My thoughts on yesterday's game

[ROCCITYBBACKER]

1. Fitzpatrick is an amazing quarterback. He just continues to impress me. The guy is not physically gifted, but his intelligence is up there with the best in the league. He just seems to know where he wants to throw the ball on every play before the ball is snapped. While it helps to be athetically gifted at the QB position, it's even more important to be intelligent. Manning/Brady/Brees are who they are because of their intelligence. I know it's early, but I think we found our franchise QB. Some people may say let's hold off calling him that because of the downward spiral Trent Edwards went through after starting 5-1, but let's face it, Edwards didn't put up these types of stats and Fitzpatrick also showed us something last year as well. Edwards came out nowhere. Fitz didn't (well sort of).

 

2. Offensive line has been extremely impressive; however, once again I think Gailey/Fitz have a lot to do with how well they have looked. Did anyone else get the sense that the Bills were more willing to have Fitz take longer drops this week versus last week because they knew the Pats struggle at rushing the passer? It's almost as though Gailey knows their limitations and will develop a game plan around them. Regardless though, my hats go off to the offensive line. I don't think anyone would've predicted they would be as good as they are. And let's not forget how young they are too. Clabo who?

 

3. Gailey is a great coach. There is no way in hell, if Jauron was our coach would we have an offense as prolific as we do. I think Gailey does an excellent job at play calling. While at times, I wish we would run the ball more, this is a pass first league now. Regardless though with Freddy back there, the defense has to stay honest at all times. And not for nothing, are we that surprised the offense is as good as they are? There were definitely glimpses of this last year. Year 2 in a system should be better than year 1 right? Maybe we didn't give the Bills as much credit as we should of. Also, it's obvious the Gailey/Nix combo is working. They are true to themselves and don't let media pressures change them. They know what they need to be successful and have gone out and gotten that. I always thought it was funny when people on this board bashed the Bills for every little move they made this offseason and yet Gailey/Nix are the ones who are around these guys all the time and are the ones who are professionaly qualified to evalute talent unlike 99% of people who post on this board. While I wasn't expecting us to go 3-0 to start the season, I put trust in Gailey/Nix that they knew what they were doing and was looking forward to seeing some of the young guys play.

 

4. Speaking of Freddy, the guy is awesome. Forget what he does on the field. The guy is a great ambassador for the team and city. He is a leader and a great team guy. Does anyone in the NFL break as many tackles as he does? I'm not sure. Once again, should we be that surprised he is doing this? For as long as he has been on the Bills, he has made plays with the limited amount of touches he has received.

 

5. I'm not worried about the lack of plays from Brad Smith and CJ Spiller yesterday. Unfortunately, these aren't everydown players so there are going to be games where they disappear and that's ok. Teams need to gameplan for them regardless and when a team doesn't, Gailey will find a way to exploit it. Being down 21-0, doesn't really allow the Bills to get "cute" and I understand why both these players weren't more involved. I guarantee you, there will be games where they make huge plays to help us win.

 

6. We all knew what Nelson and Stevie could do, but how about Donald Jones. Great to see him step up and have the day that he had. Being at the stadium yesterday, it was clear to me that Fitz recognizes where the single coverage is pre-snap and will throw to the receiver who is single covered. Those deep balls to Jones were because he was left one on one. Great to see Fitz have the confidence for Jones to make those plays and it's great to see Jones make those plays. Steve, Nelson, Jones, Spiller, Jackson, Smith. That's a lot of weapons for a team to gameplan for.

 

7. Brady's 360+ yds don't bother me against our secondary. Brady is a machine back there and he can get those yds against any defense in the NFL. We all knew that the game would come down to TO's and it did. I could care less if our secondary gives up 300+ yds per game as long as we get 4 INT's. However, if Andy Dalton goes out and throws for 300+ on us next weekend then we should be concerned. Also, when did Byrd become such a good open field tackler?

 

8. Once again, lack of a pass rush yesterday doesn't concern me too much. This is NE we are talking about. Week in and week out they throw for 300+ yds and Brady has all day to throw. What we experienced yesterday, is nothing different than what they have done to other teams 95% of the time. Let's see if we can dial it up a notch against the Bengals and Eagles the next two weeks as these teams have suspect lines.

 

9. I feel confident that the Bills will continue to play well and not fall apart like a few years ago. I think this team has a lot of guys who are very humble and feel like they have something to prove given where they came from. Plus, I think this team has much better leadership than in years past. Fitzpatrick comes off as a good leader which is something Edwards never seemed to have. Plus, I like Gailey's old-school football mentality.