On the decisive play of Sunday’s
35-34 giveback loss to Tennessee,
Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt’s defensive call placed two
of the 11 players at his disposal off the field of play entirely.
On Buffalo’s most important offensive snap of the game, Ryan
Fitzpatrick needed to pick up an all-but-clinching first down if possible, but
moreover, to avoid a turnover at all costs. So he threw a risky pass incredibly
poorly.
Spending a week off before returning to the two most
imposing dates on their remaining schedule is depressing enough. Doing so
secure in the knowledge that Wannstedt and Fitzpatrick will each get nine more
games to demonstrate such incompetence is unfathomable.
At least Fitzpatrick had his best game of the season up
until the moment he decided to fling the ball in the general direction of
Donald Jones. He hit his receivers in stride, rocketed touchdowns to Jones and
Stevie Johnson to give the Bills a 34-28 lead and generally avoided the sort of
ineptitude that exemplified his performance for the first six weeks. For 57
minutes, anyway.
The same could not be said of Wannstedt. Through the first
half and the start of the second, his defense looked every bit as pitiful as it
had in its historically permissive outings against New England and San
Francisco.
Chris Johnson, the bane of Titans fans and fantasy-football owners
everywhere, ran like it was a non-contact training-camp drill. And for most of
the day, it was. He piled up 139 yards on just nine carries, including an
83-yard touchdown sprint that made it 14-7, Tennessee.
Buffalo finally slowed Johnson in the third quarter, doing
just enough to give Fitzpatrick’s offense a chance to take the lead. After his
interception, though, it all fell apart again.
As bad as the defensive call on the winning touchdown was
(and we’ll get back to that a minute), Wannstedt’s strategic instincts were
just as bad earlier in the drive. With Tennessee facing third-and-1 from
Buffalo’s 43-yard line and just more than two minutes remaining, you would
think Wannstedt would have considered the possibility the Titans might send
their suddenly scorching runner straight up the middle.
Apparently not.
With the Bills looking absolutely stunned at the
development, Johnson shot up the middle, cut to his right and motored 27 yards.
Still, after holding Tennesee to a single yard on the next three snaps, Buffalo
could still pull it out with one more stop.
Instead of trying to get to 37-year-old backup quarterback
Matt Hasselbeck, or at least jam up his receivers at the line, Wannstedt called
a defense that might have been appropriate if the Titans were at their own 16 –
a two-deep zone.
It is a defense made popular in large part because it makes
throwing downfield difficult, with both safeties hanging back to prevent a long
ball. The problem for Buffalo was that there wasn’t enough field remaining to
allow for a long throw, anyway.
The two safeties in question, George Wilson and Bryan Scott,
retreated into the end zone at the snap. Had Tennesee been focusing on picking
up the nine yards needed to pick up a first down, they would have been of
little help, too deep to make a play before the receiver crossed the goal line
or the imaginary yellow one. As it was, Hasselbeck – essentially working with
an 11-to-9 advantage, went for it all and the deep two proved equally useless,
frozen in place as Nate Washington raced by to catch the game-winner.
Of course, Wannstedt can’t be blamed for all Buffalo’s
defensive shortcomings.
Mario Williams had another paid afternoon off, registering all
of one solo tackle and one assist. On many snaps, he failed to even cross the
line of scrimmage, being held off by little more than some firm pushing by
Tennessee’s offensive tackles.
Wilson dropped an interception that would have won the game
two plays before being put out of position on the touchdown that won it.
Buffalo’s undersized-yet-slow linebackers were equally
ineffective against the run and pass.
And the term “shut-down” should never be used in a
non-ironic sense in the same sentence as cornerbacks Aaron Williams and Stephon
Gilmore.
Other than tackle Kyle Williams, naming a Buffalo defender
who had even a decent day is pretty tough.
Which brings us back to Wannstedt. He can’t play for his
defenders, but he is responsible for their preparation and focus, both of
which have appeared sorely lacking in Buffalo’s four losses. His passive
schemes and failure to make adjustments, like insisting on remaining in a
nickel defense while New England’s previously anonymous runners made like
All-Pros, have repeatedly put his unit in a position to fail. And fail it has,
again and again.
Wannstedt’s boss, Chan Gailey, didn’t exactly cover himself
in glory, either. Some of his decisions were questionable, from kicking the
extra point after Fitzpatrick’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Johnson at the end of
the third quarter to calling for just three running plays on Buffalo’s nine
offensive snaps while clinging to a six-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Those choices did not lose the game, however. Nor did
Fitzpatrick’s interception, as abysmally ill-timed as it was. Despite his
turnovers, and Gailey’s sideline shakiness, the Bills scored 34 points. When
you do that, you should win.
This one’s all on the defense. And the guy who runs it.
WWM MVP(S): Fitzpatrick may have earned this if not for the
pivotal pick, which is a bit like saying Napoleon might have retired undefeated
if he had just waited until spring to visit Russia.
So we’ll split it between Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller,
just as they split the burden of Buffalo’s offense for most of the day. The
two, each apparently fully recovered from their respective injuries, combined
to run for 141 yards and catch 14 of Fitzpatrick’s 27 completions for another
81. Their 222 combined yards from scrimmage was 26 more than Johnson, who had
easily his best performance since, well, the last time Tennessee played
Buffalo.
DOES DAN TANA KNOW ABOUT THIS? According to the incessant
promos during the CBS telecast, the network has a hit show – whatever that
means, in this era of streaming internet and narrow-casting cable networks –
called “Vegas.”
This should not be confused with (though the show’s
producers probably hope it will be) the 1970s private-eye series of the same
name. The main character in that one, played by the late Robert Urich, was
named for the owner of Dan Tana’s, a West Hollywood eatery known for its
Italian food and movie-industry clientele, as well as for being the place legendary
record producer Phil Spector dined before killing actress/hostess Lana Clarkson.
Not because he was a private eye in Las Vegas, or anything, but because the
creators of that show liked his name and his restaurant, and secured permission
to use the former.
I was there a few years back and saw Dabney Coleman having
dinner with a friend and their dates. He was a lot shorter than I expected.
Don’t really have a point here -- just wanted it to be known
that I once saw Dabney Coleman.
AND YOU CUT BRIAN MOORMAN BECAUSE? For the second straight
week, rookie punter Shawn Powell shanked a crucial punt, this time hooking his
only boot of the day 22 yards to give Tennessee the ball in Buffalo territory
with 5:33 remaining. Tennessee didn’t score on the ensuing possession, but
gained a field-position advantage that, along with Fitzpatrick’s interception
(hate to keep bringing that up, but … ) set up the winning touchdown.
The best punter the Bills have ever had, meanwhile,
registered a 49.3 gross average on four kicks for Dallas, two of which left
Carolina pinned inside its own 20-yard line. His net average, the area in which
Bills management evidently found him deficient, was a robust 48.3.
