So far, so good with the Buffalo Bills

By Steve B.  |   Tuesday, August 31, 2010  |  Comments( 301 )

Buffalo Bills
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!
With three preseason games in the books, so far so good with the Bills. After the first crushing preseason loss to the Redskins, Bills fans were saying “oh great, groundhogs day…again!?” But after the last two weeks, the Bills look like a much improved team.

The Bengals defense started the game focusing on shutting down the Bills running attack, in which they did a good job of it, by holding C.J. Spiller to -16 yards on 3 carries. Since the run game was being shut down, Chan Gailey quickly made adjustments and had Trent Edwards open up the passing game, which ultimately led to Roscoe Parrish’s 11 yard TD score. Once the Bengals were expecting the Bills to pass more, the Bills switched back to the run game, which was highlighted by first round draft C.J. Spiller. Spiller finished the night with 12 carries, 52 rushing yards, 2 rushing TD’s and 33 receiving yards, very impressive for one half of a football game.

Also impressive was Trent Edwards who went 13 for 17, 153 yards and 1 TD. Edwards looks more confident under center this year and is taking more shots down field. So far, Edwards is having his best numbers in his career. Out of the other three QB’s in the AFC East, Edwards currently has the second best numbers of the bunch (behind Superbowl winning QB Brady of course):

Comp. Att. % Yds YPA TD INT QBR
Tom Brady 33 42 78.6 425 10.12 4 0 140.6
Trent Edwards 24 37 64.9 304 8.22 2 1 97.1
Chad Henne 26 47 55.3 293 6.23 2 1 79.5
Mark Sanchez 31 58 53.4 270 4.66 2 2 63.1

Last preseason, Edwards yards per attempt (YPA) were 4.97, his worst in the four years he’s been playing. This year, Edwards YPA is at highest he’s put up in the four years he’s been in the league at 8.22.

So far in the preseason, the Bills offense is currently ranked at 8th (tied with Baltimore) with 336.3 YPG, 5th in rushing with 140.7 YPG and 22nd in passing with 195.7 YPG.

Now before anyone goes crazy, I know this is only preseason. The games don’t count, the schemes are vanilla, the starters don’t play that long…etc, etc, etc. I get it and I think we all do. It’s just nice to finally see a more exciting offense that produces points after how many dreadful years.

We all know that there is still work to be done on the Bills. The Defense and Special Teams need to look sharper and work out some kinks. So far, Special Teams has been anything but special. Granted, there are players like George Wilson, Corey McIntyre, Fred Jackson and Keith Ellison just to name a few that haven’t been playing on special teams, so once the regular season starts, maybe that will all change and we’ll see better production from that unit.

Even though we all do need to realize that the Bills are playing good in preseason, it’s also nice to know that the Bills are finally playing good against playoff teams from a year ago, something they haven’t done in years. A lot of fans got excited after the Bills had a hot 5-1 start two years ago, mainly against bad teams, only to watch them fizzle out the rest of the way. It’s nice to get excited about the Bills again, especially after how dreadfully boring they were under head coach Dick Jauron, but Bills Fans will be watching the entire season with cautious optimism to avoid another monumental letdown…again.
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (301)

Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report