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


Bill from NYC

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Just watched NFL rewind. I have no idea why people are criticizing EJ's celebration after his running touchdown. He was excited and started hopping in the end zone, flipped the ball to the ref, did a chest bump with a player, and then did the "shhhhhh" sign. Are people just looking for anything to criticize him about?

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Just watched NFL rewind. I have no idea why people are criticizing EJ's celebration after his running touchdown. He was excited and started hopping in the end zone, flipped the ball to the ref, did a chest bump with a player, and then did the "shhhhhh" sign. Are people just looking for anything to criticize him about?

 

Yup.

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Just watched NFL rewind. I have no idea why people are criticizing EJ's celebration after his running touchdown. He was excited and started hopping in the end zone, flipped the ball to the ref, did a chest bump with a player, and then did the "shhhhhh" sign. Are people just looking for anything to criticize him about?

 

It was one half-comment by one poster, yesterday. Let's move on Doc.

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Just watched NFL rewind. I have no idea why people are criticizing EJ's celebration after his running touchdown. He was excited and started hopping in the end zone, flipped the ball to the ref, did a chest bump with a player, and then did the "shhhhhh" sign. Are people just looking for anything to criticize him about?

 

people need controversy otherwise it's boring for them.

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Chandler fell down a bunch, as did McKelvin. At one point I was sure I saw McKelvin arguing with someone on the sidelines about the type of cleats they were wearing. Something to consider.

 

Yeah, but the difference is that McKelvin had a problem with his cleats. Chandler has a problem with his feet.

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Chris Conte Cannot Tackle. Bears fans know this, of course. But they did not need to see Conte getting pushed down the sideline by Fred Jackson in overtime like a shopping cart through the produce aisle.

 

(bleacher report)

That's funny. You have to ba careful in the produce aisle... you can bruise stuff. I didn't like his helmet to helmet hit on Woods on that crazy catch. With all the crap called on us I thought that was a sure flag. Maybe I saw it wrong... over and over and over.

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1) I liked what I saw of Watkins. This means something people. He is a freaking baby, but his skillset did shine through this week. Even a doubter like me can be happy.

 

2) You see, more than one player can win one single game for a football team. You tend to not want it to be either kicker, right? But Carpenter and Gay really were major contributors to this victory. This is beyond dispute.

 

3) Did you see the TD run by EJ? I cannot tell you how happy I was. The kid needs to RUN!!! He is NOT a pocket QB. If used and coached properly, maybe he can win us football games. How cool is that???!!!

 

4) Spiller drives me nuts. Seriously. His TD in the 2nd qtr. was perfectly executed. A fantastic play no doubt. Then, with 47 seconds left before the half he went out of bounds. It didn't cost the Bills anything, but I had a near heart attack. You just CANNOT do chit like that again and again.

 

5) Who can stop what must arrive now?

Something new is waiting, to be born.

Dark as the night,

You're still by my side,

Shining side.

Gone are the days, we stopped to decide,

Where we should go,

We just ride.

Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams,

Gone both,

dream and lie......

 

 

6) How great was that run by Fred Jackson? It was almost like story book stuff, ya know? He deserved that play as much as we did. Just so freaking cool!!!

 

7) Mike Williams made as good a catch as one would ever hope to see. Seriously, if he can keep himself together, he will be literally great.

 

8) Sorry, I was unimpressed by the Guard play on either side. How about you? Did you like what you saw from Chris Williams in particular? I did not. Not at all.

 

9) How many of you missed Gilmore? I am curious. Corey Graham looked pretty damned good from where I sat.

 

10) I am serious, I think that Mario hit Cutler SOOOO hard on that sack that it changed the game. For those of you who are unsure, Mario Williams is the best player on our football team.

 

11) My friends, we have a shot!!! We do. I know as well as any Bills Fan that these moments are fleeting, but we look good right now. And we look like we can improve.

 

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

 

13) The thing about Woods that stuck out was how hungry he looked. This kid can really play football.

 

14) I am just SO happy for us as fans. Right this second, hope does prevail. It feels good and my best wishes go out to my fellow Bills Fans. Nobody is as loyal as us. NOBODY!

 

15) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great post, as always Bill!

 

3) It is good to see EJ run. He played a good game and although he continues to be placement-inaccurate the threat of the running game is creating separation so his receivers can go up and make plays. Back to running, we agree that he needs to do more of that. There was a play in the first half that he gave the ball to Spiller with the line sliding to the short side of the field when he had Woods open for a huge gain if he would have kept the ball and taken a few steps to his right and thrown on the run. Huge play opportunity missed because of a mis-read. Houston held his ground but Woods had little but green in front of him and would have been an easy quick flip for a huge gain like the TD pass to CJ. Nowhere for the runner to go on the other side of the field and even though the line did it's job and didn't get too far downfield to take away the pass option it turned into a loss of yardage.

 

4) Speaking of CJ.....the people saying that he would have taken Dixon's run to the house neglect the fact that CJ maybe doesn't even find that hole at the LOS. With 1 minute left in the half following the Dixon run Eric Wood and Chris Williams executed a good double team block.....very similar to the game winner on Fred Jackson's run in OT.......and Williams effectively came off and eliminated the LB creating a significant hole with everyone thoroughly blocked. But CJ approached the hole and then inexplicably hesitated and cut back into the Williams for a modest gain. This is the maddening stuff you see with CJ. A smarter back knows who the man he has to beat is going to be because he knows where the hole is going to be BEFORE THE SNAP if the play is executed properly and then he can attack that hole. I know you guys see this on the All-22 all the time but the guy consistently leaves 40-50 yards on the field every Sunday and then people wonder why "Hackett keeps pounding him up the middle". You gotta be able to make some plays in tight quarters to be a great RB.

 

Other items.......

 

-The guard situation.....it is weird see guards taller than the tackles and they obviously can't get out in front of a screen to save their lives and that really hurts that part of the offense. There were at least two huge plays left on the field by whiff blocks on screens by those two trees. Where they are effective is blocking between the 20's where defenders are playing more upright and can be swept away by their sheer size and wingspan. They also did a very good job of pass blocking. This can't be understated. The Bears aren't great inside but EJ had the kind of pocket QB's dream about yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by Williams run blocking as well. I knew we were going to see that upright style from this group but what he lacks in athleticism he has in smarts. Just not sure his back will hold up, he was clutching at it a bit still.

 

Conte is getting a lot of heat, and he is a tackle-missing machine for sure but Lance Briggs also had a really rough day. In addition to being in the wrong place much of the day he also got smacked in the mouth hard by Frank Summers and Fred Jackson on separate plays in the first half. He just flat out looked old yesterday.

 

Speaking of hitting people in the mouth......the Bills really physically took it to the Bears. I was very concerned about Spikes in coverage, and he is a liability there, but he is a head-cracker on those throws in front of him. He messed up Marshall pretty good. He is a physical tone-setter, no doubt. Alshon Jeffery got hurt. The Bears OL got beat up. It was nice seeing the Bills being so much more physical than an opponent. That physical play and the defensive gameplan helped cover up some shaky looking play by Preston Brown and Searcy.

 

That defensive gameplan worked and Schwartz had some nice blitz calls but I think if Pettine and Byrd(and Spikes) were here you might have seen less of a tiger-by-the-tail approach and more of a Seahawks type of defensive gameplan that would have done an even better job of disrupting Cutler.

 

-I usually do not complain about the officials and if the Bills would have lost I would have simply said that they didn't play good enough to beat a good team on the road.......but the officiating was flat out one-sided. The Bills played quite a bit better than the score would indicate. If the calls were evened out all day the Bills probably win easily in regulation. A lot of one sided ticky-tack calls then exacerbated by things like the replay guys overturning the incomplete pass when Spikes creamed Marshall. Picking up the holding penalty? Just awful. But they gave it all back on that last pass play on Chicago's game tying drive at the end of regulation. Graham interfered. Also, fwiw, picking up that holding penalty was the right call.....it was NOT a hold. What is disturbing is that the official threw the flag after being lobbied by Williams for it. Not a good opening day at all for that crew.

 

-The special teams were excellent. What a game by Schmidt. All-in-all it was a feel good day for Doug Whaley's acquisitions. It will be interesting to see how this weekend plays out. Schwartz gameplan he used in Chicago plays into the talent of Tannehill much more than Pettine's attacking style did so I am hoping and expecting for some different looks. Tannehill must go down and he must go down hard.

Edited by BADOLBEELZ
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I believe him.

 

Agree on the pass to Chandler that a top-tier TE makes. And as for the INT, again it looked like he wanted to pass to Chandler, but he fell down (ugh). Note to EJ: if you're looking to pass to Chandler and he falls down, do NOT throw the ball! Only bad things happen.

But Chandler is *NOT* a Top-Tier TE. He is an above average TE. There was no way Chandler was going to make a play on that ball. EJ had to do a better job there.

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3) It is good to see EJ run. He played a good game and although he continues to be placement-inaccurate the threat of the running game is creating separation so his receivers can go up and make plays. Back to running, we agree that he needs to do more of that. There was a play in the first half that he gave the ball to Spiller with the line sliding to the short side of the field when he had Woods open for a huge gain if he would have kept the ball and taken a few steps to his right and thrown on the run. Huge play opportunity missed because of a mis-read.

 

Given how often EJ hands the ball off on the read option I'm beginning to think that a lot of these read option plays are simply hand-offs with read option window dressing. The window dressing would serve to lull the D to sleep for later, actual, read option plays. I'd also tend to lean this way given how they Bills want to protect EJ yet they seemingly run the read option all the time.

 

It's either that or EJ is just a horrible read option QB. I'm hoping for the former.

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Given how often EJ hands the ball off on the read option I'm beginning to think that a lot of these read option plays are simply hand-offs with read option window dressing. The window dressing would serve to lull the D to sleep for later, actual, read option plays. I'd also tend to lean this way given how they Bills want to protect EJ yet they seemingly run the read option all the time.

 

It's either that or EJ is just a horrible read option QB. I'm hoping for the former.

 

I posted it either here or in another thread, but I think the read-option look they are giving is completely intentional, to set up more plays as the season progresses. Make all of the plays look similar and the defense doesn't know what's coming.

 

At least that's my hope.

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Great post, as always Bill!

 

3) It is good to see EJ run. He played a good game and although he continues to be placement-inaccurate the threat of the running game is creating separation so his receivers can go up and make plays. Back to running, we agree that he needs to do more of that. There was a play in the first half that he gave the ball to Spiller with the line sliding to the short side of the field when he had Woods open for a huge gain if he would have kept the ball and taken a few steps to his right and thrown on the run. Huge play opportunity missed because of a mis-read. Houston held his ground but Woods had little but green in front of him and would have been an easy quick flip for a huge gain like the TD pass to CJ. Nowhere for the runner to go on the other side of the field and even though the line did it's job and didn't get too far downfield to take away the pass option it turned into a loss of yardage.

 

4) Speaking of CJ.....the people saying that he would have taken Dixon's run to the house neglect the fact that CJ maybe doesn't even find that hole at the LOS. With 1 minute left in the half following the Dixon run Eric Wood and Chris Williams executed a good double team block.....very similar to the game winner on Fred Jackson's run in OT.......and Williams effectively came off and eliminated the LB creating a significant hole with everyone thoroughly blocked. But CJ approached the hole and then inexplicably hesitated and cut back into the Williams for a modest gain. This is the maddening stuff you see with CJ. A smarter back knows who the man he has to beat is going to be because he knows where the hole is going to be BEFORE THE SNAP if the play is executed properly and then he can attack that hole. I know you guys see this on the All-22 all the time but the guy consistently leaves 40-50 yards on the field every Sunday and then people wonder why "Hackett keeps pounding him up the middle". You gotta be able to make some plays in tight quarters to be a great RB.

 

Other items.......

 

-The guard situation.....it is weird see guards taller than the tackles and they obviously can't get out in front of a screen to save their lives and that really hurts that part of the offense. There were at least two huge plays left on the field by whiff blocks on screens by those two trees. Where they are effective is blocking between the 20's where defenders are playing more upright and can be swept away by their sheer size and wingspan. They also did a very good job of pass blocking. This can't be understated. The Bears aren't great inside but EJ had the kind of pocket QB's dream about yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by Williams run blocking as well. I knew we were going to see that upright style from this group but what he lacks in athleticism he has in smarts. Just not sure his back will hold up, he was clutching at it a bit still.

 

Conte is getting a lot of heat, and he is a tackle-missing machine for sure but Lance Briggs also had a really rough day. In addition to being in the wrong place much of the day he also got smacked in the mouth hard by Frank Summers and Fred Jackson on separate plays in the first half. He just flat out looked old yesterday.

 

Speaking of hitting people in the mouth......the Bills really physically took it to the Bears. I was very concerned about Spikes in coverage, and he is a liability there, but he is a head-cracker on those throws in front of him. He messed up Marshall pretty good. He is a physical tone-setter, no doubt. Alshon Jeffery got hurt. The Bears OL got beat up. It was nice seeing the Bills being so much more physical than an opponent. That physical play and the defensive gameplan helped cover up some shaky looking play by Preston Brown and Searcy.

 

That defensive gameplan worked and Schwartz had some nice blitz calls but I think if Pettine and Byrd(and Spikes) were here you might have seen less of a tiger-by-the-tail approach and more of a Seahawks type of defensive gameplan that would have done an even better job of disrupting Cutler.

 

-I usually do not complain about the officials and if the Bills would have lost I would have simply said that they didn't play good enough to beat a good team on the road.......but the officiating was flat out one-sided. The Bills played quite a bit better than the score would indicate. If the calls were evened out all day the Bills probably win easily in regulation. A lot of one sided ticky-tack calls then exacerbated by things like the replay guys overturning the incomplete pass when Spikes creamed Marshall. Picking up the holding penalty? Just awful. But they gave it all back on that last pass play on Chicago's game tying drive at the end of regulation. Graham interfered. Also, fwiw, picking up that holding penalty was the right call.....it was NOT a hold. What is disturbing is that the official threw the flag after being lobbied by Williams for it. Not a good opening day at all for that crew.

 

-The special teams were excellent. What a game by Schmidt. All-in-all it was a feel good day for Doug Whaley's acquisitions. It will be interesting to see how this weekend plays out. Schwartz gameplan he used in Chicago plays into the talent of Tannehill much more than Pettine's attacking style did so I am hoping and expecting for some different looks. Tannehill must go down and he must go down hard.

Great post, but one thing about the refs: they did the Bills a huge favor by not calling interference on Keith Rivers at the one yard line. He definitely interfered with Forte, clearly grabbing his right arm to prevent him from catching the ball. It probably saved the Bills 4 points, which was decisive.

 

 

But Chandler is *NOT* a Top-Tier TE. He is an above average TE. There was no way Chandler was going to make a play on that ball. EJ had to do a better job there.

Yep. That was not a good throw. Few players make that catch with ease, and Chandler is a run of the mill NFL TE.

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Chris Conte Cannot Tackle. Bears fans know this, of course. But they did not need to see Conte getting pushed down the sideline by Fred Jackson in overtime like a shopping cart through the produce aisle.

 

(bleacher report)

Conte was pathetic, wasn't he? I say he got pushed around worse than a shopping cart at Walmart on Black Friday. Go Bills!

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