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Week 8: Bills Struggle In Another OT Loss
Both sides of the ball didn't play well enough to win.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled all game long but did pull it together on the game tying 83 yard touchdown drive where he converted three third downs and a fourth down play for a score. He grossly overthrew a wide open C.J. Spiller for what would have been a game winning TD in overtime. His interception late in the fourth quarter was a terrible throw that slipped out of his hand. It cost them a chance to win it in regulation. He completed only 50% of his passes but did well on third downs and threw for 223 yards.
Grade C-: Some good but mostly bad.
Running Backs:
Fred Jackson ran hard but it was tough sledding as he gained only 64 yards on 20 carries for a 3.2 yard average. He also caught three short passes for little gain.
C.J. Spiller is struggling as he gained only 17 yards on six carries and a fumble. He did add four catches for 28 yards.
Corey McIntyre didn't do much in the blocking game and was called for an illegal motion penalty. He did recover Spiller's fumble.
Grade C: Didn't make the big play.
Receivers:
Lee Evans was quiet until later in the game. He caught big passes on back to back plays in OT but the drive ended with Lindell's missed field goal. Fumbled late in the game but got the ball back after replay review. Finished with five catches for 56 yards.
Roscoe Parrish was quiet until he got open deep for a 37 yard catch to setup the game tying TD. He finished with four catches for a team high 66 yards.
Steve Johnson caught a TD pass for a club record tying 5th straight game. He was quiet otherwise with five catches for just 37 yards.
David Nelson contributed as the fourth wideout with three catches for 25 yards.
Grade C: Not one pass was directed at a tight end.
Offensive Line:
Demetrius Bell had a false start penalty.
Eric Wood had a false start penalty.
Geoff Hangartner .
Cordaro Howard got burned early on two sack plays. Then pushed back on a sack in the closing seconds of the first half. Beaten for three sacks in all. Was called for a costly illegal motion penalty.
Grade C-: Played better as the game went on but opened up no holes for the running backs and Howard's three sacks were costly.
Defensive Line:
Kyle Williams got a sack on a 4th down gamble and a stop at the line of scrimmage on the first play of the fourth quarter. He also had a tackle for a loss later in the same drive.
Marcus Stroud had four tackles and a half of sack.
Dwan Edwards made six tackles but too many downfield.
Spencer Johnson was in on two tackles during his time in the line rotation.
Torell Troup was in on two tackles.
Grade D: Huge holes in the line for the running game.
Linebackers:
Andra Davis was in on three tackles.
Chris Kelsay had a very poor game being in on just one tackle.
Reggie Torbor had four tackles.
Paul Posluszny had a nice tackle on a 3rd and 3 stop. He was then beaten for a 31 yard gain late in the first half. He had good coverage to force the Chiefs to settle for a field goal early in the 4th quarter.
Akin Ayodele broke up a 3rd down pass to force a punt in 2nd quarter.
Grade D: Poor game again for the worst unit on the team except for Poz's game.
Secondary:
Drayton Florence was beaten for a 1 yard TD late in the first half. Had a nice pass breakup in overtime.
Leodis McKelvin lit up Cassel when he tackled him on a scramble.
Jairus Byrd had four tackles.
Donte Whitner had a great open field tackle on a 2nd qtr reverse. He finished with 10.
George Wilson dropped a sure interception and had three tackles.
Grade B: Did a nice job against the pass. Good coverage led to a couple of sacks.
Special Teams:
Brian Moorman was a busy man with seven punts but had a net of just over 36 yards. Had a couple of booming punts but his last punt was his worst. A 26 yarder that gave the Chiefs good field position for the game winning drive.
Rian Lindell missed the 53 yard kick in OT off the goal post on a knuckle ball kick. Can't blame him since it was a long shot in windy conditions and he hit the kick but a timeout made him kick it again.
Roscoe Parrish Had two returns for 42 yards including a 33 yarder that could have set up a winning kick at the end of regulation but the interception foiled that chance.
C.J. Spiller had three returns for a pedestrian 19.3 yard average. Bobbled one kick that needed to be downed for a touchback.
Coverage Units Donald Jones had a nice stop for no gain on a punt return, they averaged 9 yards on four punt returns and 23 yards on two kick returns.
Grade C: Poor punt and missed kick uncharacteristic blemishes for team.
Coaching:
Chan Gailey seemed to have the team ready to play but the execution of the offensive game plan wasn't there. Should have run the ball more throughout especially in overtime.
George Edwards still has no answers to stop the run.
Bruce DeHaven had no glaring mistakes on special teams.
Grade C: Average day for the coaching staff.
 Bills Blitz
NFL.com Gamebook
Chiefs Game Preview
Gameday Homepage
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