Buffalo Bills: The Formula for a Victory
The Buffalo Bills are halfway to joining the 2008 Detroit Lions in the NFL's infamous "0-16 club".
Through the first five games a win-less season seemed plausible, but the Bills have "regrouped" post-bye week and have been competitive in each of their last three contests, keeping those games within three points.
However, Buffalo's untimely turnovers, missed assignments and mental lapses have kept them out of the win column.
At this point many wonder, can the Bills find a way to pull out that seemingly ever-elusive first victory?
They'll need to do a few things differently to bring some happiness to the deserving, but overly-frustrated Bills' faithful.
Creatively Run The Football
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Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the ball 51 times against the Bears last Sunday. He had 48 passing attempts in Kansas City the week before. That's too much.
I've been generally pleased with the excitement and production that Fitz' has brought to the Bills offense, but his erratic throws have cost Buffalo in the last two games; he must eliminate those late-game interceptions.
The law of probability tells us that if Fitzpatrick throws it more than 40 times, he's bound for a two interception game.
Because of the this, the Bills need to dedicate more of their offensive game-plan to running the ball.
I realize that Fred Jackson isn't running with the same upright shiftiness of last season, and C.J. Spiller has yet to break free but running kills clock, wears down the defense, gets the offensive line into a groove, and sets up the play-action pass.
When I say this, I'm not insisting a dive play on every first down from a tight formation. I don't mean that Spiller should only be utilized on third-downs or in the fourth quarter.
Shake things up. Start the game with a pitch to the outside with Spiller. Run a draw on 3rd and 6 with four wide. You get my drift.
I love Fitzpatrick, but didn't Chan Gailey begin his tenure in Buffalo stating that the Bills would be a run-first team?
Set The Edge On Defense
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For as epically bad as the Bills defense has been in the 2010 campaign, and it's been hard to watch against nearly every team, they've improved their pressure on the opposing quarterback, especially up the middle.
We can mainly thank Kyle Williams.
Even some of the blitzes have gotten home.
But against the Bears, Jay Cutler had no problem eluding the rush to the outside and the bootlegs out of the pocket were wide open.
We can mainly thank Chris Kelsay.
I'm not sure if it's due to the scheme and Kelsay is simply doing what defensive coordinator George Edwards is instructing, but I always catch him attacking to the inside off the snap of the football.
This leaves outside runs and the aforementioned quarterback scrambles impossible to defend against. And when it comes to reverses, forget it.
Kelsay isn't the only culprit, all the defensive ends, linebackers and cornerbacks must stay in their lanes, funneling the ball insides were A-gap blitzes and Kyle Williams can make plays.
Screen Plays
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Buffalo has moved further away from the screen pass as the season has progressed. With Ryan Fitzpatrick's success down-field finding his receivers, it's reasonable.
But as I outlined earlier, Fitzpatrick tossing the ball all over the lot isn't necessarily in the Bills best interest, and the screen play is as high percentage as you can get in the passing game.
Eric Wood and Andy Levitre moving down-field paving the way for C.J. Spiller will have to eventually lead to a big play, right?
Chan Gailey has done an admirable job getting the ball into the hands of his play-making receivers, but has failed to get Jackson and Spiller the ball enough in the open field.
Spiller's had trouble between the tackles especially against continual run blitzes that he sees, but as far as a YAC receiver, he's a young Reggie Bush.
Fred Jackson's shown he's slippery enough to break a screen play on occasion, too.
As you can tell, I want these two running backs to be an integral part of the Bills offense, even with the advancements we've witnessed in the passing game.
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Blitz
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How many of you have yelled "BLITZ!!!" at your television over the past, say, three years when watching the Buffalo Bills on defense?
That's what I thought.
I catch myself doing it every week.
I'm far from an X's and O's expert, but while the Bills get blitzed on nearly every down, they usually fake the blitz and drop everyone into coverage, and still get torched by just about every quarterback.
From here on out, Buffalo has no excuse.
Shawne Merriman should play against Detroit and beyond, and Terrence McGee should play this week (he's been sidelined long enough).
Because of those two players, Buffalo's primed to dial up the blitzes. Merriman is out to prove his worth as a sack specialist, and McGee allows the Bills to play more man-to-man on the outside.
Especially this week against either Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton, apply the pressure Buffalo.
Conclusion
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I know the defense is porous, the offensive line is shaky, the quarterback can have you singing the shout song one moment, then scratching your head the next.
These four simplistic tweaks is all the Bills should need to find a win. I'm not asking for anything else from what we've seen the past three weeks.
My fingers are officially crossed.
(Side Note Statistic - Detroit has lost 24 straight road games)
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