The Bills are legit! Well, let’s hold on just a moment. In rather typical Bills fashion, they followed up their statement game of knocking off the Patriots by finding a way to fall to the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Cincinnati, though, has been showing a lot of talent and despite being far from the finished product, there is a lot to like about the play of Andy Dalton, if just because it was enough to get them over the line in this game.
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The Bengals now have PFF’s top-graded defense, as well as the NFL’s, and have some enticing weapons on offense, and may just be better than you think.
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Buffalo – Three things of note
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1) Fitzpatrick came down to earth
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After the start to the season that had some getting a little carried away, Ryan Fitzpatrick was brought down to earth in this game. His numbers weren’t particularly dire, but he did look unable to simply hit receivers at will the way he had been doing in the first three games. Things got worse for him because the Bengals were able to do something nobody else had yet this year – generate some pressure. Fitzpatrick had a QB rating of just 45.8 on plays where he saw pressure and only 78.0 on plays where he was blitzed.
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2) Kyle Williams was handled
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That is not something you will see often. Kyle Williams (-1.2) managed just a single pressure and a batted pass in the game. Coming from 53 snaps on defense, that’s just not a good return from a player of his dominance, especially when he was at fault for a pair of penalties. He still showed the ability to explode into gaps, but was all too often ridden past the point of attack by the Bengals' blockers, and was really a non-factor in the game. The common wisdom was that the addition of Dareus alongside him would allow Williams to be even more destructive than in 2010, but his first quarter of the new season has been anything but impressive.
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3) Fred Jackson is putting together a season
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He may only have had 66 yards at a 3.9 average, but Fred Jackson (+1.6 rushing) was again a force for the Bills, and was definitely the player the Bengals were most concerned about in the game. Jackson forced another four missed tackles to take his tally for the season to 17, and his +14.2 rating leads all running backs in 2011. Jackson was always a capable runner and receiver, but there was a time when he struggled badly in pass-protection, curtailing the snaps he saw on offense. So far this season, in 37 plays staying at home to block, Jackson has yet to allow pressure on Fitzpatrick. This is why he has played over 87% of the Bills snaps in 2011.
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Cincinnati – Three things of note
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1) Andrew Whitworth is the new Jake Long
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Jake Long had taken over for Joe Thomas as the best left tackle in football, but now there’s a new kid in town. Andrew Whitworth’s level of play has consistently improved since the day he moved from guard out to left tackle, and with the drop-off in play from Thomas and Long, he might just be the best blindside tackle in football at the minute. His +3.7 grade is a product of allowing just a single pressure from 40 snaps in pass protection, and also routinely locking onto Shawn Merriman and taking him for a ride in the run game. If Whitworth maintains this level of play – and there’s been nothing to suggest he won’t – we’ve got a new man atop the totem pole.
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2) Carlos Dunlap is beginning to dominate
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He’s certainly had the time to get himself ready, as the Bengals seemed incredibly reluctant to bench Robert Geathers for the clearly superior Carlos Dunlap last season. Even now, Dunlap has only actually started one game, this one, despite playing 135 snaps to Geathers’ 58 this season. Maybe they don’t want to disrespect Geathers, who has been a loyal servant to the Bengals for years, but players understand this is a business, and one driven on bottom lines, and the bottom line here is Dunlap is much better, and he’s earned it. Dunlap’s +6.1 PFF grade against the Bills was his best of the young season and came from five pressures, a batted pass, and a defensive stop. Given the pressure he’s been generating it’s quite remarkable that he has yet to notch himself a sack.
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3) Pat Sims letting the side down.
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The Bengals D has been in fine form this season but one player underachieving at the moment is defensive tackle Pat Sims. For a man of Sims' … how shall we say? … dimensions, he really does get turned around and driven all around the point of attack at will sometimes, and there really shouldn’t be any excuse for it. Sims scored a -2.0 in this game from just 20 snaps on defense and the Bengals need him to up his game.
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Game Notes
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• Much was made of the fairytale story of Jesse Holley, of reality TV fame, catching passes for the Cowboys. Andrew Hawkins was on the same show, and caught his first NFL passes in this game. Also got a +1.3 grade from his six snaps of action.
• Andy Dalton went deep (20+ yards in the air) six times in this game, completing four of them for 140 yards and a TD.
• Andra Davis and Nick Barnett combined for 112 snaps on D in this game, and blitzed just twice between them (both Barnett.)
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PFF Game Ball:
Carlos Dunlap, DE, Cincinnati Bengals
Disrupted Fitzpatrick all day long, maybe enough to finally get the starting gig?
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