The Offense strikes again! Or should we say, doesn't strike again. For a third straight game the offense could not score as they showed no confidence in their game today. The defense put on another solid effort and even helped put points on the board, accounting for seven of the Bills 10 points. Our gameday grades will reflect the glaring difference in both main units and a solid showing by much of the special teams players:
Quarterback:Drew Bledsoe continues to flat out stink. He fumbled the ball away once again and that one cost the Bills their last chance at a victory. He finished with 184 yards passing on 15 of 26. He was sacked four times and seemed confused and tentative many times, as he wasted a few timeouts. Why else would he try to call timeout with :02 left in the first quarter? Bledsoe missed a wide open Josh Reed in the end zone and threw it short instead. Grade F-: Right now playing like the worst QB in the league.
Running Backs:Travis Henry showed guts and a warrior mentality playing with a cracked fibula. If the rest of the team had his heart, they would be undefeated. He finished with 149 yards on 23 carries for a 6.5 yard average, that included a 64 yard run that should have sent a statement to Kevin Gilbride. It converted a third and two after two previous short third downs were turned aside by incomplete passes. Sammy Morris saw decent playing time but only ran twice for 10 yards and caught only one pass for four yards. One of his carries converted a third down play. Joe Burns had one carry for five yards. Sam Gash saw sometime as a blocker but was off the field a lot for an extra tight end. Grade A: Did their job that should have resulted in more points.
Receivers:Eric Moulds missed the game with his groin injury. Josh Reed led the way with 6 catches but it only went for 59 yards. He also ran a reverse for 16 yards. Bobby Shaw took advantage of going against the replacement for Marcus Coleman who was suspended for the game. He caught five balls for 92 yards, a whopping 18.4 yards per catch, he had a couple of nice runs after the catch breaking tackles along the way. Sam Aiken saw extensive action but he dropped a pass in the end zone. He also dropped another third down pass that was catchable and ran a wrong route on another third down play. He did catch one pass for 19 yards on the final drive that set the Bills up for Bledsoe's fumble. Mark Campbell caught one pass for six yards in the red zone. Ryan Neufeld was used as a fullback a lot instead of actually using the fullback they got for blocking schemes. Grade C: Made some plays but not enough.
Offensive Line:Jonas Jennings was pressed back into action after Mike Williams missed the game after a car accident in the morning. Jennings was called for two holding penalties. Marcus Price filled in well again, this time for Williams. Henry ran wide right many times behind Price. Bledsoe was sacked four times and pressured on many other occasions. The run blocking was very strong. Grade C+: A for run blocking, D for pass protection.
Defensive Line:The line stuffed the run very well for a second consecutive week holding Domanick Davis down. They made many stops in the backfield or near the line of scrimmage Sam Adams had his biggest game as a Bills with six tackles and two sacks. Pat Williams also played well in the middle. There was no pass rush on the outside, Aaron Schobel was offsides on one rush, Ryan Denney was non existent once again. Grade A-: Great run stopping but where is the pass rush from the ends?
Linebackers:London Fletcher was in on nine tackles and Takeo Spikes was in on 13 of them. Jeff Posey had the big play with a sack and forced fumble in the end zone for a safety. Grade B+: Very active and kept the Texans in check.
Secondary:Nate Clements had a rough day against rookie Andre Johnson. He caught three long passes beating Clements. Nate was also called for a costly unnecessary roughness penalty. Antoine Winfield finally got his interception but he had no speed to take it the distance. Lawyer Milloy was active and did a nice job covering the tight end Miller. Terrence McGee had a nice sack when he ran Banks down from behind. Pierson Prioleau played a lot for the injured Izell Reese and saved a touchdown with a great tackle of Johnson late in the game. Grade C: Did well most of the game, but gave up the big play.
Special Teams:Rian Lindell was 2 for 4 on field goals. He missed from 29 and 44 yards before hitting chip shots from 23 and 20. His kickoffs were woefully short with no wind to speak of. Brian Moorman averaged 39 yards on six punts but put four of them inside the 20 thanks to great work from the coverage units. The Texans had just 5.5 yards on four punt returns and 10.7 yards on three kickoff returns. Antonio Brown had an average day for him, just 6.5 yards on two punt returns and 19.8 yards on kickoff returns. Grade B: Lindell costs unit an A.
Coaching:Where do we start again? Why allow Bledsoe to audible out of run calls on 3rd down? Why is the team so undisciplined that someone would accept the penalty in the final seconds instead of making Houston punt? Why run Henry behind a tight end instead of Gash on third down and goal and then have no faith in the offense to go for it on fourth down? Grade F: Why is Gregg Williams still the coach?