Analyzing Perry Fewell's Head Coaching Debut for Buffalo Bills

As defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell had witnessed three straight seasons of the Bills playing two games under .500 ball, with marks of 7-9 every season. Learning how to win was going to take some time, and anyone that expected this team could learn overnight was probably guilty of some wishful thinking.

The Bills competed as they have done repeatedly throughout the year.  It was not the same team though, and the perception that it was a different team emanated from their new head coach, Perry Fewell.

Fewell was animated on the sidelines and was showing encouragement and getting in referees faces as needed. In fact, there was plenty of reasons to get in the zebra's faces as they threw flags that wiped out two Bills touchdowns Sunday.

If you have been following the Bills all year, you know that touchdowns are hard to come by as is, much less having two of them taken away.  The first one was on a chop block by rookie tight end Shawn Nelson and the other by young lineman Jonathan Scott.

The touchdowns would have been a long pass to Lee Evans and the first rushing touchdown by Fred Jackson. Unfortunately, those plays will never make the record books, and it costs the Bills a badly needed win, as they lost 18-15.

Analyzing Fewell's decisions throughout the game

Fewell had made it a point to emphasize that the team was going to be playing physical ball and had the team wear pads in practice to help drive the point home. Fewell wanted to emphasize the rushing game, but as it turned out Fred Jackson was only able to muster 35 yards rushing on nine carries. In the end, the rushing game was not effective at all.

The Bills were driving for a score towards the end of the first half. Studying Fitzpatrick, it seemed that he was rusty in running the two minute drill. I realize that you have to be able to move the ball to have a two minute drill, so in retrospect I doubt he has been doing that much of it.

They had a chance to spike the ball and have time for at least two shots in to the end zone from the ten. Instead they tried a running play and their frantic time out signal was recognized by the officials with one second remaining in the half. The Bills kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 10-9.

When the game was coming down to the wire, Fewell made good use of his timeouts by being pro-active and taking the timeouts against Jacksonville's offense, knowing that there was a good chance they were going to score. Fewell's aggressive nature preserved a minute on the clock, time enough for the Bills to have a chance to get it close enough for a game-tying field goal.

Unfortunately, the fourth down pass went off of Terrell Owen's hands and wound up being intercepted. Fewell did the right things in managing the game, considering what he had to work with.

Injuries: Reduced Bills To Resembling Only A Semblance of Their Starting Team

The Bills were once again the losers in the time of possession battle, as the Jaguars easily kept the ball more—36 minutes compared to 23.  They had the ball to work with almost one full quarter.

The Bills suffered four more injuries today, the worst being a severe broken leg to first round draft choice Eric Wood. Wood was a victim of a collision that pinned his leg resulting in a fractured tibia and fractured fibula. He had surgery in the hospital later after the game and remained in Jacksonville to have the operation.

Wood was in obvious pain.  Also hurt were defensive lineman John McCargo, running back Marshawn Lynch, and fill-in lineman Seth McKinney.  The Bills are very close to being on life support as they have zero reserves at a number of positions, which is alarming for a NFL team.

How bad is it?

With Lynch hurt, the Bills running backs are now down to Fred Jackson and fullback Corey McIntyre, who just came back from injury.  They recently waived Xavier Omon, which now looks like it could come back and haunt them.

The Bills only have five offensive lineman—Hangartner, Levitre, Meredith, Scott and Chambers.  This is critical.  They need to land at least two free agents as there is no experience to mention on the practice squad.  Demetrius Bell was inactive due to injury, so hopefully he can return soon.

The defensive line was down due to Marcus Stroud being ruled out. When John McCargo left due to a calf injury, Ryan Denney was asked to slide over from end to defensive tackle. That is not a great situation, no matter how you cut it.

Bills Bits

Terrell Owens exploded with 197 yards receiving. His first game as a Bill with over 100 yards, and he looked great throughout the game.

Roscoe Parrish made a dreadful decision (isn't that the way most of his choices have ended up this year?), trying to return a punt from the four. He lost two yards forcing the Bills to start their drive on the two.

Ryan Fitzpatrick saw a favorable match-up and called in a deep pattern for T.O. The end result was a 98 yard touchdown play, the longest catch from scrimmage in the Bills history. Besides the one long play, T.O. had eight other catches for another 99 yards.

Fitzpatrick showed the ability to throw on the run, improvise, and be a play maker, all of which are things that Trent Edwards has demonstrated time and again that he is not capable of doing. Based on this showing, expect to see Fitzpatrick holding onto the quarterback job, at least for the immediate future.

Strong pressure was applied to the Jaguars' quarterback, David Garrard, throughout the game.  Aaron Schobel had a sack, McCargo, Spencer Johnson and Kyle Williams laid Garrard out with some hard shots. The Bills defense did create a fumble and interception, but Jairus Byrd was really not close to being around the ball today, and his interception streak was stopped at five games.

The injury to Marshawn Lynch made the Wild Turkey offense obsolete, so the Bills only used it one time in the game. Depending on how badly he is hurt, it will greatly limit the Bills chances to run this formation.

Going forward

With each new injury, the talent level of the replacements—we are talking about adding players that have been out of football for a minimum of 11 weeks—is going to mean that the skills and talents of the Bills will be watered down with each new roster addition.

It will be increasingly difficult for the Bills to compete as these replacements take on a key role with the team. It will also force Bills fans to keep in mind that the guys on the field are not the true team, so booing this squad when they host Miami next week is not even remotely a reasonably fair thing to do.

Keep the faith Bills fans. Fewell made it more exciting, but with a limited hand to play with, how effective can his coaching be?