Offense struggled a lot while defense gave up some big plays.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:Kyle Orton was very inaccurate but had his stats helped in garbage time making the look much better than they should be. They were in the hole they were in because he couldn't do anything most of the game.
Grade D: Too little, too late.
Fred Jackson did some work through the air as he now has had the most receiving yards of his career this year. He had nine catches for 93 yards in the Bills patented dink and dunk offense.
C.J. Spiller caught a screen pass on the second play of the game for a three yard gain. He was a bit too anxious for his first carry as he moved early for a false start. His only positive running play he fumbled the football. Finished with -4 yards on four carries.
Boobie Dixon led the team with a 2.3 yard per carry.
Grade D: Only 13 yards on the ground, yuk.
Sammy Watkins had a nice 42 yard catch for a score. He had three catches for 75 yards.
Robert Woods had seven catches but for just 52 yards, 30 of those yards came on the last minute touchdown grab.
Chris Hogan got a scoring drive going with a nice 31 yard catch and run, finished with 43 yards on three catches.
Scott Chandler had a 29 yard touchdown reception and 8 yards on his other three catches.
Grade D: Had three big TDs but little else when the game mattered of course it doesn't help when the QB can't hit the side of a barn most of the game.
Eric Wood didn't snap the ball on the Bills first series when everyone else moved on the snap count. Was called for a holding penalty late in the third quarter as the Bills were driving.
Kraig Urbik was beaten by Antonio Smith into the backfield to blow up a Spiller run for a five yard loss.
Seantrel Henderson was beaten time and time again by former UB standout Kahlil Mack who had a sack and there QB hits.
Grade F: No holes in the running game and Orton got hit a lot.
Mario Williams had four tackles and a half a sack. Should have done more against a weak right tackle who was banged up.
Jerry Hughes had two QB pressures in the first half.
Stefan Charles got extra playing time after Dareus got hurt. Got a QB hit to force an incompletion.
Kyle Williams had a half of a sack.
Grade D: Gave up huge holes in the running game and didn't get much pressure.
Brandon Spikes bursted in to the backfield on one play and got a tackle for a three yard loss. He then dropped a sure pick six. Also made a tackle for a one yard loss.
Nigel Bradham was very quiet and not a big part of the game plan only had one assist.
Preston Brown had only two tackles.
Grade D: Spikes was the only one to do anything from this unit.
Stephon Gilmore gave up a third down conversion and suffered a concussion on the play.
Corey Graham broke up a couple of passes including one in the end zone in the third quarter. He was then beaten for a 51 yard bomb in the fourth quarter to convert a 3rd and 22.
Nickell Robey had a big pass breakup on a third down pass late in the first half to force the Raiders to settle for a FG.
Aaron Williams was beaten on a 54 yard bomb to Kenbrell Thompkins near the end of the first quarter that setup the Raiders for their first score.
Da'Norris Searcy led the way with 11 tackles.
Grade D: Gave up some huge plays which doesn't happen often from this unit.
Colton Schmidt punted 8 times, none were inside the 20. Had a net of 38 yards and a 42.5 yard gross average.
Dan Carpenter hit his lone field goal attempt from 54 yards out. He's money.
Marcus Thigpen had 11 yards on three punt returns. Felt he had to take kicks out of the end zone because of the poor offensive play and averaged 21.7 yards on three returns.
Coverage Units gave up a 21 yard kickoff return and 16 yards on three punt returns.
Grade F: Onside kick was offsides and awful, why wasn't Carpenter kicking the onside kick?
Doug Marrone made a questionable call punting on 4th and 1 midway through the fourth quarter at their own 46. The Raiders took the next 5:22 off the clock and when the Bills got the ball back they were down by 9 with 2:51 to go
Nathaniel Hackett got the offense moving a bit in the second half by going hurry up. The third and 1 call before the controversial punt was awful and almost a pick six.
Jim Schwartz didn't have his unit ready to play they just looked soft.
Grade F: Just an awful letdown by this team.
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