Buffalo Rising Online

Oct 24th 2005, 11:00am By Tatonka

I don't think I have ever seen such an obvious display of one team imposing their will on another like I did yesterday. The Raiders basically said 'we are going to run the ball and you cannot stop us.' Even on Oakland's last drive of the game which lasted over 8 minutes, the Bills knew they were going to run the ball and STILL could not do anything about it. Has Pat Williams departure proven to be more devastating than anyone could have imagined? Was Takeo Spikes the entire heart of this defense? Who are these guys on the defensive line and what have they done with our boys?

The easiest job in the NFL has got to be offensive coordinator while preparing for the Buffalo Bills. "OK guys, just run the ball to the right, run the ball to the left and then just run it up the middle." "Coach, what if we have a third and long"? "Trust me guys, just keep running it right at em'- these guys don't have the worst run defense in the league for nothing."

I am not quite sure which was more upsetting yesterday, the holes that the raiders were running through or the fact that Mularkey gave the ball to Shelton on 4th and one (his first carry in 5 years.)

Well, we do know one thing; the major problem on this team has nothing to do with the quarterback position. If you want to blame anyone for not throwing the ball downfield, blame the coaches for not even noticing that the Raiders secondary is a bunch of rookies. Holcomb has done everything that has been asked of him. Bennie Anderson is absolutely dreadful and the rest of the line is not too far ahead of him. It is basically a toss up to see which line needs more help right now. Why is McGahee still not getting the ball? I don't know about you but this coaching staff is once again leaving everyone scratching their heads. Who are they kidding? Mike Mularkey might be a great guy but he is not capable of being a head coach in the NFL. The Bills were down by 14 points with 8 minutes to go in the game. If Buffalo had a defense, I can understand punting the ball. Guess what, we don't and the game was punted away along with the ball.

I just don't understand how this defense could have fallen so hard so fast. If you thought the Bills teams in the past drove you crazy, just try and figure this one out. These guys have a huge mountain to climb and unfortunately, the next step is taken in Foxboro! Everybody knows what needs to be fixed on this team but the problem is that nobody knows how to fix it. If the Bills know what is coming at them and still cannot stop it, where does the blame lie? The only thing that I can think of is that the Bills just don't have the talent to stop a halfway decent running back in this league. If there was a solution to this problem, don't you think it would have been fixed by now?

On a more positive note, Buffalo seems to have taken a step forward (even if small) with the offense spreading the ball around to numerous players. Ryan Lindell continues to be stellar and gets my vote for the most improved player on this team. I am surprised that Buffalo is able to get any points on the board when the offensive line continues to be dominated. There is still no separation in the AFC East and the only thing you can do at this point is go back to the drawing board. It is not too late to turn things around with more than half the season left. The major problem is that the Bills are under 500 after 7 games and that was the EASY part of the schedule. I find it highly unlikely that a wild card spot is an option at this point and if the word playoffs are to even be whispered, the Patriots will have something to say about that next Sunday night. If I was to give any advice to our boys right now, I would probably say something to the affect of "in 6 days from now, the bell tolls for thee"! Everyone is saying that the Patriots have fallen back a few steps but in order for that to matter, doesn't someone actually have to take a couple steps forward. It is out there for the taking and it has become all too apparent that nobody else is capable of grabbing it.