Defense played well but offense was pathetic.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:J.P. Losman overthrew an open Parrish on the 1st offensive series forcing the Bills to punt and that set the tone for a terrible day. The Bills spread the field a lot and went to the air often but there was little success as Losman completed only 13 of 27 passes for 123 yards. He had three completions in the first half. He also fumbled twice and was sacked four times. As usual most of the sacks were because he was holding the ball too long. He was the leading rusher for the Bills with 53 yards on five carries. That is never good. Grade F: Neither QB has done anything right lately.
Running Backs:Marshawn Lynch dropped two passes and was stopped short on a fourth down reception. Why are we talking about his receiving? Because he only ran the ball 13 times for 31 times. Fred Jackson was not in the gameplan for some reason that I cannot comprehend. He was only on the field a few plays and did not touch the football. Corey McIntyre was a non factor with the team in the spread offense most of the game. Grade F: It is tough when you don't touch the ball enough but they did nothing when they did.
Receivers:Lee Evans was supposed to put it all together today but he only had three catches for 23 yards. Josh Reed caught five passes for 58 yards and was the only spark on offense. Roscoe Parrish had two catches for 19 yards. James Hardy dropped the only pass thrown his way. Robert Royal dropped the only pass thrown to him. Derek Schouman had one catch for five yards. Steve Johnson caught a 14 yard reception. Grade F: How come nobody ever seems open?
Offensive Line:They gave up four sacks and the team only had 2.4 yards per carry from Lynch. Derrick Dockery was called for holding on one play but the pass went incomplete and the penalty was declined. Jason Peters recovered a fumble but that is because his man caused it with a blindside hit on Losman. He left the game for a while and Kirk Chambers replaced him and was beaten for a sack. Grade F: This unit took huge steps backwards.
Defensive Line:Ryan Denney knocked down a pass and had two tackles but no pressure. Chris Kelsay had a bad offsides penalty late in the first half but made three tackles including two in the backfield. Marcus Stroud clogged up the middle well and had three tackles. Kyle Williams had three tackles while Spencer Johnson had a sack and was in on four tackles. Grade C: Still need to get pressure.
Linebackers:Paul Posluszny had 11 tackles including many late. Kawika Mitchell had a very quiet six tackles. Keith Ellison was in on nine tackles despite being off the field on a few extra occasions for an extra safety. Grade C: Gave up a few too many plays in the middle of the field.
Secondary:Terrence McGee made a nice pass breakup to force a punt on Miami's opening possession and another nice pass breakup in the second quarter. He had good coverage all day and had eight tackles. Leodis McKelvin did decent in coverage and had three tackles. Bryan Scott had a great open field tackle on Williams to force a punt. He was beaten in the 2nd quarter for a 15 yard pass on a 3rd and 16 play. He finished with 10 tackles and he was very active. Donte Whitner was beaten by the tight end Fasano for Miami's first touchdown. The play before that he missed a tackle for loss on third and one. He played better as the game went on and had six tackles. Ko Simpson was late getting over on Miami's first touchdown but he was active with four tackles. Grade B: Did a good job in pass protection after the touchdown drive.
Special Teams:Brian Moorman punted five times with a 43 yard average and a net of 39.6 with just one going inside the 20. Rian Lindell hit his lone field goal attempt from 40 yards out just inside the left upright. Roscoe Parrish had two punt returns for 11 yards and returned two kickoffs for 40 yards. Leodis McKelvin also had two kickoff returns but they went for 56 yards. George Wilson was called for a costly holding penalty on a punt return forcing the Bills to start another drive inside the 20. The coverage units allowed 17 yards on two punt returns and gave up an average of 19.5 yards on two kickoff returns. Grade C: Didn't do anything to help the anemic offense but didn't hurt anything either.
Coaching:Where do we begin? To a man after the game the players seemed a loss of words and have no idea what is happening. The blame for that is squarely on the head coach if they don't know what is wrong. Dick Jauron's days in Buffalo are probably coming to an end contract or no contract extension. Turk Schonert will be gone as well. Why throw it on first and goal from the 3? Another failed replay challenge? Only 13 carries from Lynch? It's unbelievable. At least they didn't waste any timeouts this week. Perry Fewell did some good things as he used three safeties a lot to defend the wildcat and he was effective with it. His unit can't do it alone. Grade F: It's time to blow this thing up once again.
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