COMMENTARY
Bob DiCesare: Bills' offense produces yawns across the nation
The Buffalo Bills treated America to their unique interpretation of offensive football Monday night, which surely sent a nation of football fans channel surfing for relief.
Admit it. This Buffalo passing game has become unwatchable. Opponents negate Lee Evans and dare the Bills to beat them with James Hardy, or Roscoe Parrish, or with 22 flat passes to running backs Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. It's like watching an inchworm take a 3•-hour stroll. Uphill.
Trent Edwards rarely looks more than 10 yards downfield anymore, pressured or not. He surrendered any inclination he might have had for venturing deeper into the secondary after throwing three first-quarter interceptions against the Cleveland Browns, one off a deflection, the other two off inexplicably poor decisions.
How confident is the coaching staff in Edwards? With the game on the line Edwards threw a 22-yard strike to tight end Robert Royal, moving the ball to the Cleveland 34. Then the coaches took the ball right out of the hands of their quarterback. Three straight runs by Lynch left Rian Lindell with a 47-yard field goal attempt into the wind that he hung out to the right, leaving the Bills with a 29-27 loss that completed their backpedal from 5-1 all the way down to .500.
The best thing to be said about the Bills offense this night is that Marshawn Lynch played his heart out. The kid is nothing if not tough, determined and irrepressible. His first touchdown goes down as an 18-yard touchdown pass from Edwards, but let's be serious. It was another one of those balls thrown into the flat that offered little in the way of potential until Lynch shook off a tackle attempt by Andra Davis near the 15, made a serious neck-snapping cut near the 10 and willed his way into the end zone with two defenders in tow.
Lynch was back at it again in the fourth quarter, with the Bills in rally mode. He broke off a 28-yard run, again carrying defenders on his back. That torpedo set up a 1-yard plunge by Edwards for the touchdown that put the Bills ahead, 27-26, with just over three minutes to play.
Lynch's numbers were eye-openers. He carried 23 times for 119 yards and caught another 10 passes for 58 yards. Running mate Jackson added 60 yards on 12 rushes. Granted, the Bills weren't exactly up against one of the NFL's premier defenses. The Browns entered ranked 27th out of 32 teams in yards allowed and 26th against the run. Then again, the Bills were averaging a scant 90 yards a game on the ground, an average good for 28th in the league. You could say it was pretty much an even match-up, one that resulted in a resounding victory for Lynch and the offensive line.
Conversely, Edwards was awful. His longest completion was the 22-yard pass to Royal. He continues zeroing in on his primary receiver right off the snap. He's become an easier read than Dr. Seuss, a quarterback whose tendencies have become utterly predictable. Whatever happened to that cerebral presence that distinguished him from the outset and relegated J.P. Losman to the bench?
If there's anything to be offered on Edwards' behalf it's that recent game plans have made no effort to stretch opposing defenses and wedge Evans into the mix. The franchise receiver who had two catches last week against New England managed not a one against the Browns. I'm not even sure Edwards threw a pass in his direction. Something's amiss if a week's worth of game-planning fails to get the ball into the hands of a team's most dynamic offensive weapon.
Doubtless the Bills miss the injured Josh Reed, their reliable possession receiver. But he's a No. 3 wideout, a piece of the overall puzzle. His absence fails to explain why Edwards and the offensive coaches can't get Evans so much as one touch against a defense as porous as Cleveland's.
Maybe we should have seen this coming during all those early wins that were the product of no more than a functional offense. But it's evident, with each passing week, that there are woeful shortcomings in the Buffalo attack. And on Monday night an entire nation bore witness.
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