Week 17: Bills Don't Show Up In Finale Loss
Players looked disinterested in finishing strong.
by Steve Saslow

Here are our position by position grades:

Quarterback:

EJ Manuel was horrible. He was very inaccurate and only completed nine passes in three quarters of work. He had a chance at a TD pass but wildly missed a wide open Charles Clay. He also lost a fumble.
Cardale Jones played in the fourth quarter and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down in the red zone. Had a pass deflected and picked off. Made a nice 64 yard completion in the final minutes to setup the Bills only touchdown. He finished 6 of 11 for 96 yards.
Grade F: Maybe they should keep Taylor after all?

Running Backs:

LeSean McCoy injured his ankle in the fist half and didn't return. It was tough sledding before the injury as he gained 10 yards on five carries.
Mike Gillislee had a couple of nice runs but struggled to find holes most of the day. Finished with 40 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.
Jonathan Williams had a 20 yard run but also lost a fumble.
Reggie Bush finishes the season with negative rushing yards as he didn't carry the ball once.
Grade D: No room to run most of the game.

Receivers:

Sammy Watkins had four catches for 31 yards.
Robert Woods had four catches for 43 yards in one was likely his last game as a Bill.
Marquise Goodwin had one catch for 8 yards.
Justin Hunter had a 64 yard catch.
Charles Clay had three catches for 20 yards.
Grade D: Couldn't do much with the poor QB play.

Offensive Line:

Grade D: No penalties but no holes for the running game.

Defensive Line:

Marcell Dareus had a fourth down stop of Bilal Powell. He had four tackles in all.
Kyle Williams had one tackle and it went for a loss.
Leger Douzable got the start for the inactive Adolphus Washington and made a 4th down stop in the first quarter. He had six tackles.
Jerel Worthy roared into the backfield to disrupt the 4th down run that was stopped short by Douzable.
Grade D: There were big holes in the line for the running game.

Linebackers:

Jerry Hughes hit Fitz hard to force an short completion and a punt. He missed a tackle in the backfield and Bilal Powell made 12 yards out of it. He had a quiet two tackles.
Preston Brown led the way with 13 tackles.
Zach Brown dropped an easy interception. He had 11 tackles.
Lorenzo Alexander had a fourth quarter sack and three tackles.
Grade D: Too many big plays from a poor team.

Secondary:

Ronald Darby was beaten for a 17 yard gain in Buffalo territory to Ronnie Anderson but he was pushed off on. He then bit on a fake and was beaten for a 51 yard completion down the sidelines by Quincy Enunwa. Later in the same drive. Darby was faked out by Enunwa to get a first and goal on a short 3rd down completion. Missed a tackle on a WR screen.
Kevon Seymour got the start for the injured Stephon Gilmore. He had two tackles
Nickell Robey-Coleman had three tackles.
Marcus Roberson got a long look in this game. He knocked down a pass on the goal line in the third quarter.
Corey Graham had five tackles.
Corey White failed to pick up Powell and allowed him to get wide open to catch the Jets first touchdown.
Grade D: Didn't play well either.

Special Teams:

Colton Schmidt had a 42.3 yard gross average and a 38.3 yard net with none of his six punts going inside the 20.
Dan Carpenter hit a 34 yard field goal and his only extra point. No misses for him in this game.
Brandon Tate had a 42 yard kickoff return and a 33.4 yard average in two returns. Had 24 yards on two punt returns.
Mike Gillislee failed to fall on a kickoff in the end zone and the Jets got an easy touchdown.
Coverage Units allowed a 32 yard kick return and a 4.8 yard average on punt returns.
Grade F: They gave up a stupid touchdown.

Coaching:

Anthony Lynn didn't have the team more organized as they had two burn two first half timeouts. Not a great job audition.
Dennis Thurman had some confusion on a 4th down play forcing the Bills to burn a timeout. Didn't have his team ready for when the Jets went into hurry up mode near the end of the first half.
Grade F: Team wasn't even trying to play.



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