Week 8: Bills Dominated By Chiefs
The Bills went back into their slumber after a one week reprieve last week. The offense was inept in the first half and generous in the second half turning the ball over five times in that half alone! The defense was pathetic in the first half allowing four first half touchdowns. The result? A total complete failure on both sides of the ball. Most units fail in our position by position grades: Drew Bledsoe was awful as he threw three interceptions and fumbled the ball away for four of the team's seven turnovers. He was sacked three times and pressured on many other plays, but he held on the ball way too long making fans wonder if he was a former #11 at QB for the Bills. Alex Van Pelt finished off the game and threw two interceptions of his own. Grade F-: Can't get a worse performance out of this unit. Travis Henry had a good game as he rushed for 124 yards on just 22 carries for a whopping 5.6 yard average. This would be impressive except all but 37 of the yards came in the second half when the game was no longer in doubt. Sammy Morris returned to action and saw some mopup time. He carried three times for 9 yards and caught a pass. Sam Gash was a non factor as he caught one pass and wasn't used to block that much. Grade B: Lots of yards but no substance to it. With Eric Moulds returned to action after missing two games but was a bit rusty. He did manage to catch six passes for 53 yards. Josh Reed was the focal point of the passing game in the first half. He caught seven of his eight receptions in the opening half. He finished with 59 yards receiving in the short passing game. He did fumble the ball away when the Bills were still in it. That fumble was the first turnover and may have been the beginning of the end. Bobby Shaw was very quiet once again, catching only two balls for 14 yards. Mark Campbell caught four balls for 21 yards and Ryan Neufeld had a catch. Dave Moore was wide open in the end zone but Bledsoe overthrew him. Grade C-: Can't anybody get open deep? The line struggled in run protection in the first half but opened up holes in the second half. Of course, the Chiefs were playing seven deep at that point since they had a big lead. The line couldn't handle the blitz as Bledsoe was battered, hurried, and beaten all game. Grade D: Didn't play with attitude. Pat Williams shot off his mouth all week that the team would hold Priest Holmes to 50 yards. Well, they didn't he got 83 and would have had much more if the game wasn't a rout so quickly. The line gave up huge chunks of yardage on the ground in the first half and got no pressure on Green even with blitzes. Grade F-: Did the Bills even have defensive linemen on the field? Takeo Spikes came to play. He got the only pressure on Green in the first half and was all over the field as he tied for the team lead with nine tackles. Jeff Posey was beaten for a score by Tony Gonzalez. London Fletcher was quiet in this one. Grade D: Spikes saves this unit from failing. Nate Clements did a good job in coverage but will be goofed on all week as he was leveled on a block by Green. Antoine Winfield was Lawyer Milloy were beaten for a score by Hall. Milloy was beaten a few times in coverage by Tony Gonzalez. Kevin Thomas had a shot at a late pick but came down out of bounds. Izell Reese was quiet. Grade F: When game was in doubt, they left gaping holes in the secondary. The Bills blocked a punt! Pierson Prioleau blocked a punt that went through the end zone for a safety. They did shutdown Dante Hall as a returner even though he had 107 yards receiving. He had no punt returns as Brian Moorman only punted three times and two went inside the 20 and the third was a touchback. Hall had 38 yards on two kickoff returns. Rian Lindell was one for two on field goals, hitting from 20 and missing from 49. Antonio Brown did a bit better on kickoff returns averaging 22.6 yards on seven returns. Terence McGee had a 23 yard return. Grade B+: The only unit that did well. The downright terrible play on the road may cost Gregg Williams his job. The offensive gameplan was awful in the game. Kicking a field goal down by 19 late in the first half was a stupid play call from the two yard line. Why abandon the run by the goal line there when Henry has a nose for the end zone? Another stupid penalty on the third play of the game was a 12 man in the huddle penalty. Ludicrous. On the plus side, the kick coverage game plan was well thought out and executed. The defense did adjust and play better in the second half but the game was long over by then. Grade D-: Williams may want to start packing his bags.
Offense and Defense suffer total failure in loss
by Steve Saslow