For the first time this season I’m starting to write this game review the night of the game. Just a logistical thing for me and the post will still go up on the site on Monday night, but it will be interesting to see if the recap will be colored a little more by the emotion of the loss. Probably not, though, as I’m not devastated by the defeat to the Giants. Any loss hurts, especially another game that the Bills could have easily won. But we’re heading into the bye week at 4-2 and the schedule for the rest of the season appears on the surface to be easier than the first 6 games. There were some key mistakes made in this game and the defense continues to allow over 400 yards a game, so there are areas of concern. But I’ll repeat something I said on Twitter earlier today: every game this season has been fun to watch and close to the end. If we have that for the whole season and miss the playoffs, I’ll still be upset but appreciative of the ride the team gave us and the progress they made. And sitting here tonight, the playoffs are still a very real possibility and that is something to be pleased with. But a loss is a loss, so let’s see how the team let this one slip away.
1st Quarter
What Happened
– Bills won coin toss and deferred. Rian Lindell kicked ball out of bounds at 5 yard line, giving the Giants possession at 40 yard line. But Bills defense held NY’s offense without a first down forcing the punt.
– Bills converted one first down on their initial possession with a 12 yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Stevie Johnson but were then forced to punt.
– Giants converted for a touchdown on a 1 yard Ahmad Bradshaw run. Key players on drive were TE Jake Ballard with 28 yard receiving from Eli Manning and Bradshaw with 21 total yards.
– Bills answered when they got the ball back with just 1 play as Fred Jackson ran for an 80 yard score.
– Bills defense forced punt and then Naaman Roosevelt scored his first career TD from Fitzpatrick on a 60 yard strike.
Commentary
Broken record time – the Bills have trouble covering a tight end. One of the most disturbing things about the defense’s inability to stop the TE is it’s not just the star players. Raise your hand it you heard of Jake Ballard before this week? Okay, one person, good for you. It’s not just the Antonio Gates and Jason Witten types that burn the Bills; it’s also the no-name journeyman players who find that seam in the middle for big plays. I would say it’s probably our recent history of LB’s who can’t cover (Poz) that have lead to these unfortunate displays. Nick Barnett has done a excellent job since coming to the team, but he was hobbled today and Andra Davis struggled mightily. Kelvin Sheppard was inserted early in place of Davis and we will see more of that down the road and hopefully once Nick gets healthier we’ll look a little better in this area. But it’s clearly been a sore spot for far too long now.
Despite their poor showing as the game went along, our defense actually started okay. We shut the Giants down after the favorable opening field position and forced the other punt in the quarter. I’m sure Kyle Williams and Shawne Merriman were missed, but we’ve given up yardage after yardage every week. At first glance, I would say it’s the talent level and not the system, but I would hope during the bye week the coaches will look at ways to switch some things up just a little to improve these stats. This was the first week in awhile that we didn’t have a pick six and as many writers and commentators have stated, you can’t expect that to happen every week. I wouldn’t pin this loss on the fact that we didn’t have any turnovers, but if we keep down this road of 400 + yards given up, the bend but don’t break mentality will just be broken.
The Bills offense had the 2 big scoring plays this quarter, but as we go long with this review we’ll see that there wasn’t much to follow with either sizable gains or sustained drives. That could be a problem as the season progresses. If we continue mix in short drives and inefficiency that will mean longer period of times the Bills defenders will be on the field. And that isn’t a good thing.
2nd Quarter
What Happened
– To start 2nd, Giants put 3 on the board with a 26 yard Lawrence Tynes FG. Bradshaw ran for 21 yards on 4 carries and Hakeem Nicks had 2 catches for 25 yards. Biggest play was a pass interference call for 19 yards against Drayton Florence.
– On next possession, Bills move down to Giants 26 but 2 sacks in 3 plays, by Matthias Kiwanuka on 1st down and Jason Pierre-Paul (cool name) on third down, take Bills out of field goal range.
– Giants take lead on 1 yard TD run by Bradshaw. The replays seemed to show him being stopped short of goal line but upon review the play was upheld. Big play on drive was 60 yard pass completion to Nicks in which he beat Florence.
– Bills tied game on 49 yard Lindell FG before the end of the half.
Commentary
The Giants found the momentum tilting in their direction this quarter. Our defense started to wither under Bradshaw’s solid running and Manning’s pinpoint passing. Drayton Florence had his worst game as a Bill, not only getting the pass interference and allowing big gainer vs Nicks this quarter but more PI calls to follow in the second half. I was singing his praises last week and I still think he’s a valuable player, but sometimes you just have a bad day. Understatement there, I know. On the flip side of that, I thought Terrence McGee had a solid return after missing a few weeks with a hamstring injury. He was tackling really well, sometimes he always excels at, and I didn’t see him getting beat too badly or looking slow out there.
One positive that came out of our offensive game was Chan Gailey using C. J. Spiller at wide receiver. He had a 15 yard reception on the game tying drive this quarter and looked confident running his routes and making positive yardage. Fred is unquestionably going to get the lion share of carries for the rest of the season, so it’s a great idea to get Spiller involved in the passing game. Despite his struggles so far in his career, C.J. no doubt has natural skill and Gailey needs to continue finding ways to utilize him. With Donald Jones out, any additional weapon to be added to Fitz’s arsenal is positive.
3rd Quarter
What Happened
– Bills received ball to start quarter but had an unsuccessful first drive. One first down pass to David Nelson for 14 yards is all they could muster before punting.
– Giants score to take lead again with another Bradshaw TD for 1 yard. Manning spread ball around to Ballard (31 yards), Manningham (21), and Nicks (11).
– Next Bills possession ends in a turnover as Fitzpatrick’s deep pass to Stevie Johnson was intercepted by Corey Webster.
– Giants denied twice next time they have ball after 37 yard pass to Manningham in end zone is ruled incomplete and Alex Carrington block of 50 yard Tynes FG attempt.
– Bills end half with ball as Fitzpatrick hits Jackson on 19 yard strike.
Commentary
Another poor quarter by Bills. Giants had no trouble moving the ball and Fitpatrick’s interception to Johnson was badly under thrown. The blocked FG was a significant play, though, as they needed a break to stem the tide of the Giants surge. Clearly I’m sure Buddy Nix would like to see more plays out of draft picks Torell Troup and Carrington, but injuries have cost them so far in this season. This is the second tip in two weeks by Alex, one on defense and one special teams, so let’s hope this will breed a little confidence in the second year player. Unfortunately Troup doesn’t seem to be making much progress with his back injury, so that development could be on hold.
One thing you can say about the Bills this year is even when they’re being outplayed, they’ve stayed in the games. Only in the Raiders and Patriots games, which ended up good for us, no teams have run away with the lead and certainly not with the game. There is truly no quit in the team and they make enough plays even when the breaks aren’t going their way.
Quick note on the Manningham incomplete pass. It may seem like a silly rule in the NFL, but he clearly didn’t have absolute control of the ball as he went down. Watching in live action it certainly seemed like a score, but when you slow it down on replay it’s easy to find the imperfection and make the right call. I don’t have a huge problem with it, even if the play had gone against my team. Secure it better if you want the score.
4th Quarter
What Happened
– Continuing from the possession that ended the third quarter, the Bills tie the game on a 9 yard TD grab by Johnson. Jackson had 25 total yards and Spiller 15 receiving.
– After the Bills defense forced Giants to punt, the Bills progressed to NY’s 27 yard line before another Fitzpatrick interception to Webster intended deep for Johnson brought that to a halt. David Nelson had a 32 yard reception before the turnover.
– Giants drove ball down field to take 27-24 lead on 23 yard Tynes FG. Bradshaw ran for 47 yards and 2 more Florence interference calls set up the score.
– 3 straight Fitzpatrick incompletions end the game.
Commentary
I already mentioned Florence’s poor play, so I won’t pile on him here too much more. But it’s mind boggling how a capable NFL CB forgets to turn around on passes thrown his way, especially on such an important time of the game. His instincts were just off this afternoon; he looked more like Leodis than Drayton.
As well as Fitz has played this year, it hurts me to say that a big part of the blame for the loss goes on him. Yes, the defense was bad but both passes to Stevie were poorly under thrown balls and he also had a chance to lead us down on the last drive and failed. If you take away those 2 picks and final 3 incompletions, his completion % would look even better than it was (70% for the day) but sadly you can’t take them away. But if we’ve learned anything this year it’s that Fitz is a leader and a winner and I expect a big bounce back game after the bye. Unfortunately with the play of the D, he can’t afford many bad games going forward.
Another disturbing trend that has existed for the too many years to count here is the porous run defense as Bradshaw had his way on Sunday. I really thought we were in better shape with Marcel Dareus, Merriman, Barnett, Williams, et all, but this is still a significant issue that never seems to go away. The first couple weeks looked promising in this area before going sour again. Injuries or not, a solid playoff caliber team does not get gouged on the ground like that week after week. Definitely a concern.
General Notes
– Right before he made a nice play on Bradshaw’s 4 yard loss prior to the Giants FG, I was ready to start expressing concerns about Dareus and his lack of big play ability. I know he’s playing generally solid, taking up space and drawing attention, but eventually you want your 3rd overall pick to start making game changing plays. Maybe that’s a bit too much to put on his shoulders at this point, but it comes with the territory of high expectations. I absolutely love the guy and expect him to be a star on our team, but this defense needs a difference maker and the sooner he becomes that, the better.
– Every week I marvel at the play of our offensive line, but on Sunday they came back down to earth. The Giants got to Fitz 3 times to equal the season sack total for the first 5 weeks and were in his face for much of the day. And this was without Justin Tuck. That being said, when you lose your top 2 LT’s and have to switch your LG over to that position (and put another reserve in at guard), I think in the end they held up ok. But they cannot afford too many more injuries on that front.
– Great to see Roosevelt score that TD in the first quarter. Whenever hometown guys like Naaman, Pat Kaleta, Tim Kennedy, etc. score the first time with their boyhood team, it allows me to put myself in their shoes. How awesome must that feel? Too bad we couldn’t get the win to make Roosevelt’s day that much better. But he’ll still remember crossing the goal line that first time for his beloved Bills for the rest of his life.
– When Eli Manning looks like he did against us, you remember why he was the first overall back all those years ago. His problem is consistently doing that, which he often struggles with. That’s why I think he’ll be remembered as a good QB, not a great one when all is said and done.
Well, the Bills have 2 weeks to stew over this one. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but the bye is definitely needed in getting back some of our walking wounded. I’m pretty excited to see what the last 10 weeks of the season bring, and it will sure be nice to have some meaningful games in late November, early December. It’s been far too long for Bills fans to have the goal of playoffs in mind as we move towards the second half of the season as opposed to how high we’ll be drafting next April.
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