Sunday, November 29, 2009
Immediate Reactions, Wk12
5:19 AM |
Posted by
Nick Mendola |
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For in-game delirium, head over to Twitter.com/NicholasMendola. It's probably more fun this week than most.
I'm willing to bet there are a lot of folks out there mad at the Bills for winning today, and I'm sure they'll post there. I'm also willing to bet these are the same people making comments about Ryan Miller's performance against the Hurricanes not counting because Carolina doesn't score a lot.
To those of you, tough meat. The Bills and Sabres put three wins on the board this weekend, and I don't hate the idea of going to work tomorrow.
Oh, snap. Guess what I saw...
-- If our discussion this week is going to be about running up the score, as it was early on the postgame show, throw a rusty rake through my back a couple of times. Do you know how often the Bills have coughed up late leads, or played too conservative? I guess we can talk about the Fred Jackson score that made it 31-14, but not the 51-yard strike from Fitzpatrick to Owens. Not at all. Go somewhere else for that.
-- The time to discuss Fitzpatrick as full-time starter is never o'clock, but maybe we need to take our Perry Fewell for head coach timepiece and wind it to Probably-not p.m.
I want to ignore how I feel right now, because this game is probably very similar to never having shoes in life, and then getting a pair of used wooden clogs. You're thinking, "Hey! This is nice. I'm not stepping on nails anymore!" But you don't realize they make plenty of nice, comfortable sneakers and slippers, and you've got slivers of wood all over your toes.
The bottom line is this: The Bills are in better hands than they were with Dick Jauron, and they just played consecutive watchable football games for the first time since, when? Weeks One and Two? Even then you had some indescribable brain seizures. It's been two weeks under Fewell, and odds are you're better off hoping for Mike Shanahan or some other big name to get pumped about the opportunity.
But like it or not, Fewell has officially made a thesis statement worthy of a book. Whether he can write more than the first few paragraphs of one chapter is something that will play out over the next few weeks, and he deserves to have us read it.
-- There were a lot of gutty calls Fewell made that will have folks saying, "I know it worked, but I hated the call." I understand that sentiment, but I loved him showing faith in a kicker who'd missed from 44 yards earlier. Lindell's a very solid kicker, and it must've really said something to the team when he trotted out there to try that monster kick, and even more when he made it.
-- I'm honestly not trying to pile on, but Alex Van Pelt and Ryan Fitzpatrick are damning the in-season play of Trent Edwards. The plays seem more creative, and the time in the pocket seems longer -- even with six sacks and a load of linemen lost for the year. When Steve Tasker, a former Bill with connections to the organization, comes right out and says, "This is why Ryan Fitzpatrick is a better fit for the Bills right now," you have to listen. It could be a shame someone hadn't said it before the hapless Browns beat the Bills in the worst game in the history of football.
-- I love the play of Owens, and I love the two weeks he's had, but I don't like standing in the middle of the end zone, doing calisthenics with his initials. This isn't about you, pal, as well as you've played. (EDIT NOTE: I loved the Joey Porter part of it. Just not the "T - O" part. Team game).
See, this is the sort of "anti-T.O." conversation I expected to be having this year. Not inane banter about whether he should've leapt for the ball a quarterback threw at the scoreboard.
-- What on God's green Earth were the Dolphins doing having Ricky Williams throw a pass while they were shredding the Bills on the ground? After seeing the Lions and Raiders play on Thanksgiving, I know there's a ton of poor decision-making going on in the National Football League.
-- Good to see Fred Jackson have relative success, but this line is going to struggle for the rest of this year. There aren't too many running backs in the league who are going to post four-plus yards-per-carry behind it, and I'm not sure Jackson would've without those last two runs. The good news is the Bills have performed pretty decent when they've been able to suit up the same line for consecutive weeks (The Tampa win is one of the only times they've been able to do such a thing). Buffalo has used seven different starting line combinations in 11 games. Yikes.
-- I think Jackson's reputation with the fans and on-field production have punched Marshawn Lynch's ticket out-of-town. Lynch just hasn't gotten going this year, and while he became one of my favorite players to watch in the past couple years, he's taken more missteps than the Goonies playing the pirate organ. See ya, Beast Mode. It was fun while it lasted.
-- My goodness, did I get an alarming number of "So he does exist" tweets and messages about Aaron Maybin. I believe it takes defensive ends a while to develop, but he now has eight tackles through 11 games. It appeared he was on the field an awful lot more than usual this week. Stay tuned.
-- The honeymoon's not over or anything, but I'm not sure Jairus Byrd knows how to tackle. He can hit, that's for sure, but tackling... yeesh.
-- If you're struggling for the right way to feel about Fitzpatrick, I think this is how to feel: You have a decent back-up locked up into next year. For a while, I wanted three new quarterbacks signed for next year. Now, I might be content with a new No. 1 -- rookie or otherwise -- to go with Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm, which is why it will be imperative to toss Brohm out there at some point before the season is over. This upcoming Thursday game is more than a subtle reminder than we don't know how much time we have.
-- Another good message I got was from Steve B. : "Moorman was standing at the eight and he punted the ball to the Miami 10. That's 82 yards in the air." He's good.
-- There were a lot of feel good moments, but Corey Mace's last-minute interception was top of the pops. He's a very weird Canadian fella, but he's also been cut and re-signed an awful lot the past few seasons, and to make an actual play had to feel great.
-- Something also should be said about three accepted penalties for 20 yards, a marked improvement.
-- I would definitely wear the woolie Fewell rocked this afternoon.
-- So many times, my wife tells me, "Don't get excited yet," during Bills games, and she's usually right. Well, this week, I'm working on her birthday and she's at a benefit. I text her, "Go Bills" after Lindell hammers that 56-yarder. She says, "Not yet." For once, I was right.
Stat line I enjoyed:
Owens, five catches, 96 yards, TD
-- Owens now has 40 catches for 659 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as that rushing touchdown.
Stat line I didn't enjoy:
Miami Dolphins, six sacks
-- I didn't enjoy it, but I get it. Hopefully Kendall Simmons looks a lot better with another week of work.
Game ball:
Fred Jackson
-- When you combine his rushes and catches, he had 20 touches for 116 yards and two scores. He's become much more than a check down option; he's a safety valve with some danger to him. The Bills have even run some screens that make sense (and some that haven't_.
Lastly...
I felt really, truly good for the Bills fans in attendance. That place was a-plus loud, and that's how it should be every single week if a good football team played there.
Next Thursday:
A loss would've honestly had me flipping back and forth with the Sabres game against Montreal, but now I'll DVR the Sabres game and watch it afterwards. As I said before last week, the Jets are a terrible team. The Fewell Experiment continues whole-heartedly, and another win would say something. Let's call it an ugly, ugly win: Buffalo 19, New York Jets 17. That's four field goals in there. Hey-a-a-a.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
I'm willing to bet there are a lot of folks out there mad at the Bills for winning today, and I'm sure they'll post there. I'm also willing to bet these are the same people making comments about Ryan Miller's performance against the Hurricanes not counting because Carolina doesn't score a lot.
To those of you, tough meat. The Bills and Sabres put three wins on the board this weekend, and I don't hate the idea of going to work tomorrow.
Oh, snap. Guess what I saw...
-- If our discussion this week is going to be about running up the score, as it was early on the postgame show, throw a rusty rake through my back a couple of times. Do you know how often the Bills have coughed up late leads, or played too conservative? I guess we can talk about the Fred Jackson score that made it 31-14, but not the 51-yard strike from Fitzpatrick to Owens. Not at all. Go somewhere else for that.
-- The time to discuss Fitzpatrick as full-time starter is never o'clock, but maybe we need to take our Perry Fewell for head coach timepiece and wind it to Probably-not p.m.
I want to ignore how I feel right now, because this game is probably very similar to never having shoes in life, and then getting a pair of used wooden clogs. You're thinking, "Hey! This is nice. I'm not stepping on nails anymore!" But you don't realize they make plenty of nice, comfortable sneakers and slippers, and you've got slivers of wood all over your toes.
The bottom line is this: The Bills are in better hands than they were with Dick Jauron, and they just played consecutive watchable football games for the first time since, when? Weeks One and Two? Even then you had some indescribable brain seizures. It's been two weeks under Fewell, and odds are you're better off hoping for Mike Shanahan or some other big name to get pumped about the opportunity.
But like it or not, Fewell has officially made a thesis statement worthy of a book. Whether he can write more than the first few paragraphs of one chapter is something that will play out over the next few weeks, and he deserves to have us read it.
-- There were a lot of gutty calls Fewell made that will have folks saying, "I know it worked, but I hated the call." I understand that sentiment, but I loved him showing faith in a kicker who'd missed from 44 yards earlier. Lindell's a very solid kicker, and it must've really said something to the team when he trotted out there to try that monster kick, and even more when he made it.
-- I'm honestly not trying to pile on, but Alex Van Pelt and Ryan Fitzpatrick are damning the in-season play of Trent Edwards. The plays seem more creative, and the time in the pocket seems longer -- even with six sacks and a load of linemen lost for the year. When Steve Tasker, a former Bill with connections to the organization, comes right out and says, "This is why Ryan Fitzpatrick is a better fit for the Bills right now," you have to listen. It could be a shame someone hadn't said it before the hapless Browns beat the Bills in the worst game in the history of football.
-- I love the play of Owens, and I love the two weeks he's had, but I don't like standing in the middle of the end zone, doing calisthenics with his initials. This isn't about you, pal, as well as you've played. (EDIT NOTE: I loved the Joey Porter part of it. Just not the "T - O" part. Team game).
See, this is the sort of "anti-T.O." conversation I expected to be having this year. Not inane banter about whether he should've leapt for the ball a quarterback threw at the scoreboard.
-- What on God's green Earth were the Dolphins doing having Ricky Williams throw a pass while they were shredding the Bills on the ground? After seeing the Lions and Raiders play on Thanksgiving, I know there's a ton of poor decision-making going on in the National Football League.
-- Good to see Fred Jackson have relative success, but this line is going to struggle for the rest of this year. There aren't too many running backs in the league who are going to post four-plus yards-per-carry behind it, and I'm not sure Jackson would've without those last two runs. The good news is the Bills have performed pretty decent when they've been able to suit up the same line for consecutive weeks (The Tampa win is one of the only times they've been able to do such a thing). Buffalo has used seven different starting line combinations in 11 games. Yikes.
-- I think Jackson's reputation with the fans and on-field production have punched Marshawn Lynch's ticket out-of-town. Lynch just hasn't gotten going this year, and while he became one of my favorite players to watch in the past couple years, he's taken more missteps than the Goonies playing the pirate organ. See ya, Beast Mode. It was fun while it lasted.
-- My goodness, did I get an alarming number of "So he does exist" tweets and messages about Aaron Maybin. I believe it takes defensive ends a while to develop, but he now has eight tackles through 11 games. It appeared he was on the field an awful lot more than usual this week. Stay tuned.
-- The honeymoon's not over or anything, but I'm not sure Jairus Byrd knows how to tackle. He can hit, that's for sure, but tackling... yeesh.
-- If you're struggling for the right way to feel about Fitzpatrick, I think this is how to feel: You have a decent back-up locked up into next year. For a while, I wanted three new quarterbacks signed for next year. Now, I might be content with a new No. 1 -- rookie or otherwise -- to go with Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm, which is why it will be imperative to toss Brohm out there at some point before the season is over. This upcoming Thursday game is more than a subtle reminder than we don't know how much time we have.
-- Another good message I got was from Steve B. : "Moorman was standing at the eight and he punted the ball to the Miami 10. That's 82 yards in the air." He's good.
-- There were a lot of feel good moments, but Corey Mace's last-minute interception was top of the pops. He's a very weird Canadian fella, but he's also been cut and re-signed an awful lot the past few seasons, and to make an actual play had to feel great.
-- Something also should be said about three accepted penalties for 20 yards, a marked improvement.
-- I would definitely wear the woolie Fewell rocked this afternoon.
-- So many times, my wife tells me, "Don't get excited yet," during Bills games, and she's usually right. Well, this week, I'm working on her birthday and she's at a benefit. I text her, "Go Bills" after Lindell hammers that 56-yarder. She says, "Not yet." For once, I was right.
Stat line I enjoyed:
Owens, five catches, 96 yards, TD
-- Owens now has 40 catches for 659 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as that rushing touchdown.
Stat line I didn't enjoy:
Miami Dolphins, six sacks
-- I didn't enjoy it, but I get it. Hopefully Kendall Simmons looks a lot better with another week of work.
Game ball:
Fred Jackson
-- When you combine his rushes and catches, he had 20 touches for 116 yards and two scores. He's become much more than a check down option; he's a safety valve with some danger to him. The Bills have even run some screens that make sense (and some that haven't_.
Lastly...
I felt really, truly good for the Bills fans in attendance. That place was a-plus loud, and that's how it should be every single week if a good football team played there.
Next Thursday:
A loss would've honestly had me flipping back and forth with the Sabres game against Montreal, but now I'll DVR the Sabres game and watch it afterwards. As I said before last week, the Jets are a terrible team. The Fewell Experiment continues whole-heartedly, and another win would say something. Let's call it an ugly, ugly win: Buffalo 19, New York Jets 17. That's four field goals in there. Hey-a-a-a.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
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- Immediate Reactions, Wk12
- Did Buffalo just usher The E-Street Band into reti...
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- A Change of Pace
- Immediate Reactions, Fire(d) Jauron
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- MacArthur's Hit Suspendable, Not All That Dirty
- Bills first-half Report Card
- Excuse Me, Mr. Wilson
- First True Hiccup For Sabres
- Immediate Reactions, Wk8
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