Who woulda thunk it? The embattled kicker. The guy who missed a chip shot v. KC in last year’s playoff loss. The same guy who missed an extra point earlier in the game and almost missed a second one later on. The same guy who is 36th in the league in extra point % (90% or 27/30). The same guy who is 27th in the league in FG% (83.3). The same guy that McDermott has had so much confidence in that he hasn’t allowed Bass to even TRY a FG over 50 yards this entire year. This guy comes in and boots a 61 yard FG with 8 seconds left in the game to win it? Come on!!! This isn’t some high school fiction book, this is the NFL!! We, believe it or not Bass came through and the Bills won a hard fought, if not ugly game against the Miami Dolphins putting a nail in the Fins coffin and keeping a four game lead on the division. Now let’s talk about the rest of the game.
Good:
1. Offensive Coaching: I thought Brady had a good game plan, mixing run and pass. But for a Cook drop, a Coleman drop and a terrible call on Torrence, this game would have been a blowout. Clock management was excellent. Pass/run ratio on first down was acceptable (15 pass plays to 11 run plays). While the Bills only ran the ball for 94 yards they still had a 4.9 yards per carry output. More importantly, of those 11 first down runs, only two left the Bills in second and long (7 or more yards to gain). By becoming less predictable on first down the offense faces fewer situations where the defense can attack knowing the Bills have to throw the ball on second down. By throwing more on first down the Bills backs have more success when they do run it on first down.
2. Ray Davis: Davis, a fourth round pick this past draft, continues to show he was a great pick with his speed and versatility. Coming out of Kentucky, he was known not only for his running ability but also for having great hands. Four games ago against the Jets he made a phenomenal catch for a 42 yard gain. Yesterday he took an Allen short pass and ran 62 yards for a huge touchdown. His ability to catch the ball coming out of the backfield (and Cooks inconsistency in the same vein which I’ll discuss later) makes his a two-way threat. He’s not only averaging 4.3 yards per carry but also 14.9 yards per reception. Great 4th round pickup.
3. Offensive line: Another solid day. Allowed one sack but otherwise kept Josh clean. 4.9 yards per carry gave the Bills a nice variety. In addition, but for the terrible call on Torrence, the line only had one other penalty (Dawkins holding). This, from a line that has been consistently penalized numerous times each game for false starts, holding, illegal shifts and the like, is a huge improvement.
Bad:
1. Drops: When we drafted Cook three years ago one of the main reasons we did so (and why we got rid of Singletary and Moss) was due to wanting to have a three down back who catches the ball out of the backfield similar to guys like Kamara, McCaffery, Swift and the like. While Cook has shown flashes, his drops have been brutal. Last season alone he dropped four passes that should have gone for touchdowns. Earlier in the year he dropped a sure TD. Yesterday he dropped an easy pass that also should have resulted in a TD. That is six TD passes he’s dropped in a year and a half. With the emergence of Davis as a three down threat I can’t imagine the Bills extending Cook after his contract runs out.
Keon Coleman is another head scratcher. The catch he made against the Seahawks last week and the catch and run TD against Houston combined with some highlight reel sideline catches shows that this kid can play. The drop yesterday which should have been a TD and which resulted in an interception, along with a big dropped TD pass in the preseason and drop v Houston on a perfectly thrown deep ball, makes we wonder just how reliable he is. Remember the slant route where Josh threw the ball and it hit the back of Coleman’s helmet earlier this year? He only has three drops this year but they were all big drops. The drop yesterday resulted in a 14 point swing. He needs to be more consistent.
2. Refs: The phantom holding call on O’Cyrus Torrence was just brutal. Every ref misses a call. It’s the bad refs that make a call when there wasn’t a penalty on the play. Torrence’s hands were clearly inside the defenders shoulders. At no time was there jersey being stretched. Just a terrible call which cost us a TD. The more ad more I watch NFL football, the more I get frustrated by bad and inconsistent officiating. Yesterday, during the Lions/Packers game Brian Branch was ejected from the game after a helmet to helmet hit. This his was almost identical to the hit Poyer put on Coleman which resulted in a 15 yard penalty but no ejection. In another game yesterday the refs picked up the flag on a helmet to helmet hit, apparently after “Replay assist” called down and said no penalty? WTF? I thought the whole reason to not allow coaches to be able to challenge penalties was because they are subjective? Since when can guys in the booth overrule a referee on the field? Either review penalties or don’t. It’s got to be more consistent.
Fair:
1. Josh: Do’t get me wron, Josh didn’t have a bad day. That said, he didn’t have a good day throwing the ball (even though he should have had five TD passes and a sixth on a run). Five or six times he threw the ball short of receivers and into the ground on what seemed like fairly easy throws. He also didn’t complete many passes downfield yesterday. Just hoping it was a bad day and not that his arm is sore/hurt.
2. Defensive line: Once again, the Bills d-line got shredded. Not unlike the Ravens debacle, yesterday the Bills allowed the Dolphins to run the ball for 149 yards and at a 4.9 yard per carry clip. Time after time Achane and Mostert turned what looked like 2 or 3 yard gains into 7-8 yarders. Poor tackling, linemen getting blown off the ball. Ed Oliver was non existent again (one tackle). In addition, we were so scared of Hill and Waddle going deep that we allowed Achane and Mostert to catch 10 balls for another 90 yards. Those two combined for 209 yards yesterday. Piss poor defense.
Overall a good win. A bit lucky that Poyer decided to try and take Coleman’s head off. A bit lucky that the Dolphins took some big penalties at big points in the game specifically on the Bills last two possessions. Tons of work to do but 7-2 is a good place to be right now. Next week we take on a bad Colts team. Let’s not let this one be close. Go Bills!!!