Sunday, November 20, 2011

Dolphins 35, Bills 8

Yeesh. The Bills don't mess around with small things, like replacing brake pads or putting a new muffler on. No, when things go wrong for the Bills, we're talking "all four wheels fall off at the same time the engine throws two rods" bad. This is starting to spiral out of control.

:: Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing poorly. This is a combination of a number of things. First, it must be admitted, he's not the most physically talented guy under center in the NFL. He's good, but he's not that good.

Second, he's not throwing to that great a group of receivers. We have to admit this. Every week now we're seeing large numbers of passes that really should be completions either being missed by the receivers or, worse, bouncing off receivers and into the arms of defenders (this happened twice today). Now, maybe he could do better at putting the passes right on the numbers, but he does put the ball where they could catch it. And they don't.

Third, the Bills, either by design or not, have little to no deep passing game. This means that defenders can come up nice and close to the line of scrimmage.

Fourth, the offensive line has sustained so many injuries that now guys are being moved all over the place in an effort to just field a line of any kind, at all. As a result, blitzes are getting through with ease, forcing Fitz to throw the ball before he's ready.

All of this adds up to Fitzpatrick having a very rough time of it.

:: The afore-mentioned offensive line problems are making the running game a lot less effective.

:: On defense? They're just playing badly. Across the board. Once again, the Bills generate no pass rush, and they don't cover very well. That is a foolproof recipe for continued disaster. I remain convinced that the Bills' primary need in the draft needs to be the very best pass rusher available when they pick, whether that's a defensive end or a linebacker.

Other than that...the game looked awful, and the Bills are on the road yet again next week to face the Jets, who thumped them two weeks ago at home. Ugh!

Oh well, enough of that.

1 comment:

Roger Owen Green said...

I guess I thought the Bills were better than this. I started rooting anew for them, the Lions (have play GB on T'day) and the 49ers.