Hits
EJ Manuel: 1 step back, but 2 steps forward– Yeah, that about sums up EJ's day. I think by the end of the 1st quarter, I wanted to find a draft guide or was entertaining the thought of the Bills signing Jay Cutler. His first four drives were shoddy at best, going 2 for 7 for 37 yards while being sacked 3 times and throwing a pick. But give the kid some credit, he didn't fall on his face and started making throws in the 2nd quarter and got hot, guiding Buffalo to 17 2nd quarter points. On his first TD drive, the Bills went no-huddle and EJ caught fire, going 4-4 for 59 yards and a TD. Oh, and did I mention it was a 94-yard drive?
Then, on the following drive, EJ used his arm and legs to guide the Bills to another TD, throwing a nice pass to Robert Woods for 17-yards and executing a perfect designed QB drive for the TD. If you take away his first four drives, EJ finished the game 15 of 17 with 3TDs (2 through the air and one via the ground). Best part, he actually threw the ball down the field. Again, baby steps.
Stevie Johnson's character shouldn't be questioned- I won't steal too much thunder here because Brad has a piece coming up later today about Stevie, but how on Earth can someone play a football game about 12 hours after his mother passes is beyond me. Anyone who says Stevie is selfish doesn't get him. The guy wants to help his teammates out and if anything, he probably cares too much about football and appeasing everyone. I'm sure lamestream dickheads will take a break now until February when they bring back the "It is all about him!" narrative. Anyways, my condolences go out towards him and his family.
Robert Woods is back- It has been awhile since Robert Woods has done anything. 9 grabs for 103 yards in his last three games doesn't exactly tell me that he should be the #1 guy. However, he was very versatile today with running after the catch or stretching the field. His 82 yards were a career high and the 3rd best performance by a Bills WR this year. Frankly, I've been a little guarded with Bob because lamestreamers have been trying to hand him the #1 WR job for no reason other than to get Stevie out of here, but I'm cool with him maturing and Stevie still sticking around for next year.
Jekyll/Hyde running game- In their last 2 meetings against the Jags, the Bills have rushed for 430 yards on the ground. Yesterday had some nice crapping thunder/lightening performances from Fred/CJ, who gained 147 yards while averaging 4.9 yards between them. As far as the Jekyll/Hyde part goes, the Bills have gained over 130 yards on the ground seven times this season, yet, they've crapped the bed by going under 100 yards in five games. I don't even wanna show your CJ's game-by-game numbers, that's about as up/down as a wrestling handicapper.
Pressure/Secondary- 5 sacks and 4 turnovers? Gotta take that. Best stat of the game came when the Bills tweeted out that this is first time since they started keeping track of sacks that the Bills have had four players with 8 sacks or more in the same season. That's fucken awesome. If they get 4 guys with 10 sacks, that would be pretty cool. Too bad they can't stop shitty running backs (More on that later). Who the hell would have thought that Aaron Williams and Jerry Hughes would be decent players this year. Oh, and thanks Doug for trading Kelvin Sheppard for Hughes. That trade was fricken money.
Misses
"What to make of this game?" Narrative- It is 1am right now and this recap would have been done earlier if I didn't blow a gasket after the game. Look, I get that talk show hosts and lamestreamers need to have #hottakes in order to get people talking or to be relevant. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Can I just enjoy a win or hate a loss without having to automatically think of the Bills future? I get that the future is more interesting than the present, but does this have to be a reoccurring theme every fricken week?
Is this a Statement game or just a Meaningless football game? Is EJ making strides? Do things feel different? Do the losses mean more or less? Why aren't seats filling up? What does this mean for drafting a QB or next year?
JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!!
The season is fucken over. Sometimes, you just gotta shut up and stop with the declarations with trying to make wins/losses go beyond wins/losses.
I'll admit, I'm numb to all of this because I've been through too many of these December games. I've gone through them beating decent teams while out of playoff contention (Broncos-2008/Bengals 2005) and feeling good about the future, only to then realize the future didn't exist.
I've gone through beating shitty teams (Jets-2012, Dolphins-2010/ 2009/2006, and Bengals-2002) and feeling good about the future, only to then realize the future..you guessed it..didn't exist. I've seen them lose to crappy teams, too. And you know what? It didn't matter really.
So my advice on how to take these last few games, enjoy the football when it actually doesn't suck balls and stop procrastinating whether the future is bright or dark. There are only two games left and then we gotta wait nine fricken months for a meaningful game, which means we can talk insufferably about the QB or Stevie's antics or Mario's gun collection.
Going back to my gasket being blown, after having people on Twitter tell me how to feel about this win or EJ's performance, I decided to just take a shit and a nap. I then woke up and everything was clear.
It was a fun football game after you got the hell out of the 1st quarter.
Are there blemishes? Of course. There's so much more this team has to go through in order to be a contender and that's probably not going to happen over the next two games.
Overall, I thought EJ played his 3rd best game this season. Just take it and shut the fuck up and stop with the declaring whether we are heading in the right or wrong direction after a game.
Who the hell are these RBs? Bobby Rainey? Jordan Tomey? Bilal Powell? Antone Smith. Can we stop already?! My goodness. Why don't the Pats/Dolphins have a punt/pass/kick contest for who can be next obscure RB to get 100-yards against the Bills?
Pass protection needs work- The last time a Bills QB was sacked 11 times in two weeks was JP Losman in 2005 against the SD and Carolina. Seriously, Erik Pears is a turnstile these days and the Bills really need an upgrade over there with him entering FA. Currently, the Bills have allowed the 4th most sacks in the league with 43 and their QBs have been sacked once every 10 pass attempts. Ugh. Andy Levitre's #67 jersey and Chan Gailey's headset are rolling over in their Bills football grave.
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