I would almost prefer a blowout. These gut wrenching losses have gotten old over the years. The Bills had no business losing this game. The Bills held the ball for 36:11 and won the turnover battle 2-0 which are two key pieces to winning road games in this league. Of course, the Bills found other ways to lose.
Let's start with what everyone is talking about, the Stevie Johnson touchdown celebration. People are blaming Stevie's TD celebration for the loss to some extent. I think that is simply ridiculous. The touchdown celebration may have been a little classless (although I thought it was comical) and warranted the 15 yard penalty. The Bills then had to kickoff from the 20 instead of the 35. Rayner's kickoff looked like it was intended to be a squib kick (not sure why they would squib it) except it was mishit, hit a Jet and was recovered deep in Bills territory. Rayner needs to just execute a normal kickoff here. If Rayner just kicks it away, the Jets returner probably catches the ball around the 15 yard line and returns it to the 35 (this would be the most likely scenario statistically). Even if we do kick it away and don't screw up whatever we were trying to do, what makes anyone think that our defense would actually stop the Jets? Every time the Jets got the ball, I fully expected a touchdown, after all, the Bills have allowed 14 touchdowns in the past 3 games. The Bills just don't stop anyone.
The main reason for the Bills loss, as I mentioned before, is the complete ineptitude on defense. This couldn't have been more obvious than on the last possession for the Jets. The Jets marched 82 yards in 4:43 to take the lead. They converted two third and longs including a 3rd and 11 to Plaxico Burress. This play is getting the most attention and criticism from the media after the game. The Bills decided to blitz Sanchez, who looked shaky the entire game. Sanchez just chucked the ball up to Burress who made a great one handed catch.
Some people are saying the Bills shouldn't have blitzed. The point of a blitz is to get pressure on the quarterback and force him into a quick decision. The Bills cannot pressure any quarterback. The Bills can't get a pass rush when they rush 3, 4 or 7 players. The Bills had 0 sacks on Sanchez the entire game. So yes, I agree, when you can't get pressure even when you blitz, why blitz? The Bills should have dropped as many players into coverage as they possibly could to make Sanchez make a good accurate throw and good decision to complete the first down. Sanchez was bailed out by a terrible defensive play call...he didn't even have to think on this play. The Bills blitzed, he saw man coverage with Burress on a safety, and threw the ball up in the air. This is easy for a quarterback who isn't the most accurate and doesn't make great decisions. If the Bills drop in coverage, Sanchez could make a bad decision and throw an INT or throw it underneath forcing a long field goal attempt to tie the game. Just poor, poor coaching in what seems like an obvious situation.
Some people are saying the Bills shouldn't have blitzed. The point of a blitz is to get pressure on the quarterback and force him into a quick decision. The Bills cannot pressure any quarterback. The Bills can't get a pass rush when they rush 3, 4 or 7 players. The Bills had 0 sacks on Sanchez the entire game. So yes, I agree, when you can't get pressure even when you blitz, why blitz? The Bills should have dropped as many players into coverage as they possibly could to make Sanchez make a good accurate throw and good decision to complete the first down. Sanchez was bailed out by a terrible defensive play call...he didn't even have to think on this play. The Bills blitzed, he saw man coverage with Burress on a safety, and threw the ball up in the air. This is easy for a quarterback who isn't the most accurate and doesn't make great decisions. If the Bills drop in coverage, Sanchez could make a bad decision and throw an INT or throw it underneath forcing a long field goal attempt to tie the game. Just poor, poor coaching in what seems like an obvious situation.
While the defense was the major culprit in today's loss, you can't ignore the shortcomings of the offense on the final drive of the game. The Bills did a good job to drive down the field into Jets territory to give themselves a shot and they had many shots at the win. Stevie Johnson wants to get paid as a number 1 receiver. Well, Stevie, you tell me a number 1 receiver in this league who has a drop even close to the magnitude of drops you have the past two seasons. You my friend have single handily lost the Buffalo Bills two football games the past two seasons.
Stevie Johnson was wide and I mean wide open on a deep slant route. Fitz delivered a perfect pass. Johnson just dropped it. He may have scored on the play. Worst case scenario, he would have been around the Jets' 10. Instead he just dropped it. His excuse after the game was that he didn't react fast enough. What? Catch the football you bum. People want to kill Stevie about the TD celebration...forget about that play and kill him for this drop. Absolutely inexcusable. A few plays later, Fitz had Johnson open in the end zone as he rolled to his right. He missed him. This was a tough throw, but was a throw you'd like your $59M quarterback to make with the game on the line. The fact is, Fitz is a mediocre player and this is a throw a mediocre player makes only some of the time. The last play of the game was just as bad. Fitz airmailed Johnson. He didn't even give him a chance to make a play and it looked like Johnson might have been open.
Stevie Johnson was wide and I mean wide open on a deep slant route. Fitz delivered a perfect pass. Johnson just dropped it. He may have scored on the play. Worst case scenario, he would have been around the Jets' 10. Instead he just dropped it. His excuse after the game was that he didn't react fast enough. What? Catch the football you bum. People want to kill Stevie about the TD celebration...forget about that play and kill him for this drop. Absolutely inexcusable. A few plays later, Fitz had Johnson open in the end zone as he rolled to his right. He missed him. This was a tough throw, but was a throw you'd like your $59M quarterback to make with the game on the line. The fact is, Fitz is a mediocre player and this is a throw a mediocre player makes only some of the time. The last play of the game was just as bad. Fitz airmailed Johnson. He didn't even give him a chance to make a play and it looked like Johnson might have been open.
The Bills are now 5-6. They have a worse record than the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans. The Bills play these two teams at home in December and who would have thought the Bills would have worse records than these two teams when they would play? The NFL really screwed the Bills over this year with the schedule, something we all talked about back in April. The Bills play 7 games in Orchard Park. 3 of them are meaningless and in December. No one is going to be at these games.
The Bills fought hard but in the end it's the same old story...the Bills snatched defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.
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