Lothar Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I'm pissed off about this last game and in lieu of sleep (I get the day off tomorrow) I'm trying too hard to understand why we make a habit of losing close games. In our last 9 games decided by less than 7 points, we have lost 8 of em. This can be explained in one of 2 ways: either our offense and defense are not mentally tough enough to win close games or our kicking game is untrustworthy and inadequate - or both. In several of these close games, our offense was mostly putrid - so I give them, and Drew specifically, a good chunk of the blame for 6 of these losses. Our defense contributed to 4 of these losses allowing last minute drives despite holding teams off for most of the game. However, most remember that Lindell did play a role in some of these losses. In 4 of the 8 games, his misses were directly responsible for the margin of defeat. You also have to give him marginal credit for helping win against the Jets. In last year's putrid season, those 2 losses probably didn't matter much because the team was so bad. However the Jacksonville and Pitt misses were gimmes for a good kicker and contributed heavily to our missing the postseason. 2003 11/9 @ Dallas Cowboys L 6-10 - makes 2 of 2 FG, offense horrible 11/16 Houston Texans L 10-12 - misses 2 of 4 field goals 11/23 Indianapolis Colts L 14-17 - missed 48 yarder, offense horrible, defense wears down 12/14 @ Tennessee Titans L 26-28 - makes 2 of 2 FG, defense choked against Volek (who looks like a player now) 2004 9/12 JacksonvilleJaguars L 13-10 - missed 1st half 41yarder, defense choked 9/19 @ Oakland Raiders L 13-10 - offense sucked till the last 5 minutes 10/10 @ New York Jets L 16-14 - offense sucked till last 5 minutes, defense chokes 11/7 New York Jets W 22-17 - made 19 and 29 yarders, offense consumes last 4 mins 1/2/05 Pittsburgh L 29-24 - missed 28 yarder, offense sucked after 1st TD drive, defense doesn't live up to the hype Kicker ------- I actually thought Bills Nation was too tough on Ryan Lindell for much of this year since he was better than 80% and not given many opportunities to win close games. Plus on two occasions when he actually attempted long field goals (45+ yards), he made them - only to have points taken of the board by coaching timeout blunders. But a kicker's life is all about confidence. Mularkey's lack of confidence in him is brought on by his bad year last year - supposedly the result of an injury he kept from the fans and media. Unfortunately, just as Vinatieri and Vanderjagt are automatic in the clutch (as were Christie and for the most part, Norwood), most kickers putz around on several teams before becoming good. Look, we cut Gary Anderson and Shane Graham ourselves so I'm wary about letting a decent kicker go before he gets his confidence rolling. Sometimes you have to live with growing pains. Now that the Bills have clambered above mediocrity, we can't afford a mediocre kicker. Unless we get a proven Mr. Automatic (Vanderjagt is due to be a FA - or we get Nugent in the 2nd round), I think we give Lindell 1 more shot. Offense --------- The fact that the offense has as much trouble as it does in these close games has to be laid at the feet of the QB. I think Drew's played reasonably well when we play against bad to middling teams. He exudes confidence when McGahee's churning yards and he gets 5 seconds to throw and I'm especially happy that he's willing to scramble a bit when the pressure's on now. But the elite teams all have QBs that can win a game for you when you're down by 7 with 2 minutes to go. They will their teams to victory in those situations. At the very least, we go into camp giving JP a chance at winning the starting job. We may take a small step back before moving forward but this kid has the tools, he's a hard worker and he's got better coaches than most anyone else. I was a bit disappointed in Moulds' season but I'm not sure if that's mostly him or the coaches. He didn't seem to get many opportunities beyond 10 yards but Drew also didn't seem to go to him in the clutch. Evans is a star in the making. Campbell and Euhus are fine for this kind of team - especially if Losman takes over. If Drew stays, we may need another pass catching option. I'm mixed about Jennings - he's a good left tackle, not great. But he gets nicked up way too often. Get a couple OL in the draft or FA and I think this unit is set. Defense ---------- For as well as they played all season, there's something nagging about their failures in close games as well. Some of that may be because we don't have a Bruce Smith to provide a game changing pass rush in the last drive of the game. But Gray's schemes work for the most part. I'm more troubled by the run defense against good teams. Pitt, New England, Baltimore and Cincy all scorched our run defense - and that's WITH Phat Pat and Big Sam. If we lose Pat, we may actually drop back a bit in run defense but Edwards and Anderson need playing time too. I'd try to keep Pat - more for continuity on defense. If he asks for top DT money, we gotta move on. All in all, though - as our offense gets better, I don't think we want to tweak this unit much. Hopefully Vincent and Milloy will anchor this secondary for 3-4 years and the youngsters develop. I thought Clements sucked last year but was spectacular this year - he's a probowler-in-the-making and we've gotta tie him up long term before the end of next year. Coaching ----------- I thought Malarkey did a great job establishing his offensive gameplan. I still think Clements compensated too much for Drew's failings against elite teams - meaning they had more dumpoffs and fewer long throws than they would with a reasonably mobile QB. Mouse McNally's the real deal. The OL became a competent unit as they played together. Jerry Gray will be a head coach in the next 2 or 3 years. As painful as this loss was (losing to scrubs - r u kiddin' me?), I'm going to go with the idea that the team was trying too hard and overcompensating for the lack of a passing game. (Nanananananana - I don't hear you if you're saying we suck compared to the good teams.) Overall, you gotta love the direction the team's going. We had a hot start last year - a hot finish this year. Let's see if we can put it all together next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 Lets research before we start hammering Lindell. He missed four FG. One that would have made the game a tie against JJ, 42yarder . Two that we won a 43 and a 38 yarder and the one against the PS we still would have lost anyways. So lets look at some of the other kickers in the league. KICKER #MISSED Graham 4 Longwell 4 Hanson 4 Reed 5 Akers 5 Dawson 5 Brein 5 Kaeding 5 Cundiff 6 Christie 6 Scobee 7 Rackers 7 Now for some big name Kickers Andersen 4 Elam 5 Carney 5 Vanderjagt 5 So stop the crying. He is just as good as the rest of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lothar Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 Lets research before we start hammering Lindell. He missed four FG. One that would have made the game a tie against JJ, 42yarder . Two that we won a 43 and a 38 yarder and the one against the PS we still would have lost anyways.So lets look at some of the other kickers in the league. I don't completely disagree. However, do YOUR research and you'll see he has the LOWEST % of successful FG over 40 yards the last 2 years of any regular kicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 You got me on that. But he has only been out of school 5 years and has only played three seasons in the NFL. Oh yea I HATE ALL FG KICKERS. If you can't put it in the end zone you should not score. If you take away those 5fg by the PS kicker we win. I HATE KICKERS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I don't completely disagree. However, do YOUR research and you'll see he has the LOWEST % of successful FG over 40 yards the last 2 years of any regular kicker. 190103[/snapback] right now i don't care about success rate from 40+. this numbskull missed a 28-FREAKING-YARDER when the bills had to have it. lindell didn't throw a bad interception and he didn't take a sack/fumble and he didn't allow 2nd- and 3rd-stringers to eat up 9 minutes of the 4th quarter. but his gaffe was directly responsible for a shift in momentum that contributed to the loss. lindell is not an elite kicker and as long as he's kicking for buffalo i'll be holding my breath at every attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lothar Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 I hear you brother. Team loss, but I'm sure if we were playing San Fran, he'd make it. Malarkey really doesn't trust Lindell - from long distance (only 3 of 12 attempts the last 2 years) or in close games. So when things get hairy, I guess I'm not surprised the kid has no confidence. Like SoCal says, he's young - we've cut good kickers when they were young and unwilling to let them grow into their position before. All that being said, if we can get a clutch veteran kicker for next season, I'm all for it. right now i don't care about success rate from 40+. this numbskull missed a 28-FREAKING-YARDER when the bills had to have it. lindell didn't throw a bad interception and he didn't take a sack/fumble and he didn't allow 2nd- and 3rd-stringers to eat up 9 minutes of the 4th quarter. but his gaffe was directly responsible for a shift in momentum that contributed to the loss. lindell is not an elite kicker and as long as he's kicking for buffalo i'll be holding my breath at every attempt. 190105[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lothar Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 More fodder for the grist mill when it comes to our offensive failings. - 2004 passing offense as compared to 2003 - 26th in yards per attempt vs. 26th 26th in completion percentage vs. 16th 22nd in percent passes intercepted vs. 10th 14th in percent passes for a score vs. 32nd 26th in sacks vs. 32nd 25th in passer rating vs. 22nd Compared to 2003, I suppose these are baby steps forward. However, this comparison clearly show our offense no longer requires spectacular QB play - merely a solid caretaker. However, I anticipate if we want to become an elite team, our QB should at least be in the middlle of the pack in most of these categories. This, in addition to our late game failings, indicates a change at QB is unlikely to do much harm to this offense - considering where we're starting from. Losman - or I suppose Bledsoe - if we don't want the future to get here quicker, doesn't need to be brilliant next year, just mediocre and this team gets to the playoffs. If JP has the moxie to avoid sacks and drive us to a game winning touchdown or 2, we will become an elite team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YOOOOOO Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 Lets research before we start hammering Lindell. He missed four FG. One that would have made the game a tie against JJ, 42yarder . Two that we won a 43 and a 38 yarder and the one against the PS we still would have lost anyways.So lets look at some of the other kickers in the league. 190102[/snapback] We still would of lost?? That FG miss changed the whole complexion of the game.... Pitt would of had to have St. Pierre throwing against our D going into the 4th quarter down by 4.... That FG miss...cost us the game... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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