Line woes encourage Bills' foes to blitz
Facing Jets' pressure, Buffalo converted just 1 of 11 third downs
Published: December 04, 2009, 9:48 pm
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Defenses facing the Buffalo Bills have a green light to blitz on third downs this season.
Bring the heat, because the Bills have trouble protecting the passer.
So it went in Thursday night's 19-13 loss to the New York Jets in Toronto. The Jets blitzed relentlessly on third downs. The Bills could not give quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick enough time to throw downfield. The Bills' offense hurried up off the field.
The Bills converted just 1 of 11 third-down situations.
"They had our number on third downs with the different pressures they were bringing and still getting double teams on our receivers," said Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. "We had a hard time with it."
For the season, the Bills are converting just 26 percent of their third downs. That's the worst rate for a Bills team since 1997, when the Bills converted just 25 percent.
Only five teams in the last 20 years in the NFL have converted worse than 26 percent for a full season. The last team to do it was the 2005 San Francisco 49ers, who converted 24.02 percent. The Bills' next opponent, Kansas City, is even worse than Buffalo this season on third downs. The Chiefs are converting what would be a record-low 22.7 percent.
Third-down results are a combination of a lot of factors.
But one thing remains constant with the Bills this season: The offense is being held hostage by sub-par play at offensive tackle.
Left tackle Demetrius Bell missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee. That forced Jonathan Scott, whose best position is right tackle, to start on the left side. Scott only had six NFL starts before this season. Kirk Chambers, who has not played up to expectations as a reserve player this year, started at right tackle. But Chambers sprained his left ankle midway through the game, which pushed rookie Jamon Meredith into the right tackle spot.
"We're very thin at a lot of different positions on this team," said receiver Lee Evans. "It's tough not to have consistent people in every week. But the guys who are in are fighting like crazy."
"It's the way this year has been," said center Geoff Hangartner. "It's frustrating, but there's nothing you can do. Kirk got dinged up a little bit. He's a tough guy. If he could have played, he'd have been out there. But there's not a whole lot you can do in that situation."
"It showed in our protection, and it showed in our inability to run the ball effectively in the second half," said coach Perry Fewell. "Those guys are going to keep working. We're going to keep working as a coaching staff."
The Jets' tactic of sending more rushers than the opponent has blockers on one side of the line worked to near perfection against the Bills.
Fitzpatrick was sacked three times and was forced to scramble five other times.
He did not have time to wait for receivers to get open downfield.
"Fitz didn't have enough time to step back there and get the ball to us," said running back Fred Jackson.
"It was frustrating all around," Fitzpatrick said. "Some of it was just them out-scheming us and bringing guys we couldn't block. That was an issue [Thursday] but it wasn't our only issue."
The Bills' last eight third-down situations against the Jets all were third-and-8 plays or longer.
On the final one, a third-and-12 from the Jets' 14, Fitzpatrick tried to hit Josh Reed on a slant, but Jets cornerback Lito Sheppard read the play and easily broke it up.
"It was a quick slant on the outside," Fitzpatrick said. "They brought pressure. They had a good defense on where it was basically one on one with the corner. The corner had inside leverage, and we didn't get it completed."
The Bills' players had Friday off and also are off this weekend. They will reconvene on Monday to prepare for next week's game at Kansas City. The only two injuries reported after the game were to Chambers (ankle) and linebacker Chris Draft (neck). Perry Fewell said Friday he expected both would be OK.
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