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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…wait, time for recaps not A Tale of Two Cities impersonations. The Bills lost at home to a capable, talented and (most of all) healthy Bengals team, taking their record at the Ralph to 1-3 on the year. While this on the face of it is annoying and losing is never fun, having 3 losses at home to teams that are a combined 13-2 isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Something to be concerned about? The Bills defense. But let’s take a look at the whole game:
- Defense is….something – On the whole the defense has been okay. However, when your head coach says it’s going to improve upon a #4 ranking in 2014 (vs inferior competition but I digress) fans and media rightfully expect greatness. The tackling does not inspire confidence; the 250 million dollar men spend more time dropping in coverage and setting others up for rushes than rushing; and the linebackers who are supposed to cover aren’t handling the middle of the field as good as last year. Some of that is to be expected – even with the same personnel, it’s hard for a team to simply “repeat” what was done. But as the season continues, Rex and his staff have to figure out defensively if the scheme is more important than the players playing fast – or they risk losing buy in from the “Cold Front”.
- EJ is who he is and I’m finally okay with it – I will not, until evidence is shown otherwise, ever push for EJ Manuel to be a starter again. His highs don’t always balance out his lowest lows and that’s not good for a starter. However, that’s exactly why I’m happy with him as a backup, despite most of the Western NY media claiming that the great and powerful Oz (Matt Cassel) would have thrown that ball over them mountains today. Don’t take the cheese, it’s not worth the headache or energy trying to prove them wrong. Speaking of that subject, I spent most of last week trying to prove them wrong in an article coming out tomorrow. Do as I say, not as I do, capiche?
- Penalties reared their heads again – The Bills had 8 penalties for 93 yards, including a personal foul by Ron Brooks for bragging about being…Ron Brooks on a ST tackle? That was probably the dumbest penalty I’ve seen out of this team…this week. I’m not one to jump on Rex for some of sillier things, but the penalties are out of hand and the players have to see consequences for actions, outside of cutting a returner for not getting enough yards and replacing him with a professional “punt catcher”.
- Watkins’ Injury – I bet you thought this would be sooner, given the “Sammy Situation” target brouhaha of the week prior, but that’s too easy. I’m disappointed that Watkins is hurt, but I’m more disappointed that soon the comments are going to equate (rightfully so) Sammy and Marquise as #TeamIR and that’s going to make it awkward. And please, don’t take the easy way out and say EJ got Sammy hurt. Sammy went on the field and pulled a Drago (“If it pops it pops”) – what happened after that was his choice…
- Next Week – Jacksonville in England was annoying enough. Now you have an injured pair of wide outs and have to get replacements to the U.K., a team that’s reeling AND you have to win a game vs. what should be an inferior Jaguars squad. If they lose, that’ll be all it takes for the wolves to go full “Fire Whaley/politely judge Rex because he’ll be here longer and we need quotes” on the situation. I cannot understand I little I look forward to this weeks’ takes if they’re followed by that. So Buffalo, hold onto the 7th seed and get to the bye with a winning record, yes?
Now, for my favorite part of the weekly recap, ye olde tweet bag:
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins If formula = quick throws, how do the #Bills get any pressure or force plays to extend?
— Rich Quodomine (@RDQ_geography) October 18, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRich, good question. I’m going to use the bye week to go in depth, but the key are the defensive backs that are doing so well this season. If the Bills know that they’re not going to get home with the front four (particularly if some of them are dropping…whoops) they have to play those corners up close and force the QB into making a quicker decision. The current plan of playing off at times and forcing an easy throw/catch/tackle only works when the tackling defensively is better than what’s currently occurring on field. Or, in the case of this game when the QB does hold the ball longer (such as Dalton’s 5 step in the 3rd quarter) you have to send more than two or three. H-A-V-E to.
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins is there a British slang word for buffering? @YahooTV — KT (@KingKagan) October 18, 2015
I enjoyed this question the most this week, if only to get the looks of incredulity from friends as I asked them straight faced on skype/video message. No one had anything for me, so I’m going to assume that buffering in the U.K. gets you 5 years in the hoosegow. In general I am a huge fan of the British slang, because I can pretend I’m an extra in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which is a personal fave.//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins how many freeze-thaw cycles does it take for a crack in asphalt to turn into a pothole?
— Tyler J Samer (@TJSamer) October 18, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
10 cycles – depending on the severity of temperature swings, type of asphalt and usage of road at that time of the year. BOOYA! (Source)
Alrighty, that’s it for this week. Look for my article on backups this week, which should be fun given the insanity of the week to come. Get rested folks, the takes they are a-comin’.
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