Quick All-22 Film Review – Buffalo Bills

Final week of the NFL regular season puts the Jets (6-9) up against their divisional rival Buffalo Bills (5-10) for the right to a better draft position.  That’s essentially the ONLY thing at stake here in this game as both teams have already been eliminated from the playoffs and both teams are essentially counting down the snaps until the offseason, an offseason that will undoubtedly see noticeable changes from both teams.

Jets and Bills will clash for the final time in the 2012 NFL season.

I digress as there IS a final game to be played and we here at the JetPress will treat it as business as usual.  This week’s All-22 review will BRIEFLY focus on the Bills/Dolphins game of week 15 and highlight just what the Jets can look forward to this week in their 2nd matchup vs the Bills.  It was a game that saw the Bills rush for 154 yards and saw CJ Spiller rush for 138 of those 154 yards, not bad but not effective considering the Bills still lost as their passing game and defense didnt do much to help them.

Lets get right to it….

The drive we’re referencing here today starts at the top of the 4th Quarter for the Bills as they have the ball in their own territory.  After a few small plays and a penalty we begin the drive:

3rd and 13 at the Bills 28 yard line……Bills come out in Shotgun Formation with the WRs in Spread formation.

Notice how Graham gets past the defender within 2 steps thus giving Fitzpatrick more than enough room for the on target throw. Graham makes a great attempt to get free, garnering separation and making the great 41 yard catch.

1st and 10 at the Dolphins 31 yard line, Bills once again come out in Shotgun Spread Formation…..

Notice how Johnson gets the defender to over pursue thus allowing Fitzpatrick more than enough room to hit Stevie Johnson on the curl route for 11 yards.

After 2 incomplete passes, 1 offensive penalty and 2 plays (run and pass) totaling 13 yards it’s 2nd and 2 at the Dolphins 2 yard line….

2nd and 2 at the Dolphins 2….Bills in the RedZone once again utilizes the spread shotgun formation….Fitzpatrick gets Brad Smith in motion from right to left and has him stacked at the line.

Fitzpatrick quickly hits Brad Smith with the inside pitch. A high percentage play in the redzone that usually works more times than not and the Bills excited it perfectly here.

Obviously the Bills have struggled this season but as shown here, they are still very capable of taking advantage of great field position and taking advantage of their redzone trips. The call to Brad Smith was a great and creative play call in the redzone that is to be commended. The Jets usually are guilty of getting fooled with smart creative plays and the Bills have nothing to lose, so look for them to hit the Jets with every thing they have.

How Do The Jets Attack That Bills Defense and Contain Their Offense?

On Offense:

Mark Sanchez is the Jets starting QB this week so things may get interesting very fast for the Jets and Bills and what that means? I’m NOT sure seeing as though this Jets team has looked immensely different every week this entire season.  The Jets will be without WR Stephen Hill who went off for 3 TDs in the week 1 meeting with the Bills and will most likely be without TE Dustin Keller who actually missed the first meeting.  Keller is suffering from a high ankle sprain that has kept him out the last 2 weeks.  Newly re- aquired WR Braylon Edwards who made his Jets debut AGAIN on Monday night vs the Titans saw limited action vs the Chargers and is suffering from a hamstring injury that has kept him from practicing and his status is currently questionable for the Bills game.  So it looks like the Jets will once again be down to minimal weapons, nothing new for Sanchez but of course not good for Sanchez considering he’ll be looking to redeem himself in anyway possible to give management SOMETHING to ponder on with this last start of the season.

M ark Sanchez had an excellent out vs the Bills in week one which seems like years ago.

So for the purpose of simplicity we’ll assume that the Jets WRs will be the same corp that Sanchez has had to struggle with the entire season, a corp that’s led by talented WR Jeremy Kerley.  Bills have a solid pass defense led by talented Safety Jarius Byrd.  The Bills come into the game ranked a respectable 13th vs the pass, so I’d would imagine that it may be difficult for the Jets to find rhythm through the air.  Not impossible but difficult nonetheless.

Last week vs the Dolphins, the Bills pass defense surrendered 2 passing TDs, BOTH to RB Reggie Bush and both catches were good passes but great catches by an immensely talented RB.  So its hard to get on the Bills pass defense TOO much for giving up the TD passes but gotta call a spade a spade right?  The Bills also come into this game ranked 32nd, yep DEAD last vs the run, so it’s not really hard to see how the Jets will attack them.  Expect a heavy dose of Shonn Greene and Blial Powell on Sunday as the film suggests that the Bills struggles vs the run aren’t just a mis-leading statistical numbers thing but in fact a legit problem that consist of consistent miss tackles by defensive backs who also seem to find themselves out of position more times than not.

Jets will go heavy with the run game vs the Bills which will open the passing game up for Mark Sanchez and the passing offense, whether Sanchez and the passing game take advantage of it is a story all on its own.

On Defense:

Jets CB Antonion Cromartie will look to shutdown Bills WR Stevie Johnson this final week fresh off his Pro-Bowl nod.

The Jets defense, though struggled at times this season, has been somewhat very consistent in their solid play.  The pass defense has been one of the  bright spots of the team, along with the recent stellar play of Defensive Tackles/Defensive End Quinton Coples and Muhammad Wilkerson,who have both been on a tear as of late.  Week one saw Darrelle Revis matched up vs Stevie Johnson, this week Johnson will command the attention of another Pro-Bowl CB in Antonio Cromartie who has been playing on another level all season.  Look for Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to test the entire Jets secondary considering this is the last game of the season and they have nothing to lose.

Jets will have to contain RB CJ Spiller who is capable of breaking one at any given moment and did so vs the Jets week 1.  Look for the Bills to go heavy with their talented RB in Spiller and take CONSISTENT shots vs the Jets pass defense.