When I sat down yesterday to watch the Bills v Raiders match-up I was convinced that the Bills week 1 doldrums were in the past and that we’d come out strong v a weak raider team. Five minutes into the game I was apoplectic.
Bills D gives up TD in 5 plays;
Bills offense comes out in Dorsey style game plan: Cook 2 yds up the middle; Cook 3 yds up the middle; Josh scrambles and gets back to the line of scrimmage for no gain; and Bills punt.
About this time I was ready to go through the TV screen and rip Dorsey’s heart out. Instead the D came up big- Dorsey changed his play-calling to short, quick passes to open receivers and the Bills romped from there.
So what do we think about Dorsey now? For me, I’m still very concerned. A perfect example came when the Bills had the ball inside the Raider two with a first down. Josh runs and gets stuffed. From there we go shotgun and get stopped on back-to-back plays resulting in turnover on downs. I loved the fact that McDermott went for it on fourth down. I hated the play calls. We picked up Murray and Harris in the off season for this specific purpose: Short yardage bruisers that can score in these situations (like they each did later in the game). Again, it seemed like Dorsey was trying to show how smart he was by doing what the defense wasn’t expecting. An old adage: keep doing it until they stop you.
After that turnover on downs I have no complaints, whatsoever, as to Dorsey’s play-calling. He let Josh take what the defense was giving him. Short, quick throws to open receivers. Davis and Kincaid as well as Knox looked terrific. He worked in the run and Cook/Murray/Harris trio did everything that was asked if not more. Love to watch that offense when it’s clicking. Which got me to thinking:
why didn’t they run this quick strike game last week?
why was Kincaid not targeted once last week beyond the line of scrimmage?
why wasn’t Davis (who made some very nice catches yesterday) used more last week?
Why did we throw 12 passes to Cook, Harty and Kincaid at or behind the line of scrimmage last week?
Maybe Dorsey learned from his week 1 mistakes. Maybe someone said something to him during the week. Maybe Sean McDermott said something after the first series yesterday. Whatever the reason Dorsey called a much better game which was suited for Allen’s talents.
Josh: what a game. A couple of those side-arm throws (TD to Shakir was one of them) along with the touch passes (Davis down the side-line while on the run) reiterated that he is one of the top QBs in the league WHEN you let him play his game.
Run defense: unbelievable game. I actually thought the run defense was good last week v the Jets in spite of the numbers given up. If we look back a week on Hall’s long run and another Hall screen pass T. White missed tackles which would have resulted in both being short gains. The line has played great.
Spencer Brown: who stole Brown’s uniform and dressed this week in his place? Guy was very good. Let’s see what happens in two weeks with KC’s Long coming at him.
An overall good week. Looking forward to a win Sunday v. Washington.
McGoo