Week 3: Bills Squander; Saints Slay

Hello and welcome all to another miserable Buffalo Bills outing, where our motto is "We don't lose the same way twice!"

A defensive stand:
This defense is very good. I said it in week 1 and I'll say it again. They run a scheme that doesn't generate statistics like traditional defenses do so they get ragged on for that. They played injured, they were put into awful situations such as the Saints at the 30 yardline after just getting off the field, but they held on for the majority of the game. The Bills have yet to win the time of possession. And people are shocked that they collapse at the end of the game and are getting injured.

Once again this defense which is unfairly criticized and called weak, is what has kept us in games. In this game it was obvious that it did, but even in other games for every bad play the defense made, the offense made 2-3(usually stupid penalties or dropped balls) errors that forced them back onto the field. I sincerely believe that as lame as the Cover 2 scheme is, for how long the defense has had to play, another scheme with bigger and slower players would run down and collapse even more than this one does. And this has been going on for years.

And the reason is that the defense is disciplined and the offense and special teams unit is not. -the defense is confident in their schemes,  and even young players are contributing. Sometimes the schemes aren't good BUT AT LEAST THE DEFENSE EXECUTES THEM. And in this case Perry Fewell thought up an excellent scheme that actually suppressed the Saints offense, but the Bills offense once again like so many times before left them out to dry. Pathetic.

Where the defense becomes the stoutest is the goal line. New Orleans offense is deadly in the goalline and the Bills held them to only 50% scoring percentage.

Their 3rd down percentage which was awful against new england, was good against Tampa and outstanding against New Orleans, limiting them to 5-15 for a measly 33%. Again New Orleans is one of the top teams in the league at getting 3rd downs. And the Bills succeeded where  the Eagles(who are thought to have a superior defense) failed.

Keep in mind that the Bills are missing their centerpiece, Paul Posluszny and several other players are playing hurt.

SNAP THE BALL, HANGARTNER!: A particularly disturbing trend was that our center seemed incapable of snapping the ball correctly. I wish Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley could pull Hangartner aside and politely tell him to stop doing whatever it was he was doing because we wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. Here's what I mean (courtesy of Arrowhead pride NSFW language)

Bad Bills:
The fact that teams like New England do not get penalized very often is an indication that they are a disciplined team. Right now the Bills are leading the league in penalties and penalty yardage. Is this what's mainly to blame for the Bills offensive woes? I'd go so far as to say that it IS a major factor. A team like the Bills that is used to not having penalties doesn't react well to them at all. They simply don't have alot of plays for 2nd and 15 or 3rd and 20. And most teams don't have alot of success when they are backed up but whereas highly penalized teams like the Cowboys are sometimes able to work through them, but the Bills are positively crippled by them.

Last year they were one of the least penalized teams in the league. So what's changed? The offensive line unfortunately is a big part. The fact that Demetrius Bell keeps being called for not being lined up right is upsetting. Lining up right is the most basic part of football, and yet we still see  Demetrius Bell (and once in awhile Josh Reed) constantly called for those types of penalties which for an offense apparently content getting 10 yards and not airing out might as well be a drive killer. Stuff like this doesn't need to be part of the growing pains of the offensive line. It's a basic thing to be lined up, and the coaching staff needs to spend time teaching Bell until he gets it right. Penalties like holding and false starts ARE going to be part of the growing pains. These players are still good but due to their inexperience can be fooled by veterans and may start holding to protect the QB. That doesn't make the drive any less killed but it's very understandable.

So the Bills offense gets its well deserved blame for shooting itself in the foot but they are hardly the only offenders.

Wedge Busted: As soon as the NFL broke up the wedge formation and added several other rules regarding special teams I started squawking and screeching that this would do untold damage to the Bills elite special teams units among others. And in fact pretty much every team has seen their kickoff/punt production go down.

I wish I was wrong then and wrong now, but the simple fact is that the kickoff and punt returns are actually doing more harm than they are doing good.

I don't need to go into the McKelvin and Parrish fumbles, that were total momentum changers, but what I do want to talk about is the penalties.
Specifically Illegal Block in the Back or Holding penalties that our return teams CANNOT stop themselves from committing. These penalties are not only negating whenever the return man actually gets good yardage, but they are also backing them up and causing the offense to start out with terrible field position. It's gotten to the point where they are committing so many of them that it might be worth kneeling for a touchback to avoid having to start at the 10 yard line. Some of these penalties are from lack of discipline, others are left to the discretion of the referrees. I'm not about to call out the best coach on our team but these penalties have to stop.

*Bonus Edit*: Now I'm not going to go into Edwards and the offense's performance because it speaks for itself, and other people have written more insightful things about it than I could. But yeah discouraging.

Now the 4th and 1 decision. If you think questioning the effectiveness of the usually stellar return units is controversial, here something very controversial:
Jauron is coaching pretty well. He isn't costing us games, put it that way. I'm not seeing meaningless challenges, I'm not seeing wasted time outs. I'm seeing the team being in position to win and not executing. Execution of plays are the players job. The plays the Bills ran on offense I'm sure were not just screen passes. I fully believe AVP put in plays for T.O. and Lee and that he always has and that Edwards is either A)changing the plays at the line based on defensive formations. B) legitimate or disguised coverages or C)he isn't getting enough time to throw. Regardless the Oline has to protect him and he needs to make the plays. The problem hasn't been Jauron this year. That said I felt he made the wrong decision on 4th and 1 and not just because of hindsight. I do see the logic in not doing so, but he should have known it was only a matter of time before the defense broke against a very skilled team. And because the bills offense was so inept that they rarely were in 1 yard situations as it was. The game was still within reach, and a long touchdown drive would not only give the defense rest but would give them a game to fight for. Punting wasn't openly declaring surrender, but to the fans it sure looked like that. I can see why he did it but it did look bad and played into the stereotype of a weak willed Jauron. I felt that team needed a momentum spark that the success of the 4th and 1 MIGHT have given OVER the sense of defeat that the punt DID give. But again easy to criticize not easy being in that position. That said Jauron is coaching better than he was previously, and I do believe that.

*end bonus edit*

Stampede Sunday gameball winner Week 3:

Offensive player: Ryan Denney -to illustrate how inept the offense was I'm placing a defensive player here.

Defensive player: Chris Kelsay-  who was a force all night. 

Thanks for Reading!!