Chargers offer only static as Bills amp the voltage

By Anthony Bialy  |   Monday, October 20, 2008  |  Comments( 108 )

Buffalo Bills
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They don’t really need electricity to play football. Sure, it helps to have some type of current in order for the game to be broadcast, but the Buffalo Bills kept the San Diego Chargers from powering up as the power was out on Sunday, hearkening back to an era when even leather helmets were for sissies and quarterbacks appeared in newspaper ads for mustache wax. The visitors put on a nominally proficient passing display, but numbers don’t always paint a full picture in a straightforward game that we were reminded requires little more than a ball and flat surface to play.

The truth is that San Diego dared the Bills to stop the pass, leading to LaDainian Tomlinson picking up a pedestrian 41 ground yards on a notably low 14 carries. At the same time, quarterback Philip Rivers scattered passes to seven different targets, yet didn’t play great even though he mostly looked good.

Rivers proved that going 22 for 29, getting 208 yards, and tossing a pair of touchdowns can ultimately be worth exactly nothing. He can have his superlative 103.8 passer rating for the day, but the trouble was with his utterly subjective quarterback rating, namely the sense of how he held up under pressure. It’s hard to measure with a number, but the fact is that Rivers didn’t get the job done in crucial situations, partly because Bills’ defenders bettered him when it counted.

Particularly, of course Kawika Mitchell was great everywhere Sunday, whether he was attacking the quarterback, creating turnovers using multiple techniques, or running the ball back in a surprisingly nimble manner. Doing so many outstanding things in one afternoon means it’s fair to say Mitchell put forth the best individual performance by a Bill that we’ve seen, and will see, in any game this season.

While the patchwork pass coverage was spotty at times, safeties by title Bryan Scott and George Wilson did their best to hold back the tidal wave by roving around in the backfield. Also, on an old-school day Donte Whitner ignored positional labels and just played tough-minded football. Maybe the Bills should just keep putting safeties out there.

That’s especially true in light of rookie cornerback Leodis McKelvin’s notably shaky performance, especially in the way he looked perplexed on the Chargers’ second tally. On top of that, it’s crucial to mention that Terrence McGee was out while Ashton Youboty was hobbled; it’s actually remarkable they held the Chargers to two touchdowns, especially without Aaron Schobel leading the upfront charge to alleviate the strain on an understandably leaky umbrella that faced a hail barrage.

All they needed was to implement a few spectacular moments. Football scores match the turnover count on a remarkably consistent basis, and Rivers gave it away three times, two of which led to 10 points for his opponent in a nine-point game.

Meanwhile, it’s not coincidental that the winners refrained from losing the ball. Winning the mistake battle 3-0 served as the brightest overall moment of the day for Buffalo aside from the fact that there were no reports of looting during the power outage, and fans who scrambled to follow the game and ended up settling for a radio broadcast featuring announcers on screechy cell phones nonetheless ended up pleased.

A smattering of big plays in the defense’s favor turned out to be far more valuable than a slew of decent ones by the opponent, and the Bills realized that they can permit a fine statistical performance as long as they force, say, three huge lapses.
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