WR Hardy catches first NFL TD pass (Photo Source)

The Buffalo Bills opened up their 2008 pre-season schedule Saturday night in Washington, where the team dropped a 17-14 decision in an up-and-down performance.

Buffalo's offense struggled for consistency and the defense had some issues preventing Washington from picking up chunks of yardage, but as it was the first pre-season game of the season, the Bills looked like most fans expected them to: promising, but maddeningly inconsistent.

Many thanks to the eight Rumblers who joined me this evening in the open game thread; it was a bit livelier than I expected for such a bleak affair.  Kudos to Ron from NM, whose 79 comments led the way this evening (closely followed by Kurupt's 75); many thanks to Cinga, SuperFan82, Bluebill, Thronsen, Krenn and billsstein for stopping by as well.

Back to the important stuff: what happened on the field.  The DVR was set and we'll be breaking down the nitty gritty elements of the game over the next two days for a far more detailed recap, but there are some first impressions I'd like to share as well.

O-Line Surprises (Good and Bad)
Playing sans Jason Peters, Buffalo's re-tooled offensive line didn't perform as poorly as I expected them to this evening.  Their effort in the run game was poor, as Bills runners had issues finding holes, and they made some mistakes with a few false starts.  The pass protection, on the whole, was very good, however; J.P. Losman took one sack on a safety blitz and there were a few hits, but otherwise, Bills quarterbacks had plenty of time to throw.  Langston Walker looked pretty good working against Jason Taylor as well.

Clearly, Turk Schonert noticed that his running game wasn't working, as he dialed up 30 passing attempts as compared to just 21 rushes.  There are some kinks to be worked out in the aerial attack, but it's plain to see that there is promise.  Schonert displayed a knack for mixing up tempo (which we've discussed before), and it kept Washington's defense a bit off balance throughout the evening.  It's not close to being season ready, however, so expect to see a lot more passing throughout the pre-season.  The Bills dialed up a lot of short throws - they're either now a permanent staple to the offense, or they were just making the job easier on their offensive line.

Crunching some Numbers
Trent Edwards struggled.  He completed just 1 of 5 passes for 18 yards; he had one pass dropped (Derek Schouman), one that he forced and was nearly intercepted (Schouman), and had a miscommunication with James Hardy that led to an ugly incompletion.  There was no rhythm to the passing offense with him under center; that should change as he's allowed to play a bit longer into these games.

Collectively, Bills quarterbacks completed 17 of 30 passes for 181 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.  They were sacked once.

Buffalo's rushing attack was terrible: the Bills collectively rushed 21 times for 67 yards and lost two fumbles on the night (one Dwayne Wright, one Xavier Omon - consider their position battle a push).  I'm going to attribute their poor performance to the offensive line for now.

Quick Offensive Observations
James Hardy proved tonight that he doesn't need to be completely comfortable with the offense or the speed of the NFL to make a difference; his size makes him an impact player.  His touchdown reception was a thing of beauty; Losman threw it up to the big guy, and Hardy brought it in one-handed.  Very good stuff; if he keeps making plays like that, we'll forget about his missed assignments and drops (which he made tonight as well).

Good for J.P. Losman.  Sure, he was playing second-stringers, but he looked good (7/9, 73 yards, touchdown).  He also looked more confident out there than Edwards did.  Everyone knows he's had a raw deal, and the fact that he's still performing and still keeping quiet speaks volumes about his character.  He's a good team guy.

Other offensive players I was impressed with: Fred Jackson, Justin Jenkins, Derek Fine, Xavier Omon (from a blitz pickup perspective).  Will have more to say about this in the Film Session.

Defense Shows Fundamental Error
Buffalo's top defensive unit held Clinton Portis to just 7 carries for 18 yards (and a TD), but all of Buffalo's defensive units showed a weakness: this team struggled mightily to stop Washington's draw plays.  Playing on a defensive line hell-bent at getting penetration play in and play out, the 'Skins ran draw after draw, eating up large chunks of yardage on the ground.  Washington ran for 155 yards on the night.

Tackling was part of the problem, but the bigger issue was fundamentals.  Outside of Paul Posluszny (who was hitting like a mack truck tonight), Buffalo's linebackers and blitzing safeties have a tendency to duck, rather than take on, blocks.  So when Washington ran the draw, Buffalo's front four would over-run the play, and then the second layer of defenders would literally run themselves out of the play as well.  Ko Simpson was especially brutal in this aspect; he also got lit up on a safety blitz by Portis.

CB Battle Royale
I'm going to have to pay closer attention to the cornerback position in the Film Session, because I saw some good and some bad things from nearly every player involved there.  Ashton Youboty had the best game of any cornerback at first glance, proving he's a tough tackler and recording an interception on Todd Collins.  Reggie Corner also made a few plays (and was burned a few times as well).  I'll leave it at that for now; again, I'll come back with more detail in the Film Session.

Kennard Cox may not be a part of this battle for much longer (not that he was heavily involved to begin with).  The rookie seventh-round pick played the majority of his reps at free safety, where his play was very sub-par.  Buffalo's top six corners saw most of the playing time (other than Terrence McGee, who sat this one out and was replaced by Youboty in the lineup); I don't recall seeing Dustin Fox on the field at all.

Leodis McKelvin played well.  He, too, ducked a block at the wrong time which allowed Redskins RB Ladell Betts to walk into the endzone for a touchdown, but his coverage was otherwise very good, as was his tackling.  He also had two excellent returns - one kick return (37 yards) and one punt return (45 yards).

Quick Special Teams Observations
I'll be paying close attention to the long-snapping situation in the Film Session, because there was a terrible snap on the field goal attempt that Rian Lindell blew that could have tied the game.

The coverage units were superb.  John DiGiorgio forced a fumble on the game's opening kickoff (recovered by Lindell) and is clearly the unit's leader.  He's a shoo-in for special teams captain.  Washington's return men were bottled up easily all night.  Bobby April is one heck of a coach.

On the game's first punt, Roscoe Parrish and McKelvin were both lined up deep to receive.  McKelvin fair caught the punt, but it's proof that April is going to get the ball in the hands of all three of his elite return threats.

Miscellaneous: Buffalo escaped this game without any major injuries (or minor ones, for all we know at the moment).  Keep knocking on that wood, folks.

Player of the Game: QB J.P. Losman (7 of 9, 73 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT)