Offense MIA as Steelers Roll Bills, 26-3

by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 7:53 AM EDT in News Comment 22 comments

Losman, offense struggle once again (Courtesy: BuffaloBills.com)

After an off-season in which the Bills had supposedly put together an explosive offense, the Bills managed just 3 points in their second regular season contest, a 26-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Poor play-calling and the ineffectiveness of QB J.P. Losman hamstrung the Bills, as the team's defense did enough to keep the Bills in the game through the better part of three quarters. Expect losses to continue to pile up until Buffalo's offense can put points on the scoreboard - 10 offensive points in two weeks obviously won't cut it.

Offense: Passing Attack Woes
No Rhythm for Passing Game: Facing a constant blitz from the Steelers, J.P. Losman could not get into a rhythm with his receivers Sunday. His stats weren't terrible (15/25, 154 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT), but much of those numbers were accrued in the fourth quarter after the Bills abandoned the run game. The offensive line struggled to pick up the blitz at times, but in general gave Losman enough time to make plays. J.P. is struggling to make quick decisions right now - which is either a result of his hesitancy to turn the ball over or offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild's over-complicated pass routes. Either way, the Bills need to fix their passing game quickly. Losman has a 68.3 QB rating through two games.

Lynch a Bright Spot: Once again, rookie RB Marshawn Lynch was a bright spot for the Bills' offense. Facing one of the toughest run defenses in the league, the Bills were able to run effectively at times. Lynch finished the day with 64 yards on 18 carries (3.6 YPC) and added one reception for 21 yards. When Lynch gains the corner and gets into open space, he's incredibly difficult to bring down as he uses a herky-jerky juke move and a powerful stiff-arm to avoid defenders. Lynch needs to be used more in all facets of the game; an improved passing offense would keep pressure off of him as well.

Quick Fix: Opposing defenses will continue to blitz Losman as long as it works. Steve Fairchild and Losman need to get together on this one - J.P. needs to read the blitz, switch his protections and know who his hot receivers are, and Fairchild needs to let him do those things. Fairchild also needs to un-complicate the passing offense and make it simpler for Losman to complete passes and move the chains. If the Bills can get the short passing game going, they will at the very least sustain a few drives and keep their young defense off the field.

Defense: Flood Gates Finally Open
Can't Get Off the Field: After surrendering just 27 points through the better part of 7 quarters, the Bills' defense finally broke yesterday as the Steelers scored twice and ran effectively to ice the game. The defense, for the most part, struggled - the Steelers amassed 420 yards of offense. But at halftime the Bills had surrendered just 12 points. Why did the flood gates finally open? Simple: Pittsburgh kept them on the field with great defense themselves and by converting 11 of 16 third down opportunities (68%). As a result, the Steelers held the ball for over 35 minutes.

Chunk Yardage Kills: The Bills' defense is young and continuing to get younger, which explains some of the inconsistency that the unit is struggling with. The run defense is playing very well on runs up the middle, but the team's cornerbacks are having trouble containing the edge rushes. As a result, Pittsburgh's Willie Parker was able to pick up the majority of his 126 rushing yards on runs to the outside. Buffalo's blitz is inconsistent as well - half the time the blitzers were picked up expertly by the Steelers, and the other half of the time Ben Roethlisberger was able to avoid the rush and make a play. Due to the lack of a pass rush, Roethlisberger was effective, gaining 242 yards through the air and throwing for one score.

Quick Fix: Oxygen. Somehow, some way, the Bills need to find a way to keep their defense off the field. This unit is not designed to playy the majority of the game. What this unit can do for you is minimize opponents' scoring, which the Bills were able to do for a good chunk of the game again. If the Bills want to win football games, they need to score points - that will fix both their goose-egg in the win column and the defense, which could use a good blow from time to time to stay effective for a full four quarters.

Next Week: at New England (2-0)
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the Bills travel to New England next week to take on the explosive and undefeated Patriots. With Tom Brady and his receivers firing on all cylinders (76 points in two games), it's more obvious this week than ever: the offense needs to show up this week. If they don't, this game will be far more brutal to witness than the Steelers game.

Speaking of the Steelers game, leave your thoughts about the Bills' struggles in the comments.

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points-scored

Brian, I think the offense actually only scored 10
points in two weeks , the other seven came from Rosco Parrish's punt return.

rochester_cncguy

by cncguy on Sep 17, 2007 8:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good point

17 points total, 10 via offense. Change will be made. Thanks!

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Next Week's Upset Time

I think everyone here has it all wrong. Next week's game is exactly what they've been planning for all along. Jauron is "tricking" the Patriots into believing that the Bills are one of the worst teams in the NFL. The plan is also to provide them with as little film to prepare for and only show them the vanilla offense (personally I prefer my offense with a vanilla and chocolate twist and sprinkles). HA! Ha! Ha! They won't know what hit them.

BTW between the Jets, Giants, and Bills (and lets thrown in my hometown college football team, Syracuse for good measure), what the hell is happening to NY teams? Damn! UB has a better record then any of them.

by Zumone on Sep 17, 2007 10:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

In fairness...

...the Jets and Giants don't count -- they play in Jersey. That alone could explain their problems. :)

by rexob on Sep 17, 2007 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rushing on 1st down

One thing I noticed about Lynch is that he was excellent rushing the ball on first down - he had 7 rushes for 46 yards on 1st and 10. But on 2nd and short, or 3rd and short, he was absolutely awful. On 2nd/3rd and less than three, he had 6 attempts for 2 yards and only one first down.

That one first down was a good, tough run - the 2nd and 2 where Lynch gained four yards. I remember because the announcers praised Lynch for his ability to move the pile and compared him to Thurman Thomas. What game were they watching?

I'm not sure who to blame for these problems - Lynch, the offensive line (including Whittle at FB), Losman for not calling an audible to a play-action pass, or the coaches for calling the play. The offensive line really was completely unable to push the defensive line and linebackers (plus Polamalu) back in short-yardage, so I'll go with that.

by Krenn on Sep 17, 2007 10:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: blame

I put it on the coaches. Run, run, pass. Every $%$@#$ time. Lynch picks up 8, gets stuffed, then Losman throws a duck on third down. That happened two or three times yesterday, and it wasn't the fault of the players - it was, plain and simple, predictability.

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ugly

This team is just all around ugly. I really have nothing more to say than that. I'm just disgusted with this coaching staff, the play of our QB and our thief DE's. The future is bleak again, ugh...

by Kurupt on Sep 17, 2007 11:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Understand your frustrations...

But it's only been 2 games. Once the offensive coaching staff gets its... you know... together, this team should hang with any team in the league.

I'm right there with you on our ends, K, but don't you think they'll be far more effective when they get Denney and Hargrove back behind them? I do. I agree they're overrated, and I agree they're making far too much money, but I think they can at least be effective when they don't have to do it all on their own.

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's some major optimism....

I can't see how we'll be successful under this coaching staff unless they all of a sudden change their philosophies, which I doubt happens.

I'm also not so sure we'll see much improvement once we get Denney and Hargrove out there. Maybe we'll see a big of improvement against the run, especially off tackle, but we'll still have no pass rush, which IMO is crippling this defense. Kelsay and Denney give us no pass rush, so I don't expect that to ever change. Hargrove could help us in this area, but I'm not banking on it. The coaching staff will probably stick him back at DT on passing downs negating his quickness. Schobel will always be overrated in my book. His day yesterday typifies what he gives us. One or two pressures on the QB and a coverage sack. What makes you think they'll exceed their abilities? Maybe they'll be a little fresher in the 4th Q, but will it matter if they do nothing all game prior to that?

I'm sorry I've become more pessimistic than I like. It's just discouraging watching the opposition exploit our weaknesses while our coaching staff sits back and makes no adjustments. The fact that they refuse to play to our offensive strengths such as the deep ball, Roscoe, Lynch out of the backfield, etc, really ticks me off and leads me to believe that we'll never see the offense that we truly expected.

I also have another player that I'd like to call out but I'll leave him alone here for now...

by Kurupt on Sep 17, 2007 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re:

I actually do think that the return of Denney and Hargrove will help us. I never had much hope for the pass rush anyways, but I think four healthy, above-average defensive ends will really help resolve our problems defending the edges on the rush. That's what's been killing us these first two weeks, because we've been surprisingly stout up the middle.

Totally agree with you about the offense, K - we need to utilize our players' talents, not fit a scheme. Feel free to call out players, by the way! Pessimism is certainly not discouraged... I just like to play devil's advocate with my eternal optimism. :)

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well

I called someone out on the BB.com board and apparently I only have a few supporters....

Needless to say, I think Donte Whitner needs to raise his game up and start playing like a top ten player. He's still not an impactful player for us and I'll leave it at that...

I'm usually pretty optimistic regarding the Bills. Hope I can be that way again soon..

by Kurupt on Sep 17, 2007 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I

have been waiting for Losman to kick it into high gear-doesn't he have the option to call another paly at the line if the one called won't work-if thats the case he has no one to blame but himself, he could go deep if he wants to. I am/was a big Losman fan now I wonder if he doesn't have it to play in the nfl (IQ) and go with Edwards to see if he does for the rest of the season. Losman is just missing the passes, over thrown-under thrown but rarely on target. I am so flustrated with this team right now. I kept feeling that the bend don't brake was good yesterday and if the offence could have scored when they had good field position it would have been a differant game at least twice they were in position to score first and goal from the five and only get a FG is a crime. augh

Bills fan in PA

by Bills fan in PA on Sep 17, 2007 12:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

just renewing what i wrote last week...

that this play-calling is pathetic. I'm not going to sit here and say that Losman has no blame on his shoulders but you cannot give someone a... most people (specifically the local media) are busy throwing JP under the bus for what he said after the game, specifically for not taking the blame for the poor offensive performance - nevermind that EVERYTHING he said was correct. I would not have taken the blame either!

That's horse s*it! It makes my blood boil. Anybody that knows anything about football could see that the play calling was anemic.

Where were the play-action passes?

Roll out passes?

Throwing it on first down?

Crossing patters, slants, double moves, etc...

how about getting the ball to lynch out of the backfield? Did we split him out wide the entire game?

What happened to the no-huddle, four- five- receiver threats we heard so much about?

it was all the same... run to the left or a three- to five- step drop and a three yard pass! ugh!

i said it last week and I'll say it again, I will be calling for fairchild's head long before I call for JP's, becuase Fairchild is not giving JP and the offense the chance to win! I'll take it one step further this week... DJ needs to get his head out of his a$$ and tell fairchild to open it up or else he should out the door as well! PATHETIC!!

one more thing... read the article on buffalobills.com and the comments by the offensive players. They all agree with JP. Every last one of them, I guarnatee it. JP has the support of his teammates, now he needs the support of his coaching staff!

let JP sink or swim, but give him the chance to do so for flippin' sake!

John I.

by jri111 on Sep 17, 2007 1:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ha sorry...

i was so angry when i was writing this I forgot to finish a though in the first paragraph before submitting it! The first paragraph should read...

"that this play-calling is pathetic. I'm not going to sit here and say that Losman has no blame on his shoulders but you cannot give someone a single thread and tell them to make an afgan out of it! Most people (specifically the local media) are busy throwing JP under the bus for what he said after the game, specifically for not taking the blame for the poor offensive performance - nevermind that EVERYTHING he said was correct. I would not have taken the blame either!

John I.

by jri111 on Sep 17, 2007 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree, John

I don't fault any of our players offensively, especially Losman. This is on Fairchild - who, I believe, does have more offensive power than he deserves. Jauron isn't a coach who can call plays, but he definitely needs to have a word with Steve - because I'm pretty sure DJ could do a better job running this offense than Fairchild is doing right now.

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

New here...

This is my first post here, but I would just like to jump in on this. I agree with the assessment that Fairchild's play calling has been, to be nice, conservative. And I would definitely like to see him open it up and let J.P. fling it around. But I do take issue with J.P. passing off responsibility for the offense's and his own poor play to the play calling. That doesn't seem to me to be the way a supposed leader, a guy with the "C" on his chest, should act. In fact, I would expect a real leader would take more blame than deserved, as in "We are not getting it done as an offense and as the leader of that offense, I take responsibility for that and I am going to step up." I have always been a defender of J.P., but as much as his play has disturbed me these first two games, his comments bother me much more.

by fletcherjd on Sep 17, 2007 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree

Welcome to the site! I agree with you as far as Losman's comments go - he needs to learn to shut up in the right situation. I'm not totally concerned about his play, because I think once the play-calling un-sucks, he'll be much better.

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 18, 2007 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree with John

100%. It makes no sense that they haven't opened up the offense at all. The only thing I can hope is that they were simply unprepared this week in dealing with the KE situation and the rest of the injuries.

by drew173 on Sep 17, 2007 3:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hi

The author of this site has made many insightful points, but one of them stands out.

JP is a streaky QB, was his success at the end of last season him getting better or just in a streak.

I think JP is a good QB. I think he scores a total 10 on all the non performance factors (living in Buffalo, working his ass off, helping charities).

He deserves at least half a season to get going, especially considering the defenses we have been facing.

That said, I have always believed Marvs statement that we only drafted Trent because he was such great value.

Im not sure I believe that anymore.

GO JP! I think youre a great guy and a great QB. Put it together.

by Thronsen on Sep 17, 2007 3:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ha

"Insightful", eh? Glad you think so :). I agree with you about JP - though I will say that if Losman does end up getting only half a season and then he's pulled, a) I'll be floored with shock and b) I'd be more than a little miffed. More on this later...

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by Brian Galliford on Sep 17, 2007 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Coach jauron

DJ has shown he always gets the team ready to play, to compete, last year we hardly ever were not competitive, but yesterday our defense showed that DJ's scheme and coaching can keep them in games, it's simply the offense. I don't know how much of an offensive mind DJ is, and if he is letting Fairchild run his own ship. But it is clear that the inexperience of offensive coaching is preventing this offense from succeeding. And I mean we have good receivers, Robert Royal is a viable pass-catching TE, and JP is mobile which is a huge benefit, but he held onto the ball way too long. And that 4th and 2 in the 3rd, I mean he held that sucker forever! I mean all the good QB's in the league right now, Romo, Manning, Brady for example just get the ball out so quick and in rythym. Our offense looks so out of whack.

If the offense could somehow score points I think we can compete in every game this year. We will see how good a coach DJ is. If we get blown out again this week, it's a sign that the Bills are regressing and that would be awful. 3-6 wins this season will raise questions about Losman/Fairchile and Jauron. But, I've always said with all our draft picks next year, this team is on the right track but it is definitely a couple years from having enough experience to compete.

I am pissed, sad and flustered. Losman promised he would be so much better than this. I just don't see it anywhere in his game.

MARVelous

by MARVelous on Sep 17, 2007 4:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

injuries

Don't forget Josh Reed was out and didn't play. You'd normally think missing a #3 reciever wouldn't be very significant, but he often seemed to be Losman's third option and usually open when Losman had time to find him 8-15 yards downfield.

One thing that I noticed in yesterday's game was pass blocking from the tight ends and running backs was very bad. Only rarely did they pick up a blitzing Pittsburgh defender. Maybe Gaines can pass block better than Royal? We've only seen him for one week.

by Krenn on Sep 17, 2007 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs