Game Recap: Preseason Week 2 (Buffalo at Denver)

Offensive line sputters again as the Bills lose 24-10

   Last week in their first preseason game, Buffalo showed just enough to give fans some hope for the upcoming season.  The pass rush was excellent.  The starting offense moved the ball well.
   But in typical Bills fashion, the team followed up their promising start with a stinker for the ages.  Saturday night's contest against the Broncos was just about as bad as they get.
   Of course, it's still to early to count 2011 out as a complete loss.  But it's really hard to watch a team struggle so badly - especially against one of only two teams that ended with a worse record last year.  Here are some of my observations from the game.

Negatives:

1)  The offensive line continues to be our Achilles heel...
   During the week, the Bills coaching staff reshuffled the starting five (most notably, benching Andy Levitre) in hopes of pulling some better play out of the unit.  Instead, the line played worse and was responsible for killing multiple drives in the first half. 
   In his four series at the helm, Ryan Fitzpatrick had very little time to throw amidst a collapsing pocket and untouched blitzers running free around the corner.  The running backs had similar problems, dodging tacklers in the backfield and searching for non-existent holes.  Left tackle Demetrius Bell was easily the worst of the group, getting abused by pass rushers Elvis Dumervil and rookie Von Miller on almost every snap.
   Shuffling the personnel along the line won't work, because there is simply too little talent for coaches to work with.  The Bills have been satisfied using late round picks and snatching up reject veterans off waivers to fill the line, and it's definitely coming back to bite them.

2)   The secondary fails its test...
   It's been hard to judge the Bills cornerbacks and safeties since Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey came on the scene.  Last year, opponents were more than happy to run the ball down our throats, rather than test the secondary. 
   With our run defense playing much better, the Broncos decided to air it out on Saturday night.  Quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn looked like superstars, easily hitting their wide recivers open in the middle of the field for big gains.
   To be fair, the Bills ran a very vanilla defense all night, sending almost no blitzes and often sitting back in coverage.  But it was still an ugly performance, with Leodis McKelvin and the recently re-signed Drayton Florence looking especially bad on the night.

3)   Another bad night for the quarterback...
    All eyes are on Fitzpatrick this season.  Can he shut up his critics and become the Bills long-term answer under center?  Or is he truly suited to a backup role, like most observers believe?
   The bearded one's biggest problem is accuracy, and once again, he was dreadful in that area on Saturday night.  Passes were high, low and behind receivers.  He often forced throws into coverage and lacked the touch to test Denver's defense deep.
   I'm expecting Bills fans to be on the "Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley, Landry Jones" bandwagon pretty early this season.

Positives:

1)  Our runners definitely have the talent....
   There wasn't much good that could have been pulled from the Broncos game.  But on a few scattered plays, second year back C.J. Spiller and veteran Fred Jackson showed why they are capable of being dangerous weapons for the offense.
   Spiller had nice runs of 5 and 14 yards and showed some good vision on the first drive.  He still loses too much on broken plays (-8 on a whiffed block by Bell), but those first couple scampers were encouraging. 
   Because of the atrocious blocking, Jackson remains the better player for Buffalo's offense, due to his ability to get something out of nothing (it's the same reason he was better than Marshawn Lynch).

Extra Points:

>>  Sorry to say it, but the Bills are definitely going to miss Lee Evans. 
   In only three quarters of play for the starting unit, it's obvious that the field has shortened tremendously for Buffalo's passing game.  Fitzpatrick seems only capable of converting quick slants and screen passes.  Defenses will adjust to that quickly. 
   None of the highly touted "young" talent - Donald Jones, David Nelson, Marcus Easley, Naaman Roosevelt - has stepped up to fill his shoes.

>>  The first-string run defense has been pretty good at the point of attack, with the defensive line getting a good push upfield (lots of credit to Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams) and stuffing most plays between the tackles. 
   However, the ends and linebackers are still getting pushed inside and caught out of position, especially on outside runs and screens.  The Bills still lack talent at these positions, and that will likely limit their overall improvement.