Week 2: Defense Awful In Loss To Jets
Fitzpatrick put on a passing clinic against inept secondary.
by Steve Saslow

Here are our position by position grades:

Quarterback:

Tyrod Taylor made a couple of big plays but was inaccurate on some shorter throws. He had a nice throw on the run for the one of his two bombs for touchdowns. He hit Marquise Goodwin in stride for the first touchdown.
Grade B: Not the reason for the loss.

Running Backs:

LeSean McCoy couldn't get anything going gaining a pedestrian 59 yards on 15 carries and had four more touches through the air for just 31 more yards.
Mike Gillislee did not carry the football but had the 18 yard touchdown reception where he stretched the ball over the goal line.
Reggie Bush didn't touch the football.
Grade C-: Below average running game so far this year.

Receivers:

Sammy Watkins was very quiet and couldn't come down with the one long ball thrown his way. He was targeted five times and had just two catches for 20 yards. He's clearly hurting and couldn't finish the game.
Robert Woods Two targets, one catch for just 10 yards.
Marquise Goodwin beat Darelle Revis for an 84 yard touchdown. He then broke up an interception on another deep pass to him. He finished with 112 yards on two catches but some of that was on the lateral back to him on the final play of the game.
Greg Salas broke free on a broken play and pulled in the 71 yard touchdown pass. He had three other short catches and finished with 89 yards.
Charles Clay was targeted a game high seven times and led the way with five catches for just 27 yards and had a drop.
Nick O'Leary was called for a holding penalty that negated a good gain on a screen pass.
Grade C: Made a couple of big plays but not enough small ones.

Offensive Line:

Cyrus Kouandjio did a nice job filling in for Cordy Glenn.
John Miller was called for a holding penalty that short circuited a drive.
Grade B+: Kept Tyrod upright as he was not sacked and barely hit. Didn't open up big holes for the running game.

Defensive Line:

Kyle Williams had five quiet tackles.
Corbin Bryant had one tackle.
Adolphus Washington was in on three tackles.
Leger Douzable was in on four tackles.
Grade F: No pressure or push in the game.

Linebackers:

Jerry Hughes had five tackles, one for loss.
Preston Brown was very active early and had a big third down stop to force a field goal at the end of the first quarter. He forced the fumble that was returned for a touchdown. He had 16 tackles.
Zach Brown had 14 tackles, a QB hit and a tackle for loss.
Lorenzo Alexander had the only sack of the game and four tackles.
Grade C: This unit was the best on defense which isn't saying much.

Secondary:

Stephon Gilmore was beaten for a deep pass on the first series of the game then was called for a holding penalty that negated a third down sack. He then was beaten by Marshall and dragged him down by the facemask hurting Marshall's knee in the process.
Ronald Darby was called for pass interference that kept a Jets field goal drive alive. He was then beaten by Marshall on a deep sideline pass for 37 yards in the 2nd quarter. He was then beaten by Decker for a touchdown. All this in the first half. He was beaten a few other times in the 2nd half but made three pass breakups.
Nickell Robey-Coleman was Johnny on the spot picking up a fumble and returning it for the first defensive touchdown of the season for the Bills.
Aaron Williams was in on six tackles and beaten for a few receptions.
Corey Graham was in on four tackles.
Duke Williams saw his playing time dwindle even though he got the start. He had two tackles.
Grade F-: Worst performance by a Bills secondary I can remember.

Special Teams:

Colton Schmidt had an off game finishing with a 39.3 yard average on three punts. One went inside the 20.
Dan Carpenter hit his lone field goal attempt and all four extra points.
Brandon Tate averaged 25 yards on five kickoff returns including a nice 45 yard return. He had an eight yard punt return.
Coverage Units allowed only a 13.5 yard average on kick returns and no punt returns. Short, high kickoffs by Carpenter were very good.
Grade C: Did ok in the loss.

Coaching:

Rex Ryan saw his defense let him down again. Made some wierd time management calls and wasted a couple of more timeouts.
Greg Roman rebounded from the opener and took his shots downfield with some success.
Dennis Thurman never had his defense make the proper adjustments to give the struggling corners some safety help.
Grade F: 0-2 and the season is just about over.



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