A Few Thoughts About The Game, in no particular order.....

[Orton's Arm]

1) I am just wondering.....has any NFL kicker EVER missed a field goal against the Bills?

 

2) Kiko made some mistakes, but I am satisfied that he will make plays and that today was a learning experience.

 

3) Carrington was non-productive today. That's a shame too because we really didn't need that much more to win this football game.

 

4) I think that CJ Spiller might win us a football game this season. Maybe even two. I hope that I am right because he lost us one today with his poor play and his fumble. He owes us a win.

 

5) How can a Bills fan not be pleased by EJ? I mean seriously. His stats were not great, but he truly appears to have the brain and the body to excel in this football league. I am guessing that he was told to try not to run due to his knee injury, and I suppose that this makes sense. But I will also assert that if he was not nursing this injury, he would have won this football game. In short, I really like this kid!

 

6) Usually I cannot see much of the RG on television. Today I was lucky and will tell you that Urbik had a nice game today, and btw so did Pears.

 

7) Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine,

I can tell the Queen of Diamonds, by the way she shines.

Come to Daddy on an inside straight.

Well I got no chance of losing this time.

No I got no chance of losing this time.

 

8) I have taken some heat on this board wrt my praise of Searcy. No, I am not whining; I deserve it. The truth is that he can hurt you. That said, he remains a favorite of mine. Yes, he will give up some plays, but he is one player on this football team that gives a 100% effort. No, he does not leave one damn thing on the football field. He actually looked as if he was running out of gas on his TD. My supposition is that he might have been hurt. Mark my words, he will be a coach some day. I really do appreciate this player. And he played a GREAT game today.

 

9) McKelvin had an uneven game. Make no mistake, he did get away with a call or 2, but he also did actually make some good plays.

 

10) Another thing that I am sure of is that assuming he is healthy, Woods will be our #1 receiver in 2014. I am a bit unimpressed by Stevie Johnson, but hopefully this will change.

 

11) In all, the secondary wasn't THAT bad, considering they were playing without their 2 alleged stars, and against a certain first ballot hall of fame QB.

 

12) It sucked that Goodwin never got a chance to run out a kick. Btw, did he get hurt?

 

13) If they can play this way against NE, I think that we can assume that the Buffalo Bills will win some football games this season.

 

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

 

Good post Bill.

 

A few thoughts of my own.

 

1) Coaching matters. This year's defense seems head and shoulders above what we saw last year. I like Pettine a lot more than Wannestadt!

 

2) That said, I'm still concerned about the run defense.

 

3) Manuel played better than I'd expected.

 

4) Thus far, I have serious doubts about whether Hackett can hack it.

 

5) I'll grant that both Spiller and Stevie Johnson had bad games. That said, they're both better players than they showed today. Also, in Spiller's defense, New England was keying on him. And it's not like Hackett created a brilliant game plan to exploit Spiller's strengths.

[stevewin]

My belief is Marios plantar fas. is bothering him a great deal, and will make him a shell of himself just as the wrist did the first part of last year. I'm worried though that unlike the wrist, the foot will bother him and affect him the whole year. I do think he is trying to gut it out, but hear some of the horror stories of how painful and debilitating it can be and can't be surprised it might affect his play.

 

On the challenge, it's possible marrone thought we recovered, but honestly at the time I was thinking he just wanted to send a message to the refs to have to own up to their blown call.

 

Thought the d played their heart out, and have no doubt as the season goes on they will open things up more and more on offense and let ej throw it around more.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chandler#81]

Thanks, Bill. I couldn't watch the game in Augusta GA until the network switched to it at the worst time.. I appreciate your insights. There is something new in WNY.

[CSBill]

I'm still wondering if Buddy mixed up TJ with TY....?

 

you know, I have wondered that too, none of us had heard of TJ before he was picked, and we all knew what potential TY had

[ko12010]

Good post Bill.

 

A few thoughts of my own.

 

1) Coaching matters. This year's defense seems head and shoulders above what we saw last year. I like Pettine a lot more than Wannestadt!

 

2) That said, I'm still concerned about the run defense.

 

3) Manuel played better than I'd expected.

 

4) Thus far, I have serious doubts about whether Hackett can hack it.

 

5) I'll grant that both Spiller and Stevie Johnson had bad games. That said, they're both better players than they showed today. Also, in Spiller's defense, New England was keying on him. And it's not like Hackett created a brilliant game plan to exploit Spiller's strengths.

Yes...it's been one game. One.

[DCBongo]

Thanks Dave, I feel better now! Hey, do you ever catch games at McFadden's?

[Peter]

I have already posted in this thread and am not sure in which thread to make this observation, but it is amazing how just a couple of points make such a huge difference on my mood and the mood of the board in general.

 

I hate when the Bills lose -- especially to the Pats, Brady, and Billy B.

[Bill from NYC]

4) Thus far, I have serious doubts about whether Hackett can hack it.

 

5) I'll grant that both Spiller and Stevie Johnson had bad games. That said, they're both better players than they showed today. Also, in Spiller's defense, New England was keying on him. And it's not like Hackett created a brilliant game plan to exploit Spiller's strengths.

 

I have enough respect for your football knowledge to not quibble with you about #4. I do however remind you that both Marrone and Hackett were doing something brand new.

 

As far as Spiller, a case could be made that he lost us this game. And SJ was not all that either. I will hold to my premise that Woods will be the #1 receiver on the Buffalo Bills in 2014.

[Orton's Arm]

I have enough respect for your football knowledge to not quibble with you about #4. I do however remind you that both Marrone and Hackett were doing something brand new.

 

As far as Spiller, a case could be made that he lost us this game. And SJ was not all that either. I will hold to my premise that Woods will be the #1 receiver on the Buffalo Bills in 2014.

 

I fully agree that both Spiller and Johnson played poorly today. But they've established track records as good players. We know that what we saw today wasn't the real deal with either of them.

 

On the other hand, Hackett is untested as an NFL offensive coordinator. Yes, it's only one game. And maybe the coaching will look better once the players are more familiar with the new system. Also, Hackett himself may learn from his mistakes. But I still would have been much more encouraged by a good offensive coaching performance than with a bad one.

[voodoo poonani]

First the Stats:

1. Time of Possession: NE – 37:43; BUF – 22:17

2. First Downs: NE – 26; BUF – 15

3. 3^rd Down Conversions: NE 11/20 = 55%; BUF – 4/13 = 30%

4. Total Offense: NE – 431 yards; BUF – 286 yards

5. Turnovers: NE – 3; BUF - 2

6. Penalties: NE – 4/36; BUF – 10/75

My Thoughts:

1. 3 and outs are going to kill this team. NE ran 28 more plays than we did (that’s more than 9 of our possessions right there). They had the ball almost twice as long as the Bills. When they punted with 5-6 minutes left I knew the game was over.

2. The play calling on offense was very poor. In fact it was making me wish Galey was calling the plays. We went from over 400 yards of offense to under 300.

3. The OL kept very clean pocket, Manuel wasn’t sacked once. Run blocking though was very poor. One third down the OL blocked left and the D just came right in untouched to tackle the RB.

4. The DL was mostly invisible. K. Williams had a coverage sack. The other sack was Searcy on a blitz. M. Williams again was a no-show, a few pressures but no closing speed. On running plays he never attempted to make a tackle on runner, just jogged behind them. And what was Dareus doing in coverage? Once he was lucky and got hands up, the rest of the time he stood there.

5. Ball security needs to be worked on. Three fumbles, two lost.

6. EJ’s deep ball accuracy needs work. Speaking of, TJ Graham still does not look fast or effective.

7. I don’t care what anybody says, McKelvin was not great. He had HIS best day as a pro, but was mediocre at best. He was covering an undrafted rookie and was lucky for the drops. Many times he was 3 yards past the receiver. And twice the ball hit him and he couldn’t catch it. Rogers was lucky on the interception, poor coverage after that. MVP of the secondary – undrafted rookie Nikell Robey. Honorable mention – Ron Brooks.

8. The penalties weren’t caused by rookies (perhaps the 12 men on the field, I don’t know who was at fault). The DL lines up over the ball, they need better discipline. The OL needs to watch the hands. The d*mn penalties:

a. Dareus – neutral zone infraction

b. Chandler – False start

c. Moats – facemask

d. Glenn/Urbik - illegal use of hands

e. Hughes – offsides (twice – second declined)

f. D – 12 men on the field (twice)

g. K. Williams – neutral zone infraction

h. Chandler – illegal block

i. Graham – holding (declined)

[Captain Hindsight]

There was a lot of good out there today. This young team played better than expected. EJ wasnt asked to do much but he made some nice throws.

 

Playcalling at the end could have been better but I fully expect this team to be a tough opponent all year and get much better as the season goes on. This team has a lot of good talent

[The Senator]

18 and 1 baby!!!!!

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Manuel's pocket presence was impressive. Perhaps even more impressive was that he had a pocket to be impressive in.

[bowery4]

Thanks Bill, interesting takes.

The whole team came out a bit flat at the start of the game, the O has to look way more alive in the 1st, not good to be playing from behind. EJ seems to take time to warm up, how Jim Kelly like is that? He played good not many mistakes, all and all as advertised (I am pleased, to be saying that); I am just glad Kolb was not the starter.

 

The line looked good at pass pro and run blocking, I only counted one Colin Brown getting his ass handed to him (on pass pro). They really should just consider running right every time until a team takes that away. Running CJ left, off tackle was just like ... can we see another play, please? Pears was beastly today. Wood is an excellent center, EJ didn't see much pressure up the middle at all. Glenn, look like a JAG today, hope that is just my feeling and not truly an observation.

 

The young receivers looked young but I am still excited about them, I would prefer to see Easley in TJ's place though. Stevie...........that drop was a bummer. Blame god. I guess.

 

Searcy, never liked him before today, I hope he plays as well the rest of the season, he seems to fit the scheme much better.

The D at times was downright awesome, NE* ran okay but they do, do that well, so I didn't find it shocking or very alarming.

I am so freaking happy Wanny is long gone, what an idiot! A strong front 7 really does make the DBs look better, not paying Byrd sort of makes sense with that perspective. Kiko is going to be one of the best MLBs we have ever had, The draft is looking good today. BTW welcome back Jim Leonard you look beefier than I remember and I only saw one blown play in your direction.

 

Hackett needs to get CJ outside or in the I with a FB. Fred always plays great against NE* have no idea why they didn't stay with the hot hand there, he certainly didn't look as if he lost a step, to all of you who said he is finished. I also want to see them in the backfield at the same time, "come on, you can do this". There are answers to these problems, hope the new coaches see that. The penalties have to go but I saw a lot that were not called on both sides. I hope it is just a NE* game thing. I didn't really have a problem with them staying with the no huddle but the play calls during it sure were suspect. Throw long and CJ gets some space for one thing. I don't understand why they never really challenged the deep part of the field.

Edited September 9, 2013 by bowery4

[boyst]

Just off the op. No reading the rest

 

Mckelvin and the DB's had a great game.

 

Too many penalties in the first half

 

CJ didn't show up for anything and was the butt of many jokes in the stands.

 

Sj13... Wtf

 

A few no calls against the bills but whatever.

 

Kilo was great.

 

Tjax belongs on the field

 

Why so late to put CJ at wide out?

 

Carpenter made me happy

[vincec]

My thoughts:

Positives- Manuel, Jackson, O-Line, Dareus, Alonso, McKelvin, Lawson, Searcy

Negatives- Spiller, S Johnson, Penalties

 

Both the Bills and the Patriots made some plays and some mistakes, as per every game. The Bills went into the 4th Q with the lead but could only produce 1 first down on offense in 3 possessions, meanwhile the Bills defense couldn't stop the Pats on the winning drive. It all came down to the last few minutes of the game. Pats got it done and the Bills didn't. Belichick said as much at his press conference.

[Bufcomments]

Nothing about T.J. Graham? I'll say it: he is not a football payer and does not belong on the field.

Graham is a bust, ill back you up on that.

 

Think the Bills could have trusted EJ to throw a tad more.

 

We will be alright, the D played well or should I say better than I thought they would. We just have to find a guy that can help us finish these games off.

 

But they seemed much better coached tho. Brady still can beat you even when he has just 2 good WR's. Some of his passes were amazing.

[Nostradumbass]

ST MVP - Powell , he had a great day punting

Offence - Freddy Jackson, took yardage from the Pats D all day

Defence - Mike Pettine, scheme matters

 

ST LVP - TJ Graham, terrible play on that one return

Offence LVP - Colin Browne, he was terrible, good job filling for Levitre front office

Defence LVP - Carrington, invisible all day until the last critical play of the game where he couldn't get hand on Vereen

[Kemp]

Upon reflection, I wonder whether the Bills will be better or they faced a team that without Brady would be putrid. That he could win witht those receivers is amazing.

 

Anyone who defends Marrone for that game is an idiot. Besides his retarded challenge, you learn in Pop Warner to slow it down late when you have the lead.

 

Enthusiasm is nice. Committing endless penalties is bad coaching.

 

The defense might be better than last year.

 

Manuel will be a good one. Too early to know about great.

 

As I have maintained since the day they got him, Graham should not be here. He is useless, at best.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Let's not forget the great catch Stevie made for a TD. That wasn't easy.

 

That's true. But you've gotta be consistant. Look at how Amandola kept the pats late drive alive with that contorting catch on a third and long.

 

Stevie has to stop the dropsies no matter how great of a catch he made earlier in the game.

Edited September 9, 2013 by over 20 years of fanhood