Bills Offense Fumbles and Miscues Early as the team drops to 1-1
by LBzrule57 | 7 years ago | 0 Comments
After the week 1 win vs the Dolphins, the Bills were eager to hit the field against the Cincinnati Bengals. Their eagerness turned to frustration early as they just put the football on the ground often. The offense shot itself in the foot on the first two drives. On the first drive Zay Jones coughed up a fumble that was returned for a TD that put the Bengals up 14-0. On the next drive, Lorenzo Taliaferro fumbled on the Bengals 1 yard line to take points off the board. On the next drive the Bills offensive line got called for three straight holding penalties WITHOUT the line being on aggressive. It was a case in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong early.
The offensive coordinator decided to mail it in because he thought the game was out of reach and decided to keep other aspects of the offense off film. But, rather than completely give up the team kept some of the offense in play and fought their way back into the game.
The defense had an alignment issue early that resulted in a Marquis Lee TD on the outside. Definitely something the coaches and players can easily address. In any case the Bills dropped Andy Dalton 6 times and picked him off twice. Here are some of the highlights.
2nd year Free Agent Pick up Quinton Dunbar gave the team life when it was on life support by picking off a Dalton Pass to the left flat.
Dunbar took the pass down the sideline, shook one offensive player and scored a touchdown.
2nd Year Defensive End Matthew Ambrose had 1.5 QB tackles this game. This one came on a max protect where he got passed Tyler Eifort to drop Dalton for the Defense.
Finally, redeeming himself from the alignment issue earlier, Gordon Klein locked up AJ Green who tried to Moss him on this play. But Klein waved like Mutumbo and tipped the football in the air.
This gave trailing rookie middle linebacker Solomon Dunndee a chance to track the football.
And pick it off to give the offense another chance.
The Bills are disappointed in the loss but there were some good things to build on from this game. Two of the touchdowns given up by the defense are easily correctable. One was the result of a miscommunication where the Middle linebacker was required to drop deep in the hole but he took a seam flat assignment instead. The other as mentioned was an alignment issue that would have been understandable if the team based aligned their defense but they didn't. But it'll get corrected and the team looks to get back on track. Next week they have a tough division game against the New York Jets.
