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The piece I wrote for the website on Friday was titled sweet relief. Whoops. There was no relief provided on Sunday as the Bills opened the 2012 season by getting curb stomped at Met Life Stadium by the team most observers agree they need to be better than.
Make it six losses in a row to the Jets. And while this one lacked some of the sadly familiar physical manhandling that at one point saw the Jets rush for over 1,000 yards over the course of just 4 games, there was plenty of ugly to go around.
Here in a nutshell is what happened Sunday. The Bills fancy new pass rush generated no heat. The embattled Jets quarterback, Mark Sanchez, had a fantastic day while the Bills got horrendous play at quarterback from Ryan Fitzpatrick. That's really pretty much it. Sure, there were plenty of other things that happened in the game, like a long punt return touchdown. The defensive backs showed a horrifying inability to cover anyone.
But man was Fitzpatrick bad. Neither QB in this game faced fierce pressure. One guy made throws, the other did not.
If Bills fans were somewhat skeptical of whether or not Fitzpatrick could take this team to the playoffs before the season, imagine how they're feeling now. Or don't imagine. Just listen to the radio, or if you dare, check out a message board or two. There were frequent references to bad decision making on the telecast after his first two picks. I didn't so much see poor decisions as I did poor throws. Even though he was late getting that ball out to Stevie on the first one, if that ball is far enough outside it's either incomplete or caught by Johnson. The second one was behind an open David Nelson. Those aren't bad decisions. Those are bad throws. The 3rd pick that went for the touchdown, well that was indeed a bad decision.
That's a lot of bad folks. Needless to say the Bills are going to need much better play from their quarterback if they're going to better than the Jets. Losing to New York in week one doesn't mean you'll be worse than them when the season ends. But it sure is discouraging.
Now the Bills need to concentrate on being better than the Chiefs and the Browns.
Being better than the Jets is going to have to wait for another day.