Ravens Beat Bills: Four Takeaways
By Dennis Moody
Tyrod Taylor looked timid and didn’t push the ball downfield
Tyrod Taylor looked like a rookie quarterback who was given an extremely limited playbook. The Bills offense was reminiscent of the old days under Dick Jauron when scoring double digits seemed like a noble feat.
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Missing, was the long downfield passes we got so used to seeing from Tyrod Taylor last year. Could it have been because Watkins was injured? Could it have been part of the gameplan? It’s hard to tell. One thing that’s not hard to tell is that it didn’t work. The Bills were the least productive offensive unit in the NFL after the first week with an embarrassing 160 total yards.
To emphasize how short the Bills were throwing, at one point in the game Tyrod Taylor was 5 of 6 with only nine yards passing. They need to put pressure on the defense by opening up the playbook and airing out the ball in order to free up the underneath patterns for their receivers and to prevent teams from stacking the box against the Bills running game which was tops in the league last year.
Taylor did have one play that particularly stood out which reminded us all why the Bills signed him. On a 3rd and 13 in the 2nd quarter, Taylor spun out of what should have been a sack and delivered a great 33-yard pass to Charles Clay down to the four-yard line on what would be the team’s only scoring drive of the day.
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Ultimately the first game of the season was a huge disappointment for Bills fans. The team has very little room for error this season with their tough schedule. They need to start racking up some wins and doing it fast if they want to have a chance of ending their playoff drought.