we did well to beat them, but our pass rush could have been more effective, we lot slow footed WRs run around a bit too much. d was of course really good overall tho. guts and played much better late than i thought they would.

 

imo the best team in the nfl is philly (we will see tonight tho) and the best team in the afc is Ten and Pitts. two very tough physical running and D teams, but i think we did a good job on a similar type of team today. to beat them we will need an equally clutch game by our young rising star qb.

 

i really like where we are, but we need to win at least 2 more of the next 4 to be in a position to improve and push for the playoffs.

 

oh, i don't think we have a good shot in the playoffs unless we at least win the division (cuz of home vs away) but the pats still have some players.

[ricojes]

The only thing that left me a bit worried from yesterday was our inability to stop their run.

F. Taylor 14 49 0 (3.5 ypc)

M. Jones-Drew 7 17 1 (2.4 ypc)

 

[John Adams]

F. Taylor 14 49 0 (3.5 ypc)

M. Jones-Drew 7 17 1 (2.4 ypc)

 

 

They had a big 3rd Q but that was it.

 

VA is still smarting because he's been loves JP's jock.

[Joe Miner]

F. Taylor 14 49 0 (3.5 ypc)

M. Jones-Drew 7 17 1 (2.4 ypc)

 

 

Could be that the final stat line doesn't really tell the whole story, but good job on doing an ESPN analysis.

 

1st half

 

Taylor 6 rushes 7 yards

 

2nd half

 

Taylor 8 rushes 42 yards

 

See a problem?

 

Jac only rushed (with a RB) 6 times in the first half, and as a result was losing 10-3 at halftime.

 

In the second half, Jac ran it 15 times and scored 13 points to the Bills' 10 . They averaged almost 4 ypc which is still deceptive since they had 2 carries inside the 5 for the TD. Hard to get a high average with limited distance in that situation.

 

When Jac made more of an effort to run the ball, they weren't too bad at it. In fact, they were much better at it than they should have been with an injury riddled O-line.

 

You're right, the stats weren't that amazing, but IMO, they had too much success with the state that their O-line was in.

[MDH]

So sitting at 0-2, the Jags fans should probably temper their disappointment since they played two really, really good teams who are now a collective 4-0?

 

No. Wait. We can't be a good team since we beat teams that are 0-fer.

 

No. Wait. When, exactly, are we supposed to show some enthusiasm? Probably when we lose to a team that's undefeated? Which is what we did on our Monday Nighter last year vs. Dallas. I mean, if you have to temper yourself at 2-0, you should probably be downright giddy losing to a team that was 5-0, right? Yeah, I remember getting up that next Tuesday morning and being really enthusiastic.

 

No. Wait.

 

Y'know what? Screw enthusiasm. It's overrated.

 

If the Bills handle the Raiders and Rams it's only because they suck, the Cards are obviously overrated having beaten two horrible teams, the Chargers obviously suck as they are 0-2*, the Jets are overrated, the Pats don't have Brady, the Browns look horrible, KC and the Niners are two of the worst teams in the league, and the Broncos only win because the refs give it to them.

 

Looking at that schedule I don't think we're allowed to get excited this season, even if the Bills win every game.

[dib]

I guess then, to feel better about ourselves the Bills should lose to Oakland.

[Cugalabanza]

I think it's important that, regardless of whatever feelings we may be having, we are able to take ownership of these feelings. This is a very exciting and wonderful time in a young man's life, when certain changes may be taking place. And some of these changes may at times seem scary or strange to us, but we need to keep in mind that it is all perfectly natural and it is ok to feel good about this most beautiful of nature's gifts, a playoff caliber football team.

[ricojes]

Could be that the final stat line doesn't really tell the whole story, but good job on doing an ESPN analysis.

 

1st half

 

Taylor 6 rushes 7 yards

 

2nd half

 

Taylor 8 rushes 42 yards

 

See a problem?

 

Jac only rushed (with a RB) 6 times in the first half, and as a result was losing 10-3 at halftime.

 

In the second half, Jac ran it 15 times and scored 13 points to the Bills' 10 . They averaged almost 4 ypc which is still deceptive since they had 2 carries inside the 5 for the TD. Hard to get a high average with limited distance in that situation.

 

When Jac made more of an effort to run the ball, they weren't too bad at it. In fact, they were much better at it than they should have been with an injury riddled O-line.

 

You're right, the stats weren't that amazing, but IMO, they had too much success with the state that their O-line was in.

Ok, out of curiosity I'll check the play by play designed runs and throw out the first half:

3rd Qtr Jax first drive

1-10-JAC 26 (14:51) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 34 for 8 yards (56-K.Ellison).

2-2-JAC 34 (14:23) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 36 for 2 yards (59-K.Mitchell).

2-1-JAC 45 (13:03) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to JAC 45 for no gain (20-D.Whitner).

1-10-BUF 19 (11:36) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 19 for no gain (20-D.Whitner).

1-5-BUF 5 (10:14) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 2 for 3 yards (90-C.Kelsay).

2-2-BUF 2 (9:35) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle for 2 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

 

Jax came out after the half and put together a ver nice drive. Taylor averaged 3.3 per carry and MJD averaged 1.5 with a TD.

 

3rd Qtr 2nd Jax drive

1-10-JAC 39 (9:30) 28-F.Taylor right end to BUF 48 for 13 yards (20-D.Whitner).

1-10-BUF 48 (8:46) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 36 for 12 yards (24-T.McGee).

1-10-BUF 36 (8:10) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 32 for 4 yards (95-K.Williams).

2-6-BUF 32 (7:33) 32-M.Jones-Drew left end to BUF 33 for -1 yards (33-J.Greer; 95-K.Williams).

 

By far FT's best runs of the game 2 rushes for 25 yards, good thing they didn't use him more on this drive. FT 2 rushes for 25 yards, MJD 2 rushes for 3 yards.

 

3rd Qtr 3rd Jax drive

1-10-BUF 36 (3:35) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 35 for 1 yard (24-T.McGee).

3-1-BUF 27 (2:26) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 27 for no gain (43-B.Scott). JJ32 Shaken up on the play.

 

Only 2 attempted runs, both shut down.

 

4th Qtr 4th Jax drive

1-10-JAC 22 (10:05) 28-F.Taylor left end to JAC 25 for 3 yards (94-A.Schobel).

2-7-JAC 25 (9:22) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 28 for 3 yards (95-K.Williams).

 

FT 2 rushes for 6 yards.

 

4th Qtr 5th Jax drive

No rushing attempts

 

4th Qtr 6th Jax drive

No rushing attempts

 

So I will agree that the first 2 drives after the half were the Jags most successful. They must have found something at half and exposed it. Looks like it took the Bills 2 drives to figure out what they were doing. Personally I think the Bills made a running team throw the ball more than they wanted to by, for the most part, shutting down the run...

[The Guy]

We all need to apologize to the league for being enthusiastic about our favorite team. Since we are all life long Bills fans (Im presuming) we should not cheer for our Bills when they have success. We should restrain ourselves from being excited because we won our first two games, both against last year playoff teams. One of which, in some projections, was to go all the way this year. We also took that win in one of the hottest days I can remember at this time of year in Jax. Our defense doesnt deserve to be cheered for since we have only allowed 18% of third down conversions and have looked much improved from last season. Dont even think about praising the offense because all they have done is improved. If you bring up Trent Edwards and think you like him, shame on you, all he's done is throw 2 TD's, no pics and a QB rating of 107.7 To the first poster. Thanks for letting us know we shouldn't cheer or be excited about these Bills. Now go outside and play in traffic.

[VOR]

Ok, out of curiosity I'll check the play by play designed runs and throw out the first half:

3rd Qtr Jax first drive

1-10-JAC 26 (14:51) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 34 for 8 yards (56-K.Ellison).

2-2-JAC 34 (14:23) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 36 for 2 yards (59-K.Mitchell).

2-1-JAC 45 (13:03) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to JAC 45 for no gain (20-D.Whitner).

1-10-BUF 19 (11:36) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 19 for no gain (20-D.Whitner).

1-5-BUF 5 (10:14) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 2 for 3 yards (90-C.Kelsay).

2-2-BUF 2 (9:35) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle for 2 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

 

Jax came out after the half and put together a ver nice drive. Taylor averaged 3.3 per carry and MJD averaged 1.5 with a TD.

 

3rd Qtr 2nd Jax drive

1-10-JAC 39 (9:30) 28-F.Taylor right end to BUF 48 for 13 yards (20-D.Whitner).

1-10-BUF 48 (8:46) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 36 for 12 yards (24-T.McGee).

1-10-BUF 36 (8:10) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 32 for 4 yards (95-K.Williams).

2-6-BUF 32 (7:33) 32-M.Jones-Drew left end to BUF 33 for -1 yards (33-J.Greer; 95-K.Williams).

 

By far FT's best runs of the game 2 rushes for 25 yards, good thing they didn't use him more on this drive. FT 2 rushes for 25 yards, MJD 2 rushes for 3 yards.

 

3rd Qtr 3rd Jax drive

1-10-BUF 36 (3:35) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to BUF 35 for 1 yard (24-T.McGee).

3-1-BUF 27 (2:26) 32-M.Jones-Drew up the middle to BUF 27 for no gain (43-B.Scott). JJ32 Shaken up on the play.

 

Only 2 attempted runs, both shut down.

 

4th Qtr 4th Jax drive

1-10-JAC 22 (10:05) 28-F.Taylor left end to JAC 25 for 3 yards (94-A.Schobel).

2-7-JAC 25 (9:22) 28-F.Taylor up the middle to JAC 28 for 3 yards (95-K.Williams).

 

FT 2 rushes for 6 yards.

 

4th Qtr 5th Jax drive

No rushing attempts

 

4th Qtr 6th Jax drive

No rushing attempts

 

So I will agree that the first 2 drives after the half were the Jags most successful. They must have found something at half and exposed it. Looks like it took the Bills 2 drives to figure out what they were doing. Personally I think the Bills made a running team throw the ball more than they wanted to by, for the most part, shutting down the run...

Thanks for saving me the trouble. What hasn't been mentioned is that the heat and humidity played a factor and that the 2nd Jax drive occurred after a successful onsides kick, meaning the defense had to go back onto the field immediately after an almost 5-1/2 minute TD drive. Not to mention the Jags' O-line was being allowed to hold, which wears a DL down. That would explain Taylor's excellent stats on that drive. Yet they only scored a FG.