Game Review and Game Balls: Bills at Jets

On Sunday afternoon the Buffalo Bills took care of business and did what you are supposed to do to a 1-6 (now 1-7) team: they demolished them. It’s been a long time since the Bills provided us with a game that we were pretty much worry free for the entire second half, but that’s exactly what they treated us to on Sunday. Heading into the bye week at 5-3, the Buffalo Bills are feeling pretty good about themselves, but know that they still have work to do if they want to ultimately make the playoffs.

The Bills defeated the Jets 43-23, in a game in which they could have won by 50 points. The Jets did everything they could to make the Bills day as easy as possible, turning the ball over 6 times, and forgetting how to play defense for the majority of the afternoon. If the Bills had taken a few more chances on offense and not run the ball on first and second down nearly every series, they could have scored 60 points. Kyle Orton threw for 4 touchdown passes out of just 10 completions on the day. He only attempted 17 passes and still threw for nearly 250 yards. Sammy Watkins had 157 yards receiving on only 3 catches. Not much more could have gone right on Sunday for the Bills.

The Bills defense made a great showing for themselves on Sunday no matter who the Jets had at quarterback. After Michael Vick initially replaced Geno Smith he had some early success, but after Jim Schwartz made the necessary adjustments at halftime, Vick was shut down too. The Bills defensive line racked up 4 more sacks, and were constantly it the backfield making Smith and Vick hurry and scurry into trouble. When you force 4 fumbles and recover 2, you know you are doing a good job at pressuring the quarterback.

On Friday in my game preview post I wrote that I thought the Jets would have at least one turnover because they would be trying to force the ball to Percy Harvin. That is exactly what happened on one of Geno Smith’s early interceptions, and I am not all that surprised that it happened. The Jets offensive coaching staff is laughable, and it was obvious that they focused their entire offensive game plan around Harvin. It was laughable. Percy Harvin is talented, but he is not nearly as good as his self imposed reputation and the Jets are just the type of poorly run organization to buy into the hype and fall on their face because of it.

At the end of the day, the Bills are 5-3 at the bye week. It feels good knowing that the Bills took care of business against a bad football team, and having a winning record 8 weeks into the season. The Bills are right in the thick of it, and if they continue to improve and take care of business in the second half of the season, we will be seeing Bills playoff football for the first time since 1999.

Now, let’s hand out our game balls for the Bills dominating 43-23 victory:

1) Kyle Orton: Nathaniel Hackett called a bad game on offense on Sunday. He squandered a lot of scoring opportunities by continuing to try and run up the middle on first and second down. Despite that Orton threw for 4 touchdowns and continued to get better and more in synch with the Bills receivers. Most importantly, on a day in which the Jets quarterbacks turned the ball over 6 times, Orton had a turnover free game.

2) Preston Brown: The Bills promoted Brown to starter over Keith Rivers and he made them look like geniuses right away. He finished with 9 tackles (8 solo) and an interception on Sunday. Preston Brown was all over the field on Sunday and looks every bit the part of a starting NFL linebacker. Great game for the rookie from Louisville.

3) Kyle Williams: Williams was in the backfield all day long for the Bills, finishing with 3 tackles, 2 quarterback hits, and 1.5 sacks. Not only did Williams look fully healthy, he was also a force in the middle of the Bills defensive line and helped lead the charge all day long. Great game for the veteran.

I would have loved to give Sammy Watkins a game ball, but I just can’t because of the foolish mistake that he made on his 84 yard catch. There is no reason for the gloating or for being caught on the play. Sammy should have ended up in the end zone on the play, and luckily the Bills scored a touchdown 2 plays later or we would still be talking about this today. Sammy is a smart kid and I am 100% certain that we won’t be seeing that from him again anytime soon.

It was nice to relax and not worry for most of the game, and it’s even nice to be 5-3 halfway through the season. The Bills can make this season a great one if they can fix a few issues on the bye week and get ready for a tough game against the Chiefs in two weeks. But for now, let’s all relish and enjoy a dominating Bills performance over a divisional rival.