Post-Mortem: Bills beat Chiefs, Bills 35, Chiefs 17

I'll say what i said at the half; what a difference a week makes. In the fourth quarter last week, Bills fans were hopeful at the strength of C.J. Spiller on the ground, hoping for an incredibly unlikely comeback and wondering what the hell happened to the team that had so much hype during the summer. In the week leading up to this game, the Bills were dealing with questions of the lackluster secondary, the multi-million-dollar prima donna bust in Mario Williams and questions of what's going to happen with Fitz after a less than lackluster performance at the Meadowlands.

This week, the Bills came out and did what they needed to do to the Jets; punch them in the mouth. Things were not perfect for the Bills early on. But things don't need to be perfect for them to get going. C.J. Spiller (15 carries, 123 yards, 2 TD, 3 catches, 47 yards) was an absolute beast for the Bills, gashing the Chiefs time and time again, crushing them beneath his runs. It more than made up for a lackluster start for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (10 of 19, 178 yards, 2 TD) who struggled early in the passing game before finally capping off a solid drive that started in Chiefs territory after a Matt Cassel fumble with a sharp touchdown reception by Scott Chandler. In Fitz's defense, while he wasn't as sharp as we'd like him to be, the important spot on that stat-line is what's not there; No interceptions.

The defensive line was much improved as well. Free agent acquisitions Mark Anderson and Mario Williams both came up large when the game was still in question, Anderson (3 Tackles, 1 TFL, 1 QB Hit) with a big early tackle for a loss while Williams (2 Tackles, Fumble Recovery) capitalized on an Alex Carrington sack, turning into the Bills third touchdown. But it was a complete game by the front line, as Kyle Williams (3 tackles, 2 sacks) had a great game and Marcell Dareus (2 tackles, sack) had a tremendous performance, especially considering the tragic loss of his little brother in a shooting during the week.

But, the defensive line doesn't get that push at all if Cassel can keep moving the ball fast enough to counteract them. The secondary, which was picked apart by Mark Sanchez in week one had a solid game, not giving up very much at all until the game was already decided. The best drive the Chiefs were able to muster in the first half, near the end of it, was spurred forward by a big (and ridiculous) penalty on Da'Norris Searcy on a nasty but unintentional jolt he gave Kevin Boss, knocking him out of the game. It sustained the drive, which finally fell apart with the lone useful Chiefs weapon, Peyton Hillis, getting stripped on his way into the end zone, effectively finishing the half and the Chief's chances of getting back into it.

This was not a perfect game for the Bills. Fitz's early play left quite a lot to be desired and will do nothing to stop the voices who were calling for Barkley watch to begin during the week. The tremendous chemistry that he developed with Stevie Johnson (2 catches, 56 yards, TD) seemed sorely lacking. Stevie was targeted five times on the day, but there were a couple bad passes by Fitz and a bad route by Stevie on what would be the second TD drive (Spiller) with Stevie freelancing on a quick-hit play, making Fitz look bad. Spiller's touchdown certainly makes that seem less villainous, but it's one of those performances where you wonder what would happen against a better team.

All and all, it's a much better outcome this week for the Bills. Sure, it's easy to say that a win is better than a loss, but just as the 48-28 score was not nearly as close as it looks, so too was the Bills 35-17 win this week a lot more of a rout than it seems. But there were still a number of warts on the Bills performance. Fitz needs to improve and sit down with Stevie and figure out how they're both going to do what they need to do.  But, a win is a win and (with the 1-0 Jets still yet to play) the rest of the AFC East is also at 1-1. It means statistically we're all in the same boat. It's just a matter of performing.

Bring on the Cleveland Browns.

Addenda:

• Leodis McKelvin had an impressive 88 yard punt return for a touchdown, making a lot of people remark on how much this was a mirror image of last week's game. Second longest in team history. 
• C.J. Spiller's 2012 campaing marks the fifth time a running back in Bills history has run over 100 yards in the first two games of the season. The other four were Fred Jackson, Thurman Thomas and O.J. Simpson twice.
• Bills defense recorded 5 sacks (Dareus, Carrington, Sheppard and K. Williams [2]) is the most in a game for the Bills since playing the Redskins in TO last year. 

Bills/Chiefs at the Half (Bills lead 21-0)

What a difference a week makes, eh?

Last week, the Bills were getting demolished by a Jets team that we were hoping to prove ourselves against. This week, the CJ Spiller show is on the air, in the air and on the ground. It's not a perfect game, but the Bills are looking rather impressive. Spiller is making the Chiefs defense look like they were just promoted from Pop Warner. As WGR550's Jeremy White put it on Twitter after the second Spiller touchdown, "CJ Spiller is the kind of back that scores touchdowns at the snap."

But it isn't just on the offensive side of the ball. The Bills defense has been stout today. They've only allowed one sustainable drive, the last of the half. It was buoyed by a long catch by the tight end Boss with a 15 yard personal foul call on a gnarly looking impact between the falling Boss and Da'Norriss Searcy that seemed to knock Boss out. Even then, they were able to come through at the goal line, forcing RB Peyton Hillis to fumble into the end zone, giving the Bills the ball back to finish the half, leaving them up by three touchdowns and set to receive the ball to start the second half. 

It is, essentially, the opposite of what we saw last week. And while I'm excited, the part of me that was trying to keep my head up after (and during) last week's debacle in The Meadowlands remembers well the start last year against these same Chiefs and how the season ended. 

Fast Facts

• CJ Spiller had already been leading the league in rushing going into Week 2, is having a tremendous game, in the air and on the ground. So far, 11 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns in addition to 3 catches for 47 yards.
• Fitz has looked a little shaky, but he has done well enough not to lose. No interceptions is a huge improvement, plus a red zone connection with Scott Chandler for the third Bills touchdown.
• The new defensive line has been stout. Mark Anderson had a big stop in the backfield, Mario Williams recovered a fumble after a big sack by Alex Carrington (yeah, I forgot he was still on the team too) and after the death of his brother in a robbery attempt, Marcell Dareus has two tackles for a loss, including a big sack of Matt Cassel

Week 1 Post-Mortem: Jets exploit Bills, win 48-28

Many of the questions that we thought had been answered for the Buffalo Bills are questions again. All the questions we had are still questions. Let's take a look at the Buffalo Bills opening game of the 2012 campaign.

The Good: It is very hard at this point to see the bright side of today's game for the boys in blue. Even the impressive stat line for C.J. Spiller (14 carries, 169 yards, TD) is overshadowed by the fact that he had those touches at the expense of an injured Fred Jackson (6 carries, 15 yards). WR Stevie Johnson (4 receptions, 55 yards, TD) looked good when he got the ball, though his most impressive play was a 29 yard TD in garbage time where he was never touched. Scott Chandler (4 receptions, 38 yards, TD) had a solid game as a safety valve and Donald Jones (5 receptions, 41 yards, TD) was sure handed and, like Chandler, had a solid game. Also, until the last drive, the defense only gave up 89 rushing yards, which is a bright point considering how this Jets team ran all over the Bills the last five times they won.

The Bad: I don't know where to start here, except that it's a little easier because there was a lot of ugly in this game. While the highly-touted defensive line was helpful when it comes to the above-mentioned rushing success, there were no sacks. More importantly than the fact that there weren't sacks, Mario Williams, the highest-paid defensive player, in the NFL was invisible. His stat-line will go down as 1 tackle and possibly 1 hurry (or pressure, or whatever they're calling that stat this year). The linebacking corps also will get a mixed review today, again because of the combination of how (relatively) well they did against the ground game and the fact that the Jets had no trouble finding short routes. I know that can't be blamed completely on them, but they played their part and we didn't hear a lot about them, because by the time they were making tackles, the game was so lopsided that they weren't getting mentioned.

The Ugly: Let's start with the things out of the control of the team. Fred Jackson was hurt early in the game. Before the injury, his game wasn't great, certainly not the M.V.P. candidate numbers we saw before he was injured last year. It looked ugly, but doesn't seem like it was quite so bad. David Nelson (2 receptions, 31 yards) sounds like it could be a much more serious injury from what Chan Gailey stated after the game, but we'll wait and see how tests come back this week. Overall the Bills gave up four turnovers for a total of twenty-four points for the Jets. Finally, on the play that probably was the knock out blow for the Bills, there was a punt return for a touchdown.

The Disastrous: Ryan Fitzpatrick's numbers may be deceiving. Fitz went 18 for 32, 195 yards with three touchdowns and interceptions. It sounds like an even game, but was an absolute horror show. The touchdowns all came after the game was essentially over and the interceptions looked like the worst of Fitz's interceptions last year; badly thrown balls that make you wonder what he was thinking. As bad as the pick six in the second half was (or that the Scott Chandler first down that should have been a pick six if it could have been held onto by the first defender), I focus on the Darrelle Revis pick. Fitz through the pass he was the worst at to the receiver he trusts against the best cornerback in the league. Missing with that pass is criminal. A good quarterback knows what he can do and doesn't make that mistake against the best guy in the league. And while we're on the topic of coverage, the Bills secondary was brutal today. At the end of the second half, the best thing I could come up with was, "Well at least Aaron Williams was close enough to interfere with his guy on third down."

* * *

All in all, it's a bad day for Bills fans. As bad as Fitz was, and he was as bad as we've seen him, it was really only one game. We'll see what comes out in regards to the injuries for Jackson and Nelson, but while today was a shot at the swagger the fanbase had after the big free agent signings and the national football pundits being positive about the Bills' chances at the post season. Also, and as bad as the secondary and defensive line were, they didn't necessarily make Mark Sanchez look good (as terrible as they were when the game felt like it was already over); Mark Sanchez had a very good game, and he had a number of good passes that didn't need to have bad coverage to be completed. Some of them were very good.

Also, remember, next week is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bills have plenty of chance to improve, and while they looked like a hot mess today, the wheels have note quite fallen off yet.  █


Follow me on Twitter and here at bflosportsman.blogspot.com.

Jets/Bills at the Half (Jets leading 27-7)

This was a game where I was expecting the Bills to come out, punch the Jets in the mouth and show the pundits who picked them in the preseason that their faith was not ill-given. The defense was supposed to be vastly better. We were hoping that a healthy Ryan Fitzpatrick, given a full off-season and the mechanical enhancements of QBs coach David Lee was going to mean a significant difference on the offensive side of the ball, especially with a healthy Fred Jackson and Stevie Johnson on the field.

The first series seemed good. The defense was bending, only gave up one first down and got a turnover. And then the wheels fell off. Fitz has been terrible, ending two drives on bad INTs, and C.J. Spiller put the ball on the ground after his best throw of the game, setting up a two-minute drill for Sanchez. Fred Jackson's numbers were bad (Six touches for fifteen yards) and was injured after his best run of the day. The loan bright spot was Spiller, with an incredible run that was aided by bad tackling.

And the defense. The defense has been a hot mess. They can't get off the field on Third Down. More importantly, the secondary battle looks like men against boys. On a lot of the plays, it doesn't look like there are defenders even on the play until after the pass is caught. It would be easy to say that they're making Sanchez look good, but a couple of his passes, the ones that were actually defended (weren't many) have been very well placed. For a defense that was gashed last year by opponents running game, they've only allowed one good run (and have contained the Wildcat efforts of Tim Tebow). But for a defense that was supposed to be so fierce against the passing game and was supposed to rattle Sanchez and the Jets faithful, this has been a terrible performance from the Buffalo Bills.

Oh, and when the Bills didn't turn it over, they gave up a punt return for a touchdown.

Fast Facts

• On six possessions, the Bills have one touchdown, three turnovers (resulting in seventeen points for the Jets), a punt that was returned for a touchdown and a kneel down at the end of the half. The Jets have scored on ever drive since Sanchez ended the first with an interception.
• The Jets are 3 for 4 on third down. The fourth was a questionable spot by the replacement refs and was still turned into a field goal.
• Despite the interception by Revis on the first Bills drive, Stevie Johnson is the leading Bills receiving threat. At the half, he's caught three balls for a total of 26 yards. Spiller had 30 yards on one catch before putting it on the ground.