Bills-Dolphins: Buffalo Offense Looking for Identity After Loss

The 2010 season opener for the Buffalo Bills left Bills fans with a feeling that we have seen this all before. The Bills dropped their home opener to the AFC East rival Miami Dolphins 15-10 in a game that the Bills had a chance to win in the fourth quarter, but couldn't make it happen.

The Dolphins outplayed the Bills on offense and defense. The Dolphins controlled the ball for 36 minutes to the Bills' 23 minutes. Dolphins had 73 plays to the Bills' 54. The Dolphins gained 296 yards to the Bills' 166.

The Bills will be going to the drawing board and to the film room to see what went wrong. They then will be on the road for two straight road games against Green Bay and then New England. Ugh.

Trent Edwards Was Afforded Very Little Time To Throw The Ball

Dolphins rookie Misi sacks Trent Edwards

The Bills passing game is still a work in progress. The main problem holding it back is that either Trent Edwards is under too much pressure to be able to find the time to throw the ball, or he gets nervous feet and feels the need to roll out and leave the pocket when they are rushing only three defenders. Either way, it is painful to watch sometimes.

During the third quarter, CBS flashed on the screen the following numbers to show what kind of a day Edwards was having:  two sacks, hurried 12 times, knocked down seven times, and balls batted down at line of scrimmage four times. In all, Edwards would be sacked three times. He finished with 18 completions out of 34 passes for 139 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Net yardage was 116, due to the sacks. His passer rating was 73.

Edwards was lucky to not have any passes intercepted, as the Dolphin defenders refused to intercept any passes, even though there were at least two "pick six" situations where they dropped a sure touchdown interception.

Chad Henne Had The Better Day Of The Two QBs

Rick Stewart/Getty Images

ORCHARD PARK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Bryan Scott #43 of the Buffalo Bills sacks Chad Henne #7 of the Miami Dolphins during the NFL season opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium on September 12, 2010 in Orchard Park, New York. Miami won 15-10. (Photo by Rick Stewart/

The Bills did manage to sack Chad Henne three times as well. Sacks were recorded by Bryan Scott, Paul Posluszny, and Chris Ellis. Aaron Maybin delivered a big hit on Henne just after he released a pass.

But overall, it was clear that Henne was afforded much more time to throw the ball, and he was able to find his second or third option.

Henne finished by completing 21 of 34 passes for 164 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He had a passer rating of 75.9

Bills Offense Was Strange For First Three Quarters

One of the few carries Fred Jackson had vs Miami

Through three quarters of play against Miami, the Bills offense looked confused and lacked any kind of identity. All during the preseason, head coach Chan Gailey had talked about the offense being a run-oriented variety, yet the Bills opened up with three straight pass plays that resulted in two straight incomplete passes and then a sack by Karlos Dansby. That was the tone-setting drive of the game.

Second drive, the Bills ran the ball for the two first plays and that set up a short 3rd-and-2 which the Bills converted for their initial first down of the game. They did not stick with the running game often enough, however. Witness these totals for the day:

Bills had 17 rushes and 34 passes for the day. 17 rushes is not enough to establish a ground game, much less a chance to demonstrate that you have a tough football team. As far as the leading rushers went, it was Fred Jackson picking up 19 yards in four rushes, Marshawn Lynch gaining 13 yards in three rushes and C.J. Spiller picking up seven yards in six rushes. Not that impressive a debut.

Credit needs to be given to the Miami Dolphins defense and to coordinator Mike Nolan. They did a good job of confusing the Bills on blocking schemes and keeping the ground game from really taking off.

Different Bills Formations Seen Throughout The Game

Edwards is flanked by Spiller and Jackson

The Bills operated out of the shotgun formation for most of the game. Pictured is Edwards being flanked by Spiller and Jackson. Now, that specific package gives you some interesting options and intriguing matchup problems for the defense. It does not offer maximum pass-blocking protection, however.

Buffalo's offense had only generated 72 total yards after three quarters. That meager sum is a testament to the Dolphins defense and the Bills team and coaching staff trying to get on the same page. That statement is more about better run blocking and better pass blocking than anything else.

There weren't that many dropped passes or situations with Edwards missing wide open receivers. There really weren't even that many penalties—the Bills were only flagged five times for 35 yards. One penalty was costly however, in that a holding call on Andy Levitre wiped an Edwards-to-David Nelson pass that would have been good for over 30 yards.

Young Wide Receivers Had Respectable Showing In First Game

David Nelson is happy to be in his first NFL game

The Bills wide receivers were, as a group, relatively effective in the Dolphins game. Steve Johnson led the Bills with 40 yards in three catches, Roscoe Parrish had 35 yards in two catches, Lee Evans had 34 yards in four catches, and David Nelson had 22 yards in three catches. Nelson would have had another 30 yards if not for the Levitre holding call.

As for the rest of the Bills receiving options, there is really nothing to speak about. The running backs were targeted with 12 passes and they managed to net eight yards all day. The tight ends were never targeted once in the game. That is in stark contrast to Miami's Anthony Fosano, who hurt the Bills with 46 receiving yards on three catches in the first half.

Bills Defense Turned In A Strong Overall Performance

Aaron Maybin delivers hit on Chad Henne just after releasing pass

If you hold a team like the Dolphins with weapons like Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, and Brandon Marshall to 13 points, you would have to like your chances to win. The defense held the Dolphins to 296 yards of total offense, 132 on the ground and 164 via the air. The fact that Miami ran 19 more plays and held the ball for 13 more minutes was more a reflection on the inept offense than it was on the defense.

The defense sacked Henne three times and was also credited with eight QB hits. The Bills' QB hits were led by three players with two each; Paul Posluszny, Chris Ellis, and Bryan Scott. Credited with one QB hit each were Aaron Maybin and Kyle Williams. For what it is worth, the Dolphins had eight total QB hits as well.

Overall, Drayton Florence led the Bills with 10 tackles, followed by Donte Whitner with nine, and Paul Posluszny and Andra Davis with eight each.

The defense generated three-and-out stops of the Miami offense three times in the second half. There were none in the first half. Bills defense played with greater intensity in the second half.

The negative regarding the defense was that they did not record any turnovers in the game. For a unit that was so highly ranked in 2009 in generating turnovers and playing in front of the home crowd on opening day, you would have imagined that a turnover or two would have been in the making, but it wasn't to be.

After the Bills scored their only touchdown in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to 13-10, the momentum was squarely with the Bills. If the defense could find a way to force a three and out, the Bills would have had the ball in great field position with the chance to either take the lead or tie up the game. Miami drove to midfield however, punted the ball down to the one yard line, and the Bills never were in position to threaten after that.

Anthony Fosano Made Big Catches In First Half

Fasano's catch at Bills two yard line set up easy Dolphins TD

One of the biggest plays of the game was a pass from Chad Henne to Anthony Fosano that went down to the Bills two-yard line. From there, Ronnie Brown was able to dive over the line for a touchdown, which dropped the Bills in a 10 - 0 hole.

Paul Posluszny stayed with Fosano on the play, but the Bills didn't bring any other safeties over to help Posluszny out on the play. Since the Dolphins did not score any other touchdowns in the game, this might have turned out to be one of the key plays in the game.

Roscoe Parrish Generates Bills TD From Two Minute Offense

Roscoe Parrish 4th quarter TD brings the Bills back to 13-10 deficit

With a little more than nine minutes left in the contest, and trailing 13-3, the Bills decided to abandon their dormant offense and go to the two-minute, no-huddle offense. The move worked to perfection as the Bills moved the ball 80 yards for their only touchdown of the game, ending in a 31-yard pass on fourth down from Trent Edwards to Roscoe Parrish. Edwards was seven for seven on the drive for 91 yards.

Hello, where was that all game long?

Edwards threw the ball with confidence in the drive, hitting David Nelson, Lee Evans, Steve Johnson, C.J. Spiller, and Roscoe Parrish during the drive.

It will be curious to see if the Bills opt to use the two-minute offense with more time on the clock next week at Green Bay.

Brandon Marshall Made Some Great Plays Against The Bills

Brandon Marshall was leading receiver and break dancer on Sunday

Brandon Marshall and Devon Bess were each able to generate more than 50 yards in receptions. Marshall led the team with 53 yards while Bess had 51. The picture on this slide is not from Marshall's break dancing routine, but was a play where he caught the pass, was almost tackled, but managed to keep his balance, get back up, and run the other way to add to his yardage. Amazing balance display.

During the second half, the Bills secondary of McKelvin, McGee, and Florence stepped up to blanket Marshall and deny him passes. Marshall was targeted with 13 passes, but only caught eight. He dropped one long pass where he got behind the secondary, and lost not only the catch, but his shoe in the process.

Devon Bess hurt the Bills in the second half with his catches that kept drives alive. On one important third-down play, he was covered closely by Reggie Corner, but managed to catch the ball, and then faked Corner out to gain the first down. The Dolphins would have had to punt the ball, so that was a big play at the time.

Special Teams: No Big Returns For Either Team

Corey McIntyre reacts after big special teams hit

The Bills special teams unit did a much better job against Miami than they did in the preseason, where giving up long returns seemed to be the norm. For the game, the Dolphins longest kick return was only 15 yards, and their longest punt return was only six yards. Big hits were made by Paul Posluszny, Bryan Scott, and Corey McIntyre.

For the Bills, Roscoe Parrish had one punt return for 19 yards, and wound up with 30 yards on three returns. C.J. Spiller had one kick return for 11 yards, but chose not to return other kicks that went deep into the end zone. Most teams will not be able to kick the ball that deep, so Bills fans will still be waiting for Spiller to bring one back on a long return.

C. J. Spiller: Nowhere To Go But Up From Here

C.J. Spiller has a lane to run against the Dolphins

C.J. Spiller's NFL debut was not what everyone was expecting or hoping for. It was quite the opposite. The Dolphins did a solid job of containing Spiller and limiting his effectiveness.

For the day, C.J. had seven rushes for a total of six yards. His longest rush went for six yards, which meant that the other six carries resulted in zero net yards. Not very impressive. As a receiver, Spiller was targeted with six passes from Trent Edwards, catching four of them for eight yards. His longest gain went for nine yards, while the other three catches resulted in minus one yard. Ugh.

His lone kick return went for 11 yards. There were flashes of some speed and plays that got fans excited, but the home run play was nowhere to be seen during his NFL debut. The Bills will have to either block better or be more creative in finding ways to getting him the ball in the open field.

Rian Lindell Looks To Be In Mid-Season Form

Rian Lindell hits on a 51 yard FG vs Dolphins

The Bills only points in the first half came on a 51-yard, Rian Lindell field goal. That came immediately after a sack of Trent Edwards, so the Bills fans I was with were joking that the Bills called for the Edwards sack to get proper field position for the Lindell long kick. He made the kick with room to spare.

Just prior to the end of the first half, the Bills were trying to move the ball and completed a pass to Steve Johnson, who couldn't get out of bounds to stop the clock. The Bills apparently were able to have a timeout signal honored with one second left, so Lindell came out to try a 63-yard field goal for the final play of the half. Lindell hit it solid and it was straight, but fell roughly five yards short.

Miami's kicker Dan Carpenter converted two of three of his field goal attempts and his final field goal proved to be the margin of victory.

Bills Offense Has To Improve

Trent Edwards rolled out frequently against the Dolphins

Buffalo will have to find better blocking schemes and better uses of the talent they have if they want to be a winning team. When Trent Edwards has to roll out and scramble to avoid a sack, very seldom does it result in a big play. That happened way too often on Sunday.

The offensive line came out of the game with no injuries to report. Paul Posluszny suffered his usual early season injury, and the Bills are waiting for word as to the severity. Cary Harris pulled a hamstring, and that was it for injuries mentioned in the postgame press conference.

The Bills offense had six different three-and-out drives during the game. That was very reminiscent of the 2009 team. From a third-down conversion standpoint, the Bills converted on three of 14 chances, while Miami converted on eight of 18 tries. Too many first- and second-down plays did very little damage, resulting in 3rd-and-long.

The Bills are still making adjustments to the new offense and the new defense. This will not happen overnight, as badly as Bills fans would like it to. This year will require patience, for all Bills faithful. Hang in there, Bills fans.