Bills-Cardinals Reactions

I did not get to watch the entire game live but there are quite a few things to come out of this one:

-Jairus Byrd should start getting recognition as on of the top players at his position in the league. Byrd had two crucial interceptions Sunday including on in overtime that he returned to the Arizona 6 yard line. During his tenure with the Bills he has been one of the most consistent players on the field, especially on defense. He can do it all well. He comes up well in run support, is a sure tackler, and most obviously can read quarterbacks like a book.

-Another savior Sunday (the Bills relied on several) was DT Alex Carrington. His impact was not on the defensive side of the ball but rather on special teams. Carrington was able to deflect the Cardinals potential game winning kick just enough for it to hit the upright thanks in part to a good clearing effort by Kelvin Sheppard. I was one of the people clamoring during roster cuts for this guy to be off the team and I am glad he was able to prove me wrong.

-Stevie Johnson could be one of the best wide receivers in the league...if Fitzpatrick could get him the ball. This has been a long time coming. This Sunday was another game where Stevie was able to get wide open multiple times against one of the best cornerbacks in the league. The problem is that Fitzpatrick cannot seem to get the ball where he needs to. Its not even that Fitz is a little off, he is missing badly. At least give your receivers a chance to catch the ball. If we had a quarterback that could hit receivers in stride this offense could be really good.

-The defensive line could have finally arrived. The Bills were able to muster 5 sacks against the Cardinals including 2 by previously underachieving Mario Williams. Even Kyle Moore made the most of his extended playing time resulting from the injury to Mark Anderson. The run defense still needs some work, surrendering over 180 yards but the pass rush is a start. One thing that makes you second guess this outcome is that the Cardinals offensive line has been absolutely brutal to this point in the season. They have given up 22 sacks over the last 3 games and have had 2 quarterback injuries as a result. So in my opinion the jury is still out on the pass rush.

-One thing that could have really scared Bills fans was the play calling and decision making in key situations. A few of these include having Brad Smith throw a deep pass out of the wildcat with the game tied (it was intercepted), calling a timeout before the 61 yard kick that tied the game, and punting instead of kicking a long field goal in overtime in an attempt to pin the Cardinals deep. These decisions were prime examples of situations where if they work it was a great idea and if you lose it was a dumb call. For the most part the risky play calling did not pay off with the exception of the last case. The punt was a touchback and the Bills intercepted the Cardinals on the position setting up the game winning field goal. Had the Bills lost this game there would have been a lot of fans calling for coaching changes being made, and maybe they would have been right.