Bills vs Chargers: Comprehensive Film Analysis

by Brian Galliford on Oct 21, 2008 1:00 PM EDT in Events Comment 10 comments

I consider myself incredibly lucky to be a season ticket holder at Ralph Wilson Stadium. I'm afforded the opportunity to see the Bills live at least seven times per season; I know that's an opportunity that many of you would just about die for. I felt the pain many of you felt this Sunday, however, while trying to do my usual film breakdowns; there's only so much Cincinnati Bengals football I can handle. Mercifully, we don't play that team this season.

So, with the power outage ultimately leading to a lot of useless time and data on my DVR, I'm shortening up the film sessions to some more general observations this week. With any luck, we'll return to our regularly scheduled programming next week after the Bills face the Dolphins.

C Duke Preston vs C Melvin Fowler
I can appreciate what y'all are saying about the Duke Preston vs Melvin Fowler debate, but please understand that this is one of the weakest debates I've ever seen when it comes to Bills personnel. Let me assure you that even though Preston was part of a line that performed admirably against San Diego (at least when it came to pass protection), the Bills hold Fowler in much higher regard. I wasn't too impressed with Preston; I doubt Fowler would have played worse. Fowler is the starter when he's healthy, and that could be as soon as this week.

Marshawn vs Fred
I saw some folks asking why it was Fred Jackson and not Marshawn Lynch in the game while the Bills were trying to kill clock against the Chargers. First of all, I didn't see anything different in the way the two backs normally rotate; by the terms of that rotation, it was Jackson's turn to be on the field. Clearly, Buffalo's coaching staff is every bit as comfortable with Jackson as they are with Lynch to depend on him in that situation.

To add to this, however, I think it's pretty clear that Jackson was giving the Chargers more problems. Lynch has trouble getting going sometimes; Jackson's a one-cut guy that hits his top speed relatively quick. Jackson's numbers weren't as gaudy, but he was consistently having much more success running the ball than was Lynch, including up the middle. Lynch had some long runs to boost his average; Jackson was churning out yardage better. That may have played into the decision as well. Combined, these two guys present a ridiculously challenging matchup for our opponents.

DT Kyle Williams
I mentioned prior to the start of the season that I thought DT Kyle Williams was getting ready for a break-out season. Some of you scoffed. Williams has been nothing short of Buffalo's best defensive lineman this season; when he's not double teamed, he's exploding into opposing backfields. Nobody has made more plays in opponent's backfields than Williams this season. When he's on, he's an absolute monster. Nothing changed against San Diego; it took two guys to block him most of the game, and when they singled him up, he was highly disruptive once again.

DT John McCargo
Let's give this kid some credit - coming off of his botched trade, McCargo played a surprising amount, and he played pretty well. He won't pick up much in the way of stats in his current role, simply because he inexplicably demands double teams when he's on the field. He looked good against San Diego; he drew a double team that helped Copeland Bryan apply serious pressure on Kawika Mitchell's interception.

DE Contain vs Misdirection
This is a recurring problem for the Bills, and if memory serves me correctly, Buffalo's opponents have exploited it at least once in each game this season. Buffalo's defensive ends make one major mistake in contain per game, and the usual culprits are Chris Kelsay and Bryan. This week, the mistake came on a 31-yard reverse run by Chargers WR Vincent Jackson. Buffalo's ends, by and large, played pretty well against San Diego, but it'd be nice if they started playing a bit more disciplined on misdirection plays.

FB Corey McIntyre
I was impressed with Buffalo's new fullback. He didn't look great as a lead blocker, but he hasn't been allowed to do much of it yet, either, so I won't pass judgment there yet. Where he looked outstanding was as a wedge-buster on Buffalo's kick coverage units. McIntyre is like a little bowling ball of pain out there (well, as "little" as a 258-pound man can be, I suppose), and routinely destroyed the Chargers' blocking schemes. He looked very good in this role. Another quality signing by Bobby April. As a result, the Bills were able to quite easily contain one of the NFL's most explosive return men in Chargers RB Darren Sproles.

P Brian Moorman
Let's give our punter some love. He had a punt nullified by a penalty in the fourth quarter, and during said punt, he developed a pretty serious cramp in his left (plant leg) calf. While the refs were taking care of the penalty, George Wilson helped Moorman stretch out on the field - but he was clearly bothered. Moorman stayed on the field, punted a rocket with his left leg in a knot, then hobbled off the field after some excellent punt coverage. Who said 172-pound punters weren't tough?

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DE Contain vs Misdirection

Well, let’s hope the Bills do some serious film study on how the Ravens dominated the Dolphins in their Wildcat formation. If not, that formation will kill a D that can’t contain.

by thefourwinds on Oct 21, 2008 1:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Blitz the crap out of the Wildcat formation, AND hit Pennington as he’s lined up out wide. I can’t believe nobody has drilled him yet.

Can someone, or you Brian, explain how a DT drawing a double team helps a DE on a pass rush? There isn’t going to be a Guard out trying to double team a DE as he rushes off the edge, so I don’t see how McCargo getting doubled freed up Bryan. If it was a blitz up the middle or between the tackles in any way, then obviously the double team freed that guy up, but a DE isn’t going to get doubled with Guard help unless he makes a move to the inside. I’m confused as to how a DT is credited for this????

How can you say you doubt Fowler would have played worse? He’s played worse all season…Preston wasn’t great, but he wasn’t Fowler bad either, IMO.

The DE containment has been a major issue all season, and I can’t believe teams haven’t been actively out to exploit it. Steven Jackson had a number of nice runs against us because he uses the cutback lane so well. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more reverses, counters and other plays designed to take advantage of our DE’s. Really surprised….

by Kurupt on Oct 21, 2008 1:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Can someone, or you Brian, explain how a DT drawing a double team helps a DE on a pass rush?

Normally it doesn’t. In this case, it did. The Chargers were strong to the right side of their formation. Tomlinson and Tolbert both took blitz pickup duties on the right side of the formation. The fact that Dielman, the left guard, doubled McCargo – when there was no tight end, running back or fullback chip help on the end – is what made it work.

So I should have quantified: the double on McCargo AND San Diego’s formation is what helped Bryan there. He beat Marcus McNeill, a very good LT, pretty cleanly on the play.

by Brian Galliford on Oct 21, 2008 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Still though, is Dielman going to slide out and somehow double Bryan??? I don’t see how that would work in any way…I can’t recall a G ever doubling a DE who takes an outside route…

I think it helped that SD put everyone on the other side more than anything….Plus, I’m not sure how much of an impact Bryan had on Rivers. He threw it where he was planning to throw it without being forced to move….Bryan was just in the backfield, but I don’t think he had much of an imp[act on the INT. That was all Mitchell making a GREAT play…

by Kurupt on Oct 21, 2008 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No debate about Mitchell here. I guess I came across as saying that the double on McCargo was somehow relevant to the play; I think it helped, but no, clearly it wasn’t the key to making that play work. I just wanted to point it out as an example of one of many times McCargo was doubled on the day; he played a LOT in the second half.

by Brian Galliford on Oct 21, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True dat

I’m surprised he played as much as he did. He should get a ton of PT this week in the Miami heat, as well. Hopefully, he’ll start making some plays in these opportunities….

by Kurupt on Oct 21, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree 100%

on Kyle Williams, he has been a stud this year. Nobody is talking about him because of MS but if you watch the film Kyle is always blowing up blockers and getting to the ball carrier no matter where he is. Kyle is playing at the probowl level that we were hoping MS would be. I do not think that MS is playing bad its just that Kyle is outplaying all of them.

As for the contain it is kind of a have your cake and eat it too situation. The DE’s are fast and on a bunch of plays every game they will catch a RB from behind from the backside before they get to the line of scrimmage. I think for the most part our OLB or S’s are responsible for contain on run plays. On the reverse you will notice that not only was the DE inside but also right next to him was the outside linebacker. I’m not sure if it was a blitz call or not but I think most of the blame goes on the OLB. One play that shows this was the quick toss to LT on 3rd and 3 and our OLB KM did a good job on his contain angle and forced him out of bounds after a 2yd gain and 4th down.

by Honestabe75 on Oct 21, 2008 1:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He’s been great. Not sure how he would be playing without Stroud next to him, but let’s take it for what it is right now…..Two very good DT’s feeding off each other.

by Kurupt on Oct 21, 2008 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Even though the Bengals are brutal to watch....

don’t you mean “Too bad we don’t play that team this season.”???? Easy wins are always nice….

by Kurupt on Oct 21, 2008 2:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Williams and other thoughts....

Williams- He was a good player last year considering the quality of the guys he was playing with on the line. Now that we have another good DT in Marcus, though may no longer be the beast he was, he is still a top 15 DT in this league. Thanks to that, Williams is seeing alot of one on ones, and when he starts to make plays due to tht, the other team starts to double him, which opens things up for the Blitz and for Johnson, Stroud, and McCargo when he is out there. He is going to be a very good player for many seasons if the quality of his linemates stays high, ala Bryce Paup.

Preston vs. Fowler - If Fowler can go this week, he will play, DJ is set on him as the starter, sadly. If he can’t I actually have to admit I am NOT afraid to have Preston out there, and its a simple reason. There is NO way he could play any worse than Fowler has consistently done, consistently BAD. I would prefer to see what Duke could do over the rest of the season vs. Fowler since he is still young, but what will be, will be.

DE Contain - I think the issue with the containment on end arounds and reverses is two fold. One, our DEs are crashing down to hard to the inside in pursuit of plays, and this is a recognition issue for them. When a Tackle allows you to smash down to easily it should scream to that player that there is one of two things going to happen. 1- An end around/reverse is on it way. 2- There is a pulling guard or tackle about to smash that person in the teeth. When that happens, a DE with good play recognition should get their head up and start looking around for the play coming back.

The second issue is a combination of two things: 1- OLBs are told to flow in the direction of the play, and they should be BEHIND the line of scrimmage while doing this to keep clear of the pile up of lineman from the snap of the ball on the end around in this last game, the OLB let themselves get sucked up into the action and thus were unable to peel off and come back to help make the stop. 2- With our CBs playing so far back in a bail out position to stop the long ball, we lose the ability for the CB in the press position to come up and help out immediately on an end around/reverse when they occurr. As far as the CBs are concerned, that will never change with Fewell calling the game plan. He played more press than I have seen in a long while, which was good to see, but get used to seeing end arounds/reverses as long as we go into a zone setup.

STs - One thing I had noticed for a couple of weeks was our lack of blowing up the opponents wedge on Kick Offs, that issue is now resolved if Corey can keep this up all year long. For that reason alone he should be active each week, because no one can get a KR if the wall is just destroyed each run back.

Moorman is a beast, yeah he has had some distance issues the past couple of seasons, but when we need him to make a play, he pulls one out for us. He had a 50+ yarder at one point when we desperately needed to get the ball out of our side of the field. He helps us out in a lot of ways, among them being a veteran leader who shows the young’uns how to play Bills football.

Fear the mighty helmet wearing gopher, he is coming for your soul....

by WABillsfan on Oct 21, 2008 5:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs