The Bills finally played in primetime this year as they kicked off week 10 against the New York Jets of Jersey. As with all Thursday Night Games, it was an extremely sloppy affair on both sides as numerous mistakes were made and it was a miracle either team scored. In the end, the Bills luckily came out of New Jersey with a win.
The Sexy Rexy Defense
Rex Ryan came to Buffalo and took a really good defense and turned it into an extremely mediocre one. This week, it seems Rex finally started to realize the problem and adjusted his scheme to better fit his personnel. With McKelvin back playing a hybrid position in the secondary, this has allowed Rex to be more aggressive with his front four instead of dropping them into coverage. The Jets defense for the most part was shut down as Fitzpatrick was missing passes left and right and the pressure was getting to him. The Bills finally started to force turnovers and those ended up being the difference.
However, the same mistakes the Bills defense has had still showed their ugly head. The screen game was a great success as Chris Ivory got some huge gains from it. The Bills tackling is still atrocious as numerous times they whiffed on tackles that ended up going for big games. They also aren’t blitzing as much as they should as it seems Rex is far too concerned about the quick passing game he’s trying to drop everyone into coverage. The slot corner also has been a liability as Robey was being forced to cover a guy twice his size which never ends well. Part of that is they still don’t have a healthy secondary with Aaron Williams out. The other part is Rex doesn’t know how to use talent and it shows.
Rambo…..First Blood Part 2
Bacarri Rambo has for the most part been a liability this year. He doesn’t know what to do half the time and his tackling is horrendous. With McKelvin back to play corner and safety, this allowed Rambo to go back to a situational role which he is a better fit for. He forced a huge fumble on special teams as well as on defense and also had a huge interception to seal it. This is his second great game with his first being last year against the Packers when he came up with two interceptions. Rambo still isn’t a complete safety and probably won’t, but when used correctly like he was Thursday, he could make plays.
The Shady and Dropkins Show
The Bills offense was coming off a huge game against the Dolphins as they were having great success on offense. However they were facing an actual defense this week and it showed. The pass game struggled to have any success as Tyrod struggled mightily and he was unable to get the deep ball going. Sammy Watkins had a night to forget as he dropped two easy passes and after that was hardly looked at until the final drive. The Jets defense had success blitzing and when they did blitz, good things happened. The Bills offense was for the most part shutdown Thursday and were lucky Fitzmagic was so tragic Thursday.
Now the good news which is Shady McCoy and Los Williams. Shady had a great game running as he was running circles around the Jets defense. Also for some reason the Jets decided to during the middle of the game to stop blitzing which was foolish as that was when the Bills finally had success throwing the ball and ended up getting what turned out to be the clinching TD. Los has scored a TD in every game he has played this year and if he got more carries, might be considered in the Rookie of the Year debate. Overall, the run game is finally clicking and it is going to be needed the rest of the year.
Thursday Night Games are always a sloppy affair and this week was no different. The Bills and Jets were both sloppy on offense as the defenses primarily won. Both teams had success running the ball and neither except for certain drives had success throwing the ball. In the end, the Jets lost this game due to their defense forgetting how to blitz and Fitztragic showing his face again. But a win is a win and the Bills will gladly take it.
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