For the first time this season I'm starting to write this game review the night of the game. Just a logistical thing for me and the post will still go up on the site on Monday night, but it will be interesting to see if the recap will be colored a little more by the emotion of the loss. Probably not, though, as I'm not devastated by the defeat to the Giants. Any loss hurts, especially another game that the Bills could have easily won. But we're heading into the bye week at 4-2 and the schedule for the rest of the season appears on the surface to be easier than the first 6 games. There were some key mistakes made in this game and the defense continues to allow over 400 yards a game, so there are areas of concern. But I'll repeat something I said on Twitter earlier today: every game this season has been fun to watch and close to the end. If we have that for the whole season and miss the playoffs, I'll still be upset but appreciative of the ride the team gave us and the progress they made. And sitting here tonight, the playoffs are still a very real possibility and that is something to be pleased with. But a loss is a loss, so let's see how the team let this one slip away.

1st Quarter

What Happened

- Bills won coin toss and deferred. Rian Lindell kicked ball out of bounds at 5 yard line, giving the Giants possession at 40 yard line. But Bills defense held NY's offense without a first down forcing the punt.

- Bills converted one first down on their initial possession with a 12 yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Stevie Johnson but were then forced to punt.

- Giants converted for a touchdown on a 1 yard Ahmad Bradshaw run. Key players on drive were TE Jake Ballard with 28 yard receiving from Eli Manning and Bradshaw with 21 total yards.

- Bills answered when they got the ball back with just 1 play as Fred Jackson ran for an 80 yard score.

- Bills defense forced punt and then Naaman Roosevelt scored his first career TD from Fitzpatrick on a 60 yard strike.

Commentary

Broken record time - the Bills have trouble covering a tight end. One of the most disturbing things about the defense's inability to stop the TE is it's not just the star players. Raise your hand it you heard of Jake Ballard before this week? Okay, one person, good for you. It's not just the Antonio Gates and Jason Witten types that burn the Bills; it's also the no-name journeyman players who find that seam in the middle for big plays. I would say it's probably our recent history of LB's who can't cover (Poz) that have lead to these unfortunate displays. Nick Barnett has done a excellent job since coming to the team, but he was hobbled today and Andra Davis struggled mightily. Kelvin Sheppard was inserted early in place of Davis and we will see more of that down the road and hopefully once Nick gets healthier we'll look a little better in this area. But it's clearly been a sore spot for far too long now.

Despite their poor showing as the game went along, our defense actually started okay. We shut the Giants down after the favorable opening field position and forced the other punt in the quarter. I'm sure Kyle Williams and Shawne Merriman were missed, but we've given up yardage after yardage every week. At first glance, I would say it's the talent level and not the system, but I would hope during the bye week the coaches will look at ways to switch some things up just a little to improve these stats. This was the first week in awhile that we didn't have a pick six and as many writers and commentators have stated, you can't expect that to happen every week. I wouldn't pin this loss on the fact that we didn't have any turnovers, but if we keep down this road of 400 + yards given up, the bend but don't break mentality will just be broken.

The Bills offense had the 2 big scoring plays this quarter, but as we go long with this review we'll see that there wasn't much to follow with either sizable gains or sustained drives. That could be a problem as the season progresses. If we continue mix in short drives and inefficiency that will mean longer period of times the Bills defenders will be on the field. And that isn't a good thing. 

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