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Week 11: Dolphins Physically Dominated Bills In All Phases
Colossal failure as Bills are a beaten bunch.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Ryan Fitzpatrick overthrew a wide open Stevie Johnson on the opening series. That would have been a touchdown or first and goal instead they settled for 3. It went downhill from there. He badly overthrew two other passes in the first quarter. His first pass of the 2nd quarter was picked off but it was a good throw that went off of Smith's hands. He threw another interception that should have been caught by David Nelson. He finished 20 of 39 for 209 yards.
Tyler Thigpen came in the game late and was just as awful completing just 1 in five passes for 6 yards.
Grade F: Fitz has been horrible since signing contract.
Running Backs:
Fred Jackson was used for a nice screen pass and shovel pass on the opening possession as they got him involved in the passing game early than he disappeared. He only carried the ball 7 times for 17 yards and had five catches for 50 yards.
C.J. Spiller had three carries for two yards and couldn't get the ball in from the one on two straight runs.
Johnny White saw some action and had six yards on two carries.
Grade F: The best way to stop Jackson is to blow the Bills out like teams have done three weeks in a row.
Receivers:
Stevie Johnson dropped one pass and was never open. He was definitely not 100% before suffering another injury. He was physically beat up all game long. He was thrown to 8 times but only caught 2 passes for 16 yards.
David Nelson had a pass go off his hands for an interception and he got hurt on that play. Came back for a little while and had 1 catch for 0 yards.
Donald Jones was a surprise non starter in this game. He then re-injured his ankle and left the game for good without catching a pass.
C.J. Spiller started for Jones at wide receiver and caught a pass on the first play for 18 yards. He caught one other pass the whole game for no yards.
Brad Smith allowed a good pass to go off his hands for an interception. He hurt his ribs on the play but came back in the game. He returned to the game and caught three passes for 35 yards.
Naaman Roosevelt had two catches for 28 yards.
Scott Chandler was the go to receiver with five catches for 71 yards.
Grade F-: Too many passes went off of receivers hands as they looked scared to go up for the ball as they were whipped in every way.
Offensive Line:
Chad Rinehart started at left guard and moved to right guard late when Urbik moved to center.
Andy Levitre had many snaps that were not accurate especially when the rain came. He struggled all day with veteran NT Soliai.
Kraig Urbik moved to center late in the game to replace Levitre who moved back to his natural guard position. He will likely play center next week as Levitre can't play the position.
Grade F: Allowed two sacks and couldn't even get a good snap from center.
Defensive Line:
Marcell Dareus had one tackle for loss but was a non factor.
Spencer Johnson played defensive end in the four man front and had two tackles.
Chris Kelsay played at the other end spot in the four man line and looked so much more natural. He had a pressure and a pass knocked down on Miami's opening possession. He then disappeared.
Dwan Edwards moved inside to tackle but was a non factor.
Grade F: No pass rush what a shock.
Linebackers:
Nick Barnett got confused with Sheppard and missed an assignment on a 21 yard completion to Bess on Miami's first possession. He finished with seven tackles.
Kelvin Sheppard was called for an illegal contact penalty that was declined. He was then beaten on a fade pattern by Reggie Bush. Had the hit in the end zone that gave the Bills a safety. He had seven tackles.
Bryan Scott played linebacker to matchup with TE Anthony Fasano and was beaten for Miami's first touchdown. He dropped an easy interception in the end zone. He had four tackles
Arthur Moats got some good pressure on a couple of plays.
Grade F: Did nothing to slow down the Miami offense.
Secondary:
Terrence McGee was beaten for Miami's fourth first half touchdown and he got hurt on the play.
Drayton Florence was called for a holding penalty on a play he was beaten for an apparent touchdown but the receiver did not come down in bounds.
Aaron Williams played the nickel instead of Leodis McKelvin and was burned for a 19 yard completion on 3rd and 12 on Miami's opening touchdown possession.
Jairus Byrd was beaten by a fullback for a 46 yard bomb than allowed Thomas to barrel over him on a running play.
Da'Norris Searcy was dragged by Reggie Bush into the end zone for a touchdown. He led the way with 11 tackles.
Grade F: May be the worst secondary in the league.
Special Teams:
Brian Moorman had a punt blocked and returned for a score. He had a bad net of just 34.6 yards.
Dave Rayner hit both field goal attempts from 30 and a career long 56 yarder.
Brad Smith got a chance to actually return kicks in this game and didn't fare too well. He had one good return that was brought back on an illegal block in the back by Ruvell Martin. He averaged 18.8 yards on four kickoff returns.
C.J. Spiller had a 45 yard punt return but just 15 yards on three other punt returns. He had three kickoff returns for 66 yards.
Coverage Units Corey McIntyre was called for a personal foul on a punt return. Otherwise coverage was good.
Grade F: They also failed the team this week.
Coaching:
Chan Gailey isn't going to let the season go down without a fight. He made several personnel and scheme changes to try and break the Bills out of their funk. None of it worked as the team continues in its downward spiral.
George Edwards made many changes to the defense including going to the 4-3 but the secondary continues to be awful. He still has no answers.
Bruce DeHaven his unit was awful as well as they had a couple of penalties and struggled returning kicks.
Grade F-: No answers from the coaching staff.
 Bills Blitz
NFL.com Gamebook
Dolphins Game Preview
Gameday Homepage
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