Defense proving to be overrated.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:J.P. Losman was awful for a second week in a row as he threw for only 75 yards on 10 of 23. He turned the ball over twice, one interception and one fumble. He was stopped on a fourth down sneak and had a QB rating of 33.8. Grade F: It may be too soon for the kid to be starting.
Running Backs:Willis McGahee played with a purpose. He finished with 140 yards on 27 carries for a 5.2 yard average including an 8 yard touchdown run. He was the lone bright spot offensively. Shaud Williams played in third down situations and carried twice for 11 yards but came up short on a third down draw play. Daimon Shelton was replaced in the fourth quarter by Joe Burns. Neither player ran the ball, Shelton caught the lone pass by a running back for eight yards. Grade A: McGahee shined in the loss.
Receivers:Eric Moulds almost made a couple of real nice catches as Losman tried to get the ball to the veteran. He caught a team high three balls for just 18 yards but drew a 30 yard pass interference penalty. Lee Evans and Josh Reed each caught two balls, Reed had a nice 17 yard reception to convert a third down . Mark Campbell and Ryan Neufeld did not catch passes. Neufeld did open up a couple of holes for McGahee in the running game. Grade D: Tough going for this group since the QB can't get them the ball.
Offensive Line:Mike Williams did not play and was replaced by Greg Jerman. The unit gave up four sacks but did open up huge holes for the running game. Trey Teague opened up a monster hole on McGahee's touchdown. Grade B-: Need to do better in pass protection.
Defensive Line:The unit again gave up some huge chunks of yardage up the middle. Aaron Schobel was quiet with one tackle and one pressure. Chris Kelsay had an interception in a zone blitz coverage but didn't do anything else. Sam Adams was more active than usual although he only was in on two tackles. Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson were very quiet. Grade F: Another dud from this unit.
Linebackers:London Fletcher played and showed no ill effects from his hamstring injury. He led the team with 11 tackles. Takeo Spikes missed the second half after suffering the achilles injury, he had only two tackles before the injury and was having a very quiet day. Angelo Crowell spelled Fletcher in the first half and then took over for Spikes when he was hurt. Crowell had a much better game than last week as he had six tackles. He was called for a roughing the passer penalty. Jeff Posey was quiet again. Grade C-: They need to find away to get it done without Spikes.
Secondary:Terrence McGee is really developing into a solid cover corner. He was always in good position to make plays as the Bills played one on one much of the game. He finished with eight tackles. Nate Clements was his usual stellar self and didn't need to even make a tackle because his coverage was strong. Troy Vincent struggled, he seemed out of position on many plays as the Falcons made big plays in the passing game. Vincent was also called for a roughing the passer penalty. Lawyer Milloy struggled a bit, playing with a cast on his surgically repaired right thumb. He did finish with six tackles. Grade B: Allowed only 167 gross yards passing.
Special Teams:Brian Moorman had his best game of the season averaging 47 yards on three punts including getting one stopped inside the 5. Rian Lindell is now 9 for 9 on the season after hitting from 36,41, and 30 yards. Terrence McGee averaged a hefty 27.5 yards on two returns as the Falcons tried to kick it through the end zone. Jonathan Smith handled both punt returns and averaged 12 yards a return. Angelo Crowell gave the Bills one last life with a forced fumble on a punt return that was recovered by Ryan Denney. Grade A: Best unit on the field by far for the Bills.
Coaching:Mike Mularkey had a nice fourth down gamble early in the fourth quarter that succeeded. There was an innovated game plan that came out throwing early to loosen up the Falcons but no matter what he did, they were ineffective. The offense and defense weren't ready to play. Grade D: This team has a chance to fall apart at the seams, he needs to stop it.
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