A Few Thoughts About The Game.....

[twist_to_open]

5 and freakin 1 baby!!!!

[BuffOrange]

McKelvin got burned on the first TD. The second TD he had fine coverage...it was just a perfect throw.

 

Given that he wasn't chewed up today, I will assume he played a decent game, for a rookie CB. From what I was able to see, he was fine.

 

Not to mention there was zero pressure on what looked like a 6man rush?

[BuffOrange]

Marshawn apparently rolled his ankle in the drive previous and they went with Jackson as a precautionary measure and because he is a very capable back himself.

 

As for the "run out of bounds", the clock kept moving so no harm no foul.

 

Or are we now onto running Marshawn out of town now? Can't we as fans just be f#cking happy that we're 5 and 1 and not be b!tching about a guy who our own coach says "has the most heart he's ever seen in a player"?

 

F#CK.

 

You really don't think anyone can have a problem w/ him running out of bounds when we're trying to run out the clock without "trying to run him out of town"? Really?

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

Right on.

[JDG]

Were the visible clocks even working? According to an interview after the game, Trent said they were playing without a clock, on the field.

 

In my mind it doesn't matter. The Bills had already established that they were in "run the clock" mode (even if you couldn't figure it out on your own) by running down the playclock the play before. Once you get in "run the clock" mode, as a RB, you should be thinking "stay in bounds." There is no way you should be thinking, "oh, we started 'run the clock mode' with more than five minutes left in the half, so the clock will keep running even if I go out of bounds.

 

JDG

[Simon]

Not to mention there was zero pressure on what looked like a 6man rush?

 

That was a horrible blitz down, imo. I like Fewell but I was cussing him like a sailor when he sent the crew at the snap.

And I'm not sure why I've seen several comments about how good McKelvin's coverage was on that play. I thought he was confused and tentative, that he took at last one bad false step, and he relinquished the inside waaayyyyy too easy on a down where he knew interior support was not forthcoming.

He should have shaded the inside shoulder, established underneath position and forced Rivers to make a very difficult throw under duress. My uneducated guess is that's how he was coached to play that blitz and just made a nervous rookie mistake on a huge down.

[BuffOrange]

Hey Dean let it go...You wont change anyone mind on that game, thats set on blaming it on JP...It aint gonna happen...

 

 

Lets just be happy we got our QB of the future right now in Trent Edwards....

 

This. As someone who was ridiculed for being a "JP basher" last year, I can't believe people are blaming the Cards loss on him. Hell if he played that well last year he wouldn't have lost his job.

 

I will say that my favorite Trent play today was the ~15 yard slant to Reed on the last FG drive. He wasn't even that open, but the QB just makes it look so routine; when in years past our QB would've held on to the ball another 1-2 seconds causing everyone to whine about our OL not protecting well enough, the playcalling, and everything else under the sun except the guy delivering the mail.

[BillsVet]

No one's said much about Fred Jackson's block on "physical" CB Quentin Jammer. The definition of pancake.

 

On blitzing, it should be noted that the Bills relented. I've always thought DJ to be very stubborm, but they're admitting some things by changin since last game. Granted they blitzed Rivers on at least one questionable down, but at least the coaches understand that with or without Schobel they've got to change things up. Their DL cannot generate a pass rush on its own.

 

Anyone who wants to say Lee Evans isn't worth the money is being obtuse. In camp he was repeatedly getting open. That hasn't changed in the regular season. Some need to face reality and admit the cost of doing business at every position is going up. Without LE, this offense isn't nearly as successful. 24 receptions, 521 yards, and 3 TD through 6 games.

 

Lastly, when the Bills get turnovers, their C2 works. When they don't, it can be ugly. Mitchell's INT takes away everything and it turns into 3 points, in addition to a huge momentum shift.

[stevewin]

That was a horrible blitz down, imo. I like Fewell but I was cussing him like a sailor when he sent the crew at the snap.

And I'm not sure why I've seen several comments about how good McKelvin's coverage was on that play. I thought he was confused and tentative, that he took at last one bad false step, and he relinquished the inside waaayyyyy too easy on a down where he knew interior support was not forthcoming.

He should have shaded the inside shoulder, established underneath position and forced Rivers to make a very difficult throw under duress. My uneducated guess is that's how he was coached to play that blitz and just made a nervous rookie mistake on a huge down.

I thought Whitner's positioning was very strange on that play. At the snap he started to move up - then hesitated, like he was going on a delayed blitz - then he kind of backed off, but just a little bit - kind of putting him in a no man's land.

[cåblelady]

7) Did Jason Peters play well? No, he was flat out dominant. He was crushing, I mean destroying m.f.s, and going upfield to hit someone else. It was truly a thing of beauty to watch. Good for you kid!!!!!

Uh......are you sure you weren't watching the Steelers game?

[The Dean]

In my mind it doesn't matter. The Bills had already established that they were in "run the clock" mode (even if you couldn't figure it out on your own) by running down the playclock the play before. Once you get in "run the clock" mode, as a RB, you should be thinking "stay in bounds." There is no way you should be thinking, "oh, we started 'run the clock mode' with more than five minutes left in the half, so the clock will keep running even if I go out of bounds.

 

JDG

 

I don't disagree. I wish I could remember the play, as I usually scream at the TV in those situations. But, I was simply wondering if there was a clock on the field, that would have served as a reminder, to all the players.

 

 

That was a horrible blitz down, imo. I like Fewell but I was cussing him like a sailor when he sent the crew at the snap.

And I'm not sure why I've seen several comments about how good McKelvin's coverage was on that play. I thought he was confused and tentative, that he took at last one bad false step, and he relinquished the inside waaayyyyy too easy on a down where he knew interior support was not forthcoming.

He should have shaded the inside shoulder, established underneath position and forced Rivers to make a very difficult throw under duress. My uneducated guess is that's how he was coached to play that blitz and just made a nervous rookie mistake on a huge down.

 

I saw exactly what you think you saw. He looked awkward in the coverage, but, in the end he had pretty tight coverage on Jackson. Now, you mention that had he not let Jackson take the inside, Rivers would have had to make a different (more difficult? maybe) throw. Given that Rivers was basically sipping tea, in the face of a failed blitz, I assume he throws that 12 yard pass where it needs to be, in that play. I'm not going to bash a rookie (or even a vet) CB on that play.

[Dibs]

5 and freakin 1 baby!!!!

[JDG]

There certainly may be something to that, but let's not forget that the team didn't play well for Trent when it let him get bashed to the ground, against Arizona. of course, part of that was Trent's fault, as he decided to take that hit, instead of dumping the ball earlier. (I admire a guy who takes that hit, but he does the team no good from the locker room.)

 

I have to slightly quibble with this. Its probably not fair to blame the "team" for the Adrian Wilson hit. At worst, it was a matter of 1, maybe 2 players missing their blocking assignment on a single play. I'd argue that Hardy (a member of the team) played pretty well on that play.

 

Great teams actually step up, when one of their leaders, and best players gets hurt. If it's true that the Bills don't play well with JP under center, it speaks more to the character of the team, than to JP, IMO. If this team is going to make it to the first tier of NFL teams, they will need to play strong and hard regardless of who is at QB, or RB, or CB, etc.

 

Up on the TBD website there is an article that has some extended quotes from Donte Whitner on this subject.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/11047927

 

The relevant nuggets are:

"I'm very confident in Trent. In the past it was tough because you didn't know exactly what you were going to get from the offense. You didn't know if you were going to get points, so you almost had to play perfect on the defense side of the ball. And once you try to play perfect, you make mistakes.

 

"So with Trent out there I don't have any worries at all. I sit on the bench, drink a little water, a little Gatorade and I glance over at the scoreboard. We need him out there.

 

Trent Edwards then added this nugget:

So we're not pressing, and we're not forcing things that don't need to be forced. But that has a lot to do with the way our defense is playing.

 

I think Trent's comment is true the other way around as well. When the offense is playing well, the defense may not press as much - and that may produce better results. I think that's only human - and I disagree that its a character flaw in the team.

 

With that being said, Whitner added this little firstarter:

 

I felt like if we had him for the entire game against Arizona we might be sitting here talking about a 6-0 football team instead of 5-1. I really believe that.

 

My own assessment is that while Trent Edwards would have helped during Arizona (I think he would have avoided at least one of those two strip-sacks if nothing else), the way our defense and running game played in that game, the net effect would have been to just make the score a little closer. If Kurt Warner got his hands on the ball with a chance to win in that game, you just had the sense that he would have made it happen on that day against that day's Bills defense - pressing or not pressing.

 

JDG

[KOKBILLS]

10) We deserve this kind of elation folks. We can bicker away, but we are in this together and right now, it is looking ing good. Let's keep it going!

 

11) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hell yes We deserve this!!!!

 

I can't get rid of this smile...

 

VERY Nice...

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Lori]

Were the visible clocks even working? According to an interview after the game, Trent said they were playing without a clock, on the field.

Scoreboard/clocks came back on for good early in the second half.

 

A few more thoughts:

- Not sure how much they talked about it on the radio, but Brad Butler missed a significant part of the first half, and (I believe) spent the entire second half on the sideline. That left Duke Preston at C, Jason Whittle at RG, and Matt Murphy as the only other available O-lineman for the last two quarters. Does the run-blocking need to get better? Yup. That said, kudos to today's cobbled-together front five for keeping Trent upright all game long.

 

-They went after McKelvin all game long. He definitely missed a few, but when I pointed that out in the Lot 1 postgame confab, R. Rich responded, "How long should he be expected to cover?" Valid point -- not much of a pass rush early on. Plus, he'll get better with more experience.

 

-And overall, for a defense missing its Pro Bowl DE and starting a rookie CB, holding the league's (former) top-scoring offense to half their average isn't a bad thing.

 

-Of coourse, Trent's 25-for-30 day was the primary topic of conversation in the lot. Tell me again: this kid's only in his second season in the league? With apologies to Timbuck3, "The future's so bright ..."

 

-And Mitchell was a beast.

Period.

[The Dean]

Scoreboard/clocks came back on for good early in the second half.

 

A few more thoughts:

- Not sure how much they talked about it on the radio, but Brad Butler missed a significant part of the first half, and (I believe) spent the entire second half on the sideline. That left Duke Preston at C, Jason Whittle at RG, and Matt Murphy as the only other available O-lineman for the last two quarters. Does the run-blocking need to get better? Yup. That said, kudos to today's cobbled-together front five for keeping Trent upright all game long.

 

-They went after McKelvin all game long. He definitely missed a few, but when I pointed that out in the Lot 1 postgame confab, R. Rich responded, "How long should he be expected to cover?" Valid point -- not much of a pass rush early on. Plus, he'll get better with more experience.

 

-And overall, for a defense missing its Pro Bowl DE and starting a rookie CB, holding the league's (former) top-scoring offense to half their average isn't a bad thing.

 

-Of coourse, Trent's 25-for-30 day was the primary topic of conversation in the lot. Tell me again: this kid's only in his second season in the league? With apologies to Timbuck3, "The future's so bright ..."

 

-And Mitchell was a beast.

Period.

 

Nicely summed up, Lo.

 

And, thanks for the info on the scoreboard clocks.

[EC-Bills]

Scoreboard/clocks came back on for good early in the second half.

 

A few more thoughts:

- Not sure how much they talked about it on the radio, but Brad Butler missed a significant part of the first half, and (I believe) spent the entire second half on the sideline. That left Duke Preston at C, Jason Whittle at RG, and Matt Murphy as the only other available O-lineman for the last two quarters. Does the run-blocking need to get better? Yup. That said, kudos to today's cobbled-together front five for keeping Trent upright all game long.

 

 

From what I got to see of the game today, I thought Duke did a good job. No flying into the backfield from bull rushes like Melvin has been dealing with.

 

Didn't kow about Butler. From what I saw, there wasn't much difference in play from Butler to Whittle.

 

Did we resign Murphy? I knew we released him but that's as far as I know.

 

 

-They went after McKelvin all game long. He definitely missed a few, but when I pointed that out in the Lot 1 postgame confab, R. Rich responded, "How long should he be expected to cover?" Valid point -- not much of a pass rush early on. Plus, he'll get better with more experience.

 

-And overall, for a defense missing its Pro Bowl DE and starting a rookie CB, holding the league's (former) top-scoring offense to half their average isn't a bad thing.

 

-Of coourse, Trent's 25-for-30 day was the primary topic of conversation in the lot. Tell me again: this kid's only in his second season in the league? With apologies to Timbuck3, "The future's so bright ..."

 

-And Mitchell was a beast.

Period.

 

I agree, Trent has really impressed me this year.

[Lori]

Why did I type Murphy? Meant Kirk Chambers. Long day, I guess ...

[Paup 1995MVP]

1) Forget stats. I don't remember seeing Marshawn Lynch play a better, more complete game. He picked up blitzes, and was as clutch as a m.f.!!!

 

2) It makes no sense to say, or even think this, but anybody who isn't a part of this can kiss my a$$. OK, I'll calm down.

 

3) Message #1 to McKelvin: Please, go and talk to your coaches before your coverage gives me a heart attack. Thanks.

 

4) Who here actually believed that Mitchell had it in him to take over a football game? Not me, and I always thought that he was a good player.

 

5) Tell me, who was the better quarterback out there today, Rivers or Trent? I mean, I'm just ing asking, ya know?

 

6) I promise.....this was a season changing, absolutely HUGE win. I hope you read this 1billsfan. We did it Bro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

7) Did Jason Peters play well? No, he was flat out dominant. He was crushing, I mean destroying m.f.s, and going upfield to hit someone else. It was truly a thing of beauty to watch. Good for you kid!!!!!

 

8) Melvin who?

 

9) Message #2 to McKelvin: RUN, don't trot when you catch a kickoff. If you do so, you will outrun people to the endzone with your blazing speed. Thanks again.

 

10) We deserve this kind of elation folks. We can bicker away, but we are in this together and right now, it is looking ing good. Let's keep it going!

 

11) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. If Trent stays healthy, we are looking at a 12-4 season. He is that good.

4. Kawika played a monster 4th quarter. The reason this team is playing so well is that every week someone else is having a monster game for us. We have a lot of players who can have monster games. The talent level on this roster has greatly increased. No reason we can't be 7-1 when we go into New England.

[Stenbar]

I have to slightly quibble with this. Its probably not fair to blame the "team" for the Adrian Wilson hit. At worst, it was a matter of 1, maybe 2 players missing their blocking assignment on a single play. I'd argue that Hardy (a member of the team) played pretty well on that play.

 

Up on the TBD website there is an article that has some extended quotes from Donte Whitner on this subject.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/11047927

 

The relevant nuggets are:

 

 

Trent Edwards then added this nugget:

 

 

I think Trent's comment is true the other way around as well. When the offense is playing well, the defense may not press as much - and that may produce better results. I think that's only human - and I disagree that its a character flaw in the team.

 

With that being said, Whitner added this little firstarter:

 

 

 

My own assessment is that while Trent Edwards would have helped during Arizona (I think he would have avoided at least one of those two strip-sacks if nothing else), the way our defense and running game played in that game, the net effect would have been to just make the score a little closer. If Kurt Warner got his hands on the ball with a chance to win in that game, you just had the sense that he would have made it happen on that day against that day's Bills defense - pressing or not pressing.

 

JDG

It was a well timed blitz..If anyone shoulda done anything Royal shoulda chipped him at the line..Those plays are gonna happen..If Trent audibles out of it or Royal chips him it doesnt happen...

 

 

When a statement like that comes from your Team Captain and the lockeroom leader I guess no more needs to be said on this JP subject..Case closed..