Sunday afternoon’s NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans was certainly an entertaining one, but in the end proved to be just another heartbreak for the Bills’ fan base, as they handed the Titans the ball and basically gifted them the winning touchdown, as Tennessee won, 35-34. For the second week in a row, the Bills’ coaching staff decided to gamble and pass the ball instead of trying to run out the clock at the end of the game, even though their running game is one of the club’s major positives so far this season. And for the second week in a row, the gamble resulted in a turnover. The Bills dodged a bullet in Arizona last week, but not this Sunday. When a coach decides to “go for it” and put the ball in the air in a game-deciding situation, it’s usually a sign that he has a dominating defense that he trusts if something should go wrong. Bills’ coach Chan Gailey apparently still doesn’t get it – that is, the fact that this current Bills’ defense, despite the big contracts and a number of high draft picks, is the worst in team history, and among the worst in the NFL in the 2012 season. They don’t put any pressure on opposing QBs, rarely blitz, can’t stop the run, can’t cover and/or are constantly blowing coverages and worst of all, can’t execute the most basic fundamental of defensive football – tackling. It would be one thing if Gailey decided to throw in those critical situations because his team had no running game, but this current Bills’ team has a pair of game-breaking backs in Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller. That’s what makes it so maddening. Jackson averaged almost 8 yards a carry on Sunday, yet only had 9 carries. Spiller had almost 6 yards per attempt, but only carried 12 times.
Gailey seems to have total faith in Fitzpatrick, even though he turns the ball over more than any starting NFL quarterback, and trusts his defense, even though they’ve been pathetic. Yet he reigns in the most effective part of the team, the running game. The Bills now go into their bye week with the taste of an ugly loss in their mouths that they have to endure for 2 weeks. They’ll do the usual bye week evaluation and try to fix what’s gone wrong in the first 7 games. There’s been no evidence that the coaching staff has any idea how to stop Fitzpatrick’s turnover problems or plug up the porous defense over the seven games, if anything, it’s gotten worse, especially the defensive woes. Is there a Bills’ fan out there who actually believes that an extra week will do anything to provide any answers? Brace yourselves, Bills’ fans, for a couple of crushing, monumental, embarrassing, unwatchable road losses, against Houston and New England, coming out of the bye week.
Margaret
October 30, 2012 at 2:05 pm
I like that Chris Kelsay has called out his teammates for not playing hard every snap. And the call to throw a pass when the game was virtually won -all they had to do was run the ball for one first down. It was the third time they made that same call in the last few minutes of a game and caused an interception. They got lucky in Arizona with a missed field goal. Let’s see if Kelsay got through to any of the ho-hum players
Louise
October 22, 2012 at 11:57 am
All they needed was one player to make ONE play in the 4th quarter of that game and it could have been a win. Wilson makes that interception, Rodgers knocks the ball down on that 4th and 9 touchdown. Fitz throws an incompletion instead of an interception and Bills fans could be celebrating a win instead of cursing another loss. Too bad. And you are right – it was an entertaining game.