Buffalo Bills Preseason: Week One Aftermath In Photos

The Buffalo Bills kicked off the 2010 portion of their pre-season by going to Washington to face the Redskins Friday night. In many ways, this game turned out to be a replica of the 2009 Bills season.

Three and out drives led by Trent Edwards, the defense not being able to prevent third down conversions, players leaving the contest early due to injuries, the defense being on the field for far too many plays,  some flashes of good plays and young players gaining valuable experience on the field.

The Bills were thoroughly trashed by the score of 42 - 17. Halfway during the third quarter the score was 35-3, so this was a laugher for the Redskins. The Bills needed a starting point and they got one. Hard to imagine that they could get much lower than this, so they will be hitting the film room and watching the tape to fix the many problem areas.

Donovan McNabb Had All Day To Throw

McNabb has all day to throw against the Bills Secondary

Donovan McNabb was allowed to make his passes without fear of being hit. I couldn't find a single picture of McNabb getting ready to pass that showed a Bills defender in the same frame with him. That is probably the goal of every quarterback. To be able to throw erect and without anyone in your face. Sadly, that was not the case for Trent Edwards, as you will see in the next frame.

Trent Edwards Escapes The Game Without Injury But Was Tagged Often

This is commonplace. Edwards getting hit while trying to throw the ball

Seldom did Trent Edwards find himself able to plant his feet and throw the ball without being hurried by a Redskins defender trying to drive him in to the ground. This picture is just one example of what I am talking about. To be fair, it is not like the Bills had the first team offensive line in the game. Demetrius Bell, Cornell Green, Eric Wood and Ed Wang all sat out. Cordaro Howard and Kirk Chambers were starting. Enough said.

On one rollout, Edwards attempted to hit Lee Evans and the ball was picked off by D'Angelo Hall. If you watched Edwards on the play, it was clear his feet were not set when he threw, as he attempted to throw the ball off of his wrong foot due to the pressure, and the ball didn't have much zip on it. Result - interception. By now Edwards should have known to have either thrown it out of bounds or taken the sack. But to throw a jump ball for a pick - that is not what you expect from your experienced starting QB.

Has Edwards Matured In Terms Of Pocket Presence?

Jamon Meredith tries to give Trent Edwards a chance to get his throw away

Watching Trent Edwards performance last night, I was hoping on several plays that he would take a step up in to the pocket and deliver his pass. That keen instinct or kind of a gut feel that pressure is right next to you and it is time to step up in the pocket just doesn't seem to be that advanced of a technique yet for Trent.

You would like to think by all of the years of experience that he has gained a better pocket awareness but sadly I just don't know if he ever will develop that part of his game. His lack of elusiveness is an issue and he is just too stationary for defenders to level.

So Much For Game Planning With Two Running Back Sets

Ex-Bills LB London Fletcher tweaks Marshawn Lynch's ankle on this tackle

London Fletcher knocked Marshawn Lynch out of bounds on this pass play in the first quarter and that tackle was Lynch's final play for the game. The hit resulted in Lynch tweaking his ankle. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Bills had already lost Fred Jackson earlier in the quarter, when he suffered a bad hand or wrist injury, as a result of landing awkwardly on his hand due to Kareem Moore tackling him by his facemask.

Chan Gailey admitted in the post game press conference that they had some plays they wanted to run with a two running back set, but with Jackson and Lynch both out of the game, they had to abandon those plans. As a result of the injuries, the Bills fans got to see more of C.J. Spiller, Chad Simpson and Joique Bell running the ball than they originally bargained for.

Simpson registered 7 carries for 67 yards while Bell had 52 yards in five carries, including a nice TD run of 28 yards. C.J. Spiller showed a very quick burst on a rush around end for a gain of 11 yards. The cameras caught Redskins Defensive Coach Jim Haslett (ex-Bills linebacker) shaking his head on the sideline. I can only imagine what he was thinking at the time.... Man, C.J. Spiller is very fast.

Defensive Secondary Has Some Work To Do

Just one of the many times that Reggie Corner got burned

Thought that Reggie Corner in particular had a poor game. He did make a good decision to jump a route in the first half that would have been good for a pick 6, but he failed to execute on the play and dropped a sure interception return for a touchdown. Shortly after that, he again was slow to react on a deep sideline pattern, and missed in his opportunity to go for the ball, resulting in a Redskins touchdown pass.

I saw Terrence McGee get faked out badly on a missed tackle. Overall, we didn't see the ballyhooed Bills secondary step up in their first contest. Granted this is just the first pre-season game, so we can only hope that they will learn from this experience and iron out the many kinks. When Rex Grossman can hit on 11 of 18 passes for 140 yards, two TD's and no interceptions, you know you have some work to do.

David Nelson Catches First TD Pass As a Buffalo Bill

Ryan Fitzpatrick and David Nelson celebrate their touchdown

David Nelson continues to make plays and makes a favorable impression with his performance. He finds ways to get open and doesn't seem to be playing like a rookie at all. Perhaps the exposure he received from playing at a big time program like the University of Florida has provided him with plenty of exposure to pressure that he can focus on the job at hand and not be overwhelmed.

Nelson led all receivers with five catches for 47 yards. He made a strong block on special teams. It would not surprise me at all if he makes the final roster, based on what he has done so far with the Bills.

Donald Jones caught three passes for 26 yards and looked good in the return game. As far as the other receivers went........(next slide)

Steve Johnson Only Comes Up With One Reception

Steve Johnson gets hammered after the catch

Steve Johnson only came up with one catch for the game. For him to be able to take pressure off of Lee Evans, Johnson will need to step up his performance, if he is to become the starting number two receiver opposite of Lee Evans.

It will be interesting to see how well Johnson performs over the span of the next three exhibition games, to see if he is stepping up the production or not.

Speaking of receivers, there were a bunch of other guys that only had one catch as well for the night. That group included Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, Naaman Roosevelt, Marshawn Lynch, Chad Jackson and Jonathan Stupar. Shawn Nelson didn't record a single catch.

Redskins Had Far More Big Plays Than The Bills Did

John McCargo gets a sack in garbage time

The Redskins scored via long punt returns, long and short passes, and via the ground. They tallied six touchdowns in total and it was the most points they scored in a pre-season game in the past 12 years.

This game at least provided the Bills coaching staff with a chance to see some of the less heralded Bills players get an extended look in live game action. Players that fit that description were the rookie running backs Spiller, Bell and Chad Simpson; linemen Cordaro Howard and Kirk Chambers, linebackers Donovan Woods, Arthur Moats, Chris Ellis, Antonio Coleman and Aaron Maybin.

Maybin had a costly and dumb penalty in the first half when he hit Donovan McNabb in the head. Had he just stopped short of hitting McNabb in the helmet, the Bills defense would have succeeded in stopping the Redskins drive and would have been off of the field. As it was, the Skins got the gift first down, and turned it in to a touchdown drive instead. I hope cheap shots are not what Maybin winds up being best known for.

Coming in to the game, the Bills sat out Danny Batten, Paul Posluszny, and Keith Ellison was doubtful. Other Bills players that sat out included Derek Schouman, James Hardy and Spencer Johnson.

With rookie wide receiver Marcus Easley out for the year, and Fred Jackson likely out for the rest of the pre-season, that diminishes the weapons the Bills offense has at it's disposal. Gailey will have to get creative to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers.

The Bills Will Have To Learn To Stop Taking Huge Penalties

Marcus Stroud can't stop this Redskins rushing touchdown

Jonathan Stupar killed a very promising Bills drive with a dumb holding penalty. Marshawn Lynch made a great run, and would have easily netted the yardage needed for a first down, but Stupar demonstrated once more that his blocking skills are not NFL worthy. He is a liability in the running game and shouldn't be on the field.

We already discussed the dumb Maybin penalty. He just needs to play with more poise and learn when to turn it on and when to turn it down a notch or two.

There were some motion penalties on the offensive line, and that is to be expected at this point. Albert Haynesworth seemed to create a couple flags just by coming in to the game.

Other mistakes that cost the Bills dearly were a muffed punt by Ellis Lankster and two interceptions, one from Edwards and one from Levi Brown.

The Bills Need To Show Improvement Every Week

C.J. Spiller gets introduced to NFL Defenses

In conclusion, we can only hope that the injury to Fred Jackson will not prevent him from missing any regular season games. The injuries to Lynch and to Alex Carrington were thought to be minor. Of greater concern is the vast number of Bills players that missed the game altogether. Thankfully we are still at 80 man rosters now, otherwise the Bills might not have had enough players to send up to Toronto for the game on Thursday against the Colts.

From a statistics standpoint, the game was almost even. Bills rushed for 146 yards, while Washington rushed for 140 yards. Both teams went an identical 18 for 33 in the passing game. So when you look at it from those stat lines, you are thinking close game. The Bills rushed only 18 times compared to 41 times for Washington, so obviously the Bills had a big edge in yards per rush.

But once again, we see the defense on the field too long - 76 plays compared to 51. The defense needs to learn how to stop third down conversions while the offense needs to protect Edwards better and stop having their own three and out drives. Hopefully, this theme doesn't repeat itself too often in the regular season. On to the Colts game in Toronto, in hopes of seeing marked improvement.