By Tim Schmitt
Notes collected from the weekly DVR rewind of Sunday’s Bills game, which cut off the last two plays and the winning field goal. My mistake for thinking four hours would be enough to get the whole thing in.
• An interesting note was made by Mike Lombardi of National Football Post, who said last week that the Bills aren’t poorly coached, but have simply been constructed all wrong.
Lombardi said the Bills typically go for undersized players, and that’s why they don’t hold up through a whole season. That theory makes more sense than the Bills simply having an incredibly bad string of luck over the past two years.
Even the backups the Bills bring in to play for injured starters look undersized, especially on defense.
For example, the Jets ran the ball easily on Sunday once they were able to get past the front four. When Leon Washington broke off a long run in the first quarter, it was because undersized defensive back Reggie Corner tried to fill the gap and couldn’t make a tackle. Later, Ashlee Palmer had a similar problem on Thomas Jones’ first of two monster runs. But on the second, which resulted in a 71-yard TD, 6-foot-5, 305-pound guard Alan Faneca drilled Keith Ellison, freeing Jones. As Ellison turned away, Faneca gave him a love tap on the back that planted the 230-pound linebacker into the turf.
While Lombardi’s criticism is a valid one, the coaching style is the reason the team was constructed this way. Perry Fewell’s Tampa 2 hopes to get faster, smaller players in space, chasing the ball.
It’s tough to make tackles from a hospital bed, though.
• One guy on defense who isn’t undersized is Marcus Stroud. Not coincidentally, just about every time Kyle Williams or Spencer Johnson makes a big play, the tape shows that Stroud was double-teamed. Give credit to both Williams and Johnson for taking advantage of the arrangement — John McCargo, for example, hasn’t used Stroud’s presence to much benefit.
But while the big tackle’s not getting great pressure in the backfield on every play, he’s usually helping others who are.
• Here’s what happened on the play that led to New York’s only sack of the day, and to Trent Edwards’ demise.
The Bills lined up with a tight end on each side, and Shawn Nelson on the left side went out to the flat in a pattern. The other tight end, Derek Fine, got beat by Calvin Pace, so trouble started early.
But then as the lineman engaged in blocks, a pair of linebackers, Bart Scott and David Harris, came on a delayed blitz up the middle. Freddy Jackson was the lone back, and when he chose to pickup Scott, Harris came clean.
Harris and Pace met at Edwards, and crushed him the process.
Give Dan Fouts credit for pointing out that the hit on Edwards was more malicious than a number of those that have drawn personal foul calls this season.
• While we’re on the subject of the broadcast, Dick Enberg’s description of a pre-game talk with Bills coach Dick Jauron was downright morbid.
Enberg said Jauron looked gaunt, like a coach who was in week 16 or 17, rather than No. 6. He added that “you wonder how much sleep the coaches get,” then summed up with an odd closing.
“Until you retire and then close the eyes for good.”
Apparently, it’s coaching — or death.
Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.
