Bills Midseason Report Card

By Goose  |   Wednesday, November 04, 2009  |  Comments( 90 )

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This should be easy just give all units an F and move on but there has been some bright spots—not enough to overcome the Bills being stuck in a vortex of futility!! I will say this, the Bills organization is extremely fortunate that they have such loyal fans. Around the league fans are jumping ship, the Lions only drew 40,000 fans last week, the Jags had to cover seats (an still can’t sell out), even the loyal fans of the Brownies are talking boycott, Chargers are going down to the last hours before the black-out is lifted, Raiders are struggling and now the Skins Mighty Midget has ban signs coming into the stadium. The economy is hurting the NFL along with too many teams that are non-competitive like the Bills. The NFL itself doesn’t help with their continue talks about putting more games in Europe and the bright eyed look of excitement with the talks of L.A. building a stadium. Fans are getting pissed!!


Mid Season Grades---now remember this is subjective and is just my opinion.

QB—not much to say positive, hard to get a true read with all the O-line problems. Passing offense is 28th in the league, 7 TD’s vs. 9 interceptions. The lack of progress from Trent and his continual injury problem. Fitz is a decent back-up and at least throws downfield and will occasionally hit a receiver in stride. Grade D


RB—the running game was in a groove with Fast Freddy, since The Beast came back the running attack has ground to a halt an lacks cohesiveness. Again, the O-line problems can stagnate any running attack. The Bills backs have contributed 45 receptions. Bills rank 15th in the league in rushing, but the yards are getting harder to come by. Grade C


O-line---My goodness this team has been perpetually looking for a stable line since the 90’s! With the injuries and low talent level the OT position has been a revolving door with the same awful results. A bright spot—say what you may but Wood, Levitre and Hangartner have been a huge upgrade in the middle of the line. At least with them the middle looks solidified for years to come. Injuries have taking its toll on a unit that had very little depth to start. Grade F


WR’s & TE’s---a big addition with TO, it was going to spur on the passing attack---yeah right. With the O-lines problems, QB’s deficiencies and the coaching staffs vanilla game planning strategy it wouldn’t make any difference if the Bills had Jerry Butler and Andre Reed. There is under utilized talent---Evans, TO, Roscoe, Steve Johnson and Jenkins what a shame that the receiving core doesn’t get a chance to shine. Most consistent has been Reed, an excellent blocker who has the knack for getting first downs. TE’—is there a TE worth grading? Grade D


Offense- overall ranking 27th

D-Line—Stroud is still a player and Williams is tough as nails but then what? Schobel is at the point of his career that he should be a situational pass rusher (he leads the Bills with 5 sacks); he has problems stopping the run. Denney is a good back-up but right now the Bills need to let former no#3 pick Ellis on the field, is he a player or not! Kelsay is having his best year but he struggles against the run. The Bills spend a 1st round pick on Maybin and hardly play him. The rest of the group could be cut and nobody would even know who they are. The Bills rushing defense ranks 32ndt can’t get any lower then that, some of this can be attributed to the lack of support from the LB’s. Grade D


LB’s—Ennie Meenie Mighty Mo catch an LB by the Toe!! Injuries and lack of depth have hurt this unit—Poz is playing better and Ellison has been steady if nothing else. Draft was picked up as a free agent 3 weeks ago and has already started 2 games. Mitchell & Buggs are on injured reserve and Poz missed a few games with a forearm injury. Time to start giving rookie Harris more playing time. Rush defense gashed, LB’s share the blame—Grade D


DB’s—of all the units this one has performed up to expectations ranking 10th in the league. McGee & Florence have held up on the corners and back-ups Byrd & Wilson have filled in admirably for Whitner and Scott. Byrd is a lock to make the all NFL rookie team and is competing for defensive rookie of the year, plus he is tied for the league lead in interceptions with 7. It is a shame that McKelvin was injured for the year. The unit’s high ranking is miss-leading due to the ease that teams are able to run the ball on the Bills. Grade C+


Special teams—Not the typical April return and coverage units, both units have been inconsistent an at one time this year led the league in penalties. There is not the home run threat this year with Roscoe having a down year on punt returns an with McKelvin hurt and McGee regulated to strictly playing defense the kick-off return unit has suffered. Moorman is still one of the best punters in the league and Lindell is above average. LS Sanborn hasn’t missed a beat and would only be noticed if he made mistakes---he has been invisible. Grade B

Defense—overall ranking 24th.

Coaching-----no comment—or shall we say it would be beating a dead horse!!!

Are we ready for last half of the schedule---hell yes!!!
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