Both sides of the ball played well to pull off big win.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:Trent Edwards showed no ill effects from his concussion as he completed 25 of 30 passes for 261 yards and did a nice job with the short passing game. Grade A: Bounced back very nicely.
Running Backs:Marshawn Lynch still had little room to run but did a nice job getting into the end zone on his bounce outside in the third quarter. Fred Jackson had nine carries as both backs averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Jackson also had 28 yards receiving and Lynch added 22 through the air. Corey McIntyre was active for the first time and saw a few plays at fullback. Grade B: Did a decent job with the little room they had.
Receivers:Lee Evans made a beautiful circus catch for his touchdown as he moved into the possession receiving role in this game. He had eight catches for 89 yards. Josh Reed only had three catches but one gave them a big first down. James Hardy did not catch a pass. Roscoe Parrish had two catches. Robert Royal was very active with four catches for 53 yards. Derek Schouman had one big catch for 18 yards. Grade B: Did a nice job catching everything Edwards threw.
Offensive Line:The Bills did a great job in pass blocking as Edwards wasn't touched throughout the game. They still struggled a bit in run blocking as the Bills backs averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. Duke Preston did a nice job with the line calls in his first career start at center. Jason Peters got called for holding. Grade B-: Still have work to do in the run blocking scheme.
Defensive Line:This unit didn't do much to pressure Rivers but helped hold the Chargers running backs to just 42 yards. Aaron Schobel missed his first game of his career. Copeland Bryan and Marcus Stroud both recovered fumbles. Chris Ellis was active for the first time but did not play. John McCargo did play some but didn't make much of an impact. Grade C+: Missed Schobel in the pass rush.
Linebackers:Paul Posluszny had seven tackles but Kawika Mitchell was the man of the day as he was in on seven tackles had a sack and a forced fumble along with an interception and two passes defensed. Keith Ellison was more active than usual with six tackles. Grade A: This unit came to play.
Secondary:Terrence McGee did not play and his place was taken by rookie Leodis McKelvin who was beaten for both Charger touchdowns. Jabari Greer led the way with eight tackles. Ashton Youboty was active but did not play with a foot injury. Donte Whitner played free safety, strong safety, and cornerback but he finished with only one tackle. Ko Simpson was quiet. Grade C: Gave up two touchdowns but did decent against the high powered passing attack with a banged up secondary.
Special Teams:Brian Moorman only had two punts for 105 yards but neither went inside the 20. Rian Lindell was busy as he hit three of four field goal attempts missing from 52 yards out. Roscoe Parrish had one punt return for five yards. Leodis McKelvin averaged 19.3 yards on three kickoff returns. The coverage units did a great job against Darren Sproles holding him to 16 punt return yards on two returns and 17.3 yards on four kickoff returns. Grade B+: May have been best day of the year for coverage units.
Coaching:The Bills were ready to play after the bye and handled the logistical problems of the power failure well. Perry Fewell came down from the booth to coach on the sidelines. Bobby April had his coverage units ready for a big game. Still need work on the run blocking. Grade A-: 5-1 is a heck of a start.
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