Buffalo Bills Vs. Green Bay Packers: Observations For The Bills Herd
The Green Bay Packers really laid into the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, mercilessly handing Western New York's team their second embarrassing defeat in as many weeks.
The offense was anemic - Trent Edwards was his usual timid, panicked-self, the offensive line was exposed, and the defense couldn't slow down the Packers vaunted passing attack.
Green Bay scored 21 unanswered points after they lead 13-to-7 at halftime.
Not many moral victories this week, Bills fans.
6. Trent Edwards Is Not an NFL QB
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You see, sometimes, holding off on my reaction article pays off, because after Edwards' 11-of-18 102-yard, two interception performance, head coach Chan Gailey named Ryan Fitzpatrick the starter for the foreseeable future.
Let's take a second to thank God.
Back to Edwards' pathetic game.
The interceptions go to him in the statbook, and it's sad because neither were his fault.
That's the only defense you'll read from me regarding that poor excuse for an NFL QB.
On a day that Matt Schaub threw for 497 yards, Donovan McNabb eclipsed the 400-yard mark and Philip Rivers threw for 334, Edwards barely mustered 100.
Anyone else see the stat that the Bills have gone 55 games without a 300-yard passer? Disgusting.
I didn't have the highest hopes for my Bills this year, but seriously, Trent? I'll admit, the receivers may not be as wide open as Jermichael Finley was all afternoon but sometimes you've got to let the wide-out make a play.
Edwards may have the raw skill and "intelligence" to play the position, but he lacks confidence and the courage to make a throw down-field - intangibles found in all the elite quarterbacks around the league.
How fitting was it that Edwards' last play as the Bills starter was running out of bounds for no gain on fourth down?
5. Marshawn Lynch The Starter?
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After Chan Gailey's puzzling Week One decision to hand the ball off a mere 14 times, he confused me once again.
I was pleased with the 32 total rushes against the Packers, but how the carries were spread out was another scalp-scratcher.
Marshawn Lynch toted the rock 14 times to Fred Jackson's nine and C.J. Spiller's one? We all heard Buffalo may have been showcasing Lynch to Green Bay...but I doubt it.
Then again, I can't come up with the idea myself as to why Jackson and Spiller's totals were so low.
The good thing is Buffalo did rack up 124 yards and the lone touchdown was scored on a Jackson sweep to the outside.
Even in a crushing defeat like this one, we saw that the Bills can move the ball with some efficiency on the ground.
As for Spiller, he's got to be more involved with the offense - solely catching screens on 3rd-and-25 isn't in the team's best interest.
He was the ninth pick in the draft, and I don't buy this "slowly bringing him into the offense" stuff - get him the ball.
I thought the depth chart was supposed to be Jackson, Spiller and then Lynch.
4. Where's The Secondary?
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In a game that Drayton Florence and Donte Whitner, the Bills' boastful yet underwhelming-at-times secondary members claimed they were up for the challenge, we saw Aaron Rodgers move the ball down the field with ease.
The defensive backfield was respectable in the first half, but was torn apart in the second stanza and left some receivers wide open, making life easy for Rodgers.
Donte Whitner dropped a would-have-been pick six when he correctly timed a jump in front of Jermichael Finley in the endzone—how typical of him.
Whitner finished the game with two tackles. Two. He, ladies and gentlemen, was the number eight overall pick in the 2006 draft.
Jairus Byrd and Bryan Scott were good but unspectacular - no shock there.
I did like what I saw out of Leodis McKelvin on Sunday. He displayed his feverish catch-up-speed and played close coverage on the majority of the Packers' receivers he matched-up against. He's the younger, more athletic version of Terrence McGee.
Oh yea and, where are all the interceptions?
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3. Tackle Disaster
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I outlined earlier in the week that the Bills needed to contain Clay Matthews if they stood any chance of staying in the ball game - they simply did not.
Matthews is a very talented, immensely strong and equally aggressive OLB but the tackle trio of Demetrius Bell, Cornell Green and Jamon Meredith really look like practice squad players out there.
They aren't overpowering (to say the least), play out of position frequently due to poor footwork and man their edge spots with no tenacity whatsoever.
The interior guys are doing their job (Andy Levitre's stinger apparently won't hold him out of any games) but the edge guys are as bad as advertised.
Trent Edwards' less than average pocket presence sure doesn't help, but maybe left tackle should have been addressed in this draft after all.
I'm waiting for Bell or Meredith to improve, but I've seen nothing to make me believe that'll happen anytime soon.
2. What Ryan Fitzpatrick Being Named The Starter Means
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Bills fans are certainly rejoicing at their dinner tables tonight now that Trent Edwards' behind will be parked on the bench.
Keep in mind however, that this isn't a Kevin Kolb-to-Michael Vick situation we're dealing with.
You can count on Fitzpatrick throwing the ball down-field, but he was named second string to start the year for a reason.
He's limited talent-wise and isn't an ideal starter because of his decision-making that can be shaky on occasion.
The move demonstrates to me that Chan Gailey isn't throwing in the towel after two brutal performances, and thinks this team can win some games.
If the team can do that with Fitzpatrick under center remains to be seen.
We can only hope, or I guess the word is "Billieve".
(Lee Evans is somewhere smiling.)
1. What's Next
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Yea, it doesn't get any easier for the Bills.
They head to Foxboro to face the most likely pissed off Patriots at 1pm on Sunday.
I'm as optimistic as the next guy, but Buffalo has lost 13 straight to New England, and hasn't left Gillette Stadium victorious since 2000.
That hurts to even type.
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