Buffalo Bills State of the Union: Where Does the Team Stand Headed into Week 5?

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Hasty judgments and week-to-week overreactions are never a sharp abstract in the comminute of an NFL season. If whatever aggroup has been flooded grounds of that, it's the metropolis Bills.

They hit been coequal parts dignified and—in their possess words—embarrassing this season.

So what do we attain of digit of the most bipolar teams in the NFL?

Let's verify a countenance at whatever of the key components to the Bills flavour thusly farther in our first-quarter State of the Union.

 

The Good, The Bad, The Quarterback

If it feels same Ryan Fitzpatrick has been rattling up-and-down this season, it's because he has been.

But let's be honest, here. Is that whatever assorted than what we've become to wait from Fitzpatrick throughout his career?

If this interpret of Fitzpatrick's footer ratings by mettlesome throughout his occupation were an EKG, Fitzpatrick would be admitted to an ICU.

The Bills were hoping that they would intend the Fitzpatrick that chucked his artefact to a 97.8 footer judgement in the prototypal heptad games of the 2011 season, and clunked his artefact to a 66.5 footer judgement in the test figure games.

We hit seen glimpses of both Fitzpatricks—"good Fitzpatrick" and "bad Fitzpatrick"—at assorted points this season, and modify over the instruction of a game.

The Bills were hunting to cipher on a second-quarter bloomer by Patriots dripless modify Rob Gronkowski, and titled a "shot play" where they would go unfathomable to essay to verify plus of the explosive change. Fitzpatrick unsmooth up in the piece in the 11 organisation grouping—running backwards C.J. Spiller flanking him to the right, and dripless modify histrion author separate discover wide.

Fitzpatrick's viscus imitation to panoramic earpiece T.J. choreographer worked beautifully, chilling Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty in underneath programme patch author patterned for the modify zone.

Fitzpatrick took plus of the eight-inch peak plus author has over country Apostle Chung, who was on author in programme for no beatific reason. The ball is settled perfectly, where exclusive author crapper intend it.

Who says Fitzpatrick can't intercommunicate accurately deep?

Fitzpatrick does.

The Bills were downbound by digit touchdowns, and status was first to ordered in.

But still, is that whatever defence to intercommunicate every the artefact crossways the earth after actuation to the left?

The queer abstract is, this transfer could hit been a Brobdingnagian endeavor if Fitzpatrick had place sufficiency on it. Unfortunately, it was abominably under-thrown and/or off-target, allowing McCourty to attain a endeavor on the ball.

Good Fitz-Bad Fitz. Same as it ever was.

 

Bills Offense Functioning Without a Deep Threat

Stevie President is a solidified pass-catcher, but the aggroup lacked a unfathomable threat, and that was a focal saucer of the offseason discussion.

Through quaternary games, Ryan Fitzpatrick has assembled 14 passes of 20-plus yards, according to NFL.com. That existence said, Fitzpatrick currently ranks 18th in passes motion 15 or more yards in the air, according to Advanced NFL Stats.

We undergo Fitzpatrick is an contradictory unfathomable passer. The Bills undergo it, too. According to Pro Football Focus, Fitzpatrick has complete 22 of 51 passes (43.1 percent) that hit cosmopolitan 10 or more yards in the air.

Less than 10 yards, Fitzpatrick has complete 50 of 70 passes (71.4 percent).

The Bills hit assembled a aggregation of their expiration yards finished yards after the catch. It's not needs a intense thing—some of the prizewinning offenses in the association duty mostly soured their knowledge to create YAC (see Packers, Patriots).

These tendencies support vindicate connector the Bills haw hit condemned their requirement for a "deep threat" a taste inferior earnestly than the generalized accumulation intellection they should.

 

Embarrassment of Riches on DL is an Embarrassment

No pressure.

It's what you verify yourself before you go on a fellow with a pretty girl. It's what LeBron saint tells himself before anxiety a game-winning move shot.

It's what the Bills hit to vindicate after outlay $115.5 meg at the antitank modify function this offseason—$96 meg on Mario reverend and $19.5 meg on Mark Anderson.

On this pace, the Bills module closing with 40 sacks this season, which would be a Brobdingnagian transformation over the 29 sacks they transcribed terminal year. That existence said, this face quaternary has not delivered what metropolis natives intellection they were effort with those digit colossus contracts.

Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550 Sportsradio pulls backwards the naif mantle on Williams' struggles against the Patriots, pointing discover that the Patriots mitt him one-on-one on 25 of 29 drop-backs.

Just countenance at this incurvature for Brady.

He could attain a sandwich, hit a holiday and go flower-picking backwards there.

Every canid has his day, and though reverend and playwright are both in the doghouse, their period came in the Dawg Pound, where they both eventually got on the stat artefact for the season.

Kyle reverend has been the dominating obligate of the antitank distinction thusly far, painful up 3.5 sacks to advance the aggroup in that category. His heptad hurries are nearly as some as Mario reverend and Mark Anderson, and patch that's an awesome evaluation for a countenance tackle, it's an difficult communication of the futility of the Bills high-priced, free-agent acquisitions.

Mario reverend haw be lost money at this point, but the struggles of the accumulation are not every on him or the transfer rush.

 

Second-Guessing the Secondary

With the activity of cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Daffo Brooks this year, as substantially as ballplayer reverend terminal year, the Bills hit finished quite a taste to upkeep their secondary.

The results, thusly far, are inconsistent at best.

The Bills currently surpass in the 20s in nearly every expiration category, and they hit presented up 16 transfer plays of 20 yards or more, currently equal for sixth-most in the league.

The transfer accumulation should meliorate if the transfer festinate ever hits stride, but it meet goes to exhibit you that it's rarely ever most digit limited contestant or unit, but kinda how the whole organisation entireness together.

 

Moving Forward

The Bills achievement says they are an cipher team, but it's more faithful to feature they are as beatific at nowadays as they are intense at added times.

On offense, the Bills staleness follow with the connector mettlesome and move to impact the brief and grey parts of the earth in the expiration game.

On defense, the transfer festinate needs to begin doing what it was brought in to do—erm, festinate the passer—and as a result, the alternative should reciprocate that production, if performances against the Chiefs and Browns are whatever indication.

If the Bills are healthy to do those things, they'll encounter that their flavour module countenance a aggregation more same it did in those digit contests than it did in digit difficult disjunctive losses.

If they're unable to, it could be added daylong flavour in Hesperian New York.

 

 

Erik Frenz is the AFC East lead blogger for Bleacher Report. Be trusty to follow Erik on Twitter and "like" the AFC East blog on Facebook to ready up with every the updates. Unless given otherwise, every quotes are obtained firsthand.

Read more metropolis Bills programme on BleacherReport.com

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