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Rex Ryan had this to say yesterday about Kyle Wilson’s bad drive in the fourth quarter where he had penalty issues which helped the Bills tie the game at 20.
“Kyle (Wilson) was having a really good game and then I think he let a personal thing affect him,” Ryan said.
I think this is a bit strong.
He did have a few nice plays in the first half, no doubt, but in the third quarter, he was called for deep pass interference down the left sideline on WR T.J. Graham. It was a 24-yard penalty and put the Bills in field goal range, and Dan Carpenter connected a few plays later.
So for Rex to say that Wilson was having “a really good game” up until that ill-fated drive, is a little strong.
Without that penalty, I don’t know if the Bills score on that field goal drive considering how poorly E.J. Manuel was throwing the football . . .
Vlad Ducasse had four penalties against the Bills, and that is inexcusable.
So you might wonder why the Jets stay with him.
First of all, Brian Winters isn’t ready. All that time he missed this summer, with a high ankle sprain, really set back his transformation from college offensive tackle to NFL guard.
Winters had a very poor game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Jets’ fourth preseason game.
The other reason is all the good plays Ducasse has made this season.
First of all, he did an outstanding job on Pro Bowl nose tackle Vince Wilfork in the Jets-New England game. On the Jets only score in that contest, he had a pancake block on a Bilal Powell touchdown run up the middle.
Then, in the Buffalo game, while his penalty issues were a real negative, he did some very nice run blocking, as the Jets dominated on the ground.
I will give you two examples.
On a Powell gain of 27 off left tackle, Ducasse pulled from his left guard spot, into the left flat, and obliterated OLB Manny Lawson, and this opened up a huge hole for Powell because Lawson’s job was to contain the edge.
Then, later in the third quarter, on a similar play, Ducasse pulled into the left flat, blocked OLB Jerry Hughes out of the way, and Alex Green ran for a gain of seven behind the left guard.
Look, I’m not excusing the penalties. Vlad needs to that cleaned up, but the guy has so much ability. If you were too build a guard, he would look like Ducasse – 6-4, 330 pounds, arms like vines, very light on his feet with a thick powerful build . . .
The Bills entered the Jets’ game as the 30th ranked run defense in the NFL, and they certainly lived up to that ranking.
And to make matters worse, they lost their talented nose tackle, Marcel Dareus, to a leg injury in the first half, and he never returned.
Did you know they were also playing without perhaps the fastest player in the NFL, WR Marquis Goodwin, who missed this game with an injury.
They lost guard Kraig Urbik for a big chunk of the first half with a knee injury, and Mo Wilkerson beat his replacement, Sam Young, for a late first half sack.
Once again, I’m not taking away from the Jets’ win. They did a lot of impressive things in this game, but the Bills’ injuries did factor in to the outcome of this game. They were absolutely ravaged. I mentioned yesterday, they were without both starting cornerbacks, a star safety and their nickel back in the secondary.
Add in their fastest player, and one of their top defensive tackles, and that is a lot to overcome.
My point is simple – a win is a win, but the Jets have a lot of clean up if they are going to be better teams like Atlanta and New Orleans coming up on their schedule.
September 24, 2013
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