Over the course of New England’s 14 straight wins over the Bills there have been games when Tom Brady looked like he was involved in a non-contact 7-on-7 practice drill rather than a live game, and yesterday was one of those games. During the broadcast the announcers said that the Pats focused all week on themselves, and straightening out their own game after losing to the Jets last week, rather than worrying about the Bills. It’s unfortunate that Buffalo had to be scheduled to face Brady under those circumstances, because, like Peyton Manning, he is virtually unstoppable when he feels like his team is in a must-win scenario. One thing coach Chan Gailey and the Bills can feel good about is the decision to make a change at quarterback. Ryan Fitzpatrick clearly gave them the spark they needed, and the fact that he guided the offense to 23 points with the same exact players that Trent Edwards had is an indictment of Edwards. He is in his fourth NFL season now and is not a bonafide starting quarterback in the league. Fitzpatrick may not be the ultimate answer, and he did throw 2 costly interceptions that squelched any chance of a Bills’ comeback, but in the course of the game the Bills offense was alive. He distributed the ball well, as Lee Evans, Stevie Johnson, Roscoe Parrish, Jonathan Stupar and C.J. Spiller all made plays in the passing game. Spiller returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and Marshawn Lynch ran well again, and the Bills, on offense, now have something they can build on. One thing that they need to work on is getting Fred Jackson a little more involved, but Fitzpatrick being the starter at least gives the fans hope that this team can start to string together a few wins and salvage this season.
The most disappointing thing about the loss to the Pats has to be the play of the defense. It was one of those games where they didn’t stop the run, got zero pressure on Brady and never seemed to have anybody covered in the secondary, although I still believe the team has some decent players back there, and the time Brady had to find his receivers was why the Pats offense made it look so easy. The switch to the 3-4 defensive scheme may have something to do with the Bills’ struggles on that side of the ball, but I think the team really just lacks playmakers. You would’ve thought that with the offense clicking like it did, that the defense would have risen to the occasion and at least slowed the Pats down enough to pull off the upset. But that’s why the Bills have been a losing operation for a decade. They find new and creative ways to lose every week. When a team is involved in a game like yesterday’s and needs the defense to make a play here and there to change the momentum, they turn to their studs that they drafted and invested in for just these types of situations. So, what high draft picks do the Bills have to turn to when they need a big play on defense? Mediocrities like Donte Whitner, Leodis McKelvin, John McCargo (who can’t even play his way onto the game-day active roster) and Aaron Maybin. These guys all have zero impact on the outcome of games. Even last year’s one defensive playmaker, safety Jairus Byrd, never seems to be in position to have a positive impact on the game. Granted, it’s a tough spot to be in when you’re still learning a new scheme and you have to face a highly-motivated Tom Brady, but so far, this new scheme has taken a defense that was one of the league’s best in creating turnovers last year, and produced one takeaway – a fumble recovery in yesterday’s game. They are just not an aggressive defense, and certainly not a physical one. The tackling was atrocious on Danny Woodhead’s touchdown run in the game, as they made Woodhead, a Jet reject and special teams player, look like Adrian Peterson.
All Bills’ fans can do now is focus on the positives – an offense that has a chance to score some points, and the play of Spiller – as they move on to the next challenge, a home contest against another tough division rival, the New York Jets.