–You always hear the term “Game manager” mentioned when it comes to certain quarterbacks. For the most part, it can be construed as an insult. Mark Sanchez seems to be a game manager. Jake Delhomme use to be on that par. Big Ben was when he first entered the league. Last year, there were times where we viewed Fitzpatrick as being that type of player. Wins against the Browns, Dolphins and Lions were mostly due to the team not making mistakes. It surely wasn’t about Fitzpatrick making plays. He was a game manager.
Well, you can screw the game manager notion. Fitz has become a gunslinger. Sure, he’ll bounce a pass here and there, but nothing seems to waver his confidence. The guy has ice in his veins. The newest thing that impresses me is how in each of his first two games, Fitzpatrick struggled from the start but was able to rally and play lights out football when it mattered. In the first half of both games, Fitzpatrick was 19 of 35 for 227 yards, two touchdowns and 1 interception, while completing only 54% of his passes. However, Fitzpatrick’s first half struggles haven’t deterred him from performing lights out in the second half. He’s completed 72% of his passes and has five touchdowns in the 2nd stanza. Nothing seems to phase this guy. Chan Gailey is throwing the kitchen sink when it comes to his playbook. Even with Fitz struggling at times, Gailey and his QB don’t care. Scale back the playbook? Forget it. They are going live and die by the pass.
–Who the hell is David Nelson!? Really? How did 31 GMs miss a chance to draft this guy last year. He’s just another one of those guys who was just brought in as a camp body last year. Now, the guy is blossoming in front of our eyes with his team-leading 14 catches. For everyone who thought the Bills would miss Lee Evans, consider that #83 didn’t reach the 14-catch plateau last year until week 5. Yeah, Nelson is making a number of fans forget about Lee. The 2nd year pro out of Florida is a great route runner and has been money in the slot.
–Real gutsy performance by Stevie Johnson. You can tell he struggled running routes because of his groin injury. He started off sluggishly by dropping a couple of passes thrown his way, but he settled down in the 2nd half and burned the Raiders with comeback routes. For whatever reason, Oakland decided to play 10-yards off the line of scrimmage, which doesn’t make much sense when the Bills love running those 8-10 yard routes. As I’ve stated it before, I think Stevie can and will be a legit #1 option in the NFL.
–Did you know that Fitzpatrick has been sacked only 24 times in his last 15 starts?
–I think the Bills need to give raises to half of their offensive players. Hell, I’m fine with Demetrius Bell getting extended! OK, I’m exaggerating, but you get the point.
–The Bills didn’t have a pass play of over 20 yards against Oakland.
–Fitzpatrick now has 33 touchdowns in his last 16 starts.
–Fred Jackson has over 100 yards in total offense in 7 of his last 10 games.
–I always talk about how Fred Jackson’s vision is probably his best attribute, but the guy can pound defenses. He doesn’t seem like a bruiser, but when he gets a full head of steam (or runs angry), he’s extremely hard to bring down.
–I’ll echo the sentiment that CJ Spiller had his best day as a pro. Normally, CJ would dance when given the ball and get corralled in the backfield for a loss, but instead, he just found the hole and burst right through it. That’s all he has to do. Just hit the hole hard. There’s no denying that CJ has talent, but he needs to look at the film more and just follow his blocks. Anyway, it was good to finally see him play well.
—Besides Nick Barnett, the defense was a complete disaster. It looked a whole lot like last year with the unit. The Raiders could have done anything they wanted. Sure, the Bills contained McFadden in the 2nd half, but it was due in large part to Oakland and the Bills being involved in an aerial shootout. You can NOT give up over 300 yards to Jason fricken Campbell. You can’t have some guy named Moore beat you for 50-yard bombs. You can’t give up over 450 yards in offense. This is the Oakland Raiders here. Sure, they aren’t as bad as they were in years past, but that’s way too much.
—Someone may want to check out some milk cartons because Shawne Merriman is missing. In his last 9 starts, Merriman has zero sacks. I watched him closely yesterday, and the Raiders seemed to have him blocked 1-on-1 most of the time. He didn’t do anything. Only time I noticed him was when he got mugged on the final play of the game. I hate to sound like a cynic, but sooner or later, the offense will probably slow down a bit and they are going to have to count on their defense to make plays.
— Maybe he should wear Nate Clements’ old jersey number? Whether he’s wearing #28 or #21, Leodis McKelvin continues to get burned. Again, he wasn’t getting burned by Randy Moss but some guy with dreads named Moore. I don’t know what else there is to say about him, but he seems really lost out there. Unfortunately, the Bills really have no choice, but to play him because of the injury to McGee. I wonder if Dick Jauron will take the blame for McKelvin’s play since he was the coach who drafted him. Hell, he took the blame after the Browns lost to the Bengals.
—I’m not sure if Donald Jones will be a legit #2 option, but he has a future as a cornerback. Maybe he needs to teach McKelvin.
—Whoever is wearing Josh Reed’s number (Martin), probably shouldn’t be wearing any jersey after this week.
—Really tough break for Roscoe Parrish. I still wouldn’t rule out the team extending him. I mean, they did extend Shawne Merriman after he practiced 15 minutes last year. I still think Parrish can thrive in the Bills offense, but he’s just too fragile. If I were the GM, I’d say goodbye after this season.
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