The old saying is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm fairly certain Bills' win today over the Lions was pretty enough for Doug Marrone and his staff. I'll start out by saying that the Bills defense certainly played beautifully. I mean it gave up one offensive touchdown, 263 net yards, 13 first downs, had six sacks. (NFL.com recap). That said, Lions seemed lost on offense without Calvin Johnson, who was injured and not playing at 100% and then (to the Bills D's credit) got tatooed by Leodis McKelvin and was knocked out of the game completely after one short catch. Also, the Lions kicker, I don't remember his names except that I tweeted @RalphsGrill "Worst Kicker Ever," was 0-for-3 on field goals - and missing the last one put the Bills in field position to enable them to win the game in the final minute/seconds.
On offense, Watkins was a monster with 7 catches for 87 years, several being fairly good grabs with his apparently giant hands. He also, as is typical of his play, seemed to be open quite often. Freddie, was Freddie, with several tough outstanding plays. His will alone helps carry the team. Then there was Orton. To his credit, he wasn't as bad as I feared he would be. He got hit hard several times, but took only two sacks. Mainly he stood in the pocket and looked increasingly comfortable back there as the game went on. He's not prime Brett Favre, but he certainly throws the ball better than E.J. does. That spiral to Goodwin down the sideline to set up our TD and was probably the difference in the game - well, that and the Detroit kicker. Orton also at least gave Watkins a chance to catch several balls, by putting them in the vicinity of his body and letting him snare them.
Was this what Marrone had in mind when he decided to start Orton? Well, I'm sure somewhat, but really the Lions played horribly and allowed us to win. I guess Manuel could have screwed it up, but the win was kind of a gift. That said, Orton and the offense surely looked better in the second half, so maybe there is some hope.
Oh yes, and Dan Carpenter is great. (True story, you can believe it or not, but my kids are witnesses. Before Lions kicker attempted his ill fated final kick, I said, "Bills just won the game. He will miss, Orton will throw one pass to Watkins, we'll call time out and Carpenter will hit a 60-yarder." Almost exactly what happened. So, that was cool....) I did get my pregame prediction wrong and I'll gladly accept the L. Next week at home vs. the Patriots. I'll wait on my pick to see how the Pats fare tonight vs. Bengals.
On offense, Watkins was a monster with 7 catches for 87 years, several being fairly good grabs with his apparently giant hands. He also, as is typical of his play, seemed to be open quite often. Freddie, was Freddie, with several tough outstanding plays. His will alone helps carry the team. Then there was Orton. To his credit, he wasn't as bad as I feared he would be. He got hit hard several times, but took only two sacks. Mainly he stood in the pocket and looked increasingly comfortable back there as the game went on. He's not prime Brett Favre, but he certainly throws the ball better than E.J. does. That spiral to Goodwin down the sideline to set up our TD and was probably the difference in the game - well, that and the Detroit kicker. Orton also at least gave Watkins a chance to catch several balls, by putting them in the vicinity of his body and letting him snare them.
Was this what Marrone had in mind when he decided to start Orton? Well, I'm sure somewhat, but really the Lions played horribly and allowed us to win. I guess Manuel could have screwed it up, but the win was kind of a gift. That said, Orton and the offense surely looked better in the second half, so maybe there is some hope.
Oh yes, and Dan Carpenter is great. (True story, you can believe it or not, but my kids are witnesses. Before Lions kicker attempted his ill fated final kick, I said, "Bills just won the game. He will miss, Orton will throw one pass to Watkins, we'll call time out and Carpenter will hit a 60-yarder." Almost exactly what happened. So, that was cool....) I did get my pregame prediction wrong and I'll gladly accept the L. Next week at home vs. the Patriots. I'll wait on my pick to see how the Pats fare tonight vs. Bengals.
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