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

[Captain Hindsight]

Credit needs to go to Marrone for calling the refs out after two completely bogus PI calls. Those calls were swinging the difference to the Bears. Down the stretch out corners got away with physical play and I 100% believe it's because Marrone had the balls to stand up for his guys and call it out. Gailey would never do that. Jauron wouldn't have been aware enough to even notice it.

Agreed. This team has needed someone to flip out when the refs weren't helping us. The team responded too, no longer was that an excuse, they went and won anyway

[Deranged Rhino]

12] Nickel Robey is just a stud. That is the way to play the game. On one deep pass he made three or four textbook decisions to make the pass breakup. Even on the amazing play Cutler made to avoid a sack, Robey made a nice play. He's such a valuable player.

 

Both USC sophomores on the roster do nothing but continue to make big plays. Woods is the team's best receiver at the moment until Sammy takes the title from him. Robey is a tiny monster on the field.

[Rockinon]

Good win. Maybe it was just me but it seemed like they were rotating the D-line an awful lot today. It seemed like Jarius Wynn saw the field a lot today replacing Mario. Same thing with the rest of the starters too... hughes out a lot, Kyle Williams subbed out a lot.

Did you notice how much they were on the field? I think Chicago probably had a significant time of possession advantage. That is no surprise.

[RuntheDamnBall]

Williams, Woods & Watkins were very good! I'd say exceptional, given the off the mark passes they caught. Chandler isn't as good, though he 'shouldof' caught a drive killing drop that was expectedly off the mark.

 

The team has true NFL talent just about everywhere, and should be competitive game in and out. Manuel's lifelong lack of Touchdown experience reared its ugly head in the childish way he celebrated his bootleg score and behind the LOS toss CJ took wide open to pay dirt. Act like ya been there -even if you haven't!

 

Special Teams was outstanding, kick coverage, punts, FG's and KO's.

 

The DB's shown, IMO. Yes, Chicago has fantastic receivers. Most teams -including us, do. The strip fumble speaks to their blanket coverage abilities, sans a blown assignment on the Bears opening drive.

 

LB play seemed unheralded, but overall effective, both in run and coverage.

TE & QB. Either, or both, will hurt us -unless well hidden.

It's got to be hard finding a place to park that little raincloud, huh? Trolling EJ's play despite the W.

[Section242]

McKelvin's hands and T.J. Grahams hands are one in the same. I thought the ball was going to deflate in OT after he dropped the pick.

 

Robert Woods came up big today.

 

The PI call on Aaron Williams was awful.

 

Bryce Brown a healthy scratch.

 

Nice win on the road.

[Kelly the Dog]

How many coaches, with Fred and CJ as your #1 and #1b RB, in the middle of the first game, is going to insert the #3 RB into the game as a main ball carrier, who has never proven himself as a ball carrier in the league, and the guy has 2-3 terrific runs. That's not only ballsy but smart. I was looking forward very much to seeing the Four Headed Monster as WR and as RB, and all of them made significant plays, except for Goodwin, who didnt play much and Borwn inactive. Well done by Hackett though.

[Rockinon]

Agreed. This team has needed someone to flip out when the refs weren't helping us. The team responded too, no longer was that an excuse, they went and won anyway

That stood out to me too. This team is turning it around. They had some tough calls but didn't whine about it. Instead, they just kept playing hard and ground out a win, on the road, against what looks like a very good team.

[CSBill]

All of as sudden, the Bills Special Teams looks like a strength of this team:

• If Schmidt keeps doing what he did today = All-Pro;
  
• Gay is worth the roster spot, every kick unreturnable (one was run out, but should not have been);
  
• Sanborn never misses;
  
• And, Chris Carpenter is almost automatic … when he misses, its news.
  

[Deranged Rhino]

How many coaches, with Fred and CJ as your #1 and #1b RB, in the middle of the first game, is going to insert the #3 RB into the game as a main ball carrier, who has never proven himself as a ball carrier in the league, and the guy has 2-3 terrific runs. That's not only ballsy but smart. I was looking forward very much to seeing the Four Headed Monster as WR and as RB, and all of them made significant plays, except for Goodwin, who didnt play much and Borwn inactive. Well done by Hackett though.

 

The game plan was so good they almost managed to hide Pears ... almost.

[Kelly the Dog]

The game plan was so good they almost managed to hide Pears ... almost.

He still made his share of oh my god plays, like the one screen to Fred where he didnt block his man.

 

Chris Williams seemed to make a nice play on the critical Fred run that won the game, but I would have to see it again.

[Deranged Rhino]

He still made his share of oh my god plays, like the one screen to Fred where he didnt block his man.

 

Chris Williams seemed to make a nice play on the critical Fred run that won the game, but I would have to see it again.

 

Agreed. That hole was huge, I want to watch the all 22.

[hondo in seattle]

McKelvin's hands and T.J. Grahams hands are one in the same. I thought the ball was going to deflate in OT after he dropped the pick.

 

Robert Woods came up big today.

 

The PI call on Aaron Williams was awful.

 

Bryce Brown a healthy scratch.

 

Nice win on the road.

 

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

[Fixxxer]

This punter's bounce of the ball played to our advantage. Moorman was great when you needed a huge punt to regain field position but he was more colder than hot when trying to place the ball deep inside the 20.

Schmidt had two great punts land perfectly inside the 5 yard. Great first game as a Bill.

 

Rivers saving a Forte TD, he had all the odds to be burned on that play but he ran stride by stride with the RB and broke the pass up.

 

Name a KR and PR and be done with it. The substitute will always try to do too much when given the chance.

 

More Gragg and less Chandler, please.

 

Cordy Glenn owned Jared Allen today.

[Deranged Rhino]

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

 

The story is probably just that they couldn't afford to dress 5 RBs (including their FB). They needed the roster spot for ST, I'm sure.

[Kelly the Dog]

This surprises me. Some people thought Brown was good enough to make CJ and/or Freddy expendable. Wonder what the story is.

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.

[DirtDart]

 

It's got to be hard finding a place to park that little raincloud, huh? Trolling EJ's play despite the W.

It's the same trolls that always find a way to rain on the parade. Pretty sure that black cloud follows them everywhere.

Edited September 7, 2014 by DirtDart

[SmokinES3]

This punter's bounce of the ball played to our advantage. Moorman was great when you needed a huge punt to regain field position but he was more colder than hot when trying to place the ball deep inside the 20.

Schmidt had two great punts land perfectly inside the 5 yard. Great first game as a Bill.

 

Rivers saving a Forte TD, he had all the odds to be burned on that play but he ran stride by stride with the RB and broke the pass up.

 

Name a KR and PR and be done with it. The substitute will always try to do too much when given the chance.

 

More Gragg and less Chandler, please.

 

Cordy Glenn owned Jared Allen today.

Cordy was excellent as usual, I agree. He is enjoyable to watch work. Gragg had quite a few snaps it seemed.

I figured Schmidt would be a disaster... What a pleasant surprise.

Edited September 7, 2014 by SmokinES3

[The Poojer]

Reading this thread made me nervous that I entered the wrong teams fan site... For all the bad that was spewed here leading up to this game I found myself giddy with excitement reading this thread. 1-0 going into week 2, doesn't get any f***ing better than this

[BuffaloBill]

The WR's made EJ look better. To your points Williams and Woods made some great catches in very clutch situations. Woods could have an amazing year.

[fergie's ire]

You gotta feel good for EJ. He has a relatively veteran team and he really needed to show that he could lead them to a tough road win. Hopefully he builds off of this.

 

The punting game was exceptional, I agree.

 

Although we lost Kiko and Jarius, the defense gained two solid vets from winning programs in Spikes and Graham. I'd say it might be a net positive.

 

The Refs were in preseason form (or regular season form against the Patriots).

 

I did not like Hackett's playcalling in the 3rd Q - they went into the Jauron Prevent Offense. Also didn't love using Freddy instead of CJ on screen passes, or the use of Summers (throw it into the teeth of those bad safeties; no reason to go power formation). Otherwise I liked the game that Hackett called.

 

Let's see how these guards play at home, and after a couple of games together, before passing judgment. It wasn't great, but it was better than last year.

 

What bothered me most was that it seemed to take EJ out of his rhythm. He looked great on the second drive of the game when they let him throw. In the second half it seemed like every possession was 2 runs and then EJ forced to throw on 3rd and 5 or more. A tough situation and seemed like he just couldn't get going again. I worry because it seems the coaches don't trust EJ. Now, I DO understand why they don't trust him, but if this team is going to win, we need to let EJ play. I don't mean throwing on every down....but more than they are and more on 1st down.

[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.