Hapless Bills Fan Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 (edited) I suppose I'm looking for a ray of light, a reason to believe..... Keys for the Buffalo Bills against the New York Jets "posted 21 hrs ago" or basically, Saturday am "Fitzpatrick could be in trouble with his third and fourth receivers being Naaman Roosevelt and Kamar Aiken." Um, except Gailey announced after practice on Friday that Roosevelt would be out for Sunday. Homework? When writing on Bills, do? Picky picky picky. Let's look at the actual "keys" given in this report. Use the deep ball early because that has worked so well for us when we tried it against Cincy and will work even better now, without a deep threat WR, against one of the league's best 2ndaries? Get pressure on Sanchez: because we've consistently been unable to pressure any QB, esp since Merriman and Williams went down? Does that mean we should just give up and go home? Get Spiller in space: Now this makes sense, if we can do it. We haven't done it yet. Win the turnover battle: What a novel thought. "Fitzpatrick needs to take care of the ball". Except that it ain't just on Fitz. His receivers need to catch, not deflect, and even the sure-handed Jackson coughed it up in our earlier meeting - the Jets have some guys who def. go for the knock out. Perhaps I'm prematurely curmudgeoned. I'm just looking for some intelligent football reporting, a ray of hope in the gloom. MUST we rehash the same tired old stuff we haven't been able to accomplish for the first 11 weeks of the season as "keys to the game"? Can someone who is paid to think and write about football, please come up with something more thoughtful and original for analysis than "start doing whatcha ain't successfully done in 11 weeks"? Hopeful's Keys to the Game: 1) Get the stop on 3rd down. The Bills D has consistently played big for 2 downs, then taken their foot off the enemy's neck. We have gone from allowing only ~ 1 in 3 third downs to convert, to allowing >50% conversion the last 3 games. Even if our O goes 3 and out or can't get things going initially - just keep handing the ball back to them until they get it right. C'mon boys, if you can get 2 stops (and you can, you have shown this), you can get 3. 2) If you can't stop 'em - give 'em 3. Don't dig a 28 point pit for our offense to climb out of by the end of the first half. Toughen up on the goal line. I want to HEAR the hits on TV. 3) Change it up with the game plan, Chan. Please, please...in a Turkey-induced vision, contemplate the possibility that the reason we executed early in the season was in part, novelty - and the reason we aren't executing now is that the film is out there, and we need something new - Step away from the 4 and 5 WR set. We don't have that many quality WR now, if ever we did. - Try something novel like, oh, I don't know- an "I" formation, maybe? McIntyre seems able to block. Put him in there. Put Spiller and McIntyre and two TE on the field at the same time - create doubt as to what play will be called, pass or run. Unlike wishing for a pass rush to magically appear at this point in the season, or a magical deep ball threat to appear from our banged-up WR corp and OL, I think these are things we actually COULD accomplish with the players we have, that would make a difference. Edited November 27, 2011 by Hopeful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Beard Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 I shake my head at the people who write these articles because they always say things like pressuring Sanchez is a key to the game. OK Captain Obvious! Most quarterbacks get rattled if they are hit or intercepted a few times (one of the things I like about Fitz is that he is a little harder to rattle than many other quarterbacks). Now all the Bills have to do is play like they are in Toronto against the Redskins! How hard can that be? Every week it is the same story.. Hit Sanchez, Hit Romo, Hit Brady, Hit Dalton, Hit Moore. And every week but one, the Bills have been unable to do that. My bold prediction: the Bills will not rattle Sanchez sufficiently to get him to play poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 I shake my head at the people who write these articles because they always say things like pressuring Sanchez is a key to the game. OK Captain Obvious! Most quarterbacks get rattled if they are hit or intercepted a few times (one of the things I like about Fitz is that he is a little harder to rattle than many other quarterbacks). Now all the Bills have to do is play like they are in Toronto against the Redskins! How hard can that be? Every week it is the same story.. Hit Sanchez, Hit Romo, Hit Brady, Hit Dalton, Hit Moore. And every week but one, the Bills have been unable to do that. My bold prediction: the Bills will not rattle Sanchez sufficiently to get him to play poorly. I concur, I like that about Fitzy. My favorite announcer line from last season (I think it was the Ravens game): "the Harvard quarterback, tough as nails..." As to the people who write these articles, that's exactly my beef: regurgitating the obvious. Any team that can make those low-percentage deep throws consistently on offense, while pressuring the opponents QB on defense, is in a good position to win. The Bills accumulated 5 wins without achieving either of these things in 4 of the 5 successes. Neither have they shown these abilities in their 5 losses. I think it's a pretty safe bet, if they're going to win or at least be competitive against the Jets, they need to effectively use abilities they HAVE successfully demonstrated during this season, not count on spontaneous generation of skills they have not shown to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Key to the game: Score more points than you give up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marauderswr80 Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 I love the following keys to games: Stop the run Pressure the qb Win the turnover battle Lovem..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Don't fall behind 21-0 after the first 5-7 minutes of the game, so we can actually use the whole playvbook instead of being forced into pass pass pass mode and can have that "magical balance" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wiz Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 I love the following keys to games: Stop the run Pressure the qb Win the turnover battle Lovem..... Wow, I've never heard those before. I should call them up and find out if possessing the ball is one of them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Don't fall behind 21-0 after the first 5-7 minutes of the game, so we can actually use the whole playvbook instead of being forced into pass pass pass mode and can have that "magical balance" See, this is where I Don't Get It. This is the dogma: if you fall behind, you must pass pass pass. The truth is, that's only true if you're down 21 AND short on time. When you get down 21 early in the 2nd quarter: 1) your D, at best, needs time to regroup. So why not go with a "ball control" offense and make their offense sit for a while? 2) as long as you "stop the bleeding" there is, in fact, plenty of time in the game to come back, 3.4 yds per play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EldaBillsFan Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Aikens is our best weapon they have hardly no film on him.....IF! He can run a sharp deep post route he can stretch the field switch allows stevie, chardler and nelson to work the middle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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