Giving out a game ball after a debacle such as yesterday's "football game" between the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys is absurd. However, we can use Fred Jackson's 13-carry, 114-yard performance for this weekly post - good game, Fred - and also as a springboard for another topic altogether.
Fred Jackson needs the football more, and he needs it earlier in games. In Week 9 against the New York Jets, Jackson had 11 touches in the first half. That's not a terribly low number, but it could've been higher - especially since the Bills trailed just 3-0 at the break. Yesterday in Dallas, Jackson had just seven touches at halftime - and didn't get his first touch of the game until the Bills trailed 14-0.
Yes, some of that has been circumstantial, but at some point, the Bills need to realize that they go as Jackson goes. He is their offense. The ways in which he's gotten the ball of late have been routine and unimaginative - yet he's still producing, particularly on the ground. Jackson will be 31 years old after the season. He's not going to last forever. He needs to be a workhorse back. Yet in nine games this season, Jackson has had fewer than 20 touches in a third of them, and over 25 in just two. That shouldn't be happening.
BUF 41, KC 7 Game Ball: RB Fred Jackson
BUF 38, OAK 35 Game Ball: WR Stevie Johnson
BUF 34, NE 31 Game Ball: RB Fred Jackson
CIN 23, BUF 20 Game Ball: SS Bryan Scott
BUF 31, PHI 24 Game Ball: SS George Wilson
NYG 27, BUF 24 Game Ball: OG Andy Levitre
BUF 23, WAS 0 Game Ball: DT Marcell Dareus
NYJ 27, BUF 11 Game Ball: P Brian Moorman