E-Mail
Print
If you missed the first two installments, you can find them by clicking on the link below:
Upon Further Review- Bills OL & DL vs. Jets
Upon Further Review- Bills RBs, TEs & LBs vs. Jets
Now, to the results:
Quarterback
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Time on Field: 100% snaps played; 58 total
Stats: 18-of-32, 3 TD, 3 INT; 2 carries, 8 yards
Plus/Minus: -6 (6 positive plays, 12 negative plays)
Observations: As far as culprits go for the Bills' 48-28 loss to the New York Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick is at the top of the list. While he had a pair of nice throws over the middle of the field and scrambled for extra yardage when a play looked dead, that was the extent of Fitzpatrick's positive day. His late touchdowns barely register to me, as they were down 34 points before the Bills' barrage of scoring plays started. Taking a look at his interceptions, the first throw was his fault all the way through. He double clutched after not having Donald Jones open on a route that took him over the middle of the field when Stevie Johnson broke open. He put a bit of loft on the throw and was a tad late, allowing the best cornerback in football to jump the route. A zipped pass could at the very least have been only knocked down rather than a turnover. The second interception was also Fitzpatrick's fault in his attempt to get the ball to David Nelson. It was thrown to his back shoulder on a slant route over the middle and Kyle Wilson stepped in front of it. The third interception, however, was not his fault in my opinion. David Nelson was very clearly on an option route, and the way he broke down and made his cut indicated he was going to run an out. For some reason, Nelson cut off his route and stood in space. Fitzpatrick tried to anticipate his movements and threw towards the sideline, where Cromartie was sitting there waiting in zone coverage. While it's on Fitzpatrick to not have the miscommunications with his receivers, this one wasn't totally his fault. Other throws and opportunities, however, were. There were two other plays that could have been picked off. With time in the pocket, Fitzpatrick fired one down the sideline to Donald Jones who had Antonio Cromartie running stride-for-stride with him. On that same play, Stevie Johnson was running free over the middle of the field with a backed off safety over the top, which would have been at least a 10-yard gain without any yards after catch -- which is a strong suit of Johnson's game. The other would-be interception came when he was under pressure and just unloaded it to Scott Chandler. It bounced off the defender and in to the waiting arms of Nelson for a catch. Fitzpatrick missed a big opportunity on a stop-and-go route run by Jones. The aggressive safety, LaRon Landry, bit on Jones' initial move. The wideout also had half a step on Cromartie, and a throw that great NFL quarterbacks make on a weekly basis would have gotten the job done. Instead it was overthrown by 5-to-7 yards. Too many opportunities were left on the field this week by Fitzpatrick.
Grade: D+ (1.33 GPA)
Defensive Backs
CB Stephon Gilmore
Time on Field: 98.4% snaps played; 62 total
Stats: 4 tackles (2 solo)
Plus/Minus: -5 (4 positive plays, 9 negative plays)
Observations: The biggest question for Stephon Gilmore after his first performance in the regular season is this: Where did the player that we saw in the preseason go? Gilmore was both passive and aggressive at the worst times possible. On the passive side, you saw him get caught in a soft zone plenty of times. He was playing not to get beat, and didn't get in to his natural backpedal. Instead he tried running sideways, which left him at risk of getting beat by underneath routes (and he did). His aggressive nature came out when he bit on a pump fake by Mark Sanchez, stumbled and lost Stephen Hill for a touchdown against. Normally tough on the line of scrimmage in attempting to get some contact with the receivers, that was nowhere to be found until the fourth quarter before it was too late. Late in the game, he jarred the ball loose from Shonn Greene.
Grade: C- (1.67 GPA)
S Jairus Byrd
Time on Field: 95.2% snaps played; 60 total
Stats: 5 tackles (3 solo)
Plus/Minus: -2 (3 positive plays, 5 negative plays)
Observations: Jairus Byrd has looked the part of an elite NFL safety in 2011, but he'll want to erase his first performance of 2012. He got turned inside out by Santonio Holmes in coverage leading to a big gain. He also found himself getting dragged by Greene early on in to the contest as well as slow to react to his Cover-2 responsibilities on one of the Jets' touchdowns. However, Byrd did show some natural feel of helping in the run game. He forced one of the Jets' Wildcat packages inside so they could not hit open field. He also showed he could find the hole in the regular run game and deliver a sufficient hit to stop the ball carrier.
Grade: C+ (2.33 GPA)
S George Wilson
Time on Field: 85.7% snaps played; 54 total
Stats: 5 tackles (3 solo)
Plus/Minus: -1 (2 positive plays, 3 negative plays)
Observations: While on the field a large amount of plays -- the fourth most of any Bills defender -- Wilson failed to stand out the majority of the time for both good and bad reasons. I liked his ability to absorb the block from the Jets' fullback John Conner, stick out his free arm and rope in the ball carrier. For some reason though, Wilson was out in no man's land on Stephen Hill's first touchdown reception. The help he was supposed to provide to Gilmore was slow getting there. However, he was not the reason that touchdown occurred.
Grade: B- (2.67 GPA)
CB Aaron Williams
Time on Field: 69.8% snaps played; 44 total
Stats: 2 tackles (solo)
Plus/Minus: -1 (1 positive play, 2 negative plays)
Observations: You'll be somewhat shocked about this, but Aaron Williams actually played a pretty decent game. He did fairly well at sticking with his receivers throughout the contest and didn't prove to be the liability he showed in the preseason at times. He was solid on a play in run support on the first defensive series. His negative plays both involved Santonio Holmes early on in the game. There was some contact down the field and Holmes got free off of it. The very next play, Williams was called for an obvious pass interference call. Other than those two plays, Williams did not play that poorly a game.
Grade: B- (2.67 GPA)
CB Leodis McKelvin
Time on Field: 34.9% snaps played; 22 total
Stats: 3 tackles (solo)
Plus/Minus: -6 (0 positive plays, 6 negative plays)
Observations: Leodis McKelvin, without a doubt, was the biggest liability on the field for the Buffalo Bills. Afraid of getting beat deep, he was slow to trust his instincts and react to underneath routes. That led to not only receptions, but yards after the catch in bunches. Two touchdowns were caught on him in the game, although the first of which very well could have been a push-off from Jeremy Kerley. Even still, McKelvin let that stick in his mind and trailed his receivers for the majority of the game.
Grade: F (0.00 GPA)
CB Terrence McGee
Time on Field: 30.2% snaps played; 19 total
Stats: 1 tackle (solo)
Plus/Minus: -1 (1 positive play, 2 negative plays)
Observations: In limited snaps at left cornerback, McGee showed a nice jam and physicality with the receivers. However, you could still see the lower body injuries he has suffered in the past make him a slower player than in year's past. McGee has always been a sound tackler, and showed it again.
Grade: B- (2.67 GPA)
S Da'Norris Searcy
Time on Field: 19.1% snaps played; 12 total
Stats: 2 tackles (1 solo)
Plus/Minus: +1 (2 positive plays, 1 negative play)
Observations: Not getting in until late in to the contest, Da'Norris Searcy performed fairly well. He took snaps at both strong and free safety, getting the majority of his time at the former. On his first play, he was looking around and wasn't set as the ball was snapped and lost his man in coverage. As he continued, he showed to be strong in run support. He diagnosed where the hole was and quickly reacted to make the tackle.
Grade: B (3.0 GPA)
Wide Receivers
Stevie Johnson
Time on Field: 96.6% snaps played; 56 total
Stats: 4 receptions, 55 yards, TD
Plus/Minus: +3 (3 positive plays, 0 negative plays)
Observations: Coming in to the contest with a groin injury, Stevie Johnson moved fairly well with that in consideration. His lackluster statistical performance had to do with a couple of strong reasons. His opponent for most the game, Darrelle Revis, held him in check almost the entire time he was in there. Ryan Fitzpatrick's poor day didn't help things either. Late in the game Johnson got a touchdown when hope was already lost. Johnson did beat Revis on five different occasions to my count. Two of them did not go for completions, because of poor throws by Fitzpatrick.
Grade: B- (2.67 GPA)
Donald Jones
Time on Field: 94.8% snaps played; 55 total
Stats: 5 receptions, 41 yards, TD
Plus/Minus: +4 (5 positive plays, 1 negative play)
Observations: Donald Jones had the strongest afternoon of any of the receivers for the Bills. They like to have him move before the snap and motion in to the backfield. From there, he'll either go out for a short route or pitch in to the run blocking efforts. While Fitzpatrick was not on point, Jones was able to adjust to the throw and bring in the catch on a few different occasions. As mentioned in Fitzpatrick's observations, Jones had both Landry and Cromartie beat on a stop-and-go as well.
Grade: B+ (3.33 GPA)
David Nelson
Time on Field: 50.0% snaps played; 29 total
Stats: 2 receptions, 31 yards
Plus/Minus: Even (3 positive plays, 3 negative plays)
Observations: Before being lost for the season with a torn ACL, Nelson had a rather forgettable day. His best play of the day came on a route over the middle of the field that Fitzpatrick hit perfectly in stride. He also did well in downfield blocking on C.J. Spiller's 56-yard touchdown run. However, on a called wide receiver screen to Jones, Nelson blocked his man the wrong way. On both interceptions that were intended for him, a bit of blame could be placed on him. During the Kyle Wilson interception, Nelson didn't breakdown all the way, tipping off his inside route ever-so-slightly. It was still on Fitzpatrick for throwing it behind Nelson, but every little bit helps. The other interception was one that he signaled through his breakdown that he was going to cut toward the sideline, but stopped his route.
Grade: C+ (2.33 GPA)
Ruvell Martin
Time on Field: 24.1% snaps played; 14 total
Stats: None
Plus/Minus: +1 (2 positive plays, 1 negative play)
Observations: Once Nelson was injured, Ruvell Martin took over as the slot receiver for the rest of the game. He didn't make an impact in the passing game, but he was very effective in blocking downfield for his receivers and also pancaked his man on a crack-back block during a run play. His play count only takes offensive snaps in to consideration. He was largely at fault for the Kerley punt return touchdown, getting blocked to the ground by Kyle Wilson.
Grade: C+ (2.33 GPA)
- Those that did not appear in the game were not graded.
- For obvious reasons, this is a report that highlights my findings and opinions from the individual games.
- The GPA's attached at the bottom are an overall grade of how I felt that player performed, basing it all on the play-by-play film review done throughout the week.
- Plus/minus scores and GPAs will be tracked as the season goes along. An individual game's GPA will be weighted with how many snaps that player has on the field in the contest when figuring out a season long average.
With that, the first week of the 'Upon Further Review' series is over. On to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Twitter: @JoeB_WGR