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Week 7: Both Sides Of Line Dominated In Loss
Special teams lone bright spot in tough division defeat.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Tyrod Taylor had a chance to lead them to a come from behind victory and went three and out. He struggled all day but was under constant pressure. He made some throws especially on the run. The Dolphins kept him from running wild but he had a team high 35 yards on 7 carries. He didn't turn the ball over but struggled to make plays consistently. Finished 14 of 28 for 221 yards some of that came in garbage time.
Grade D: Still can't put the team on his back and win a game.
Running Backs:
LeSean McCoy gave it a go but struggled and couldn't finish as hamstring flared up. He had 8 carries for just 11 yards.
Mike Gillislee made a critical block to pick up the blitz on the bomb to Goodwin for a score. Was used sparingly which was odd with McCoy hobbled. He had five carries for 20 yards gaining all 20 on one run.
Reggie Bush scored a touchdown on his only carry, a one yard plunge in the final seconds of the loss. Did convert a third down with a 13 yard reception.
Jerome Felton didn't do anything to help open holes in the running game and was stuffed for no gain on a 3rd and 1 plunge.
Grade F: Terrible running effort but little room to roam.
Receivers:
Marquise Goodwin couldn't haul in catchable pass on third down thwarting a drive in the final minute of the first half but more than made up for it with his 67 yard touchdown reception when he just ran by the Miami defense. He led the team with 93 yards and four receptions on seven targets.
Justin Hunter caught two passes for 25 yards and neither went for a touchdown for a change.
Walter Powell had two catches for 23 yards.
Brandon Tate had two catches for 31 yards.
Charles Clay also had two receptions for 29 yards.
Nick O'Leary caught one ball for seven yards.
Grade F: Undermanned and outmatched.
Offensive Line:
Jordan Mills was beaten by Cameron Wake for a sack on the Bills first possession. He was also called for a holding penalty.
Grade F-: Gave up four sacks, countless hurries, and no room to run as they had a 3 yard average per carry.
Defensive Line:
Kyle Williams missed two tackles on Jay Ajayi in consecutive third quarter drives. He did run down Tannenhill to force a punt.
Corbin Bryant had just one assist.
Leger Douzable was active with four tackles.
Grade F--: No pressure and were gashed on the ground.
Linebackers:
Jerry Hughes was called for a facemask penalty in the fourth quarter. Was not active at all and had only two tackles.
Preston Brown had five tackles and one QB hit.
Zach Brown had seven tackles including one for a loss but should have had more to stop the running game.
Lorenzo Alexander had three pressures in the first quarter to force negative plays. He leveled Jay Ajayi for a two yard loss on third quarter carry.
Shaq Lawson saw time on the field with both Alexander and Hughes at the same time. Had one tackle that nearly was a sack and another pressure.
Grade F-: Bad effort by this group.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore had a great pass breakup to force Miami to settle for a field goal on opening drive. He was called for a holding penalty that got Miami out of a hole in the third quarter.
Ronald Darby was beaten a few times and led the team with eight tackles which isn't good for a corner.
Nickell Robey-Coleman missed a tackle down the sidelines allowing Landry for a big gain.
Aaron Williams had four tackles before leaving with head and neck injuries.
Corey Graham broke up a third down pass to force Miami's first punt. Was beaten by Kenny Stills for a sure TD bomb but the ball hung up so long he got back and knocked it away. He had three pass breakups in all.
Jonathan Meeks dropped a sure interception the play after Graham knocked away the bomb to Stills.
Grade C: Didn't help by missing tackles but did ok in pass defense.
Special Teams:
Colton Schmidt punted seven times had averaged 45.1 yards per punt with a solid 41.1 yard net and two going inside the 20 including a great stop by Tate at the 1.
Dan Carpenter hit his lone field goal attempt and both extra point attempts.
Brandon Tate had a 30 yard punt return to set the Bills up for a field goal. He also had kickoff returns of 25 and 16 yards.
Coverage Units were led by Lerentee McCray blocking a punt that setup a Buffalo touchdown. They gave up five punt returns for just a 5.6 yard average per return. They averaged only 15.3 yards on four kickoff returns.
Grade A: Not their fault they lost.
Coaching:
Rex Ryan made a mistake letting Shady play. Didn't have too many blunders except having to use a timeout in the opening minute of the 2nd half.
Anthony Lynn surprisingly didn't use Gillislee more with McCoy hobbled. He had no answers when the ground game wasn't going. Unimaginative offense.
Dennis Thurman couldn't come up with answers to stop the run game as his defense was embarrassed in this game.
Grade F: Tough division loss will hurt their playoff chances.
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