A Few Thoughts About The Game

[The Wei 44]

Agreed, why do people keep referring to this play as a deep ball? It was a 15-20 yard pass that he put way too much air under. This wasn't some 40-50 yard pass in the air. It was a throw he should have made to a WIDE OPEN SJ13.

 

And as far as the running thing, I stated this in other threads but apparently no one was paying attention to the fact that after Freddies 80 yard run, Freddie was averaging about 2.7 YPC. The Bills ran pretty terrible after that. We could have run the ball 3 times and gotten no where, left them with 2+ mins left on the clock and the Bills attempting a 40+ yard field goal. And you think the defense would have stopped them from coming back and at least getting a field goal to tie?

 

The play was the right one. It was there. But Fitzys execution was terrible.

 

So how many assumptions are you making re running the ball at that point? a) that 2.7 yd avg would have continued (and that they would have given it to FJ to run); b) That we'd be attempting a 40+ yarder (even if we ran three times and FJ got the 2.7 average, ball is at the 19, so kick is not 40+ yards); c) That we would not have gotten a first down; d) That the Giants would have had a drive from at least let's say their 20 to our 30 (or so) - I am not saying that running is definitely the right move, and I would probably consider short pass/screen plays too, but it is certainly debatable and I disagree that it is a no brainer that the series of events would have unfolded as you suggested necessarily.

[Fixxxer]

5) I am all about Gailey as a coach, and his decision to go for the field goal at the end of the half really did work. I thought it was a dumb decision, and even expected to miss the kick.

 

Anyone noticed how great Gailey pulled the strings after we were stuffed on 3rd and 1? After they stopped us, the play clock read 1:33. Gailey kept the offense on the field and that stopped Coughlin from using a TO. By doing this, Gailey milked the clock, took the FG and left only 33 seconds for Eli to try for a FG. Obviously, I think he would have gone for it had he not deffered the coint toss.

 

When the play ended:

3-1-NYG 31 (1:33) 22-F.Jackson right guard to NYG 31 for no gain (90-J.Pierre-Paul, 72-O.Umenyiora).

 

When Eli took the ball

1-10-NYG 21 (:34) (Shotgun) 44-A.Bradshaw left tackle to NYG 30 for 9 yards (50-N.Barnett, 91-Sp.Johnson).

 

7) On the 3rd qtr. td by Manningham, Carrington was in coverage. This made me cringe and think about the horror days of Dick Jauron. The guy must weight 290. He blocked a field goal. It is NEVER OK for a human like this to be in coverage. Period.

 

Though it may not be natural to ask Carrington to cover a TE he was not responsible for Manningham, who was the only wide out on the play. FWIW he covered the TE well enough for Eli to look elsehwere.

 

 

8) For the third time.....I am all about Gailey as a coach. But can someone tell me why we were throwing with 4:14 left in the game? We were in position to run, score and win. The truth is that Gailey, (as much as I indicated 3 times that I like him), lost us this football game. You want to blame Fitz? Go ahead, but in my opinion he was doing what he was told to do. And yes, the pick Fitz threw in the 3rd quarter was a flat out awful play. There was ZERO chance of completion, and I mean none at all. I expect more from him. But I don't blame him for this loss.

 

Chan "Balls of steel" Gailey, I will never feel dissapionted with a coach that goes for win. Unless he starts going crazy and going for it on 4th down on our territory I'm ok with him trusting his players.

 

14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

damn right.

[NewEra]

Thx again bill. I disagree with your assessment of the deep ball thrown at the end as well. I like that he has the balls to call the play. I like that fitz has the balls to attempt the pass. In hate that fitzs arm is noodle like at times. He has to overthrow that ball and hope Stevie can make a play. He under threw it, and it cost us the game. I understand your thoughts that it's the end of the game and we could've ran the clock down before scoring, but the giants most likely would've had enough time to at least get into FG range with the 2 minute warning and timeouts. Getting the td was the goal, and he gambled and paid. I'm just sick that fitz under threw 2 potential tds. And we lose by 3. Sigh. When Eli missed today, he overthrew. No harm done. When fitz missed, he under threw and Webster made us pay. Hopefully it's a lesson learned and fitz will STOP throwing deep balls of his back foot.

[Spiderweb]

1) Could there be a Bills fan who isn't thrilled by David Nelson? The kid continues to get seperation from defenders and make plays. I will go out on a limb and say that I would rather have him on my football team than Lee Evans at this point. Blast away but one of them consistently gets open, and it ain't Evans.

 

2) Btw, on Freddie J's 80 yarder to the house, Spiller ran downfield with him and blocked. I appreciate effort like this.

 

3) I am all about Gailey as a coach, but he REALLY screwed up by not running the football late in the 2nd qtr. What was it? 2nd and 5? We attempted 2 passes and were knocked out of field goal range. This while up by 4, and getting the football to start the second half. That was an out and out horror show.

 

4) Daddy made whiskey and he made it well. Cost 2 dollars and burned like hell. I cut hickory just to fire the still. Drink a bottle and get ready to kill.

 

5) I am all about Gailey as a coach, and his decision to go for the field goal at the end of the half really did work. I thought it was a dumb decision, and even expected to miss the kick.

 

6) Did you people see the block by Urbik on the 80 yd. TD run by Freddie? He moved the entire defense to the left, and btw Pears (who I will get back to) finished off the play. This is essentially a large portion of what I have always wanted the Bills to do.

 

7) On the 3rd qtr. td by Manningham, Carrington was in coverage. This made me cringe and think about the horror days of Dick Jauron. The guy must weight 290. He blocked a field goal. It is NEVER OK for a human like this to be in coverage. Period.

 

8) For the third time.....I am all about Gailey as a coach. But can someone tell me why we were throwing with 4:14 left in the game? We were in position to run, score and win. The truth is that Gailey, (as much as I indicated 3 times that I like him), lost us this football game. You want to blame Fitz? Go ahead, but in my opinion he was doing what he was told to do. And yes, the pick Fitz threw in the 3rd quarter was a flat out awful play. There was ZERO chance of completion, and I mean none at all. I expect more from him. But I don't blame him for this loss.

 

9) Drayton Florence was awful today with the penalties. It was clearly his worst game as a Buffalo Bill. We can't afford this. If it keeps up they will draft another first round corner. OMG!

 

 

10) Number 4? Well, I was thinking of posting Grateful Dead lyrics in my weekly post. Actually, I thought that the Dead were just that, but John Kadlecik brought them back with "Furthur." And I will be at MSG to see them in November.

 

11) Pears, and for that matter Hairston showed us just how important it is to devote major resources to the OT position. Pears had his worst game as a Bill. It wasn't cold, but the winds were strong. There will never be a time where running the football and blocking will not play a major role in the Buffalo Bills football team, and I mean f^&%#%g never.

 

12) Sorry, but Batten didn't measure up to our hopes in terms of providing any pass rush. I hope that he picks up his game. Dareus? He is a monster.

 

13) 4-2 isn't so bad. We have 2 weeks to heal our wounds, and for Gailey to regroup. A win in 2 weeks would put us right back on track. People, enjoy your "off week" lol!

 

14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I would have to disagree with your number 8 evaluation point. On both plays, Johnson had the step. Both times the ball was horribly under thrown. Both times Stevie had to hit the breaks hard and try to come back thru the DB. The 4th quarter pick with around 4 minutes remaining was obviously hugely damaging but that's a play Fitz has to make a better throw on. The simple truth is that was a scoring type play, single coverage, with Stevie having the step. Fitz simply blew it, not Gailey for calling the play.

[Wayne Cubed]

So how many assumptions are you making re running the ball at that point? a) that 2.7 yd avg would have continued (and that they would have given it to FJ to run); b) That we'd be attempting a 40+ yarder (even if we ran three times and FJ got the 2.7 average, ball is at the 19, so kick is not 40+ yards); c) That we would not have gotten a first down; d) That the Giants would have had a drive from at least let's say their 20 to our 30 (or so) - I am not saying that running is definitely the right move, and I would probably consider short pass/screen plays too, but it is certainly debatable and I disagree that it is a no brainer that the series of events would have unfolded as you suggested necessarily.

 

Thats the point I was basically making. Any number of events could have unfolded the way they did. Hindsight is a great thing. My point is people are arguing that running would have been the absolute correct move. But it might not have worked out. Hell Fred could have fumbled the ball. We don't know. But looking at what the Giants had done up to that point in the game, specifically the second half against the run, throwing a 20 yard pass was not a terrible call as some would have you believe. Fitz made that same exact throw twice in a game, against NE. So why wouldn't Chan think he couldn't make it again. Personally, I don't think you slow down or take your foot of the gas against teams. You gotta drive it home, thats how you finish them off.

[truth on hold]

Bills are 3 & 0 at home, a paltry 1 & 2 on the road. Fitz stunk today and unfortunately is getting close to proving a qb can have it all except for a strong arm and he's doomed. But the road losses usually mean at least 2 things: you can't run the ball and/or you can't stop it. We're pretty good at running on the road but in both losses we got dominated by power backs. It just sucks with all the emphasis on the defensive front 7 we're still mr softee against the run.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Joe_the_6_pack

[Corp000085]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhKv2DObCoc

 

 

A little relaxation music to take the edge off...

Edited October 17, 2011 by Corp000085

[8-8 Forever?]

Good Post!

 

The David Nelson catches were all huge!

 

I also noticed that Spiller was there with him.

I am so thrilled to have a competitive team again I overlook the warts. Chan and Buddy are way ahead of schedule at this point. This ain't no Super Bowl team, but they might just squeak out a wild card this year if they keep playing like this. That drive to tie the game at 24 was magic.

[maryland-bills-fan]

Great original post!

 

I love Fritz and we can win with him; however, his lack of natural arm strenght is a limitation that will make our offense into a gimmicky thing. There were a lot of highlights of other games (including Manning) also playing in the bar where I saw the game. When Fritz tries to stick a pass in there, he has to wind up like a baseball pitcher throwing high heat, and puts his whole body in there. Most of the other QB's on the highly pictures, have a smooth flick of the arm that looks like they are trying to drop a pingpong ball into a waste can 5 feet away. We need one of those. The long ball is always going to be a risky proposition with Fritz at QB. He has the guts to throw it and the smarts to throw it, but I think he really doesn't have a good control of that pass because it at the outer reaches of what he can do. Some other QB's are effortless in dropping this ball in. Gotta dance with the girl you brought to the dance.

[CSBill]

Totally agree about Nelson, what's not to love about him

 

Disagree very much about the Pears assessment, yes a bad penalty at the end and breakdowns; but remember, this is a team racking up sacks against everybody--not an easy assignment for any RT

 

Related, over-all, even with the injuries, our line has become a place of strength on tis team--who would have ever thought that in July

 

As for Gailey--there are so many variables that go into play calling and execution--bottom-line, it was a poorly thrown ball

 

We are thin at WR, if it is going to be a while for Jones, it may be time to take a serious look around

 

And as for Fitz, he played efficiently throughout the game, a poor decision on the one sack--just get rid of it, and he made two bad throws--as pointed out above, every QB makes bad throws, those bad ones get magnified when they occur at crunch time.

 

HEY! 4-2, and the season is still young. Our two defeats, by only a late field goal each. Keep it all in perspective.

 

Bills are 3 & 0 at home, a paltry 1 & 2 on the road. Fitz stunk today and unfortunately is getting close to proving a qb can have it all except for a strong arm and he's doomed. But the road losses usually mean at least 2 things: you can't run the ball and/or you can't stop it. We're pretty good at running on the road but in both losses we got dominated by power backs. It just sucks with all the emphasis on the defensive front 7 we're still mr softee against the run.

 

"But the road losses usually mean at least 2 things: you can't run the ball and/or you can't stop it."

 

That is probably the most insight thing said in this entire thread; especially the stopping the run part. It has to be fixed.

[Webster Guy]

Agreed, why do people keep referring to this play as a deep ball? It was a 15-20 yard pass that he put way too much air under. This wasn't some 40-50 yard pass in the air. It was a throw he should have made to a WIDE OPEN SJ13.

 

And as far as the running thing, I stated this in other threads but apparently no one was paying attention to the fact that after Freddies 80 yard run, Freddie was averaging about 2.7 YPC. The Bills ran pretty terrible after that. We could have run the ball 3 times and gotten no where, left them with 2+ mins left on the clock and the Bills attempting a 40+ yard field goal. And you think the defense would have stopped them from coming back and at least getting a field goal to tie?

 

The play was the right one. It was there. But Fitzys execution was terrible.

The play lost us the game. It absolutely was not the right one. When you can't pass protect, you're on the road in a windy stadium, you have the ball, you're going against a very talented secondary, you have a top notch RB, and your team's defense hasn't stopped anybody all year, the RIGHT call is to maintain possession and run huge chunks off the clock each play.

 

We swung for the homerun when all we had to do was hit a single. Dungy was right on with his analysis of the play, a pressured QB sometimes forgets to set his feet and bad mechanics=risky throws. Far too much unnecessary risk for the situation, especially knowing you aren't going to stop them if you turn it over.

 

This same type of mentality cost us 3 in the first half, passing when you're on the edge of field goal range is just plain stupid. Certainly a deep drop pass anyway.

 

The reason I'm not mad at Chan is that he's won us a few already with his play calling, so you live by the sword, die by the sword.

 

p.s. Just because it needs to be said, Lee Evans never getting open is the biggest line of crap I've ever heard. Nelson is a good slot receiver, like Josh Reed was, but go ahead and line him up wide against the other team's number one CB every week (and usually a safety too) and then we'll talk.

 

Throw in the fact that we haven't had a single season of solid QB play Lee's whole career here while you're at it. Player comparisons who had completely different playing situations and assignments is so JV....

[Juror#8]

I am so thrilled to have a competitive team again I overlook the warts. Chan and Buddy are way ahead of schedule at this point. This ain't no Super Bowl team, but they might just squeak out a wild card this year if they keep playing like this. That drive to tie the game at 24 was magic.

 

 

Agreed 100%. I don't think that drive happens last year and certainly not two years ago. The team had every chance to win the game on the road, having forced 0 turnovers, in a hostile environment, against an experienced pass rush, down multiple starters, etc. etc.

 

A win would have been infinitely better, but maturation was evident...even in the loss.

[Bill from NYC]

The play lost us the game. It absolutely was not the right one. When you can't pass protect, you're on the road in a windy stadium, you have the ball, you're going against a very talented secondary, you have a top notch RB, and your team's defense hasn't stopped anybody all year, the RIGHT call is to maintain possession and run huge chunks off the clock each play.

 

This same type of mentality cost us 3 in the first half, passing when you're on the edge of field goal range is just plain stupid. Certainly a deep drop pass anyway.

 

The reason I'm not mad at Chan is that he's won us a few already with his play calling, so you live by the sword, die by the sword.

 

I fully agree with the above. Gailey has done a wonderful job this year with his offensive scheme, and Fitz has done extremely well in implementing it.

That said, they were is a spot to take the lead. And, they were on the road in a windy stadium, playing a team with good pass rushing DEs.

I am not so angry either, but I do think that Gailey's decisions were too gutsy under the circumstances and cost us the game.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Bill from NYC

[1billsfan]

I fully agree with the above. Gailey has done a wonderful job this year with his offensive scheme, and Fitz has done extremely well in implementing it.

That said, the were is a spot to take the lead. And, they were on the road in a windy stadium, playing a team with good pass rushing DEs.

I am not so angry either, but I do think that Gailey's decisions were too gutsy under the circumstances and cost us the game.

 

It was clear to everyone on the field, in the stands, and watching on tv that this game was coming down to the last three minutes.

 

Look at what happened to the Cowboys by being conservative running it three times then punting.

 

Same would be said if the Bills ran it three times, kicked a field goal and have Manning with plenty of time to win the game in regulation. Field goals don't hold the same weight that they used to. This is an arena football type league now and you need to coach that way. Johnson was open, it was Fitzpatrick's under throw that was the problem. He's got to be better than that, but even Kelly had bad games and costly throws in away games. I really think that Eli would have drove the field and beat the Bills with a TD in the final seconds. I think that Gailey was thinking that as well.

 

When you play in a game with two evenly matched teams with both knowing that it will come down to final minutes decisions and execution, the margins or error become ridiculously small. Other than Fitzpatrick's poor throw, I don't see any reasons why the Bills need to hang their heads. They played to win just like they should have and I'm ok with that.

[mead107]

8) For the third time.....I am all about Gailey as a coach. But can someone tell me why we were throwing with 4:14 left in the game? We were in position to run, score and win. The truth is that Gailey, (as much as I indicated 3 times that I like him), lost us this football game. You want to blame Fitz? Go ahead, but in my opinion he was doing what he was told to do. And yes, the pick Fitz threw in the 3rd quarter was a flat out awful play. There was ZERO chance of completion, and I mean none

 

 

Had we run and gained no yards everyone would be saying we should have been more aggressive and thrown the ball.

 

I like the play calling, go for the jugular and put the game away.. To many years in the past we played it safe and still would have lost. It is about time that the team grew some balls. I would rather get the loss by being aggressive than doing the same old crap that gave us all those years of being the team that was put on every one's wall calendar as the easy win.

Just my opinion.

[LabattBlue]

I disagree about Dareus being a "monster". I saw him get pancaked 1 on 1 during a 4th qtr pass play, and on many plays see him get no penetration on pass plays. I've mentioned this before...if Dareus is playing at 330-340, he needs to lose 20 pounds. I just don't see much explosiveness...at least not on a consistent basis.

 

I know I am going to get bashed for this, but I expected more from the #3 overall pick.

 

Okay...let the "DL take 3 to 4 years to develop" posts begin.

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

I disagree about Dareus being a "monster". I saw him get pancaked 1 on 1 during a 4th qtr pass play, and on many plays see him get no penetration on pass plays. I've mentioned this before...if Dareus is playing at 330-340, he needs to lose 20 pounds. I just don't see much explosiveness...at least not on a consistent basis.

 

I know I am going to get bashed for this, but I expected more from the #3 overall pick.

 

Okay...let the "DL take 3 to 4 years to develop" posts begin.

not beginning a DL let him develop theme, but seems like that the arm in that massive brace may be bugging him ore and not getting a full 2 arms is impacting his play. IF the want him to be a NT than the weight is correct if DE than true he needs to lose a little.

 

BTW Bill was surprised ya didnt mention that Hairston did a decent job got beat a few times but seems to be able to push the outside rushers to take a longer path tothe QB. His injury really weakened that side since we now really didnt have a good guard to help out after AL had to move to tackle. Hopefully he or Bell can back and my hope is him since I think he could be a stud LT

[Webster Guy]

8) For the third time.....I am all about Gailey as a coach. But can someone tell me why we were throwing with 4:14 left in the game? We were in position to run, score and win. The truth is that Gailey, (as much as I indicated 3 times that I like him), lost us this football game. You want to blame Fitz? Go ahead, but in my opinion he was doing what he was told to do. And yes, the pick Fitz threw in the 3rd quarter was a flat out awful play. There was ZERO chance of completion, and I mean none

 

 

Had we run and gained no yards everyone would be saying we should have been more aggressive and thrown the ball.

 

I like the play calling, go for the jugular and put the game away.. To many years in the past we played it safe and still would have lost. It is about time that the team grew some balls. I would rather get the loss by being aggressive than doing the same old crap that gave us all those years of being the team that was put on every one's wall calendar as the easy win.

Just my opinion.

I agree with you that all things being equal, err on the aggressive side and go down swinging. But man, in this case the pedal down approach cost us this game. We beat the Patriots and the Eagles by controlling the ball until the end. If Fitz was getting time to pass and tearing them up all day I would agree with you, but he wasn't. The INT was not a surprise.

 

I hate the freaking Giants, we should've taken this game.

[maryland-bills-fan]

About taking a shot with the "go" pattern near the end of the game.... The giants must have been packing the underneath stuff and what they game us was single coverage on Stevie. If they ran the sort stuff and got stuffed, some people would be complaining that we were dumb and playing into the strength of that defense. can't have it both ways.

[BuffaloWings]

About taking a shot with the "go" pattern near the end of the game.... The giants must have been packing the underneath stuff and what they game us was single coverage on Stevie. If they ran the sort stuff and got stuffed, some people would be complaining that we were dumb and playing into the strength of that defense. can't have it both ways.

Bingo. I think it was a good call at the time because they had single coverage on Stevie and he had Webster beat. Fitz just didn't execute. I can't fault Gailey if that's the play he called or especially if Fitz audibled to the pass. I'd just fault Fitz because of the throw.

 

You can't win them all.