I don’t know about you but I watched this game in a high state of annoyance. \u00a0Thinking\u00a0about how we haven’t beaten this team in THREE YEARS and by laying two eggs in 2015 it\u00a0not only cost us the playoffs but maybe the division:<\/p>\n
– The multiple turnovers that gave them free points
\n– The awful special teams play
\n– The poor QB play
\n– A DLine that didn’t impact the final game of the year
\n– A smirking, fist pumping Ryan after the losses<\/p>\n
But thankfully after a crazy roller coaster ride we finally pulled out a win. \u00a0Let’s take\u00a0a look:<\/p>\n
– Solid bounce back game from Nick Folk after last week’s disaster.<\/p>\n
– Lachlan Edwards had more appearances holding for Folk than punts, which is fine by me.\u00a0Credit to him on pinning BUF inside the 20 with only 10 seconds left in the game.<\/p>\n
– Nothing special on punt or kick returns.<\/p>\n
– Kick coverage was solid except one time where Tate almost got out for a TD. \u00a0Credit to\u00a0Folk for slowing him down and Juston Burris for making the tackle.<\/p>\n
– The first drive of the game was brutal even though they scored a FG. \u00a0They must’ve put the\u00a0ball on the ground 3-4 times. \u00a0But other than that how can you complain with 500 yards of\u00a0offensive production. \u00a0Three 100 yard WR’s, a 350 yard QB and a 100 yard RB. \u00a0Credit to\u00a0Gailey for changing up the game plan and attacking vertically down the field.<\/p>\n
– Bowles made a mistake by not going for two points on our final TD it left us open to a loss.<\/p>\n
– The offense controlled the ball for 40 minutes, which softened up BUF defense and took\u00a0the teeth out of their pressure.<\/p>\n
– Ryan Fitpatrick deserves all the credit in the world because he played like a $12 million\u00a0QB tonight. \u00a0I’ve never seen him so accurate vertically down the field, BUF has excellent\u00a0CB’s in Gilmore & Darby so those were quality throws.<\/p>\n
– Excellent bounce backs by Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker playing up to the standards\u00a0we expect from them. \u00a0Thank goodness Marshall didn’t tear his ACL, somebody must’ve been\u00a0praying for him because that looked like a season ending injury.<\/p>\n
– Quincy Enunwa’s improvement has been incredible, the catches he’s making now he couldn’t\u00a0dream of making last year. \u00a0Enunwa is basically our TE except he lines up in multiple\u00a0positions. \u00a0And wasn’t it a pleasure that we could take advantage of the middle of a Ryan\u00a0defense for once. \u00a0After all those years of watching TE’s kill us.<\/p>\n
– The more I see Matt Forte the more he reminds me of Curtis Martin. \u00a0No “sexy” 30 yard runs\u00a0but just consistent gains that continue to move the chains.<\/p>\n
– Who didn’t have a deja vu moment when Jalin Marshall fumbled and BUF “scooped & scored”?\u00a0It reminded me of the Devin Smith fumble which cost us a TD last year. \u00a0But good job by\u00a0Marshall in not hanging his head because he made some nice catches after his mistake.<\/p>\n
– The OLine was under seige from BUF pressure early on but they hung in there and as the game\u00a0wore on they beat them up. \u00a0With two RT’s rotating and Wesley Johnson stepping in for James\u00a0Carpenter they did a good job maintaining continuity.<\/p>\n
– The big plays are killing us and they’ve got to stop. \u00a0BUF scored 24 points on the defense\u00a0and 14 of them were on big plays. \u00a0It’s painful to watch but Darrelle Revis is in decline,\u00a0seeing a #4\/#5 WR like Goodwin score a TD was tough.<\/p>\n
– The DLine didn’t have “sexy” stats but they did their job. \u00a0Two things led to this:
\n* BUF used a ton of max protection when throwing the ball
\n* The DLine didn’t run a ton of stunts for fear of opening up running lanes for Taylor.\u00a0They also did a good job keeping McCoy under control by taking away his cut back lanes.<\/p>\n
– Best CB’s tonight were Marcus Williams and Buster Skrine. \u00a0Nice INT by Williams but more\u00a0importantly he was better in coverage and tackling. \u00a0And Skrine had such good coverage that\u00a0he was challenged only once and he broke up a TD pass.<\/p>\n