The Cardinals game was certainly a disappointing showing by the Bills. Any time you give up 5 sacks you’re going to have a hard time winning. The line certainly didn’t cover itself with glory on run plays. They didn’t get much help from the coaching staff. With all that being said, I think it’s pretty clear that the defense lost this game for the Bills. The offense--despite giving up sacks, committing penalties, overthrown receivers and dropped balls--averaged 28 yards per drive. That’s enough time for the defense to have a chance to catch their collective breath and to, at the least, flip field position. The defense allowed an abysmal 60% conversion rate on 3^rd down and 50% on 4^th down. Unlike games in previous years, the offense didn’t leave the defense hanging: the defense did that almost all by itself. (As an aside, George Wilson gets my game ball for biggest idiot. I thought it was beyond stupid for him to hold up his fist on 4^th down when his team was getting clobbered and the Cardinals were moving essentially at will. Help out the refs when you’re winning or, at the very least, still in the game, goober.) Moving on…

Watching the game I thought the Cardinals blitzed far more often than they did. Would you believe they only blitzed on 7 of 31 (19.4%) of pass plays? It certainly seemed like they sent a lot more guys when I watched the game on Sunday afternoon. They generated pressure with 4 guys and did it largely by stunting. I think we can count on seeing the Chargers engage in the same sort of tactics next Sunday. Given that the Cardinals had as much, if not more, success stunting towards the right side of the offensive line as they did the left I don’t think we can hang this on Peters’ selfish actions this summer. It’s a problem that extends beyond any individual lineman.

As I suspected they would, the Cardinals stacked the box often. On 9 of 17 (52.9%) of run plays the Cardinals had at least 8 guys in the box. The Bills ran for 6 (!) yards on those 9 plays, or 0.7 yards per attempt. That’s beyond terrible. On the other 8 plays? 67 yards or 8.4 yards per attempt. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I am expecting the Bills QB to check out of runs where San Diego has 8 in the box. Even with a FB/HB in the backfield and a TE on the line that leaves the Bills 1 blocker short. Turk needs to come up with some creative passes out of that formation when the box is stacked. We saw one against the Rams and Schouman picked up an important first down. Let’s hope Turk has more of those up his sleeves.

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I know you don't want to re-live it; I didn't much enjoy it myself.  But in my desperate search to find someone to blame, and thus loathe, in regards to Trent Edwards' concussion suffered in Sunday's loss, the following analysis proves that the blame may lie on the shoulders of an unsatisfactory player.  Rumblers, it's our first ever Paint Analysis - and if you like the glorious crappiness of this exercise, perhaps it could become a more regular feature...

The Situation
Buffalo ball, 3rd and 6, BUF 30, early first quarter

* Buffalo comes out in a three-wide set.  Edwards (5) is in the shotgun with Marshawn Lynch (23) to his left.
* Arizona counters with a dime look - three corners, three safeties.  Adrian Wilson (24) is lined up essentially in no-man's land; it's apparent that he's going to do as he pleases on this play.
* Hardy comes in motion, eventually settling to the right and slightly behind Robert Royal (84).  Simultaneously, Chike Okeafor (56) and Karlos Dansby (58) cheat up to the line of scrimmage, and Wilson comes up to, apparently, take Hardy in the slot.  Everything the Cardinals are doing to this point screams "blitz up the gut", including Wilson's actions.  The Cards appear to be playing man in the slots behind this blitz.  Appearances, as it turns out, can be deceiving.
* Other relevant notes: Eric Green (25) is lined up across Josh Reed (82) in the slot; Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (29) and Antrel Rolle (21) have Lee Evans (83) bracketed on the left side of the formation; Aaron Francisco (47) and Roderick Hood (26) are clearly in a zone shell behind Wilson.

The Snap

* Surprise!  Arizona's blitzing, but it's from the edges.  Dansby (58) and Okeafor (56) drop off into zone coverage, and Green (25) and Wilson (24) blitz off the edges.
* The actions of Arizona's defensive linemen make this play.  LaBoy (55) and Antonio Smith (94) rush on the interior, pinching the Bills' line into an even more tight-knit group.  It's compounded by the disguised interior blitz.  As a result, there's a pileup, and Langston Walker ends up assisting on Smith when he really didn't need to.  Wilson runs by unscathed.
* Marshawn (23) easily picks up Green, the other edge rusher.
* Reed (82) and Royal (84) are essentially decoys for the guy running the hot route, Hardy (81).  Reed draws coverage from the dropping Dansby.  Okeafor, meanwhile, is stuck in no-man's land between Hardy and Royal, who run an excellent route combination on the converted defensive end.  The problem, however, is two-fold: Hardy doesn't run it quick enough, and Wilson's untouched.
* Edwards reads the blitz and immediately knows Hardy is his guy.  Kid's sharp as a tack.  Here comes Wilson, however...

The Hit

* Trent starts drifting backwards, waiting for the Hardy/Royal route combination to develop.  He makes the throw quickly; the ball is out a split second before Hardy turns his head.  The problem is, Edwards has to hold the ball a touch longer than he'd like, and he ends up throwing the ball off his back foot.  He's essentially ripe for Wilson's picking.
* Edwards delivers the first down throw, but at an awful expense.  Wilson hits high to try to knock the ball out; Edwards is too quick on the draw, but Wilson hits under Trent's shoulder and drives his helmet - in a non-dirty fashion; it has more to do with momentum than anything - up into Edwards' chin.
* As the pair go down, the back of Edwards' helmet hits the turf first.  He's very clearly going to have a sore neck and a rung bell.  Wilson - mostly because of Edwards' drifting and his own explosiveness - drives through Edwards and lands on the quarterback with his full body weight.  If Wilson gets fined, it'll be because of this last detail - he wasn't playing dirty, as many Bills fans have unfairly claimed.

The Aftermath

Where should the blame lie?  It's spread out a bit; part of it is on a great blitz scheme by Clancy Pendergast, part of it is on Langston Walker for pinching in when he should have fanned out and tried to knock Wilson off course (though, admittedly, he wouldn't have had much time to do this), and part of it on Edwards for being a smart, gritty, loveable guy.

Will Wilson get suspended?  Almost certainly not.  Will he get fined?  If he does, it won't be for a large amount, and it shouldn't be; it won't be for a dirty hit, either.  If Wilson has to pay up, it'll be because he landed on Edwards with all of his weight.  My guess?  Wilson won't get fined, either, and he probably shouldn't.  He was just playing football.

The good news: Edwards is reportedly doing well - or, rather, about as well as can be expected at this point.  With the bye week upon us, Edwards has plenty of time to shake off the cobwebs, get plenty of sleep, take a little vacation and get ready for San Diego.  It's far too early to speculate on his availability for that game, but to this point, signs are far more encouraging than they are discouraging.  Get well soon, Trent.

Here are my offensive line notes from the Bills' win over the Rams.  It may be hard to believe but this is even longer than the post I did for the Raiders game...

Drive 1

Pass 1: 49 yards to Evans
Run 1: 20 yards by Lynch (negated by holding call) left B gap
- Peters was flagged for holding. While Brian thought it was a crappy call, Peters was, in fact, holding.  He had his right hand in the DE’s jersey arm hole.  He used his hold to keep the DE from turning and chasing down Lynch. While it didn’t appear that the DE was going to be able to catch Lynch without the hold, a hold it was and it killed the play.
- Dock put 95 down.
- Fowler pulled and stuffed/locked up 1 filling LB (Schouman took out the other) which helped spring Lynch for the run.
- Butler kept the DT turned away from the play.
- Walker pulled and did no particular good.
Pass 2: 6 yards to Lynch
Pass 3: Overthrow to Hardy (Edwards had him for a first down but simply missed)
- Lynch gave a pretty weak effort at chipping Peters’ guy.
Pass 4: 9 yards to Lynch
- At first blush I thought that Peters had killed the drive based on his holding penalty.  However, on closer review Edwards gets the blame as he could have had the first down with an accurate pass to Hardy.  The drive ended in a field goal.

Drive 1: 0 blitzes, 0 stacks

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Can Peters rebound from 3 sloppy starts? (buffalobills.com)

The Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals are set to square off this coming Sunday as the Bills look to extend their record to 5-0 for the first time since 1991.  The Cardinals, meanwhile, will look to end a two-game skid in their first home game since a Week 2 trouncing of Miami.

Several key matchups will hold huge importance in this game.  We're glad to be joined once again by cgolden of Revenge of the Birds, SB Nation's Cardinals blog, as the two of us break down four key matchups for the Bills/Cardinals tilt.  On to the matchups...

Bills WR Lee Evans vs Cardinals CB Roderick Hood
cgolden - Lee Evans is a tough match-up for any cornerback because of his big play ability and Roderick Hood will certainly have his hands full on Sunday. Evans is having a great year, averaging over 23 yards per catch, so Hood will have to bring his A-game to keep Evans from getting deep. Evans is not only a legitimate down the field threat, he's also shifty enough to turn every short pass into a huge play. Roderick Hood is a good tackler but the Cardinals don't play much press coverage, which could leave Evans open for some quick, short passes. Hood is the Cardinals' best corner by far but he's not anything spectacular so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Cardinals keep a safety over the top. Much of the Cardinals defensive game plan will depend on Adrian Wilson's avaliability on Sunday, but either way, Hood will need to some help to contain Evans.  Advantage: Bills

Yours Truly - Evans is off to a fast start.  He'll never be a guy who catches a large volume of passes, but he definitely makes his catches count (see his 23.7 YPC average through four games).  When Evans is at his best, he's making a play or two early in the game, letting other receivers keep the offense efficient in the middle quarters, and putting the final dagger in a win late in the fourth quarter.  He lulls defenses to sleep in this manner.  There isn't a corner in the league who can cover Evans for an entire game (when he's got competent quarterback play), so I fully expect Evans to make a big play or two in this one.  Advantage: Bills

Bills DT Marcus Stroud vs Cardinals C Lyle Sendlein and RG Deuce Lutui
cgolden - Lyle Sendlien got his first taste of a big, powerful defensive tackle last week when Kris Jenkins abused him a couple of times, and things won't get any easier when Marcus Stroud comes to town.  Stroud benefited from playing on a great defensive line in Jacksonville and he's got some pretty good defensive line mates in Buffalo as well with Aaron Schobel, Kyle Williams and Chris Kelsay. Stroud, like Jenkins, is strong enough to bull rush nearly any center or guard but also has the quickness and agility to be a decent pass rusher. Sendlien is a young guy who's still coming into his own and Lutui has been performing just well enough not to be benched. They'll have to double team Stroud most of the day but I still wouldn't be surprised to see him blow up a running play in the backfield and be in Warner's face a couple of times on Sunday.  Advantage: Bills

Yours Truly - Stroud's importance to this defense can't be measured just by his stats alone.  You have to take into account what Stroud has done for Kyle Williams as well; Buffalo's starting defensive tackles have combined for 28 tackles and 3 sacks in the team's first four games.  Stroud's a force against the run, and he's proven over and over this season that he can routinely beat the double team.  He's been impossible to block.  I don't expect Arizona to establish much of a run game on Sunday, but it would be nice to see Stroud collapse the pocket a handful of times around Kurt Warner, who is a fabulous rhythm passer.  Advantage: Bills

Cardinals OLB Travis LaBoy vs Bills OT Jason Peters
cgolden - This should be a strength on strength match-up and should be worth the price of admission. Oddly enough, these two guys have probably faced off before considering that LaBoy spent his first four seasons in Tennessee. LaBoy is the Cardinals best pass rusher and if Clancy Pendergast decides to be aggressive this week, he should be able to apply some pressure.  Jason Peters is the Bills' best offensive lineman and is one of the better left tackles in the league.  Since LaBoy will at times focus too much on rushing the passer, Peters should be able to handle him in the running game.  In passing situations, though, it'll be much more interesting.  LaBoy is a natural pass rusher and has the ability to get around almost any tackle in the league. He may not register a sack but I'd be surprised if he wasn't able to apply some pressure to Edwards a couple of times.  Advantage: Push

Yours Truly - Peters has been off his game since deciding to return from a prolonged pre-season holdout.  As such, he's only got about a month's worth of football under his belt this year, and with a new offensive coordinator and line coach, he's had some difficulty adjusting to what Buffalo does offensively.  He's been very streaky - looking awful at times and dominant at others - and he's currently dealing with an ankle sprain as well, hindering his footwork.  I fully expect LaBoy, who is very sudden in his pass-rushing, to make some plays on Sunday.  But Peters will have help, and he's still very adept at neutralizing the speed rush.  Advantage: Push

Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald vs Bills CB Jabari Greer
cgolden - Larry Fitzgerald has had a great year through four games and he's on pace for over 1,600 yards. His size and ability to snatch the ball out of the air at its highest point are second to none.  He'll have a four inch height and 40 pound weight advantage over Greer, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them test Greer early and often. Whatever the Cardinals' game plan ends up being, Greer shouldn't be underestimated though.  He's a slightly undersized corner back (5'11", 180) who is coming into his own and he plays much bigger than his stature would suggest. He's pretty good about getting his hands on a pass or two during a game and he sealed the Bills' victory over the Rams with a 33-yard pick six.  Overall, Greer's a solid corner but he'll need help because Fitzgerald is a special reciever.  Advantage: Cardinals

Yours Truly - Buffalo employs a Cover 2 shell on pass downs, so it's a virtual certainty that the Bills will have two guys on Fitzgerald at all times.  That number could balloon to 3 on occasion if Anquan Boldin doesn't play as expected.  Greer will get the Fitzgerald assignment most often, and I actually think that his aggressiveness and surprising reach match up better with Fitzgerald than most people believe.  But Fitzgerald is undeniable; he'll get his touches.  The Bills will be lucky if they can hold him to one score.  Advantage: Cardinals

***

Not much of a debate here.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on these matchups and on this exercise in the comments section.

     
Buffalo Bills (4-0) at Arizona Cardinals (2-2)
Sunday, October 5, 2008 - 4:15 PM EDT

I noted last week that a Bills/Rams game was rare; apparently, it's rarer that the Bills take on the Arizona Cardinals.  In fact, the Bills and (St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona) Cardinals have only met eight times since their original meeting in 1971. The Bills are averaging over 27 points per game and hold a 4-1 edge in their last 5 meetings.

September 9, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 37, Buffalo Bills 7
This was not a good game for the Bills; of course, the 1984 season wasn't very good overall. The Bills rushed for only 54 yards total as a team, turned the ball over 3 times and allowed 4 sacks. The Cardinals on the other hand ran for 221 yards including 2 Ottis Anderson scores, and Neil Lomax tossed for 2 more. The lone Bills highlight was a 22 yard TD pass and catch from Joe Ferguson to Preston Dennard. The Cards finished that year 9-7 but missed the playoffs. The Bills had a miserable year, going 2-14.

September 21, 1986: Buffalo Bills 17, St. Louis Cardinals 10
A complete turnaround from their previous meeting.  The Bills ran for 122 yards and 2 scores, one by Ricky Moore and one by Greg Bell.  The Cards only ran for 94 yards this time and the Bills sacked Neil Lomax 4 times and forced a turnover. The lone Cards highlight was a 19 yard hook-up between Lomax and Vai Sikahema (easily one of the greatest names in football history).  Both the Bills and Cardinals finished the '86 season 4-12.

November 11, 1990: Buffalo Bills 45, Phoenix Cardinals 14
A dominating win for the Bills included 206 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, one by Jaime Mueller and one by Kenneth Davis, and 4 Jim Kelly touchdown passes, one each to Keith McKeller, Butch Rolle, Don Beebe, and Steve Tasker.  Defensively the Bills sacked Cardinals QB Timm Rosenbach 4 times and forced 4 turnovers. The Bills put the game away with 24 fourth quarter points. The Bills finished the '90 season 13-3 and made their first of 4 Super Bowl appearances; the Cards went 5-11.

December 19, 1999: Buffalo Bills 31, Arizona Cardinals 21
Doug Flutie hit Jay Riemersma to give the Bills a 24-14 lead with 3:01 to play, but the Cards marched right down the field and Jake Plummer hit Rob Moore for a 26 yard TD hook-up to bring the Cards within a field goal of tying it up with 1:49 to play.  Henry Jones took the ensuing onside kick 37 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for the Bills. The Bills finished 11-5 and ended their playoff run in Tennessee (I'm pretty sure you know how by now), while the Cards lost their last 4 games of the year and finished 6-10.

October 31, 2004: Buffalo Bills 38, Arizona Cardinals 14
This game had a Tim Euhus sighting! Euhus had 2 catches for 21 yards and a TD. Looking at the stats I have no idea how the Bills won this game, or how they won by 24 points for that matter.  The Cards had only 85 passing yards TOTAL, which is putrid, but the Bills had an even worse 81!  Both teams finished the game with 128 yards on the ground, but Willis McGahee had 102 by himself to go with 2 scores. Terrence McGee also had an 87-yard kickoff return for a TD.

There's plenty to be excited about in Buffalo with the Buffalo Bills off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1992.  Yet despite four straight wins to open the 2008 regular season, Bills fans seem increasingly negative about the team's play, specifically in the last two weeks.  I'm here to quell some of that pessimism - because what I saw in tape in reviewing the Bills' 31-14 victory over the Rams was quite encouraging.  The tape never lies.

Buffalo opened its season with a thrilling performance on special teams in a win over Seattle.  The ensuing two games were not as kind to Buffalo, however, as Jacksonville and especially Oakland outplayed the Bills' special teams in nearly every department.  That changed on Sunday, when Buffalo's special teams returned to dominance in a victory over St. Louis.

Units dominant once again
The Bills were excellent in all phases of special teams on Sunday.  Their performance wasn't highlighted by the big, game-changing plays as it was against Seattle, but it was nonetheless dominant.  Buffalo had outstanding field position all day thanks to some lengthy returns by Leodis McKelvin and Fred Jackson and outstanding punt coverage (McKelvin averaged 32 yards on kicks and 12 on punts; Jackson averaged 13 on punts).  Brian Moorman placed 5 of his 6 punts inside the 20 yard line.

Blake Costanzo, John Wendling, George Wilson and Justin Jenkins headlined a superb coverage effort against one of the game's quickest return men in Dante Hall.  Wendling leapt over the line on a missed 51-yard field goal by St. Louis' Josh Brown.  It wasn't the cause of the miss, but it's always fun to watch.  Literally nothing went wrong for these units on Sunday.  It was, quite literally, utter domination.

Punt return duo works
I miss watching Roscoe Parrish return punts, and it's only been a week.  The Bills replaced him with two pretty good athletes in McKelvin and Jackson, and still the drop-off is noticeable.  Parrish is simply the best in the business.  With that said, I actually loved how the combination of McKelvin and Jackson worked out.

At times, April had both of them back to return.  Jackson was more effective on the day - he doesn't have great agility, but if he gets a seam, he's tough to bring down because of his wiggle and just because he's a pretty big dude (bigger than most punt returners, at any rate).  McKelvin actually looks better returning kicks than punts; the rookie seems to be adamant about trying to break off a long run straight up the middle.  Had he used his superior quickness to turn some returns outside, he might have averaged 20 yards a return.  These guys work well in tandem because of their complementary skills, but I'd still like to see McKelvin earn a few more returns in this department.

But I still want Roscoe back.  Get well soon.

George Wilson
This guy deserves kudos, because he's pretty quickly replaced the leadership void on these units when guys like Sam Aiken and Mario Haggan departed the team.  Wilson's been called the ultimate teammate, and it shows on the field - he's one of the most animated guys on the team.  Wilson made the tackle on each of Hall's first three kick returns; he's difficult to block on both kick and punt coverage.  His leadership and his abilities have quickly made him Buffalo's best special teams ace.  Guess his teammates knew what they were doing when they voted him a team captain.

He'd better relish his role of "best special teams ace", however, because John Wendling, Justin Jenkins and even Blake Costanzo are coming on fast.  Costanzo in particular is fun to watch; he plays the role of "wedge-buster", launching himself into the wedge on kick returns, and he blew up a lot of wedges on Sunday.  He's the ultimate special teamer: a good athlete with nothing to lose, he lays it all on the line.

That's all she wrote for this week's film sessions.  If there's anything else you'd like to see me address in these reviews, please feel free to let me know - I'm open to suggestion.

There's plenty to be excited about in Buffalo with the Buffalo Bills off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1992.  Yet despite four straight wins to open the 2008 regular season, Bills fans seem increasingly negative about the team's play, specifically in the last two weeks.  I'm here to quell some of that pessimism - because what I saw in tape in reviewing the Bills' 31-14 victory over the Rams was quite encouraging.  The tape never lies.

Four games, four very solid performances for Buffalo's defense.  Yes, Rams running back Steven Jackson was able to rush for 110 yards and gain 188 yards overall.  Yes, the Bills gave up some big plays.  But their second half performance - especially defensively, but also as a team overall - was simply dominant.  Buffalo was in control of this game from the moment they took the field after halftime, and the defense was once again the catalyst.

Active defensive line
A lot of folks like to reference poor defensive line play, particularly in the pass rush department, as a weakness of the defense.  I watched the defensive line quite closely in this one; trust me when I say that our guys up front are playing extremely well.

It tends to be forgotten, but a pretty important reason for the Bills' "lack of a pass rush" from their defensive ends (read: lack of sacks) is because of the type of defense we play, and the way that blitz packages are utilized.  Very rarely are quarterbacks taking more than a 5-step drop against Buffalo.  Zone defenses call for quick routes, and opposing offenses are getting the ball out quick.  Really quick.  Cover 2 defenses blitz all the time to create pressure because of that specific issue.  The Colts have Bob Sanders; the Bears have Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher; now the Bills have Paul Posluszny, Kawika Mitchell, Ashton Youboty and Donte Whitner.  The ends are playing very well - though they do still crash too hard on run plays and lose contain on occasion.  Chris Kelsay does this frequently.  And on plays where quarterbacks are waiting on more intricate routes, the ends are in their faces.

In fact, the main cause for Buffalo's inability to stop the run in the first half of this game was simply over-pursuit and poor tackling.  Defenders were literally running past Jackson, who utilized the cutback on most of his best rushes.  That overpursuit stopped in the second half, especially from our ends and the secondary.

The hitters
Speaking of the secondary - these guys can hit.  I'm not just talking about the lick that Leodis McKelvin put on Dane Looker that left the receiver stumbling toward the sideline.  I'm talking about across the board.  Whitner had a big hit on Trent Green for a sack.  Ko Simpson made some really nice, tough open-field tackles on Jackson.  Jabari Greer hits a receiver whether or not the receiver makes the catch.  We all know exactly how well Youboty has tackled to date.  Every one of these guys can lay the lumber.  It's fun to watch.

The hitters extend beyond the secondary, too.  Posluszny packs a punch when he tackles, as does Kyle Williams - they're jolters.  Buffalo has a fast, athletic and hard-hitting defense.  Even on bad plays, Buffalo's defenders are handing out punishment.  That's important as each game wears on, and you could see the Rams starting to get a little gun-shy after the Bills re-established a lead in the fourth quarter.

State of the CB position
The loss of CB Terrence McGee hurts.  His knee injury will keep him out of the Cardinals game, and probably a game or two after the bye week as well.  Naturally, with this in mind, I paid pretty close attention to the play of McKelvin, who is now Buffalo's "nickel" back but will spend most of his time lined up on the outside receiver.  What I saw wasn't all that bad.

As I noted earlier, McKelvin can hit.  But like any rookie, he's too over-eager.  McGee is such a good fit in this defense because he's calm, collected and technically sound.  McKelvin's not any of those yet.  He blew contain on Jackson's 29-yard touchdown run looking for the big hit.  He's not very good playing forward yet because he's too aggressive; his eagerness hinders his natural athleticism.  But he actually played pretty well, which surprised me.  When he plays within himself, he's a lock-down corner - right now.  But he doesn't play that way nearly often enough, which is hardly surprising, considering he's a rookie.  Expect more of the same from Leodis - mistakes, big hits and occasionally a big play.  Greer and Youboty will be fine; McKelvin is the key to Buffalo's pass defense for the next few weeks.

Special teams review to come.  Stay tuned...

There's plenty to be excited about in Buffalo with the Buffalo Bills off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1992.  Yet despite four straight wins to open the 2008 regular season, Bills fans seem increasingly negative about the team's play, specifically in the last two weeks.  I'm here to quell some of that pessimism - because what I saw in tape in reviewing the Bills' 31-14 victory over the Rams was quite encouraging.  The tape never lies.

For the third time in four games, the Bills started off slowly offensively.  The penalties, missed assignments and general first-half woes that our (still very young) offense has displayed are the most-referenced low points when Bills fans are staying cautious about the team's prospects.  Caution is a great thing to have - in fact, caution is the preferable route at this point when laying out expectations for this team - but we're a lot closer to having a great game offensively than many realize.

Miscues and brand new schemes
Much of the early-game lack of success that the Bills have displayed stems from what defenses are doing.  The Rams - who got absolutely blitzed by the Eagles, Giants and Seahawks in their first three games - came out and did a lot of overloading and stunting in their blitz packages defensively, something they hadn't done in their first three losses.  The result was some blown assignments in pass protection, which was largely responsible for the Bills' offensive woes early in this particular game.

The other culprit?  Mistakes - and those likely stemmed from a couple of factors.  First, I thought that offensive coordinator Turk Schonert was a bit too urgent in this game.  The Bills didn't really try to establish their rushing game - not until the third quarter, at least - and most of the passes they threw were throws down the field.  That's uncharacteristic of a Schonert offense (at least the one we've seen to date), and it kept the Bills in several third-and-unmanageable situations.  Stemming from that sense of urgency on Schonert's part was offensive personnel that seemed to be pushing - in fact, borderline desperate - as well.  That led to some of the penalties (though the early holding call on Jason Peters, which negated a long Marshawn Lynch run, was, in fact, garbage).

Buffalo needs to tighten up the screws early in the game, there's no doubt about it.  They're seeing exotic looks and they're shooting themselves in the foot.  They're going to have to deal with the looks, because those will keep coming.  If they eliminate the mistakes, however, and remain true to their offensive identity, they can be much more effective in the first half.  In particular, they need to deal with the early blitz better, because Trent Edwards took too many big hits in this one.  Better play-calling will take care of it.

Blocking scheme changes
While the Bills were struggling to run the ball in the first half, the team spent a lot of time running in-tackle, and Peters pulled to the right on a lot of those plays.  The results, as you all are aware, were less than impressive - though if there aren't two penalties negating long runs (I said the Peters hold was garbage, which it was, but the trip on Melvin Fowler was a good call), we're not complaining about Buffalo's rushing effort in this game.

Buffalo clearly made a concerted effort to re-establish their running game in the third quarter, and they did it with a slightly adjusted blocking scheme.  They mixed in plenty of off-tackle runs, which led to some of Marshawn Lynch's longer runs of the game.  Fred Jackson had success off the edge as well.  Rather than pulling Peters in the second half, it was Langston Walker doing most of the pulling.  Man, is it fun to watch that guy sprint full-out.  Walker wasn't laying a lot of lumber on these plays, but a man that size doesn't have to - he creates space because he's so big.  The Bills' diversity in their run game play-calling, with a dash of determination, was what led to success - and it's what created a hole straight up the middle for Jackson on his first career touchdown rush.

Lee Evans: key to Buffalo's offense
The Bills did a smart thing getting Lee Evans involved early - his 49-yard reception on the first play of the game was a thing of beauty - but they need to find ways to spread his production out through an entire game.  Evans' second and final reception came in the fourth quarter, the 39-yard touchdown grab that put the game on ice.  He needs to be more of a factor in the middle quarters; I'm confident he would have been had Edwards had more time to throw.

Some fun stats for any stragglers out there who think Evans doesn't deserve a lucrative contract extension from the Bills: over two seasons, Trent Edwards is 9-4 as an NFL starting quarterback.  In those thirteen games, Evans has had at least 50 receiving yards nine times - all wins.  He's had less than 50 receiving yards four times - all losses.  Take that further - in the 20 games the Bills have played since the start of the 2007 season, Evans has notched at least 50 receiving yards in 11 of those games.  That's right, folks - over the past two years, the Bills are 11-0 in games where Evans nabs 50 receiving yards, and 0-9 when he doesn't.  Getting him involved is quite obviously the key to success for Buffalo's offense, and it's a pretty inarguable point.

Reviews of the defense and special teams are coming your way later today.  Stay tuned...

     
Buffalo Bills (3-0) at St. Louis Rams (0-3)
SB Nation's Rams coverage: Turf Show Times

The 3-0 Buffalo Bills face a major gut check as they strive for a 4-0 start for the first time since 1992.  They invade St. Louis hoping to drop the Rams to their fourth straight loss to start the season.  The Bills haven't won in St. Louis since their first visit to the Edward Jones Dome in 1995.  Below are my keys to a Bills victory and a great start to the season:

Start fast, play inspired:  We are an 8 point favorite and should win this game.  The best way to put away teams that aren't as good as you is to do it early.  We saw how an 'inferior' team can stay in the game last week; there's no reason to let that happen again this week. 

Stop the Steve-o: With good old Trent Green joining the starting lineup, I think it's pretty obvious the Rams need to really integrate Steven Jackson into the offense.  He is by far their best player, so it'll be no surprise if they pretty much run him into the ground.

Get after the other Trent:  I fear for Trent Green's safety, but our defense shouldn't.  Green has obviously been cleared for contact and should be ready for a big pass rush.  Let's give it to him.  The Rams' O-Line has been awful this year, and that is being nice.  We need to blitz early and often, and make Green as uncomfortable as possible, if he isn't already.  I'm expecting 4 sacks or more and will be disappointed if we don't hit that.

Turnovers, as in "get some":  I, for one, was fully expecting a big season turnover-wise out of our defense.  That hasn't exactly happened yet, but there will be plenty of opportunities this week.  A Rams team that has been outscored by 29 points per game has actually only turned it over 3 times.  It'd be nice to add to that number and finally get our defense going in that category.  We've been pretty excellent in all areas except for turnovers thus far.

Run it like the rest: The Rams are allowing 184 yards per game on the ground, so it's pretty obvious that they are weak in that area (like most areas).  After three mediocre rushing performances, this needs to be the week the Bills offense and Marshawn Lynch step it up and dominate on the ground.  The Rams' D is there for abusing, so it's time for our OL to take over a game.  If we can't run it this week, I'm afraid of how we'll run it the rest of the season.

Attack deep: This is one key to pull from last week.  Again, I feel it's absolutely necessary to try the Rams deep. They are about as bad as it gets in the secondary, and we really need to attack that.  I've mentioned in the past how important it is for our offense to get Lee Evans involved early.  Last week was a nice example.  We didn't get the ball to Lee that much until the fourth quarter and our offensive production suffered, in part, because of that.  Like most teams, it's extremely important to the offense's success to get the top WR involved.  This week is as good as any week to throw it deep early and often.  Evans should have opportunities to literally embarrass the Rams' "starting" corners.

Impose our will: Like I mentioned before, we are the superior team, we just have to show it.  With Scott Linehan likely to be fired if we win, there's no reason we should let this be a close game.  There has been a lot of turmoil surrounding the Rams this week, and we need to play off of that.  It is important for us to dictate the tempo as we did against Seattle and at times against Jacksonville.  This week is a good time to really prove what kind of team we are.

Make Special Team special again:  Last week we were pretty awful in this phase, while we were rather mediocre the prior week.  After a phenomenal performance in Week 1, the unit's play has slipped.  With Roscoe out for the next month or so, we need other guys (Leodis and friends) to step up and prove their worth. Specifically, the coverage units really need to step up and limit the big returns.  This has been an issue the past two weeks, and this week we'll need to hold the semi-still-dangerous Dante Hall in check.  Time for Bobby April to whip his boys back into shape.

Don't be that guy: Everybody hates 'that guy', so let's not be him.  The Rams are a team that is about as weak as they come and we are rather solid in all three phases.  Under Dick Jauron the Bills have lost one game against a team that finished the season with a worse record that us (Detroit 2006).  It's obvious that he has the team ready for the teams the Bills are supposed to beat.  The Rams game should be no different and they should play it that way.  Like they have in the past, there's no reason to be looking past this week's opponent. Jauron's teams have done a solid job beating the teams they should beat; let's not see something different this time.

***

The Bills are 3-0 and looking good.  The Rams are 0-3 and have looked about as bad as physically possible.  On paper the Bills should easily take care of business.  However, as this is the NFL, anything is possible.  The Bills need to stay focused and ready as every road game is a challenge.  Go Bills, and let's make it 4-0!!!

Stay tuned to Buffalo Rumblings and today's Open Game Thread for a "live chat" during today's big game!

McKelvin has large shoes to fill Sunday (buffalobills.com)

The 2008 Buffalo Bills are 3-0.  Not much has gone wrong to this point for the young up-and-coming team - Trent Edwards is showing glimpses of being the team's quarterback of the future; the team's defense is ranked fifth overall in the league; explosive special teams plays have had a big impact in two of the three wins.  As of this moment, all is well in Buffalo.

The 2008 St. Louis Rams are 0-3.  The team's quarterback and captain, Marc Bulger, has been benched - and may be refusing to play for his coach, Scott Linehan, in the future.  Steven Jackson, the face of the franchise, is publicly questioning team moves.  The team's defense ranks dead last in the league, surrendering 456.7 yards per game, and the team is losing games by an average score of 38-10.

So yes - despite declarations that the Bills aren't taking the still-talented Rams lightly, this is a game that the Bills should win, probably with ease.  Nothing can be taken for granted in the NFL, however, especially when the team favored is on the road.  We'll talk more about keys to victory (with Kurupt once again leading the charge); today, it's all about the matchups.  Here are three key matchups that the Bills will need to exploit for victory on Sunday:

Lee Evans vs Ron Bartell and O.J. Atogwe
Despite the fact that Evans is averaging over 20 yards on his 12 receptions this season, the Bills haven't gotten Evans deep as often as they'd like to.  If there's a game in which the Bills will be able to routinely make plays down the field, this one is it, as the Rams secondary has given up plenty of big gainers through their first three games.  Making big plays down the field is a must-do for the Bills; the team has been content to control tempo with short throws underneath, but in the last two games, that approach has kept the Jaguars and Raiders in the game.  The Bills need to get out to a quick and commanding lead early in this one, and the best way to do that is to get Evans involved early and deep.  Evans is a step or two better than both Bartell and Atogwe, so the ability to get deep will be there.

Terrence McGee vs Donnie Avery
St. Louis' brash rookie wide receiver, who has guaranteed he'll be unveiling his touchdown dance this Sunday, will be the most dangerous Rams receiver to take the field on Sunday simply because he's faster than the man he'll be lining up with, Torry Holt.  The Bills had a pretty easy go of it defending Javon Walker last week; Johnnie Lee Higgins was a different story.  McGee, the starting defense's best pure tackler, will draw the assignment of covering Avery on Sunday, and with good reason - he's easily the most technically sound of Buffalo's corners and won't give up the big play.  He also has the hitting ability to make the rookie wideout pay for his brash guarantee.

Leodis McKelvin vs Donnie Jones
Remember how Bills punter Brian Moorman got so good?  He played on some awful Bills teams early in his career, punted enough to somehow elevate his status to "fan favorite", and honed his craft.  St. Louis' Donnie Jones is currently doing the same thing - he leads the league with a whopping 51.9-yard punting average and is fifth in net average (42.2) on a league-high 20 punts.  What's more, he won't have to punt to Roscoe Parrish this weekend - likely a load off of his mind.  Jones has a big leg, which as Moorman has showcased can actually hurt a punt coverage unit.  If Jones gets too much leg on a punt and out-kicks his coverage, the rookie McKelvin - returning punts for the first time in the NFL - has to find a way to make him pay.

Much more on this game tomorrow.