Inside The Bills

Points per game home vs. road

When it comes to points scored and points allowed by the Bills thus far this season there are some disparities between home and the road.

Heading into today’s game Buffalo has averaged 10 more points per game at home (29) than on the road (19).

Flipping it over to defense it’s almost identical. Buffalo has given up an average of 29.5 points per game at home. On the road that figure is slightly higher at 30.2.

The sample size for the road is larger (6 games) than for home (4 games), but a 10 point difference in offense is pretty significant.

Some other lofty September numbers

As we profiled on the home page of Buffalobills.com this morning, the Bills offense is at the top of the league in several key categories in the month of September (2011-2012). Here are a few other categories where the Bills are among the league leaders including a defensive category that might surprise you.

Buffalo is one of six teams to average over 400 yards per game in September since 2011. Their 401.0 total yards per game is sixth-most behind New England, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Baltimore.

C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson rank first and tied for third respectively in rushing, with an average of 9.1 and 6.0 yards per game in September since 2011.

Buffalo’s defense is also second with 10 interceptions in September (2011-2012) with only Atlanta logging more (11).

Bills rank #1 in NFL in a few categories

The exploits of C.J. Spiller have Buffalo atop the league after two weeks in a couple of rushing categories, but there’s an even more important category where the Bills rank tops in the NFL after two games.

Buffalo ranks first in rushing yards per game with an average of 198. They also lead the league in average yards per carry with a mark of 6.4.

But the Bills are also tops in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage. The Bills are a perfect five for five on red zone possessions putting the ball in the end zone every single time. No other NFL club is perfect through two weeks. We’ll see how long the Bills can keep it up.

Buffalo is also number one in the league in punt return average thanks mainly to Leodis McKelvin’s 88-yard punt return for a touchdown.

A look at yards per pass play

A lot of fans on the live blog on Buffalobills.com Sunday were critical of the offense’s lack of downfield pass attempts. Sunday the Bills did produce their lowest yards gained per pass play, but downfield pass attempts haven’t been the bread and butter of Buffalo’s offense to begin with.

Here’s a look at Buffalo’s average yards gained per pass play game by game this season.

Week 1 at KC – 7.4 yards per pass play
Week 2 vs. Oak – 5.7 yards per pass play
Week 3 vs. N.E. – 9.2 yards per pass play
Week 4 at Cin. – 5.4 yards per pass play
Week 5 vs. Phil. – 6.7 yards per pass play
Week 6 at NYG – 6.6 yards per pass play
Week 8 vs. Wash – 8.7 yards per pass play
Week 9 vs. NYJ – 6.2 yards per pass play
Week 10 at Dal – 4.3 yards per pass play

Buffalo’s four losses do represent four of the five lowest yards gained per pass play averages this season, but that’s to be expected. You usually don’t move the ball as effectively in losses or you’re lacking big plays. The Bills had just six plays of 15 yards or more in the loss to Dallas with the longest covering just 21 yards.

Look for Bills to spread it out

Cincinnati’s defense has done well through the first three weeks this season, but there’s one thing they haven’t seen yet in 2011.

The Bengals haved faced a couple of offenses that have West Coast systems and a more traditional pro-style offense in Denver. They’ve yet to face a spread offense like Buffalo’s.

That’s why it’s probably safe to assume that Buffalo will be spreading the field early and often. They have to believe that their top four receivers are better than Cincy’s top 4 corners, and that means mismatches.

They’ll then run out of those four wide sets as well and even go empty backfields and spread the Bengals secondary even thinner.

Simply put the Bills spread attack is not a good fit for Cincinnati’s defense.

Bills offense set season lows

Buffalo’s offense set nine new season lows in their lackluster performance at New England Sunday. Here’s the rundown.

Points – 10 – previous low 16 (@ Miami)

First downs – 10 – previous low 13 (vs. Sea., @AZ)

Rushing first downs – 2 – previous low 3 (vs. Sea., vs. NYJ)

Total net yards – 168 – previous low 277 (@ Stl)

Net yards passing – 108 – previous low 166 (@ Stl)

Pass attempts – 23 – previous low 24 (@ AZ)

Pass completions - 13 – previous low 15 (@ Stl)

Intercepted – 2 (tied previous low vs. NYJ)

Yards per pass – 4.3 – previous low 5.7 (@ Stl)

Time of possession – 22:20 – previous low 23:44 (@ AZ)

Bills lacking rhythm

The Bills just haven’t found any kind of rhythm on offense the whole game. Dropped passes, poor protection, poor blocking, penalties, turnovers, Buffalo’s play has been more bad than good and if it continues much longer it will cost them the game. (6:41 left in third)

3rd and longs for Bills offense

On the last two possessions the Bills are getting themselves in 3rd and long situations. They’ve got three 3rd-and-7s and a pair of 3rd-and-10s thus far.