I gotta admit, when the game became 21-17, I was kicking dirt on the Bills grave. Being outscored 21-3 in a 18-minute span will do that for you. Miami had momentum and the Bills looked lost on offense and the defense couldn't get to Tannehill. Yet, a funny thing happened..The Bills didn't quit. They didn't wither under the heat of the Miami sun. They kept fighting. How many times over the years have the Bills got their lunch stolen from them on the road? They went 371 days between their last road victory in Arizona and before that they had won just once in a calendar year. Add it up and that's 2 road wins in two years. Ugh. They just don't win on the road. EVER!
Yet, they did it today against a game Miami team. Look, I know it is always fashionable to blame the Bills when they lose and blame the opposition when they win, but fuck it. I'm giving them credit. Miami isn't terrible and can play with a lot of teams. The Bills handled adversity and were finally able to win a road division game. It is all baby steps in a rebuilding process and you take it as you get them. The Bills are 3-4 and while other fan bases would probably shit on that, I couldn't be happier.
3-4! 3-4! 3-4! 3-4! 3-4! SING IT AGAIN! 3-4! 3-4! 3-4! 3-4! 3-4!
—-Fred Jackson is the fucken man. Talk about Willis Reed moments. I was already reading his last rights for this season when he got hurt on the 1st drive. I mean, Chris Brown tweeted that they were getting the fricken cart out for him. Goodbye, Fred. It has been nice knowing you. Let's all get our Tashard Choice jerseys on and then set ourselves on fire. Why does this always have to happen to Fred? #becauseitsbuffalo
But wait…Twitter is telling me that he's jogging around and refusing to get on the cart. No way Fred can come back in this one, right? Yeah..Keep doubting Fred Jackson. The narrative about him has been written 100s of times. No one gave him a chance and every time it seemed like he'd be the focal point of the offense, the Bills would draft a RB.
You know..It is like the old lady whose kids finally make her give up her car keys and she has to be chauffeured everywhere. Fred was suppose to be just a passenger in the car now since CJ Spiller was the main driver. Call it injuries or maybe Fred Jackson being just a damn good RB, but he's been the Bills best offensive weapon this year.
Don't doubt him.
Yeah, 85 yards in total offense won't go down on Fred's top 5 games of his career, but the way he ran on that 3rd and 4 play on the final drive…breaking tackles and carrying a few Miami defenders on his back..Wow..Put that up on the highlight reel and put Fred's name on the Bills WOF when he hangs it up…but just don't tell him when that's going to be cause then you'd be doubting him.
—I'm probably going to write about Mario later this week, so, I won't blow off all my steam about him in this post, but the guy has 19 sacks in his last 17 games. Since the NFL started keeping track of sacks, he has more sacks through 7 games than anyone in team history. Yes, he has more sacks than Bruce had in 1990, 1995, 1989 and whatever #78 year you wanna throw out there. His two sacks today weren't about someone else making him look good or taking a double team so he could have a 1-on-1 matchup…It was all him. He showed what he could do with the speed rush on his first sack and just over powered the tackle on his sack forced fumble.
While Freddie has our hearts, the Bills would have a fat "L" if it wasn't for Mario Williams. The Bills won today because of him. Mario has been playing great this season and no matter how many silly platitudes the lamestream print folks try to force on him, he's making them look foolish.
—23 yards..Those were the total yards Miami had on their final 4 drives. This is the 2nd week in a row the Bills defense turned it on late in the game. I think the problem in the 1st half and the 3rd quarter was that the Bills didn't blitz Tannehill enough. They relied on trying to get to him with a 4-man front and it didn't work. Finally..The Bills released the hounds and started blitzing more heavily and that's why Miami struggled in the 2nd half. Look, I'm not "Mr. Blitz or die" guy, but I think we saw enough 4-man fronts last year to know that the Bills have to bring the house at times. Just mix it up. If you can't get to him with a 4-man rush, you need to blitz. Simple as that.
—Thanks, Miami. Thanks for giving us Kid Rock to kick us field goals. Although, he needs to work on his kickoffs.
–Oh, and what about Thad? You know..I'm fine with him. Look, what are we to expect? He's a practice squad guy who wasn't even drafted. I'll take his high completion percentage and 200 yards passing any day of the week. Yes, he made some bad throws today, especially with trying to bullet pass a few screens, but what do you expect? He doesn't have a running game helping him out and yet, I do see some nice things he can do. His completion on 3rd and 13 to Stevie Johnson, where he was decapitated by a defender while losing his helmet, was epic. His celebration afterwards was even cooler. I think he has a really nice arm and just has to do better on short passes. Just give it a little more touch. Anyways, I'm fine with him and hopefully he'll get better. Also, kudos to Nate Hackett. He deserves a lot of credit for the Bills being somewhat respectable on offense with the injuries they've had.
—The Bills had 7 drives that gained 12 yards or fewer today. Woof. Yes, my placement of this stat after giving kudos to the offense makes zero sense.
—Speaking of Stevie, he's been pretty inconsistent this year. Yeah, his 6 catches for 61 yards were team highs, but he had that crappy drop in the 1st quarter and ran a 3-yard route on a 3rd and 6. Obviously, it sucks that there's been so much turmoil at the QB position this year, but drops and route running has nothing to do with that. On a good note, he was a big part of the offense as Thad targeted him 13 times, which is the 2nd most targets Stevie has had in his last 22 games.
—The Bills have scored 20 points or more in 8 straight games going back to last year. The last time they did that was the final 7 games of the 2004 season and the home opener the following year. Sadly, they have given up 20 points or more in all of their games this season.
—Outside of the Bills D-line, the back 7 didn't really do a great job today. Yes, Robey and A. Williams had picks, but the Bills had too many missed tackles once Miami got into the LB/secondary. Yes, Kiko Alonso looked mortal today. Don't shoot me, #Billsmafia
—In the weekly debate about time management…or going for it on 4th down…or QB sneaks… and pretty much anything we can yell about on Twitter..we can now add the Bills being aggressive at the end of the 1st half.
For the record: I'm on team ruthless aggression.
Look, Miami had all their time outs left when the Bills got the ball, so, even if Buffalo ran it 3 straight times and got nowhere, Miami would get the ball back with the same amount of time. Also, Miami didn't even need their time outs on the final drive because the Bills defense couldn't stop them, which happens to be the biggest reason to not even have this debate. You should be able to stop a 2-minute drill by Ryan Tannehill. Lastly, for those who wanted them to down it, just flashback to all the conservative BS that Dick Jauron put us through. Yeah..You want that????
—CJ Spiller needs to sit out next week. Look, he's not right and every time he gets the ball handed to him, it looks like he's going to get carted off the field with the way he hobbles after the fact. Let him sit out next week because the Saints are going to fricken destroy us.
Final word: Hooray! We won! Now get ready for the Saints to decimate us. Alright, seriously..savor this moment. The Bills have been in every game and there are a lot of nice things they can build off of for this year. Just remember that when the Saints crush us.
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