Bills vs Patriots 12/20/09
Consistent with their lackluster performances of recent, the Bills put together another boring effort against a badly beat up New England Patriots team.  It has become quite a joke playing against the Patriots. Nobody in their right mind would ever bet on Buffalo to win one of these games heads up. You can’t help but wonder how bad the Patriots’ players laugh at coming into Buffalo to play. They certainly can’t be scared.
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Alex Van Pelt, whom I happen to really like, is definitely not cut out for the offensive coordinator position. The play calling on offense has been pretty much atrocious throughout this entire season. This game was no different. When it was third and long, the Bills would throw a five yard pass and end up punting. It seems that nobody is ever really in control of that offense.  They are busy running the wrong plays at the wrong times which inevitably lead to poor results. Anyone who knows football can see that the play calling has been a huge part of the problem with this offense.
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It is also becoming more evident than ever that Ryan Fitzpatrick does not have an accurate enough arm to hold a starting position in the NFL. As much as I like the guy’s ability to improvise on broken plays and his determination to win, you still need a quarterback who can throw the ball with accuracy. Otherwise your team will never reach the Promised Land. It will be interesting to see how the Bills plan their last two games now that they have been officially eliminated from playoff contention again. For the fifth year in a row, the Bills will end the season below 500.  You can’t help but think this team is starting to become a laughing stock in the NFL like the perennially bad Detroit Lions.
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Clock management at the end of the first half makes you wonder if Dick Jauron didn’t ruin the other coaches that worked under him while he was here. There is no reason the Bills should not have been calling timeouts once the Patriots were in the red zone. This was just another classic example of the crap we have had to put up with for years. How can you be a head coach in the NFL without having basic clock management skills? This is truly maddening.
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The one bright spot we have seen in the last few games is the much improved play of Paul Posluszny. He is finally becoming the linebacker that the Bills scouting staff thought he was capable of. If he had the support around him that he should have, I expect you would see more plays made by the linebacking core that we Bills fans have been so critical of.
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I hate to say it, but it will be nice if we get the clean sweep in coaching or even management that Ralph Wilson has hinted at giving us. This team is broken in many places and needs serious fixing. Today’s game was basically over when the Bills failed to score a touchdown on the opening drive. It was way too reminiscent of the failures we had watched all year long.