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Week 5: Suffocating Effort By Defense Lifts Bills To Win
Great performance kept them alive until offense got going.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Kyle Orton completed his first pass as a Bill for six yards and a first down to Sammy Watkins. He threw an absolutely terrible pass that was picked off by Mathis and returned for a score in the 2nd quarter. He got going in the second half and led a nice comeback win. The 42 yard bomb to Goodwin was a thing of beauty.
Grade A-: Got the win and 300 yards passing.
Running Backs:
C.J. Spiller totally blew his blocking assignment and gave up a sack near the goal line and saw the field on a limited basis the rest of the game. He was dreadful with only 7 yards on 9 carries and 25 yards receiving.
Fred Jackson was the workhorse in this game which must have been the gameplan and had over 100 yards from scrimmage. He had 50 yards on 11 carries and 58 yards receiving. His two point conversion run was real nice and he was the main cog in the offense.
Grade C-: A for Jackson and F for Spiller. Just a 2.2 yard average per rush.
Receivers:
Sammy Watkins got it going in the 2nd half and finished with 7 catches for 87 yards including a great bobbling catch to setup the winning kick.
Robert Woods was only targeted four times and had three catches for 37 yards.
Mike Williams had an 8 yard reception.
Marquise Goodwin had a 42 yard reception down the sideline to setup the Bills only touchdown.
Chris Gragg got wide open for the two yard TD reception.
Chris Hogan made his first catch of the season and but couldn't get to the first down marker on the third down pass. He had two catches for 27 yards.
Scott Chandler had four catches for a pedestrian 21 yards.
Lee Smith got called for two penalties in the 2nd quarter a false start and a holding penalty.
Grade B: Made tough catches on some throws that were offline.
Offensive Line:
Eric Wood made a horrible shotgun snap on a 3rd and 3 play deep in Lions territory. Orton fell on it but it forced the Bills to settle for a field goal.
Cyril Richardson got called for two false start penalties and a holding penalty.
Grade D: Gave up two sacks and nine QB hits while only gaining 49 yards on the ground.
Defensive Line:
Mario Williams had three tackles and a sack.
Marcell Dareus was dominant with a career high three sacks and five tackles.
Stefan Charles got the start for Kyle Williams and helped get a huge a fourth quarter sack. He also had a big tackle for loss on a third and short run.
Jerry Hughes had a strip sack but Stafford recovered. He had a second sack as well and was very active with five tackles and three of them for loss.
Grade A+: Six sacks from this unit and not much on the ground.
Linebackers:
Brandon Spikes led the way with six solo tackles.
Keith Rivers was so quiet he wasn't even on the stat sheet.
Preston Brown was called for roughing the passer when he hit Stafford very late in his slide. He was in on three tackles.
Grade B: Did a nice job at the second level.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore gave up a touchdown pass to Golden Tate who he allowed to get in front of him on a third down pass in the end zone. He then got a big interception early in the 2nd quarter. He was called for holding after a third down play would have forced a punt late in the first half. He had 4 tackles.
Leodis McKelvin was beaten by TE Eric Ebron but knocked the ball lose and had an apparent touchdown reversed.
Corey Graham wasn't active when he was on the field. Played more safety than corner in this game spelling Williams at times.
Nickell Robey peeled off of his man and made a nice open field tackle on Bush on the Lions first series to force a punt. He then forced their second punt when he broke up a pass down the seam on 3rd and 4 on the Lions second series. He got totally faked out by Tate for a big gain on a 1st and 15 play and beaten on the 55 yard bomb the could have cost the Bills the game.
Aaron Williams had four tackles but was in and out of the lineup.
Da'Norris Searcy was hurt much of the game and very quiet.
Duke Williams had a nice pass breakup but later kept that second quarter drive alive with a defensive holding penalty. He had three tackle.
Grade B-: Did a decent job in coverage against a very good receiving corps.
Special Teams:
Colton Schmidt had a delay of game penalty before his first punt then boomed it 44 yards. He had 8 punts with three going inside the 20. Had a 37.1 yard net on a 43.1 yard average.
Dan Carpenter won it with a 58 yard field goal and nailed kicks from 25 and 45 yards out. He missed a 50 yarder but said he was hit with a laser pointer from the stands as he kicked it.
Leodis McKelvin had an 11 yard punt return called back on a block in the back penalty on Chris Hogan. Had 20 yards on three punt returns.
Coverage Units were really shorthanded without Marcus Easley and the loss of his replacement Ron Brooks. It allowed a 28 yard punt return. They also had a 20 yard punt return for a whopping 24 yard average. There were no kickoff returns from either team.
Grade A-: Was a key to the victory.
Coaching:
Doug Marrone didn't have his team playing disciplined ball early as they took way too many penalties in the first half. He chose to decline a running into the punter penalty that would have given him a 4th and 2 play in Lions territory in the closing seconds of the half. He then took a field goal on 4th and 1 from the Lions 8 down by 11 late in the third. I didn't like those calls at all but he proved me wrong as the plan worked to perfection and they got the win.
Nathaniel Hackett coached from the box for the first time since early last year. They got called for a false start from their own goal line as they struggled some with the crowd noise. The offense settled down and they were much better in the second half with 226 yards after the intermission.
Jim Schwartz wanted this game so bad he reportedly told his players to carry him off the field if they won and they did. The defense was unbelievable in this game they played hard for their coordinator.
Grade A-: It was a huge feel good victory in a season of them so far.
 Bills Blitz
NFL.com Gamebook
Lions Game Preview
Gameday Homepage
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