Buffalo Bills Most Valuable Offensive Player? It's Jairus Byrd

Another Buffalo Bills game. Another game that leaves you scratching your head because it defies logic. This is just one more example of how crazy and wild this year is, the Bills special 50th anniversary season.

You could have gone to all the games in the first 49 years of the Bills history, and not have seen the same things that have been happening to this year's team week in and week out.

Cleveland completes two passes against the Bills and wins. The Jets gain over 300 rushing yards and lose. Now we can add today's game to the Twilight Zone list. I wonder if Rod Sterling is taking notes?

Today's score exactly matched the amount of first downs in the game, 20-9. Of course, it was Carolina that had the twenty first downs, while Buffalo registered only nine. Carolina out gained Buffalo by the whopping margin of 425 yards to 167. Time of possession—34 minutes for Carolina to 25 minutes for Buffalo. Carolina ran 71 plays to the Bills 54. 

Oh wait, there is more. Carolina out rushed the Bills 116 to 53. They passed for 309 yards compared to the Bills 114. Yet the Bills won the game. Could of, would of, should of. Now the Panthers know how the Bills felt when they lost the opener to New England.

How is it possible that the Bills won?

To put it simply, turnovers.

We predicted in an article I wrote earlier this week , that Jake Delhomme's problems in the touchdown to interception ratio would be an issue with the improved play of the Bills secondary. Sure enough, Delhomme throws three more interceptions, and no touchdown passes, which will sink his passer rating even lower.

Jairus Byrd continues to shine in his rookie campaign

Jairus Byrd continues to develop as a rookie safety, as he has now registered two interceptions in consecutive games. The rookie also has now come up with at least one interception in three straight games.

How important is Byrd to the Bills offense? Of the two drives that Byrd intercepted a Jake Delhomme pass, the Bills scored a touchdown each time due to the tremendous field position he gave them. Of their other ten drives without Bryd's help, the Bills were able to muster two field goals, and one safety that resulted in Carolina's first points of the game.

Byrd has played a key role in the Bills winning consecutive road games for the first time since the 2004 season. Byrd is looking more and more like he might be the NFL's defensive rookie of the year, if he keeps up with this level of play.

Possible Quarterback Controversy

Ryan Fitzpatrick led a Bills attack that didn't do much, but at least they took care of the ball without committing any turnovers. The Bills offense was so inept that they did not even register a single first down until 25 minutes had been played.

Fitzpatrick didn't fumble or throw up any picks, and maybe that is what the Bills team needs to get over the hump. Fitzpatrick has now led the Bills to two straight wins on the road. So, who do the Bills start next Sunday against Houston at home if Edwards is deemed healthy enough to play?

Personally, I think concussions are scary things. They can really impact a player's health and make his retirement years miserable. I would much rather see Edwards take off next week, then you have the bye week for additional rest.

Then if he has passed all his tests, see if the doctors pronounce that he is fit for the week ten game at Tennessee.

But as we all know, the NFL is all about winning. The Bills are 1-4 under Edwards, and 2-0 under Fitzgerald. Since this year is it for Dick Jauron, can anyone blame him for saying that Ryan Fitzpatrick will continue to start as long as the team wins?

Interestingly, Roscoe Parrish was listed as the Bills emergency QB today, but somehow I don't see him entering in to the quarterback controversy.

How bad has the Bills offense been this year?

Today's game is another illustration of how inept the Bills offense is. In today's game they actually had a 1st and goal to go scenario. Stop the presses, open up the champagne.

Okay, so you think I am overreacting, right? Would you believe that was the first time they had a goal to go scenario since week one? That is a span of five complete games without getting inside the ten yard line with a first down.

The Bills have settled in to a very conservative type of play calling pattern, especially on first down. They attempted twelve rushes today on first down.

Let's take a look at how well those twelve rushes turned out. Brace yourself, because it isn't pretty.

One yard, no yards, a rush for minus-two (resulting in a safety), a rush for minus one, a rush for four yards, a rush for four, a rush for five, a rush for two, a rush for no yards, a rush for one, a rush for one, a rush for minus two, a rush for six.

The other first downs were passing plays that resulted in: incomplete pass, incomplete pass, pass good for three yards, pass good for fifty yards, incomplete pass and a sack for minus nine yards.

The worst part about this poor rushing performance is that it was against a Carolina defense that was ranked 28th against the run. In other words, they weren't very good. They also played today without their leading tackler, linebacker Thomas Davis, just to add a little more salt to the wounds.

Unimaginative Offense

So out of all those first-down plays you have one pass for fifty yards and one rush for six yards and one rush for five. The rest of the plays you can throw out the window because they aren't working.

I understand that we have a young line. I also understand that we have a quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick that was starting his first game for the Bills, so he may have a rather limited portfolio of plays that the Bills think he handles really well.

In watching the game, it seems that the Bills seem to audible on an extremely high percentage of plays. But when you examine the results detailed above, maybe they should just try to execute the original plays called, because whatever they audible into is turning out to be dreadful decisions.

But the current Bills offense is just is not a recipe for success that will bode well going forward. Lack of production on first down means that you are asking your offense to pick up nine or ten yards on two downs, and then the defensive pass rush can pin back their ears and bring it.

Two downs and ten yards to go would be all well and fine if you played in the CFL,  and since the Bills will be there the first weekend in December (home game in Toronto), they are already getting a jump start on playing north of the border.

Thankfully Bills opponents keep throwing up interceptions

The Bills offer a rush defense that is dead last in the NFL. They have a hard time shutting down the run because their replacements for the many injured starters aren't big enough or good enough tacklers to prevent long runs that eat up big yardage.

First in the New Orleans game, and then against Miami, it seemed that the best way to handle the Bills defense was a steady ground game, and avoid putting in the air.

In the last two wins, both the Jets and the Panthers had the running back horses to execute the same game plan that the Saints and Dolphins did. But in each case, they deviated from the plan by throwing it away for the Bills to intercept and change the momentum of the game.

Other observations from the Carolina game

A much improved effort from special teams. There were some vicious hits by the Bills special team guys—namely John Wendling, Corey McIntyre, and Jon Corto. The Bills special teams kept Carolina pinned back in their own end, much like what Cleveland did recently to the Bills.

In addition there was one fumble recovery by Derek Fine while on special teams. Panthers punt returner Kenny Moore tried to do his best Roscoe Parrish impersonation, and the ball bounced away from him right in to the arms of Derek Fine. That was one mighty "fine" recovery.

The Bills lost one of their best defensive lineman, Kyle Williams, early in the first quarter to a knee injury and he never returned. We can only hope this is a minor injury.

Once again the Bills defense came up with a fourth down stuff, as they stoned Carolina on a fourth-and-one on the Bills 13-yard line. That was a big play at the time, and was reminiscent of the stops they made against New England and Tampa Bay. 

Carolina had their chances, but usually reliable John Kasay missed two makeable field goal attempts, one wide right, the other wide left. The Bills kicker, Ryan Lindell made both of his attempts.

Fitzpatrick appears to throw a much harder ball than Trent Edwards does. There was one pass early on to wide receiver Terrell Owens that he could have caught, but it looked like the he was surprised due to the speed of the pass and couldn't get his hands up in time to catch it.

Speaking of Owens, he seems to be going through the motions more than I care to see, especially due to the six million dollars he is earning. You would like to see supreme effort from someone that is earning so much more than everybody sitting there in the stands rooting for him.

Fitzpatrick did throw one deep pass that had the chance to connect with T.O. For whatever reason, I guess that Owens assumed the ball was going to be deflected or knocked away, so he didn't even bother to make the effort to raise his hands and arms to catch the pass.

As it turns out, the Panthers' defender whiffed on the pass, and the ball proceeded to fall untouched to the ground. If T.O. had simply given it a chance, he would have been off to the races, because he had beaten the defender.

Would he have actually caught the ball though? That is a conversation for another column.