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Week 9: Defense Plays Well In Loss
Turnovers kills big offensive numbers.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Jeff Tuel had great command of the offense early and most of his throws were on the mark before he got more and more erratic as the game went on. It started when he underthrew a deep ball to Graham that was incomplete. He looked good when he hit Goodwin deep for a score but his next pass was grossly overthrown and intercepted. He then threw a very poor interception on the goal line that was returned for a score. He would overthrow Graham and underthrow Goodwin on deep balls in the second half. He finished 18 of 39 for 229 yards.
Grade C-: Did what you would expect from first career start.
Running Backs:
C.J. Spiller had runs of 29 and 61 yards in the game. Still hampered by his ankle injury he still was able to make plays and looked stronger after a week off. He ran for 116 yards on just 12 carries and had 39 yards receiving on two catches.
Fred Jackson had a lot of hard runs as he battled through his knee injury. He finished with 99 total yards, 77 on the ground on 16 carries and he added a 22 yard reception.
Tashard Choice had five carries for 17 yards and converted a big first down on 3rd and 1.
Frank Summers was used a bit as a lead blocker and had one run for four yards.
Grade A+: Great game for this unit as they get healthier.
Receivers:
Stevie Johnson had five catches for 36 yards and most of that was in garbage time. He also added 10 yards on a trick play lateral.
Robert Woods was a favorite target of Tuel and made several nice catches. He couldn't haul in a pass in the end zone as the defender knocked the pass out of his hands. Before leaving with an injury he had four catches for 44 yards.
T.J. Graham was thrown to deep twice but underthrown once and overthrown another. He couldn't haul in either pass. In the fourth quarter he caught a pass but had it poked out and it turned into a Chiefs touchdown. He had one catch for -2 yards and was targeted four times.
Marquise Goodwin turned on the afterburners on his 59 yard touchdown reception. The ball looked overthrown until he turned it on and ran under it. The two hooked up like this many times back at St. John Fisher. He got in the way of a third down red zone pass to Chandler and knocking it away as there was a miscommunication. He had another bomb thrown his way in the fourth quarter but it was underthrown and he did a good job knocking it away from being intercepted. Also had a controversial drop on another bomb that replay wouldn't overturn when it looked like he caught it.
Marcus Easley dropped the only pass thrown his way.
Scott Chandler ruined a promising first offensive series when he dropped a third down pass that would have kept the drive going. He dropped another pass and had several thrown over his head including an interception. He was targeted 9 times but only caught three passes.
Grade C-: A few nice plays but too many drops.
Offensive Line:
Eric Wood clogged the middle of the line of scrimmage very well.
Cordy Glenn really shutdown Hali most of the game.
Erik Pears did well in pass protection but was called for a holding penalty.
Grade A+: Gave up no sacks to best pass rush in the league and opened up the holes for 241 yards on the ground.
Defensive Line:
Mario Williams was a non factor with just one tackle and no real pressure.
Marcell Dareus had five tackles and did well in the middle.
Kyle Williams got great pressure on Smith on the third play of the game to force a punt. He drew two holding penalties as he got constant pressure early.
Jerry Hughes had a strip sack that the Chiefs recovered.
Alan Branch read a WR reverse and ran him down from behind for a four yard loss.
Stefan Charles had two tackles of Jamaal Charles for a 2 yard net gain on the Chiefs second series. He was signed on Wednesday.
Grade A-: Only had one sack but got pressure and kept the running game tamed.
Linebackers:
Manny Lawson had a tackle for a loss on a screen pass that if he looked for the ball, he would have had the interception.
Kiko Alonso got a one yard sack of Smith. He made a great open field tackle, with a defender draped all over him. He stopped Jamaal Charles on the play to force a late first half punt. Finished with eight tackles
Nigel Bradham couldn't bring down Charles for a loss on a screen pass.
Arthur Moats was beaten in coverage by TE Anthony Fasano for a 20 yard gain.
Jamaal Westerman had a pressure to force an incompletion.
Grade A-: Controlled the middle of the field very well.
Secondary:
Jairus Byrd was called for a personal foul when he made slight helmet contact on an incomplete pass. Had a quiet four tackles.
Stephon Gilmore really struggled with Dwayne Bowe allowing several early completions. He was also beaten deep by him but Bowe caught it out of bounds. Was called for one pass interference penalty. He had seven tackles which isn't good for a cornerback.
Leodis McKelvin made a mistake trying to pick up a fumble instead of falling on it. KC recovered. Was beaten a few times.
Nickell Robey had a great open field tackle just short of the marker on third down forcing the Chiefs to settle for a 2nd quarter FG.
Aaron Williams made a great open field tackle on Charles to force the first punt of the game. Missed a sure sack on third down that ended up turning into a completion for a first down. He was beaten by McCluster in the red zone. Finished with 8 tackles.
Grade B: Besides Gilmore they played well.
Special Teams:
Brian Moorman had three punts for a 36 yard average with one being stopped inside the 20 and no touchbacks.
Dan Carpenter hit both of his field goals from 26 and 30 yards out.
Leodis McKelvin had a fantastic 89 yard punt return for a score brought back on an illegal block penalty on Nigel Bradham. He ended up with three returns for 27 yards.
Marquise Goodwin had a 24 yard kickoff return.
Coverage Units Ron Brooks had a big tackle right after the catch on a fourth quarter punt. They had four kickoff returns for a 21 yard average as the Bills kicked short a few times.
Grade B: Did fine in this game.
Coaching:
Doug Marrone made the right call going for it on 4th and 3 in the third quarter but why throw a bomb? He trusted Tuel way too much.
Nathaniel Hackett made some very poor play calls down by the goal line especially the 3rd down pass that was picked. You have a raw rookie in there and not utilizing the strength of the team enough, the running game. There was a miscommunication late in the third quarter when Goodwin and Chandler were in the same spot on a pass.
Mike Pettine did a great job with the defense. The offense gave up 17 points off of turnovers so the defense gave up six, three after the offense turned it over on downs.
Grade C: Enough with the moral victories.
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