Honestly, the Bills should be 3-2 after tonight. I’m still not sure what to make of this team, but I know they should poke their head above .500 when it’s all said and done. The Browns have won two in a row behind Tom Brady Quarterback University graduate Brian Hoyer, but I can’t see this Browns team continuing to play that well. This is not to say that the Bills are some type of Super Bowl caliber team but they have the weapons to beat a Browns team that traded away their best offensive weapon and started their third string quarterback.
Here’s the deal, last year I hated Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Gailey can’t be a Head Coach in the pros because he’s too loyal to his own coaches and unwilling (or at least it seemed) to hire people who actually knew what they were doing. However, he can run an offense and one of the things he did well was get CJ Spiller and FJax into space. He used screens, the pistol, slid the RBs outside in an attempt to find space for his weapons. So far this year Doug Marrone hasn’t done much in the way of screens and slotting out his running backs (that I’ve seen) and most of the run calls have been up the middle via the pistol. I’m not mad about it I just think we could be utilizing our talent a little bit better. Other than that on offense, I think we’ve done a good job in spurts but I’ve yet to see the “high powered no huddle offense” Marrone ran at Syracuse.
On Defense, we just need to protect our defensive backs, most notably Rogers. The guy can’t cover his own shadow yet we keep putting him in 1 on 1 situations with no safety help. It’s disgusting and frustrating to watch. Other than that, I’ve loved the constant pressure we’ve put on the quarterback and if we can get Gilmore and Byrd back sooner rather than later this team may just be able to do some really special things on defense.
Bottom line, it’ll be close because all Bills games are close at this point. However, they get a little seperation and this time they are able to keep it.
Prediction: Bills 24 Browns 13
Speaking of making plays on defense, Kiko Alonso won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for September. This is awesome because Kiko is awesome. He’s an active middle linebacker who has played just about every down of every game so far and has four interceptions and is tied for the league lead in tackles. So pumped I think I just went quarter chub. Time to bounce.