Archives for October 14, 2003

‘Defensive line – A. DE Shaun Ellis got his sixth and seventh sacks of the season. NT Jason Ferguson had two sacks, two batted passes and a forced fumble. DT James Reed had seven tackles and a sack, as did rookie Dewayne Robertson.’

‘Drew Bledsoe was sacked seven times in an outstanding game by the defensive line, but that’s not all. The Jets also confused Bledsoe by playing combination coverages. They showed their traditional cover-2 look (zone with two deep safeties) but added a wrinkle at times – man coverage underneath. The extra time Bledsoe needed to recognize the coverage resulted in several of the sacks.’

‘The question that is now arising is, were the Bills over-rated to begin with? It appears that could be the case. With all the new additions on defense, maybe it wasn’t reasonable to assume they would jell quickly and become a dominant unit. There have been far too many breakdowns in the last four weeks and newcomers Takeo Spikes, Sam Adams and Lawyer Milloy have tailed off precipitously since opening day when all three played major roles in the 31-0 shellacking of New England.’

Coaching – D…True, they aren’t the ones making the plays, but they’re the ones putting the players in bad situations.’

‘LB Takeo Spikes seems to have cooled off after an eye-opening start for his new team. Spikes has been in on tackles, but he hasn’t been involved in creating a turnover since the Week 3 loss in Miami.’

‘I’m not jumping to the defense of Williams here, but I also think Donahoe and Wilson need to be absolutely certain they have no alternative before pulling the plug on the Gregg Williams tenure.’

‘Let’s not single out Gregg Williams among the coaches. Kevin Gilbride seems lost. The offense has been pitiful. They have no identity and no ability to put points on the board. Fullback Sam Gash said they’re a “finesse” offense. If that’s the case, why is a blocking fullback like Gash even here? Why didn’t they keep Larry Centers. If it’s a finesse team, why did they dump Jay Riemersma, and add a blocking tight end like Mark Campbell? Perhaps G-M Tom Donahoe needed to change more than his personel in the off-season. If he wanted a smash mouth running game he should have changed his offensive coordinator. The Head Coach certainly isn’t mandating a smash mouth running game, and if he is, Gilbride isn’t listening.’

“It’s never good when you get beat 30-3. There are some good things that go in losses and there’s some bad things that go in wins. In all three phases we’ve got to make corrections and we’ve got to move on.”

‘Steve Spurrier Comments: "We didn’t play very well against Tampa Bay and we’ll need to regroup. Buffalo’s a good team and we’ll need to play better if we want to win next week."’

‘The Bills are particularly struggling against the run. It’s not what was expected from a unit bolstered by the offseason additions of linebackers Takeo Spikes and Jeff Posey, defensive tackle Sam Adams and safety Lawyer Milloy.’

‘“We would hope that he would be able to get back out there sometime next week,” he said.’