The title says it all. It’s been a couple of weeks and there is still hope, if not expectancy, that the Bills make the playoffs. Whether or not that results in anything more than continued disappointment will wait to be seen. Let’s look back at the past two weeks and what we’ve seen:
After beating the Chiefs (somewhat luckily due to a wide receiver being offsides on a potential game winning TD), the Bills came home to face the Cowboys. In what may have been Brady’s best game since he took over the OC job. The result was a run game that we haven’t seen from this team since Thurman Thomas. Brady kept the Cowboys off guard all game with different sets, motions and play calls reulting in a tremendous win. Defensively, McDermott called a beautiful game, putting pressure on Prescott without leaving the defense susceptible to big plays which had plagued them in recent losses. Three sacks, four tackles for losses, seven quarterback hits. Just a perfect day.
So after two consecutive wins against two of the NFL’s top-tier teams the Bills traveled to LA to face the lowly Chargers. Yes the same Chargers who had just fired their Head Coach and GM after losing the previous week to the Aidan O’Connell led Raiders (Yes, the same Aiden O’Connell who threw for zero yards in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters last week in beating the rapidly descending Chiefs) by a score of 63-21 (49-0 at one point). So here come the mighty Bills, ready to blow out a bad team and continue their track to make the playoffs, right?
This game, like the losses to NE, NY Jets and the Broncos (and near losses to the Giants and Bucs) just further exemplified the frustration with this team. Yes they won. Yes their playoff hopes are still alive. But come on here, this was just another example of the Bills playing down to their opponent. This was a Chargers offense without its starting QB and with a brand new head coach. This team had just given up 63 points to a Raiders quarterback who is so inept that his coach didn’t allow him to throw the ball for almost an entire half. Yet the Bills allowed this team to stay in the game and almost cost the Bills their season. What is wrong with this team? For everything that went right the two prior weeks it went wrong against a very bad Charger team.
1. Turnovers: Harty starts things off with the dropped punt and we are down 10-0 quickly. We come back to take the lead 14-10 only to have Josh have his EVERY GAME blunder and throw a bad pick which leads to a Charger FG and all of a sudden it’s 14-13. We get another TD thanks to a great throw to Gabe Davis and it looks like we are ready to roll up 21-13. What transpires next is difficult to believe; Chargers FG 21-16; Bills 3 and out; Chargers FG 21-19: Cook fumbles; Chargers FG and we are now behind 22-21. Lucky for the Bills that Josh Allen is a super hero in these situations and leads the Bills to a game winning FG.
2. Brady: after a near perfect outing against the Cowboys it seemed like the Chargers knew what was coming in regards to the Bills run game. 20 carries for 70 yards for Cook. What makes those numbers even worse though was the fact that he wasn’t targeted a single time on a pass route the entire game. After having a tremendous game against the Cowboys with 179 yards rushing as well as 42 yards receiving (and a TD), he was ignored the entire game in the pass department. It seemed to me as if the Bills were so confident that they’d blow out the bad Chargers that they game planned away from Cook.
3. Cook: I love this kid but he has to learn how to hold onto the ball. His fumble against the Broncos on the first play of the game was costly. His drop of a sure TD pass in the Jacksonville game was a killer, he dropped a TD pass near the end of the Cowboys game and he fumbled (just after his knee hit the ground luckily) against the Chargers. His fumble two series later almost cost this team the game. He has a number of dropped passes this year starting in the season opening loss to the Jets. He has three fumbles this year already.
4. Diggs: Here is another conundrum. Guy leads team in catches and yards. He’s a big play guy. But where has he been the past five weeks? He is 4th in the league in dropped passes and can't seem to get open except for balls thrown within a few yards of the line of scrimmage. For whatever reason he comes out of the game constantly in big game/play situations. What is going on here? Something is wrong and Brady needs to fix iit big time. The idea that teams are taking Diggs away is absurd. You don’t see big time WRs like Cupp, Jefferson, AJ Brown, etc… get taken away by opposing defenses. Something isn’t right with Stef/Josh.
5. Gabe Davis: Another huge conundrum. Guy has five games this year where he goes off (7/92/1 v LV; 6/100/1 v Jacksonville; 9/87/1 v TB; 6/105/1 v Philly and 6/130/1 v LA) and five games where he is TARGETED once or less the entire game. It just makes no sense. If defenses are taking Diggs away then guys like Davis should flourish. He’s big and strong. Yes he drops a few balls but even that has improved tremendously since last year. In 50% of the targets Diggs has he has one less TD, averages almost seven yards per catch more and one less fumble and four less drops. Why isn’t this guy used more? To have three games in the past six where he didn’t have a reception and didn’t have more than two targets while bookending games with 100, 87, 105 and 130 yards and four TDs just is incomprehensible. Brady needs to figure this out fast. When he’s been thrown the ball he’s a great #2 receiver.
7. McDermott: After castigating this guy for much of the season I have to admit he’s put together three straight dominant defensive performances. Ed Oliver has shown why Beane extended him. Young guys like Benford and Dotson have thrived. Defense has played great. Only caveat is what happens in close games when opponent goes into hurry up offense, He still hasn’t shown the ability to figure that out Hopefully we won’t have that problem in the future.
Prediction: Bills blow out NE at home and win a close one in Miami to secure second seed. I see Bills v Ravens in Baltimore in the cards for right to play in Super Bowl. We saw that happen last year and are hoping for a repeat. Go Bills!!!