Once again, I would like that we limit this thread to things that happened during this specific game. Those observations can be negative or positive. They can be both, which is what the truth consists of. Rish asked that we keep the Postgame thread to "griping" and no Xs and Os. I will stay off that thread. So I respectfully ask that the agenda posters stay off this one. This thread is for those who missed the game and want objective reporting and/or those who just like to talk about football and not the crap that dominates the board.
--I saw a different game from those that have posted in the Postgame thread. I thought the team showed a lot of fight. They surely did not quit on the coaching staff or the season. They played hard and w/desire.
--As usual, we started off strong. This time on both offense and defense. That's coaching. Eventually, talent catches up to the coaching moves and wins out. We certainly looked like the team that was better prepared. I do have to mention that Buffalo faced very difficult circumstances just getting to Detroit and that very well could have factored into their slow start.
--Jacoby had another excellent game. He was "28 of 41 for 324 yards — two shy of his career high — and a season-high three touchdowns." He also avoided numerous sacks and ran for nice gains to keep drives alive. He was a beat slow on some throws, but he was very accurate and he doesn't lead our guys into big hits.
--Losing Pocic was huge. The 3rd and 1 and 4th on 1 plays were big on that second half drive. We got no push on what is almost always a certain conversion on short yardage situations when we run the qb sneak. The botched snap led to a fumble when we had another drive going and it was huge! Also, there were numerous low snaps in the shotgun which throws the timing of the play off. I'm not dissing Folholdt, though. He was thrust into a tough situation and did his best.
--Chubb was effective on screens, but there is something to consider. He is very good when he can get past the LOS w/some room, even if it is just a little bit. However, he is really bad when the defense gets early penetration. He just doesn't evade tacklers until he builds up some steam. There were some run blitzes against us and that is becoming a trend when defending Chubb.
--Hunt had a nice day. He is a little quicker to find the hole.
--Bell made some nice catches. Starting to contribute.
--Cooper is such a great route runner. Gets in and out of his breaks w/no wasted movement. What a steal he's been.
--DPJ continues to impress. He doesn't get much separation, but he is good on contested catches.
--The two drops on certain TDs by backup TEs on consecutive plays were killers. Gotta come up w/those. Njoku's snaps were limited. His athleticism was evident on that hurdles. OMGoodness.
--Hudson really struggled at RT after Conklin went out w/the injury.
--The OL was better than last week, but Buffalo has a tough front and we struggled on the line at times. Especially after the two injuries.
--Clowney finally made a play on D. Two actually. He forced a holding call.
--Our D did a very good job of containing Allen. They held him to under 200 yards passing w/just 1 TD. That's about 100 yards less than his average. He also didn't kill us w/his legs like he does in almost every other game he plays. Gotta give the D credit for that.
--Ward did a sensational job on Diggs. That led to the latter becoming frustrated. Ward wasn't w/Diggs 100% of the time, but he was w/him almost all the time. I'd say over 90% of the plays.
--JOK had his best game. He was very active. TakiTaki played well, too. He is more physical than our other backers.
--Our run D started off okay, but in the end, we gave up 171 yds on the ground while only mustering 80 ourselves. They averaged 5.2 yds per rush and we averaged 3.1, even w/Jacoby's positive scrambles.
--I do think the D got down on themselves a bit in the second half. Gotta fight through adversity. I would say the offense, particularly Jacoby, fought valiantly to the very end.
--Special teams were atrocious. Why don't we kick our kickoffs out of the end zone? He has the leg, right????? Hines was killing us on kickoff returns. He also had a long punt return. We can't afford that crap when playing a team w/so much better talent than we have.
--Furthermore, York is pissing me off. That blocked kick was on him. It was super low and heading left immediately. Meanwhile, their kicker was something like 6 for 6.
--The Browns actually had 2 fewer penalties than Buffalo. Hard to mention lack of discipline there.
--The Browns were 2 for 4 in the red zone. Bills were 2 for 5.
--Browns possessed the ball for about 3 more minutes than Buffalo did.
--Total yards were close. Browns had about 40 more w/a total of 396 yards of offense.
--Browns had more first downs than the Bills did and yards per play were identical.
--Again, my eyes told me the game was much different than what is being described on the Postgame thread. The stats say the same thing. It was a hard fought game that could have went either way. I think the biggest difference was that they were able to run the ball better than we were and their Special teams were far superior.
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