Bills’ Whitner missed by Poz, everyone else

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, November 12, 2008  |  Comments( 98 )

Buffalo Bills
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Whether it be Starsky and Hutch, Bill and Ted or the guy from Run-DMC and his Adidas, single components often become inseparable once joined. Take two of the Buffalo Bills’ critical parts in Paul Posluszny and Donte Whitner: The latter’s absence greatly impacted the former’s performance against the New England Patriots last Sunday. The best proof that the pair of young stars works well together is how long it took Posluszny to recall that Whitner wasn’t around because of injury, a fact which helped cause the Bills to fall behind early and stay there.

This was particularly obvious on New England’s successful quarterback scrambles: The middle linebacker was nowhere near the middle of the field on either of Matt Cassel’s two big early dashes, one for a 13-yard score with the other covering 9 yards during their next drive on a play that picked up a crucial first down. Posluszny played them like he was expecting his partner to step in the ring and administer a suplex, and instead remembered too late that there was nobody to tag.

Usually, Whitner would be present and ready to quietly, calmly smack the guts out of any passer who dared to think he enjoyed the freedom to run; without him around, Cassel felt comfortable making nine running attempts on the day, gaining 22 yards and never fearing pain or injury while doing so.

Posluszny did manage 10 tackles on the day, six of them solo, but too many of them came too late: By the time he adjusted, the Patriots had both figuratively and literally passed by the defense just enough times.

The nine other defenders had to adjust, too. Instead of getting to employ Whitner’s daunting presence, the Bills settled for Ko Simpson, who was slow to react and took bad angles once he did. And Ko’s faux pas on New England’s first snap, namely his unnecessary roughness penalty, was exactly what the Bills didn’t need, as their foe took the easy momentum and never gave it back.

Unsurprisingly, the Patriots scored after being handed 15 yards; advanced to their 44 without advancing themselves, it was a sign that the Bills’ hopes were fading during the very earliest part of New England’s initial possession.

The hosts did as they pleased all day. The Patriots used a huge amount of small attacks in lieu of trying to win big: 13 of Cassel’s 23 completions went for single-digit gains. They sliced the Bills through the air in what served as the equivalent of long runs.

While New England might not run a West Coast offense by name, they still proved that a dozen or so ninja stars can be as deadly as one or two big hacks, especially against a Buffalo defense that continues to be wholly susceptible to quick passes. The Bills weren’t ready for such throws against the Arizona Cardinals back in Week 5, and the way this unit still hasn’t figured a way to defend against an efficient air game is making them look both helpless and clueless.

At the same time, the Patriots weren’t overly clever when they were being clever. In its obnoxiously cutesy way, New England used either linebacker Mike Vrabel or offensive lineman Russ Hochstein as an eligible receiver five times, yet there was no further trickery: Every one of those plays ended up being a simple handoff called for the same player, namely running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Those rushes went for 22 total yards, which is deceivingly low when one considers that the final attempt covered a single yard but only because the run concluded in the end zone.

As with Cassel’s runs, Green-Ellis’ situational 22 yards and a score demonstrated how slowly Buffalo’s defense responded to everything. The Bills have to figure out how to compensate for personnel losses no matter how devastating they may be, and stopping dinky passes or recognizing simple patterns would be a good way to begin for as long as Whitner is out.
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