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NFL – Bills’ Game Review

20 Sep

The game plan for trying to upset a heavily-favored obviously superior team on the road in the NFL is usually to “weather the storm” in the early going, keep the game close and then hope to steal the game with a couple of big plays, possibly off of turnovers when the highly-favored team starts to press. The Buffalo Bills’ defense accomplished that in Green Bay by holding the Packers to field goals while their offense struggled. Even when the Pack scored to widen their lead to 13-0, the Bills were still in the game. Meanwhile, the offense gained 14 yards on the last play of the first quarter to bring their yardage total for the quarter to exactly zero. To their credit, the Bills put together an impressive touchdown drive, heavily featuring the running game and all 3 of their backs, to cut the score to 13-7 at halftime. Buffalo now had some momentum and were due to receive the second half kickoff, so they were set up perfectly to make a game of it. That’s when the bottom fell out. Trent Edwards threw 2 second half interceptions that started the Pack on its’ way to what turned out to be a one-sided win. Edwards wasn’t at fault for either pick however. The first one clanked off the hands of Stevie Johnson directly to a Green Bay defender, and the second was more of a strip than an interception, as the Packer defender took the ball directly from the Bills’ receiver. The Bills’ quarterback, although not at fault directly for the 2 picks, did nothing otherwise to give his team any semblance of a passing game. The offensive line didn’t do much to protect him, but Edwards, now in his 4th season, still seems to have little pocket awareness and almost zero mobility. After showing signs of progress in preseason, Edwards, in the first 2 regular season games, looks exactly like the QB who played his way to the bench last year. The Bills had no answer for Clay Matthews, who not only had 3 sacks but intimidated Johnson into short-arming the ball that wound up being the first interception, and was all over the field all day. The Bills’ defense is still a work in progress and it was disappointing that they wilted in the second half and gave up three touchdown drives, but they have played well enough to win in both games this season if they’d gotten even average play from the offense. The Bills aren’t good enough to overcome mistakes against anybody, let alone a Super Bowl contender like the Packers. Now they face another road game, in New England, against a highly-motivated Patriots team coming off a loss to the Jets. It shapes up to be an extremely ugly game.

 
1 Comment

Posted in Football

 
  1. Louise

    September 20, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    And to think the Bills could have drafted Matthews but chose Aaron Maybin instead….