Well, here is what I notcied: -The Bills Special Teams unit is still quite good, and the Standard in the AFCE. -Clifton Smith is a tough guy -Brandon Marshall WANTS to make plays, been a long time since we had that in Miami. -Ronnie Brown looked great -Ricky Williams didn't. -Brian Hartline is wilting under the spotlight -Wake, Misi and Dansby all had 1 sack..when was the last time we had a Inside Linebacker get a legit sack? -Mike Nolan had a solid first game as the Defensive Coordinator, have to wonder what Broncos fans think of that? -Too early to give Jason Allen props, but he was man on man on Lee Evans all over the field..did anyone notice Evans making any plays? -I suspect we all should become accustomed to seeing a 4-3 look as it matches the talent on Defense better right now. -Chris Clemons looked like a guided missile at times, something I did not expect from him but there it was. -How many players on Defense have Dreds? What 5? I do not mind save for you cannot read their names on their jerseys -Dan Carpenter had a rough game, missed FG, kick off that went out of bounds, DC Cash would like to forget this game I'd think. -Soliai and McDaniel had nice, solid games, but I think we'd better Hope Odrick makes it to the Vikings game. -Cam Wake on Mckenny or Loaholt will be a matchup to watch next week on the turf, heck Misi as well, nice burst from Koa Misi. -If Dobbins is out, and Crowder is out, does Nolan dare start UDFA Micah Johnson at the Moe? -Good to see Lou Polite in the mix on offense, and he kept his streak alive of picking up short yardage first downs. -Give the Bills and Chan Gailey, George Edwards and Bruce Dehaven credit, the Bills did not self destruct, they played solid, fundamental football, even with poor Oline talent the outright mistakes were kept to a minimum -Good to see Roscoe Parrish re-emerge as a threat for the Bills, especially now that we got the home game out of the way, I suspect the Jets and Pats will have problems with his game. All in all, an ugly win, but the W/L column only shows "W"s and "L"s -
The only bone headed play I saw from our team was Cobbs on our second to last possession. He fielded a kick that was surely going out of bounds.
Yup...I was thinking he was going to field it with one foot out of bounds to get the penalty, but he tried to return it..that goober.
Some bad clock management as well, throwing on 2nd and 5 at 2:06 stopped the clock and gave the Bills an extra TO. We massively dominated Time of Possession and only had 3 penalties and no Turnovers, that is SparanoBallto a "T".
That was a bad play. He should have fielded the kick with one foot on the out-of-bounds line resulting in us getting the ball at the 40. Wes Welker used to do that all that time. Not sure why more players don't. The only other play that bugged me was the Dolphins throwing the ball on 3rd down late in the game before the 2-Minute Warning. You have to run it there. You've essentially given the Bills an extra time-out. They were conservative all game, not sure why they decided to switch it up there. EDIT: Damn you Padre
That one had me muttering under my breath for sure. And, it's that kind of play calling that has me questioning Henning's ability to call a good football game.
Calling a time out with 21 seconds left in the half for a "last second" FG was worse, and almost cost us 3 points.
I said the exact same thing. Why the **** would you throw in that situation? You keep the clock moving. Also, why was the ball being snapped with 15 seconds left on the play clock towards the end of the game when we're trying to run out the clock?
On a third and 5 Bess fell backwards out of bounds, with plenty of room up field, it could have been a huge gain had he turned up field.
Yep, not sure "who" is in charge of clock mgmt but it was poor v the Bills. 4th qtr, we have the ball, Henne was snapping the ball with 12 seconds left on the play clock as well. Sparano really needs to handle that as this is not the first time he has looked clownish at the end of a half.
To me the time management before half time was the worst aspect in the whole game. Buffallo should have never had the ball back on thier last possesion. Final score is a breath of fresh air though
It is sad when any knowledgeable fan sees it, and the coaching staff does not. As you say, this was not the first time. Can we send a forum link to the coaches upstairs? LOL Also, when Buff went no huddle, Stevie Wonder could see we were not ready for it. I was SCREAMING for a time out, and it took way too long.
Granted, we still won but it is not good when the same clock problems carry over into Sparano's third season. I'm going to say right now that I like our matchup with the Vikings. Massive Oline v our Large Dline and Speed on the carpet in MN. Weak secondary vs BMarsh, DBess and Fasano..would not be surprised if Moore plays more than Hartline, or if Wallace is active for this game as Hartline is just not getting it done. Also think Clifton Smith should be more of a factor, the Bills ST unit is really good, the Vikes..not so much.
i dunno about the vikings secondary beeing weak, they held drew brees to 237 yards with 36 attempts and 27 of them complete, we really lack a burner on offense, i´m also a little worried about the injuries after only 1 game, if odrick misses time, we should have douglass on speed dial, heck maybe even grant too, dont tell me who to cut though, i have no idea
A part of that is the Saints ran the ball effectively, the Williams Wall was on roller skates for most of the game. A rook and Lito Sheperd and Abdullah makes for a weak secondary.
I know which play you speak of as I was screaming at the TV when it happened, but I wasn't screaming at Henning, but rather Henne. If you look at the tape, he clearly called an audible on that play at the line of scrimmage. Could have been a pass play going in and it just changed to a different pass play with the audible, but I doubt it, and at the very least you have to wonder if that was Henne's doing.
Could be, but Carpenter was in on the very first series as Buffalo went to the pistol. Dobbins being hurt was minimized a bit by Buffalo using so much multi-WR looks. Typically Dobbins is off the field in those situations anyway. Carpenter was brought in for the A.J. Edds role. So expect to see a lot more of him.
Our LB crew looked really good. Channing who? They were all over the field. Clemons and Bell were bring the heat on every play. Jason Allen played really good too.
I like it as well. With Rice out and Farve staying one year too long, I expect Nolan to throw the kitchen sink at them. Viking's secondary is banged up and beatable. Brees missed on a number of plays. The biggest thing we got out of the Buff win was some confidence for the very young guys on D. Everyone, other than Smith and Culver, did something to prove they belong. Has to be a big help, regardless if it was against Buff.
Sooner or later, M Johnson will have to play as Carpenter is just not a good run defender, I suspect that weakness at ILB is why Nolan went with the 4-3.
The other match up I really like is Dansby on Shinacoe, he is their big play threat in the passing game, if he is neutralized most of the Vikes downfield passing game is shut down. I didn't like the matchup with the Bills, they had too many advantages, the Vikes matchup is far more favorable to our chances just do to team makeup. Huge, but lumbering Tackles vs Speed off of the edge, Nolan has much to work with in this game, so does Henning. The one thing I do not like is the Vikes have that ten day layoff, Favre's timing will be better and Nolan did show some things v the Bills, not the full monty mind you, but some stuff.
I thought Brown looked very good. Our offense in general was very conservative, but I don't have a problem with that in this game. This was a game we win as long as we don't make too many big mistakes so being conservative was a wise strategy. Our defense was fast and aggressive. We really only blitzed on third down and obvious passing plays and not even on most of those. I didn't see a much 4-3. We (and everybody else) use a four man line in our nickel and dime packages. I think you're mistaking that for a 4-3. Our STs coverage was much improved against a very good unit. Our blocking on STs returns isn't there yet. And our specialists didn't have good games. I am also very excited to see the impact Wake has going forward. He demands attention. If Minny singles him on Loadholt, I like his chances. If they give Loadholt help then it will either open up other rushers or limit Favre's receiving options. Either way its a win. We probably won't get sacks b/c Favre gets rid of the ball well but just hitting him often will be huge. Ugly win, but I wouldn't mind getting 18 more like that this season. (BTW That's not a prediction or an expectation).
Good points Pads , however at least for the one game I have to give credit to Jason Allen. He played very well , and colour me surprised. I like it of course. Ricky maybe didn't look great but he didn't look bad either.
I'd guess you mean 3-4? I did, I was looking for it and saw it maybe 25% of the time. Bad news maybe? I hope Grant or Douglas are on speed dial.
No, I meant 4-3. I haven't rewatched the game (I only have the second half taped for some reason), but what I recall was that we were in 3-4 as the primary base and then went to nickel and dime about 70% of the time after their run game proved ineffective. I only saw a few 4-3 plays. I've felt we should have kept one or both of those guys all along.
His timing after yet another Mississippi trip , ( grandpa was going to a christening , baptism ? ) . Favre is still Favre in some regards, however, if/when he gets banged up , hit , he will show the after effects much more than he has in the past imo. Think we have a chance to create the quintessential Favre turnover(s) , it won't be easy in the dome against Minnesota , but the speed we showed on Defense surprised me , and it will be a huge plus on that carpet. If 4 gets rung up the way Dansby did on the first possesion , I am liking our chances a lot more. Road trip south , 450 miles, we are 1 and 0 , woo hoo ... !
You'll see, 4 downlinemen, 3 Lb's, mentioned it in the Gameday thread. As for Grant or Douglas, eh, what could they have added? The D crushed the Bills without them.
Doesn't look like Dobbins will be out for a long period. But, with Carpenter here, don't see Johnson starting. Dobbins, Crowder & Carpenter would have to be injured. Hoping Dobbins is full speed next week.
Maybe it's just me but I noticed Carpenter out there before I noticed Dobbins. Only time I noticed Dobbins is when he was taking poor angles against the run.
You could be right here IMO. We didnt' see a ton of 4-3 yesterday, actually a nickel package quite a bit but we could see 4-3 quite a bit if teams don't spread us out like Buffalo did. Either way, the DL raises hell.
That is what I'm not sure about, Carpenter is a nickel ILB filling in at the moment, would they rotate Johnson in on running downs? Makes a kind of sense imho.
That also covers up the problems at ILB until Dobbins is 100% or Crowder comes back healthy. Lots of flexibility for Nolan to work with right now.
Very true, padre. He ran a four man line some at Denver too. Also did work in a nickel packages quite a bit I felt. It was common for him to play Cover 3 out of it IIRC.
Disagree about Ricky, I thought he ran hard and converted a CRITICAL 4th quarter 3rd down on a play that should've lost yards, then coulve been down a couple more times.
I do not see TE's killing us this year. As you said Dansby, and Misi can cover. Alama-Francis will just knock them down. Also, Clemons did finally impress me. I know it was only Buff but, he was in position every play, and made some nice tackles. Now, if somene can only coach him not to tackle high. It worked on Spiller, AP will leave him in the dust.
Wake has really improved vs the run and pass. Hard to believe that he actually defended two passes. That play at the end of the game should have given him two sacks, cost me $20 as I predicted two. LOL Forget about the sacks, he put on consistent pressure, and "could" have the makings of a star. Regardless, he is much better than JP.