Inside The Bills

3rd down pct. was top 10

Buffalo’s third down conversion percentage wound up ranked 28th in the league last season with a 32.5% success rate. As we ask in our Top 25 questions until training camp ‘Will the offense rank in the top 10?’ we discovered that the Bills showed they could be a top 10 attack on third downs.

That’s because through the first eight weeks of the 2011 season, Buffalo’s third down conversion percentage was a very solid 41.6%. That would’ve been good enough for eighth in the league last year had the Bills been able to sustain it. And that’s the focus, first recapturing the early season success last season and then sustaining it through the back half of the schedule this year.

3rd down told the story

The Bills saw a lot of things go wrong in their preseason opener, but the most telling statistic was third down on both sides of the ball.

Buffalo’s defense could not get off the field on third down, allowing the Redskins offense to convert on 12 of their 19 third down opportunities for a 63% conversion rate.

“They pounded the ball on us late we were just worn out at the end,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”They controlled the ball entirely too long. We couldn’t get them off the field on third down.”

Meanwhile Buffalo’s offense did not convert any of their third downs until Levi Brown hit David Nelson for a seven-yard gain on a 3rd-and-4 with 1:27 left in the game.