http://gty.im/488069296
Wow…even hours after watching the game, I’m still a little in shock at not only the quality of play, but the result. For sixty minutes, the Bills had a game-plan, stuck to the plan and by jove it worked. From relentless pressure out of 46 looks to just being…efficient with the ball on offense, not to mention the key roles special teams played! It was truly a team effort. I have a few thoughts that are sticking out after watching the debut of the Rex Ryan led Buffalo Bills:
- The offensive line is still a work in progress – For all of the improvement I noted during the pre-season, at times against the Colts’ beat up front seven it was like running against the Bills’ starters out there. Any time McCoy tried to run east – west during the game he ate a loss of yardage (sounds familiar – he is a similar back to Spiller). Even on Karlos Williams’ run for the touchdown it was more a function of him not giving up on the play rather than the line creating a crater for him to run through. But so much easier to learn from that sort of thing after a win.
- Ron Darby acquitted himself well – A big concern going into the game was the ability to trust Ron Darby to cover Colts players effectively. While he had his share of bumps, picking off Andrew Luck and nearly having another is not a bad start for his career. In fact, this could have been a general “secondary was awesome” point, as Gilmore-Darby-Aaron Williams-and the cast of thousands at safety at times next to Aaron kept their end of the bargain as Rex sent wave after wave of blitzes. Gilmore has to catch that one pass though. C’mon!
- Watkins M.I.A. – While I was concerned at first that Sammy wasn’t involved in the game plan as much, upon reflection Taylor threw to open receivers, full stop. If they start with the “Randy Ratio” method of offensive gameplans you risk stymieing the creative juices of Greg Roman, which isn’t something I’d be keen on seeing.
- Great debut for Tyrod Taylor – With the exception of seeing Matt Cassel open the game at Quarterback (note – Greg, please, never again) I thought that Tyrod Taylor did a good job. He played within himself and when there were times things went wrong (the fumble, breaks in protection) he was cool and calm throughout. He was a thorough professional through and through. And that pass to Harvin…hoo boy that was a pretty one. I’m looking forward to watching his growth from game to game as a starter.
- The halftime ceremony was long overdue – The induction of Lou Saban to the Wall of Fame has been something I have wanted for a long time. Any time I would defend Ralph Wilson to friends for some of his other idiosyncrasies, the fact that he would not put Lou or Cookie up on the Wall would be my undoing. And having that ceremony held as an opening day surprise was something that I think was a nice touch. In fact, I remarked on Twitter it just further proves that the Pegula family “gets it”.
If the Bills can play the way they did today, which I have no doubt now, they can will a lot of games. And they can be a playoff team. Yes, it’s only one game – but the attitude they showed throughout the game wasn’t something manufactured, it was them reflecting the bravado of their coach. Finally, when I think of the fact that the defense played this well WITHOUT Dareus, whoo buddy we’re going to have some fun watching them work this year.
So, that’s all I have for this week. Next week, we’re on to New England.
As always, hit me up @RDotDeuce – and let me know what you thought of the game! Go Bills!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
