|
|
 |
|
Week 13: Bills Put It All Together Against Jags
All three units played well to beat inferior opponent.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a nice deep ball to Graham on the opening series to setup his QB sneak for a score. He threw a bad pass early in the 2nd quarter right in the hands of former Bill Paul Posluszny. He completed only nine passes but two went for touchdowns.
Grade B: Didn't have to do too much as the runners had their day.
Running Backs:
C.J. Spiller got the start but not the majority of the carries. He did break off a nice 44 yard touchdown run when he made a beautiful bounce outside after there was no room in the middle. He finished with 77 yards on just 14 carries.
Fred Jackson was the workhorse on this day getting the tough yards like the Jackson of old. He finished with 109 yards on 25 carries.
Grade A+: Controlled the game offensively.
Receivers:
Stevie Johnson didn't do too much before getting hurt catching just a 5 yard screen to go along with his 13 yard touchdown.
T.J. Graham got the start for the injured Donald Jones and promptly caught a 51 yard bomb from Fitzpatrick. He bobbled it a bit but was able to bring it in with three defenders converging. Had one other catch for three yards
Brad Smith had a 12 yard catch.
Scott Chandler dropped a third down pass that would have given the Bills a new set of downs in the first quarter.
Grade B: Didn't do much but there were only 17 passes, two went for scores and a third was a big play.
Offensive Line:
Eric Wood did a solid job before leaving with a knee injury late in the game.
Kraig Urbik had to move to center when Wood got hurt.
Cordy Glenn went against Jason Babin who was claimed off of waivers this week and kept him off of Fitzpatrick besides a late hit Babin got on him.
Chris Hairston got called for holding on the Bills opening series but played well before his injury.
Grade A: Despite shuffling because of injuries allowed no sacks and averaged 5 yards per carry on the ground.
Defensive Line:
Mario Williams made a huge play before halftime swatting the ball out of Henne's arm and recovering the fumble to setup a field goal. He also batted down a pass in the red zone.
Marcell Dareus was very quiet but helped clog the middle against the run game.
Kyle Williams had three tackles and one QB hit while clogging the middle on the ground.
Kyle Moore had a sack.
Shawne Merriman was in on a sack with Carrington.
Alex Carrington had great penetration and made a tackle for a two yard loss and finished with 1½ sacks.
Grade A: Had 4 sacks and stuffed the run game.
Linebackers:
Nick Barnett was in on five tackles.
Kelvin Sheppard had three tackles.
Nigel Bradham was very quiet with two tackles.
Bryan Scott was beaten for a 23 yard reception by Mercedes Lewis in the first quarter and was beaten by Shorts for a 1st down.
Grade B: Did a nice job in holding the Jags to 50 yards on the ground.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore was called for a costly holding penalty that negated his forced fumble that was recovered by Searcy. Was also called for a questionable pass interference penalty but he shutdown fellow rookie Justin Blackmon.
Leodis McKelvin got hurt early and barely played.
Justin Rogers did a nice job in the slot. He knocked down a downfield pass to Lewis.
Ron Brooks got substantial playing time and looked good in pass coverage at times. He knocked down two first quarter passes. He was beaten for a 24 yard pass to Cecil Shorts a play after being called for pass interference. Was called for an illegal contact penalty in the third quarter.
Crezdon Butler also received a lot of playing time thanks to the injury to McKelvin. He was beaten for an 18 yard gain on 3rd and 17 pass to Cecil Shorts and was called for a penalty.
Jairus Byrd had a late interception but didn't have much to do otherwise.
George Wilson was very active in pass coverage and played well. Finished with five tackles.
Da'Norris Searcy was active in the first quarter. He recovered a fumble that was negated by a penalty and then forced a fumble that was recovered by Lewis for Jacksonville. He had a tackle for loss on a 3rd and 1 delayed handoff.
Grade A: Henne completed less than 50% of his passes for only 208 yards.
Special Teams:
Shawn Powell had his first real introduction to the wild Western New York winds and punted one from his own goal line to inside the Jags 25 yard line with great hang time. He finished with four punts for a 44.5 yard average and 39.3 yard net with one ending up inside the 20.
Rian Lindell can hit a 50 yard field goal. He also hit a 29 yarder.
Leodis McKelvin had a 12 yard punt return and a fair catch before leaving the game with a back injury.
Brad Smith returned the 2nd half kickoff 38 yards.
Justin Rogers muffed a punt inside the 5 yard line. He never should have tried to catch it. It setup an easy Jaguars touchdown.
Marcus Easley returned a kick 55 yards in the first touch of his NFL career. That setup a Bills touchdown.
Coverage Units entered the game allowing a league high 16.4 yard average per punt return. They allowed a 10.5 yard average on two punt returns and under a 20 yard average on five kickoff returns.
Grade B: Nice day besides Rogers's gaffe that would have been bigger if the game wasn't a rout by then.
Coaching:
Chan Gailey finally decided to run the ball and had success. Going with Jackson more than Spiller worked since he was having a better game. They went for it on fourth down and tried a 50 yard field goal. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Dave Wannstedt had his defense ready and the young players came through fine.
Bruce DeHaven continues the up and down season of his unit. Good returns but another boneheaded mistake.
Grade A: Nice win.
 Bills Blitz
NFL.com Gamebook
Jaguars Game Preview
Gameday Homepage
|
|
