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

[BRAWNDO]

I do like this about EJ

Mike Rodak ‏@mikerodak 38s

Anthony Dixon on Manuel's speech Saturday: "We fed off that. I'm looking forward to seeing that same person all the time now."

[Thunderstealer]

CJ tackled five yards out of bounds in OT. No call-- no way in hell refs were going to put Bills in FG position.

[Ted William's frozen head]

We beat the refs as well as the Bears today.

[mead107]

Refs very bad.

[Mr. WEO]

EJ looked much better, but a lot of his passes were high. These WR's can leap! 3 points in second half against suspect defense--will need to improve to succeed against Jets, Phins.

 

McKelvin looked rough today. Sorry. Burned several times, including TD. Graham is a Godsend. He and Gilmore #1, #2.

[Coach Tuesday]

Dixon is a stud ST player. That's why they signed him. To be a ST player and a #3 RB and possibly a short yardage back. But he surprised them with his ability to run in the middle of the field and shiftiness so they gave him some carries. He was always going to be active ahead of Brown because of the ST play.

 

It's not a complete surprise actually. Check this out:

 

http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2014/04/13/grey-matter-rbs-andre-williams-and-anthony-dixon/

[Bills Fan of St Augustine]

Just enjoy the win! First time ever in Chicago. Check out this write up from Chi-town!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCsQqQIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Frosenblog%2Fchi-bears-lose-to-bills-20140907-column.html&ei=kvMMVLm5AaHCsATC2YLQBA&usg=AFQjCNGePC_Maz0jEZ0LSwfDX_ni8e3B3Q

[26CornerBlitz]

@RapSheet

How much did we learn from the preseason? Some of the teams that looked the worst — #Bills, #49ers, #Texans — won today.

[bigK14094]

McKelvin had a couple of bad plays......and a lot of good one.......13 tackles today....thats a season for some players. And, they weren't all receivers he was covering. I feel much better about McKelvin than I do about Gilmore. I have never seen the shutdown corner named Gilmore that the Bills were marketing as recently as last year. He doesn't exist until I see it , and I am a season ticket holder....I see-um all. Gilmore is a #1 that has yet to deliver...that first year was only fair....last year a diaster.....we will see this year. Show me......I have n't seen it yet.

 

Now, a couple of points I haven't heard on the board here about the officials. First, on Woods leaping catch..play of the game other than Fred's run I thought, the Bears DB did a head on head hit on Woods. the Bills should write this guy up to the league, and he ought to be fined $30K for targeting our guy....the announcers were pro Bears, and did not mention that bad boy play.

 

And, in OT, Spiller around the left end and out of bounds...Spiller is beyond the white stripe and running along the sideline OB, he gets clobbered....that should have been flagged....Spiller was obviously annnoyed by the hit, and so was I. Real homer officials.

 

Finally, point of clarification, as I don't know, but at 4:02 of the fourth quarter, the Bills kickoff to the Bears.....and the guy fields the ball in the endzone. He runs up about 8 yards, thinks better of it, and downs the ball. How come the clock doesn't move? Seems to me, as he is running....time must elapse......anyhow, I may not have the rules right on this point....need a comment here from the board.

 

All in all, a great start to the season. Bring on the Phin's, I'll be there!!!

[DC Tom]

EJ looked much better, but a lot of his passes were high. These WR's can leap!

 

Of course, there's the possibility that his passes were intentionally high because he knew his receivers could jump for it, and he was putting it where they could catch it over the coverage. I'm not saying that's what happened...just that you can't discount it.

 

Overall, from what I saw, Manual played just how a developing sophomore QB should play to win the game. It's to his credit that he didn't try to play like Peyton Manning...or Tony Romo.

[GunnerBill]

Couple of comments to offer:

 

I didn't think Chris Williams was that bad. I admittedly wasn't focusing on it all that much and maybe playing alongside Glenn helped him look good, but I though he did a decent job in pass protection and a couple of times when it looked like Williams had whiffed on a run block looking at the replay I thought Wood was the one easily beaten and Williams essentially double teamed. I thought Wood and Pears both had questionable games and Henderson was a little bit up a little bit down, some good things a few mistakes (to be expected). I will look back at some of it tomorrow and look just at the line... it is hard when your eye is focused on the ball so I might be wrong.

 

On the play calling - I'll give Hackett his due, I think the first half he called a nice game. EJ was a bit late on the throw on the first drive (still think a better TE than Chandler catches it mind you), then he called a nice second drive and the drive before the half was nicely called until the PI penalty on Chandler for finishing a block set them back. Without that call we are very least in at 20-7 rather than 17-7. I liked both of the touchdown play calls too. I actually called the EJ zone read keeper for the first one... that was the perfect play.

 

However, in the second half I thought he called a horrible 3rd quarter and it comes down to something I've said about him before. I don't know how much feel he has for the momentum of a football game. The run, run, pass was predictable, the Bears had the momentum their tails were up, we had thrown a pick.... I thought he should have come straight back and taken a shot. That's what I think the best instinctive offensive play callers in the league do... the Sean Peyton's the Chip Kelly's, hell the Josh McDaniel's even. They try and find a play there that moves us up the field 20-40 yards and changes that momentum again. He got too passive and the old "prevent offense" is a great term.... But to be fair he called some good plays on the final 4th quarter drive and in overtime and EJ made a couple of really nice throws that his receivers went up and got. So all was good.

 

Oh and it was no surprise to me that Forte and Bennett did more damage than their two big outside guys (I know both ended up nicked up). The linebackers we had out there today do lack a little in coverage and getting Bradham back next week will be a big plus.

[Kelly the Dog]

Of course, there's the possibility that his passes were intentionally high because he knew his receivers could jump for it, and he was putting it where they could catch it over the coverage. I'm not saying that's what happened...just that you can't discount it.

 

Overall, from what I saw, Manual played just how a developing sophomore QB should play to win the game. It's to his credit that he didn't try to play like Peyton Manning...or Tony Romo.

EJ has a lot of natural skills and physical attributes. What he needs is experience and success and wins and the confidence that comes with those three things. If some of his completions were not the most accurate passes it doesn't really matter. He is not going to be Brady or Rodgers as far as accuracy goes. He's just not. He can be very good though, and this was a big step in his confidence.

[Solomon Grundy]

Don't forget about Robey! Great undrafted FA pick up by Buddy

[26CornerBlitz]

Of course, there's the possibility that his passes were intentionally high because he knew his receivers could jump for it, and he was putting it where they could catch it over the coverage. I'm not saying that's what happened...just that you can't discount it.

 

Overall, from what I saw, Manual played just how a developing sophomore QB should play to win the game. It's to his credit that he didn't try to play like Peyton Manning...or Tony Romo.

 

That's Mr Automatic to you.

[Kelly the Dog]

Don't forget about Robey! Great undrafted FA pick up by Buddy

Robey is a ridiculously skilled player. Fundamentally, he's probably the best player on the team. We're very lucky to have him.

[JohnC]

12) McKelvin had a rough outing. I hope he improves.

 

 

 

I have a different take on McKelvin. Considering how the league has altered the officiating against DBs I thought he played reasonably well. The DBs are at a major disadvantage against the receivers from an officiating standpoint. All you can ask from the DBs is containment and limiting the big plays. Even when a receiver catches a pass against him the coverage is usually good.

 

I watched snippets of other games. The officiating in the passing game has made the game difficult to watch. On every incompleted pass play you expect a penalty flag against the DBs. The marginal calls have negatively affected the flow of the game. Some of the calls against the OL in a number of games I watched were ridiculous. If an offensive lineman inadvertently barely touched a defensive lineman in the head it was called. I understand the intent of the officiating but the lack of common sense and judgment have hampered the continuity of the game.

 

I agree with you that Corey Graham was an excellent pickup.

 

Woods was our best receiver in this game. Although it was not reflected by the stat sheet you can see that Watkins is capable of being a special player.

 

All I want from EJ this season is to steadily get better. He had a good start. But I wish there were more pass playsdown field. He made some nice passes to Woods and Williams. I thought EJ was very smart in avoiding taking unnecessary hits.

Edited September 8, 2014 by JohnC

[Thunderstealer]

If the ref calls the overtime out of bounds hit on Spiller, hat would all but put Buffalo in FG range.

 

It's non-calls like this that make it terribly hard to resist conspiracy theories. I don't WANT to believe the Refs are deliberate in fixing games-- but when I see a star RB getting lunged at out of bounds out of the camera shot--it's hard not to.

[Coach Tuesday]

Couple of comments to offer:

 

I didn't think Chris Williams was that bad. I admittedly wasn't focusing on it all that much and maybe playing alongside Glenn helped him look good, but I though he did a decent job in pass protection and a couple of times when it looked like Williams had whiffed on a run block looking at the replay I thought Wood was the one easily beaten and Williams essentially double teamed. I thought Wood and Pears both had questionable games and Henderson was a little bit up a little bit down, some good things a few mistakes (to be expected). I will look back at some of it tomorrow and look just at the line... it is hard when your eye is focused on the ball so I might be wrong.

 

On the play calling - I'll give Hackett his due, I think the first half he called a nice game. EJ was a bit late on the throw on the first drive (still think a better TE than Chandler catches it mind you), then he called a nice second drive and the drive before the half was nicely called until the PI penalty on Chandler for finishing a block set them back. Without that call we are very least in at 20-7 rather than 17-7. I liked both of the touchdown play calls too. I actually called the EJ zone read keeper for the first one... that was the perfect play.

 

However, in the second half I thought he called a horrible 3rd quarter and it comes down to something I've said about him before. I don't know how much feel he has for the momentum of a football game. The run, run, pass was predictable, the Bears had the momentum their tails were up, we had thrown a pick.... I thought he should have come straight back and taken a shot. That's what I think the best instinctive offensive play callers in the league do... the Sean Peyton's the Chip Kelly's, hell the Josh McDaniel's even. They try and find a play there that moves us up the field 20-40 yards and changes that momentum again. He got too passive and the old "prevent offense" is a great term.... But to be fair he called some good plays on the final 4th quarter drive and in overtime and EJ made a couple of really nice throws that his receivers went up and got. So all was good.

 

Oh and it was no surprise to me that Forte and Bennett did more damage than their two big outside guys (I know both ended up nicked up). The linebackers we had out there today do lack a little in coverage and getting Bradham back next week will be a big plus.

 

Solid post. I had the exact same take-aways about the playcalling.

[MClem06]

Everyone down on chandler read this... EJ's running td was courtesy of chandler sealing and dominating his blocking assignment. Yeah less than great receiving today but he's been the best and is still the best TE on this roster... For now

[The Wiz]

Orton was awful. 0 for the day.