Turnovers key but defense failed at worst possible time.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:EJ Manuel struggled mightily with his accuracy early than got careless with the football to disastrous results. He had two passes batted down and several inaccurate throws to open receivers before giving up a fumble return for a touchdown and two interceptions, one was returned for a score and another led to a score. He bounced back with a nice 85 yard drive and touchdown pass to Robert Woods before halftime. He played well in the second half as well but couldn't lead them back one more time in the final minutes.
Grade D: He was too careless with the football.
LeSean McCoy ran well got a nice 6 yard gain on third down sweep. Got good yardage on a screen pass for a first down as well. Didn't everything he could to get in the end zone on a nice short pass and run. It cost him a shot to the head and a fumble. He had 104 total yards in the game.
Boom Herron had two carries for nine yards.
Boobie Dixon was called for a false start penalty on the Bills first punt.
Grade B: Could have used McCoy more despite being behind.
Robert Woods had a nice sideline catch for a touchdown and was the go to guy on the 2nd quarter touchdown drive. He led the team with 9 catches for 84 yards.
Chris Hogan dropped a pass on the opening possession. He had six catches for 56 yards but didn't do much besides a couple of third down conversions.
Marcus Easley played sparingly but made the most of it with a 58 yard pass for a score when he was wide open down the sidelines.
Charles Clay dropped a pass in the 4th quarter and only had three catches for 26 yards on five targets.
Chris Gragg was the go to guy at tight end as he was targeted 7 times. He had a 29 yard catch when he got wide open deep. A better throw and he scores. He caught a pass out of bounds. Was wide open in the end zone and was grossly overthrown.
Grade C: They were open a lot but the QB needs to get them the ball.
Eric Wood had a snap hit Woods who was coming across in motion.
Cyrus Kouandjio started for the concussed Seantrel Henderson and performed ok.
Kraig Urbik started for John Miller who had a death in the family. Was called for a false start on a critical 3rd and 1 play in the 4th quarter.
Grade C: Gave up four sacks but three of them were because Manuel held on to the ball too long. There were holes in the running game.
Mario Williams got good pressure forcing a third down incompletion. Had a big sack late in the first half.
Jerry Hughes drew a holding penalty but didn't do much else.
Marcell Dareus was double teamed a lot and there were big holes still in the running game.
Corbin Bryant had a quiet five tackles.
Grade D: Little pressure and gave up a 100 yard rusher.
Manny Lawson didn't see the field too much because of the defense they were playing.
Nigel Bradham was very quiet in this game doing almost nothing.
Preston Brown missed bringing Bortles down for a sack. Had four tackles.
Grade F: This unit was barely noticeable.
Stephon Gilmore was beaten for a 20 yard catch by Allen Robinson while he was called for pass interference on the play. He was beaten by him again for a touchdown on a third down pass to end the same drive.
Ronald Darby was beaten by Allen Hurns for a 22 yard pickup. He broke up a deep downfield pass in the third quarter. Was beaten for a reception on the game winning drive. If he turns around he has a pick.
Nickell Robey was called for a very costly pass interference penalty on the final drive but he did nothing wrong.
Duke Williams broke up a pass on the Jags first series. Missed an open field tackle that allowed Yeldon to run for 16 yards on the opening drive of the third quarter. He had five tackles.
Corey Graham failed to get over in time to stop a 23 yard reception by Robinson. He was called for pass interference in the end zone. Had the big interception return for a score but gave up the winning touchdown pass when he seemed to come up lame. He looked like he re-aggravated his groin injury.
Grade F: They struggled against the young Jags receivers.
Colton Schmidt had a weak 35 yard punt on the Bills first possession but followed it up with a brilliant 57 yarder that went out of bounds. He also had a 50 yarder in averaging 49.3 net and gross.
Dan Carpenter hit all three field goals from 31, 38, and 26 yards out. He also hit both his extra point attempts.
Jordan Gay was back after being released over a week ago. He only allowed two returns and one was when he was backed up 15 yards for a celebration penalty.
Denarius Moore had 37 yards on two punt returns but had a long way called back for a holding penalty.
Boom Herron was a surprise choice to return kicks today. He returned the opening kickoff 28 yards from four yards deep in the end zone. He averaged 23.3 yards on his three returns.
Coverage Units .
Grade B: Did their job in this game.
Rex Ryan didn't have his team ready from the start but he said they would comeback and they did, they just didn't finish the game and he takes a hit for that.
Greg Roman nice mixture of screens and misdirection runs. Got too cute with wildcat that had almost disastrous results when the snap hit Woods. Got the most out of EJ he could.
Dennis Thurman blitzed a lot more but they still struggled to get to the quarterback and he beat the blitz a few times.
Grade D: The team is an unacceptable 3-4 at the bye.
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