Up-tempo Hurts Bills In 1st Game

Sep 8, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel (3) hands off to running back C.J. Spiller (28) against the New England Patriots during the first half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Patriots beat the Bills 23-21. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

With the first game in the books one thing is for sure we know how this team is going to play. A quick up-tempo game with a lot of plays trying to wear down their opponent. Today however in their first game of the season the play calling may have hurt them losing 23-21 to the Patriots.

During the offseason the up-tempo offense was talked about a lot and that we would be seeing it in action come week 1. The thought of wearing down the defense is great but you have to get some first downs in the series or you will be seeing yourself to the sideline often. The Bills had four drives that were three and out and that was costly. Once that happens not only aren’t you scoring points but now rushing your defense back to the field that are perhaps still winded from the previous drive. Aside from that the clock doesn’t necessary move along as you would like it too especially if you were winning and that’s what we had today. The Bills leading later in the 4th quarter continued to run the hurry up. The only problem was they were not able to produce a 1st down and take any time off the clock. Giving that valuable time to a QB Brady in this situation was something this team didn’t want to do. Possibly running the ball even three times would have been enough to kill the clock and/or even had the Pats use their timeouts and made it that much more difficult. Being the first game it’s a learning thing for the players and the coaches so I think they’ll work it out but what a way to basically give away a big first win.

In no way am I saying this team played horribly as I think they did a very good job against a favorite every year in the AFC. The only problems I seen were penalties, some coaching and also the turnovers. In time this will get corrected and if this is what we’re going to be watching for years to come I’m ok with it. The coaching of this team will fix all of the issues as they are not going to put up with it. Let’s see next week as the Bills will take on the Panthers at the Ralph.