A lot of random thoughts about the game...

[ColdBlueNorth]

First off, great job by the Bills team beating a very beatable KC team at home. These are the games they are supposed to win, and the Bills of Christmas Past would have played down to the level of their opponent to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It was a solid game plan executed good enough for a solid win.

 

What Chan and Wanny did this week is cover up what was woefully exposed last week. Fitz's arm and accuracy is still a real problem, and there are still areas of our secondary that play too soft or inconsistent and our next opponent will focus on those.

 

What Chan did to reduce our reliance on Fitz's erratic passing is to feature the running game - to the collective relief of fans everywhere. He also had him roll to his right and throw (or run) outside the pocket where he is most comfortable and has had more success (although his pathetic bouncing of the ball 6 feet short of Chandler on that early throw just shows how bad his accuracy and touch can be at times - that was a throw that most high school QBs complete). Most good defenses know Fitz's tendencies to roll to that side and will have a fast safety or OLB spy and come up on those rollouts to force the incomplete although that forces them to have to do something to keep Chandler from releasing off the line - KC defense is not looking sharp at all this year and remind me that things could be worse as a fan.

 

Chan's pass plays actually work really well to get players open, but you have to have a sharp QB who can read the coverages and recognize the mismatch (that is Fitz's greatest strength). It has to be very frustrating for Chan to have someone who really understands his plays and where he as a OC wants the ball to go only to see the ball wobble out of Ryan's hands, end up behind the receiver, and get intercepted, or have a receiver wide open for a pitch and catch only to see Ryan drill it into the turf. And not to knock Ryan too much and give credit where it is due, he certainly recognizes when a defense makes a mistake in coverage as in the TD toss to Stevie Johnson. Not only did he quickly recognize the defensive miscue, but he did a great job of looking off any coverage till the last second ensuring he did not dial the KC secondary in on their mistake.

 

Fitz also did what he needs to do on the ground running for the marker when it was there for the taking.

 

Ryan did a stellar job of managing a game where we were in the lead - which is a key point. We have all seen a tendancy in Chan to quickly abandon the run for the pass when we are behind. That has led to most of our recent losses as that does not allow Ryan to manage a game, rather it forces him to win the game by using his arm. Ryan was able to win games that way early last year before defenses got wise to our spread and his tendencies, now they insert more DBs and jump the more predictable routes and create a lot of turnovers.

 

Am I the only one that would like to see our team formally get rid of the wild cat? It is a joke of a play that more often than not loses yards, but for some reason it is like crack to the more creative offensive coordinators. Maybe if it was called "waste of a good down" it would be less popular. If you are going to use it once in a blue moon it is unforgiveable to use it backed up in your own end of the field although I know Chan realized that they were spying Smith and the misdirection on the reverse would force them to have to choose to come up on Spiller or Smith. Perhaps its a good play to use midfield, but Smith does not handle the ball enough to have that feel that QBs and RBs get after working with eachother for a while. It was a recipe for a turnover deep in our zone and Gailey was getting too cute with the game in hand. As a defensive coordinator I would have to see the "dangerous" Smith actually running for daylight more than once in 3 years to actually feel he was a legitimate home run threat. My defense focuses on Spiller.

 

Defensively Wanny seems to have realized what we have all said before - as a defensive back McKelvin is a liability and a target for opposing QBs when he is on the field. He limited his reps and inserted Justin Rogers into the slot coverage position. McGee looks tentative and soft out there and was the primary target for many KC completions. I like the guy and he has had a long career with the Bills, but his time may be up if he is too fragile to play press coverage. Gilmore is doing what they wanted him to do (play physical) and if our secondary coaching staff does not ruin him, he will have a bright future in this league. Aaron Williams seems to be regressing to me. He got in horrible position right out of the press on the end zone fade route trailing the receiver and he needs to have a better inside technique to allow him to keep one hand on the receiver and still be able to look back for the throw. As it was, he turned completely around and never saw the ball coming and ended up just wagging his arms in front of the receiver while the ball was easily caught.

 

The D-Line were studs today and there is no way the Cassel was comfortable out there. Anderson was that ellusive speed rush from the LDE position we envisioned and Mario consistently needed the attention of 2-3 blockers from the RDE spot. Dareus just absorbs blockers and crushes the pocket, and what can I say about Kyle that has not already been said; He is so damn fast off the ball that it has to freak out opposing OCs trying to draw up blocking schemes. If they keep this up they will be well on their way to becoming the dominant front 4 rushing group that we envisioned they could be. And I should not forget that they will stay well rested and be more effective with Kelsey and Carrington making solid plays chipping in on the rotation. They also were stout against the run. This group could become the very cure this team has been looking for against pass-happy NE, but our secondary still needs to continue what they started this game.

 

The O-line was simply scrappy and outstanding yesterday. Does anyone doubt the pick of Cordy Glenn now? The kid looks like a very solid pick for Buddy and Co. I have rarely seen pulls and screens executed so well. I have not seen that kind of athleticism from an Bills O-line group for many years, if they stay aggressive and healthy the Bills will be very hard to beat. Kudos to the O-Line coaching staff - that kind of execution does not happen without really good players and coaches who know how to get them ready.

 

There are still areas that the Bills need to shore-up, but this team could really come together and have that winning season that we have not seen for so long. The biggest concerns are still Ryan's inaccuracy, and the secondary giving up big plays. For Fitz all the coaching staff can do is limit the throws and trying to keep him in manageable situations, for the secondary this team still needs another solid DB and that group should get a shot in the arm down the home stretch when Ron Brooks returns from IR. I know it is a lot to put on a rookie, but before he got injured I felt he was the second best DB on the team and had a tremendous amount of upside.