Bills 3 Patriots 38

Reaction to Week 3 Blowout

Bills fans: let’s face it, we have a bad team. A team that will only continue to regress with the most likely season-ending loss of Paul Posluszny and the possibility that JP Losman will miss a few weeks. The Bills will travel back to Buffalo knowing that they did not belong on the same field as the New England Patriots. After the Patriots awoke for their quarter-long slumber, they awoke to dominate in both sides of the ball.

Offense: A bright spot in the blowout was the play of a pair of rookies, Trent Edwards and Marshawn Lynch. Edwards could not have been in a worse situation but played admirable (not necessarily well, but admirably). The first drive Edwards put together was finished off by a great run by Lynch. After that, it seems the Bills staff was scared of the Patriots. Why would you elect to run out the clock with 1:20 and 3 timeouts left knowing the Patriots would get the ball at halftime? It shows that Jauron’s strategy was to play “not to lose” That obviously backfired, and those dumb decisions shouldn’t damper the outstanding play of the two rookies.

Defense: not much was well, as another starter is lost for the season. I do not know if there is a single aspect to pinpoint on their struggles. They have a minimal pass rush but yet cannot stop the run. The line backers are young and fast, but get pushed over way too easily. The secondary isn’t getting any help from the pourous run defense and non-existant pass rush. It’s an unbreakable cycle. The only good that came out on defense was a great strip by McCargo at the goal line.

Look to Next Week: Without Losman and Posluszny, the Bills will need to focus their gameplan on stopping Thomas Jones. The secondary and special teams should receive a bonus if Terrence McGee is able to play. Fairchild desperately needs to open up the offense as the Bills have been running basic plays all year. No play-action, no screens, not enough deep balls, no trick plays have been the theme of Fairchild’s play-calling. Hopefully the Bills can breathe easier as they are through the toughest 3 games on their schedule and look to turn it around at home against a beatable division rival.

Injuries and Inactives

BUFFALO-

FS Ko Simpson OUT (ankle- IR)

CB Jason Webster OUT (arm- IR)

LB Coy Wire OUT (knee)

WR Sam Aiken QUESTIONABLE (groin)

CB Terrence McGee QUESTIONABLE (ribs)

NEW ENGLAND-

S Rodney Harrison OUT (suspension)

DE Richard Seymour OUT (PUP)

WR Kelley Washington QUESTIONABLE (hamstring)

S Eugene Wilson QUESTIONABLE (ankle)

Buffalo Bills Notebook 9/20

A few thoughts before Sunday’s matchup in Foxboro….

The offense that was supposed to improve from last year’s inconsistency is floundering again. Besides from a few strong runs from Marshawn Lynch, the offense has struggled just to move the chains. Raise your hand if you know who the Bills leading receiver is. I didn’t know either until I looked it up and found it was Roscoe Parrish. This news should trouble Steve Fairchild as J.P. looks lost and confused in the pocket. He is developing a Drew Bledsoe like knack for holding onto the ball and then proceeding to throw it away. To have a chance against Brady and Co, the Bills will need to find a way to attack downfield against a Pats D minus Rodney Harrison (suspension) and Richard Seymour (PUP list)

• It will be a nice sign if the Bills pash rush improves. Aaron Schobel is the active sack leader against Tom Brady, so it would be nice to see Schobel earn his hefty paycheck against the Pats.
• Nice play by Jabari Greer against Hines Ward in place of Ashton Youboty while he was on the sideline. His outstanding pre-season might give him the edge at the #2 CB spot.
• Another defensive standout through two games has been John McCargo. He has looked like a sure-fire 1^st round bust, but has come out hungry this year with 2 tackles for a loss and a sack.
• Dick Jauron has been quiet in response to the calls for Trent Edwards, but throwing the rookie into the mess that is the Bills offense would be disastrous for his development.
• But if JP continues to struggle and the season turns sour, the calls for Edwards are only going to get louder.
• Good running so far by Marshawn and the improved O-Line. He is averaging 4.2 a carry, which is better than Willis’ season average of a dismal 3.9 a pop.
• An interesting development this week will to see what Belichick will throw at JP. He really struggled with the Steelers’ 3-4 Zone Blitz scheme and the Patriots always have something in store for JP. If the Bills can pick up the blitz, look for a few long plays to Evans or Parrish.
• The Bills have an absolutely brutal schedule, I hate to be the analyst that blames the 0-2 record on the schedule but consider this: if the Bills played the Raiders and Vikes like the Lions have, they would most likely win one, if not both games.
• Good news to see that Kevin Everett is doing tremendous will probably walk soon. According to an inside source, Everett is very lucky that great care was given to him and that surgery was able to be performed quickly to save his spinal cord from severing. Thumbs up to Kevin, his doctors, and to the paramedics.