Lori Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Errrrr..... this IS still a Buffalo Bills board, correct? And there's a game tomorrow? Just checking. Number of the week: #24 (for Terrence McGee) will do, I suppose. As I posted in another thread - if MadMikeMartz has seen the tapes from the last couple of Bills games, he'll go after McGee early and often. Now, I'm not trying to pick on McGee here - for a fourth-round pick out of a Division I-AA school, trying to become a "shutdown" corner on a team that blitzes as much as Buffalo does is a lot to ask... as is going up against two Pro Bowl receivers, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, in only the ninth start of his career. Now combine that with a rookie UDFA making his first-EVER start at FS, and things could get interesting. Bottom line: the passrush had better make life uncomfortable for Marc Bulger.... or else. Ah, but Bulger's been sacked the same number of times as Bledsoe, so maybe that's not just wishful thinking. The Rams running game could keep the d-line on their heels, though - Marshall Faulk is averaging a gaudy 4.8 ypc, and their talented rookie Steven Jackson is even better (5.2). St. Louis hasn't scored fewer than two touchdowns in any game this season; we'll have to see if the Bills defense can break that trend. Question is, can the Bills score enough to keep up with them? That leads me to an even bigger question -- one I have no idea how to answer, and the reason I'm not making any predictions one way or the other this week: Which Bills team will show up tomorrow? The one we saw in the last couple of home games - efficient, not making the stupid mistakes that cost them games earlier in the season? Or the team that got their hats handed to them Sunday night? Drew's horrid performance was a major factor in that game, to be sure, but the defense didn't exactly impress anyone by letting the Patriots score on five of their first six possessions - including drives of 81, 91, 75, and 70 yards. If those were the 'real' Bills, then St. Louis will win by double digits tomorrow. On the other hand, the Rams defense does have weak spots that the Bills can exploit, IF they come out ready to play. The St. Louis defense ranks in the bottom 10 in just about every significant statistic; for all the complaining we do about the lack of sacks/turnovers the Bills are forcing, the Rams are worse in both departments. One more thing to mention - the Rams have a pretty good kicker in Jeff Wilkins, but the Bills have a distinct advantage on punts/kickoffs. Rams are LAST in the league in punt returns, not much better (29th) on KRs, and their coverage units are just as bad - 27th for punts, 31st on KO coverage. Meanwhile, the ST coach the Rams fired after last season has the Bills #1 in the league at covering kickoffs, and both PR and KR averages rank in the top 6. Kudos to Bobby April. So how do all those numbers add up? This week, your guess is as good as mine. If the Bills can get a couple of early stops on defense and stick to the run-first/clock management gameplan, I like our chances. OTOH, if the Rams' aerial circus gets rolling, it could be a long day out at the Ralph. But hey, that's just my opinion.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 At least it's being televised locally here (due to the NFC Rams playing). *LOL* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
34-78-83 Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Nice post as always Lori. Hopefully Bills, the home version, will show up tommorow. As toast as our defense was last week vs. the Pats, I looked at it fairly closely and thought that McGee actually had quite a bounceback from the Jet's game and played pretty solid in coverage. He made a couple nice breaks on the ball and defended the WR's Arms well on a couple other throws. He did have the one bad play but that is still to be expected from time to time. If he can just find the right damn shoes to wear tommorow I think he'll do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted November 20, 2004 Author Share Posted November 20, 2004 Nice post as always Lori. Hopefully Bills, the home version, will show up tommorow. As toast as our defense was last week vs. the Pats, I looked at it fairly closely and thought that McGee actually had quite a bounceback from the Jet's game and played pretty solid in coverage. He made a couple nice breaks on the ball and defended the WR's Arms well on a couple other throws. He did have the one bad play but that is still to be expected from time to time. If he can just find the right damn shoes to wear tommorow I think he'll do well. 126323[/snapback] He had some really good plays in the tape of the first Pats game, too, including that almost-INT in the endzone. I don't think he's a horrid player - I just think that leaving him in man-to-man as much as they do is putting an awful lot of pressure on the kid. That's the one part of Gray's scheme I wouldn't mind seeing less often; when the blitzing safety gets to the QB, great... but if he doesn't get there in time, more often than not it gets ugly. And against Bruce and Holt, that could be really, REALLY ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
34-78-83 Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 He had some really good plays in the tape of the first Pats game, too, including that almost-INT in the endzone. I don't think he's a horrid player - I just think that leaving him in man-to-man as much as they do is putting an awful lot of pressure on the kid. That's the one part of Gray's scheme I wouldn't mind seeing less often; when the blitzing safety gets to the QB, great... but if he doesn't get there in time, more often than not it gets ugly. And against Bruce and Holt, that could be really, REALLY ugly. 126333[/snapback] True Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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