Inside The Bills

A 1K pairing

C.J. Spiller reached the 1,000-yard plateau a couple of weeks ago. Now that Stevie Johnson has joined him, it marks the first time the Bills had a 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver in the same season.

Johnson finished the season with 1,046 receiving yards along with Spiller’s 1,244 rushing yds. It made them the first Bills 1,000-yard duo since Marshawn Lynch rushed for 1,036 yards and Lee Evans caught passes for 1,017 back in 2008.

C.J. up for FedEx Ground player of week

C.J. Spiller had to reach another milestone in a loss Sunday, but his 173 total yards from scrimmage performance landed him on the list of nominees for FedEx Ground Player of the Week.

Kansas City Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles gained 226 yards on 22 carries averaging 10.3 yards per carry and one touchdown in the Chiefs’ 20-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice rushed for 107 yards on 24 carries in the Ravens’ 33-14 win over the New York Giants.

Spiller meanwhile tallied 138 rushing yards on 22 carries in the Bills’ 24-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Fans can vote for C.J. on NFL.com/FedEx from 9 A.M. EST on Monday through 3 p.m. EST on Friday to determine the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week. The winners will be announced Friday on NFL Total Access on NFL Network and on NFL.com.

C.J. still pushing all-time marks

While C.J. Spiller became just the third player in team history to have 10 games or more with 100 or more total yards from scrimmage on Sunday (Thurman Thomas, O.J. Simpson), he also is still pushing the average yards per carry mark to the limit as well.

Spiller is now averaging 6.48 yards per carry through the first 15 games, which would be a Bills team record, eclipsing O.J. Simpson’s single season mark of 6.03 in 1973 (6.03). It would also top Jim Brown’s mark of 6.4, which is the best since 1963.

No player in NFL history has ever finished a season with 160 or more attempts and averaged 6.5 yards per carry or more.

Already Spiller (6.48) has become the fifth player since 1960 with an average of 6.0 or better with at least 150 carries through 15 games joining Brown (6.4), Kansas City RB Jamaal Charles (6.39 in 2010) and Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson (6.04 this year)

Players on Stevie non-TD

There were a lot of opinions after the game on Stevie Johnson’s non-touchdown call. We’ve already outlined the referee’s stance on the play. Here’s what the players thought.

“We thought it was (a touchdown),” said Spiller, who was on the sideline since he had just made a 62-yard run. “But the ref made the call that he made and we had to come back and try to get it again. It definitely worked in their favor. We definitely thought he scored on that one.”

“I have no idea,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was far from the end of the play. “I threw it and I thought he grabbed it took a couple of steps and as he went down it popped out. That’s all I saw. They obviously ruled it an incompletion.”

“I caught the pass, put it over the pylon, and then hit the ground,” said Johnson. “I didn’t come up with it.  And like last year or the year before, with Calvin Johnson, I understand it, it’s an incomplete pass.  But my frustration was with the play before that, where I had the ball, and then it came out before I even took a second step, and they called that a fumble.”

Pro Football Focus picks 4 Bills for Pro Bowl

The film reviewers and football metric evaluators at Pro Football Focus have chosen their NFL Pro Bowl roster and four Bills appear on their roster.

PFF chose FS Jairus Byrd, DT Kyle Williams, RB C.J Spiller and KR Leodis McKelvin.

Here’s what they wrote about the Bills defensive players and Spiller, who not surprisingly also leads their category for elusive rating with a grade of 99.9.

Players and coaches cast their Pro Bowl ballots later this week.

Opponents foiling Bills screen game

Buffalo’s screen game has been wildly productive this season, but in recent weeks opponents have been keying on it. Jacksonville assigned one of their defensive ends to specifically look for the screens. St. Louis held back their pass rush on certain down and distances and even assigned linebackers to cover it. Seattle was just as determined to foil it Sunday.

“They’re just putting guys out there, they’re playing a lot of man to man,” said C.J. Spiller. ”The whole game, last couple of weeks, teams have been ‘watch the screen, watch the draw.’  They prepare for it, because they know how effective that is for us, so they’re on their toes. When he hear that, other things work for us. There’s nothing we can do when they got us, especially man for man, it’s pretty much just try to sell it as much as you can, and just try to help the offensive linemen out with the blocks.”

Head coach Chan Gailey recognizes opponents keying on it as well.

“People are assigning guys to the screen game a ton now,” said Gailey. ”We’ve got defensive linemen that are not rushing in certain situations because of screens. We find they assign a linebacker or two sometimes to the screen game, so it’s becoming more and more difficult because of our success with the screen game to get some screens done.”

When asked what can be done to counter that, Gailey offered the following.

“Right now it takes you out of it until you take their awareness away a little bit,” he said.

Deep passes were dialed up

Very often this season Bills fans have clamored for more deep passes downfield. Buffalo had about a half dozen deep passes called, but could not connect on any of them in Sunday’s loss to Seattle.

Ryan Fitzpatrick just missed Stevie Johnson, T.J. Graham and C.J. Spiller on deep throws that could’ve dramatically changed the complexion of the game.

Head coach Chan Gailey in his weekly appearance on WGR Sportsradio 550 Monday morning offered comment on the game plan and taking deep shots down the field in the passing game.

“(Fitzpatrick) overthrew them just a little bit and we had two or three others called and they ran back deep with them so we dumped it off underneath,” said Gailey. ”We’ve done some good things as far as percentages of passes. Our percentages are up. We’re not getting some run after catch that people get, but sometimes our guys are not in that position and we’ve just got to work on getting better at the deep ball and hit a few of those. If you hit a few of those they make a difference in the ball game. The thing about it is we throw it great in practice, but in the game it doesn’t happen.”

Bills look for more focus when adversity hits

In the second half Buffalo turned the ball over on each of their first three possessions of the second half. It put the Bills in a terrible hole after getting some momentum heading into the locker room at halftime. The players had trouble explaining why when things go wrong they’re unable to re-focus and persevere.

“The thing that’s coming to my mind is focus,” said Stevie Johnson. ’We’ve got to understand that yeah they put a lot of points up and they went up early on us, but we’re still only down 10 points. We’ve got to be able to focus in and make sure we take care of the ball, make sure we catch it. I could’ve caught a pass on the sideline where we could’ve extended the drive. Just the overall focus has got to be there.”

“We’ve just got to find a way where we could be more disciplined in what we’re doing and just the details to how we can get things right for us,” said C.J. Spiller. ”We’ve seen that we can have those explosive plays. They’re there, but we’ve just got to make them. Today was just one of those days where we didn’t make enough of them.”

UPDATE: Spiller 4th fastest to 1,000

It was originally reported that Bills RB C.J. Spiller was the second-fastest player ever to reach 1,000 yards rushing in NFL history, but Spiller is actually the fourth fastest to break the 1,000-yard barrier (h/t John Wawrow, AP & STATS):

1. Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons (117 carries, 2006)
2. Beattie Feathers, Chicago Bears (119 carries, 1934)
3. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans (151 carries, 2009)
4. C.J. Spiller, Buffalo Bills (154 carries, 2012)

According to STATS: QB Michael Vick reached 1,000 yards rushing on 117 carries in 2006. RB Chris Johnson needed 151 in 2009.

— John Wawrow (@john_wawrow) December 17, 2012

Spiller had 10 first-half carries against the Seahawks for 56 yards and reached 1,000 yards on on his 154th attempt in 2012.

Chicago Bears running back Beattie Feathers reached 1,000 rushing yards and established the original league record on just 119 carries, totaling 1,004 rushing yards in the 1934 season. He did it in 11 games averaging 8.43 yards per carry. Falcons QB Michael VIck broke that record in 2006, reaching 1,000 yards on 117 rushes.

Spiller to this point is averaging 6.49 yards per carry.

C.J.’s progress in pass pro

As the 2012 season began head coach Chan Gailey was asked where C.J. Spiller improved his game the most from last season. Gailey’s answer was confidence and pass protection. At times Spiller has lost time on the field due to his pass protection skills, not because they’re bad, but because Fred Jackson’s were elite.

That according to head coach Chan Gailey.

“He’s done better as the season has gone along. He really has,” said Gailey in reference to Spiller’s pass protection. ”The thing about it is we’re probably doing him a disservice because you compare him to Fred and Fred is one of the best if not the best in the league as a pass protector. So you want to take advantage of having one of the best in the league at that on the field and it’s not that C.J. can’t, it’s just that Fred was great at that.

“What you’re trying to do is making sure you’ve got C.J. enough reps where he’s a lot more comfortable in those situations because he is good. He’s not great yet. I think he’s got a chance to be better than he is and he’s getting better. But he’s good and can do the job. I’m not worried about that.”

Spiller will take on a greater role in pass protection now with Fred Jackson out for the season with a knee injury.

Fan Friday 12-14

Here’s the latest edition of your questions from AskChris@bills.nfl.net and on Twitter @ChrisBrownBills.

1 – Chris:

Has Chan Gailey maintained a 100% offensive play calling role or has he given some or all of the play calling authority to Curtis Modkins?

Some of the talk this year is about the “Pistol” Offense run by Washington.  Am I correct in my assessment that it is an offense that is an extension of the “Wild Cat” and the only real difference is the Pistol is run with a true starting Quarterback who has the athletic ability to run as well as throw the football?     

Thanks 
Joe
Blasdell

CB: Yes, Chan Gailey is still the only offensive play caller on the roster. When first hired, Gailey mentioned that he intended to eventually turn over play calling duties to a coordinator, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Your assessment of the Pistol offense is not wholly accurate. The Pistol just references a backfield formation where the single back lines up directly behind the quarterback, who is in the shotgun. One of the advantages of this look is it does not tip off to the defense which direction a run play is headed.

Washington runs out of that formation with Robert Griffin a good deal, but Chan Gailey first popularized it in the league in Kansas City a few years ago running it with Tyler Thigpen there. The Bills have even made use of it this season at times.

2 – Hello Chris

Thanks for your insight into the organization, my question is with the apparent need for an elite franchise qb in order for a team to not only compete in the league these days but to have a chance to build a team around, and have a chance at the ultimate goal which is to Win the Superbowl, why won’t the Bills draft a QB in every round until we get The guy to Win it, this team has pieces but is lacking the by far most needed piece a elite QB!! Thank you, Tom Neaverth, life long Bills fan 

CB: I can tell you that won’t happen, although the Redskins did draft a pair of quarterbacks last spring (Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins). I can say that the Bills will likely draft one this spring. Here’s what Buddy Nix said on the subject.

“There’s a time in the era that you’re in with the development of your team I think there’s a time when you can move up a round to take a quarterback and I think the time is now for us,” said Nix. “If a guy is there, and they’ll be one out there, if the guy is there then I think we’ll target, as I’ve said before, drafting a good quarterback. We need a good, young quarterback and we’ll do our best to get one.”

3 – Hey Chris,
 I think the game against the Colts was when CJ split out wide and got chased by a linebacker. He beat his guy right at the snap but Fitz missed the throw, my question is, why not try that every game when there’s clearly a mismatch with almost any linebacker vs Spiller and a chance for a big time play?
Thanks, Ryan

CB: I can tell you that it’s relatively rare to get C.J. Spiller matched up on a linebacker. It’s why defensive coordinators spend as much time as they do with their game plans to avoid such mismatches. When the Bills do get them they have to make opponents pay. Unfortunately they were unable to do so in that situation.

4 – Hey Chris,
What was the thinking behind the trade for TJack? And if Nix is talking QB lately it would seem that he thinking of going away from Fitz which is understandable so why not give the guy some reps in practice to see what he has?  Or will this turn out to be another trade that does nothing for the Bills?
Thanks,
Brett

CB: Buddy Nix has gone on record as saying the trade was made with Tarvaris Jackson serving purely as an insurance policy at the quarterback position. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the quarterback they have hitched their wagon to and they do not intend to make a change at the quarterback position so long as Fitzpatrick is healthy.

5 – Hi Chris -

It was my pleasure to be part of the Bill’s crowd at the Jags game. I saw many excited fans doing their best to back their team. Are the players aware of their fans presence at away games? Do you think it is of any value to the team?

Thanks for your time – Dan Garigen/Bay City, MI

CB: Bills players do recognize Bills fans at away games. In fact at the Cleveland game back in Week 3, when most Browns fans had filed out, more Buffalo fans came down to the lower seats in the one end zone and near the end of the game the players could hear the Bills fans singing the ‘Shout’ song and were pumping their fists at them.

After the game they came over and shook some hands with the fans that made the trip. So you are noticed and heard!

Pro Bowl voting update

A handful of Bills are still among the top five at their respective positions in fan Pro Bowl voting. Here’s where they rank.

Jairus Byrd is 2nd among AFC Free Safeties

Kyle Williams is 3rd among AFC Defensive Tackles

C.J. Spiller is 4th among AFC Running Backs and newewst to crack the top five at his position.

Leodis McKelvin is 4th among AFC Kick Returners     

Voting for the Pro Bowl only goes until Dec. 17th, so cast your ballots now.

C.J.-Chan talk leaves Spiller satisfied

Bills RB C.J. Spiller said he intended to talk to head coach Chan Gailey one-on-one about the comments that come up about him coming out of the game because he’s ‘winded.’ They also covered a lot of other ground in their sitdown together earlier this week.

By both accounts whatever air needed to be cleared apparently has been taken care of.

“He and I talked the other day,” said Gailey. ”He’s a great guy. He is a true pro and it’s great to have him on our football team on top of being a great player.”

“We talked, it’s very confidential,” said Spiller. ”But I got an understanding of what he said, and he understood what I said.  We left it at that. I think you should be able to go and talk to your boss, I have no problem doing that.” 

C-Mac could be 3rd back

With Fred Jackson now lost for the season with a sprained MCL Buffalo is down to a pair of running backs in C.J. Spiller and Tashard Choice. When asked if the Bills might make a roster move to add a third back, head coach Chan Gailey said it’s one of their considerations.

The other consideration is to make use of FB Corey McIntyre.

“We might do that and we might just let Corey kind of be the third back. We might go that direction too,” said Gailey. “There’s a couple of ways to think about it and we’ll have to decide which is the best way to go.”

McIntyre does not have a carry on the season, but he does have one reception for nine yards.

2012 attack had shift in philosophy

After the Bills wrapped up the 2011 season with C.J. Spiller exploding onto the scene over the last six games of the year in place of the injured Fred Jackson, it led to the decision by Chan Gailey and his staff to change their offensive approach.

Instead of going to a largely spread attack much like the first two seasons, Gailey and his offensive assistants chose to lean more heavily on their two dynamic backs, an approach that the Bills head coach had not previously adopted in his NFL career. In his offensive coaching career Gailey had leaned on one feature back whether it was Bobby Humphrey in Denver, Jerome Bettis in Pittsburgh or Emmitt Smith in Dallas. Obviously injuries to Jackson at three different times this season compromised those plans this season.

“Last year when C.J. got a chance to play and show how explosive he was and we came into the season saying we’ve got two great backs, let’s use them both,” said Gailey Monday reflecting back on the previous offseason. ”Let’s let them both get carries that way we may not wear one down and keep them for the whole year, which didn’t work out, but that was the plan.”

Ryan Fitzpatrick acknowledged that their approach did shift from a wide open spread attack to an offense that was designed to run it more.

“I think our philosophy has changed a little bit this year, just in terms of how dynamic our guys in the backfield are, and trying to get them the ball,” he said. ”I think the numbers with the passing game are down in terms of yardage, I don’t know about completion percentage, passing efficiency, any of that stuff. I think we want to be a team that obviously we feature our guys in the backfield, we want to get them the ball.” 

With Jackson in and out of the lineup with two knee injuries and a concussion it compromised the offensive approach for 2012 and has left the Bills still searching for a true offensive identity.

“I think this year has been a little bit different in terms of trying to gain our identity,” said Fitzpatrick. ”But there has been a change this year—there’s more play action. We’ve been trying to move a little bit more towards that because how effective we’ve been in the ground game this year.  The four wide receiver sets used to be our M-O, but with David (Nelson) going down, moving more to having Scott (Chandler) in there with the three wide receiver sets—there’s definitely been some changes this year.” 

Despite the struggles on offense of late, Gailey believes his decision to make use of both Jackson and Spiller as much as possible was the right call.

“We made the decision, which seemed like the best decision at the time, which I still believe is the best decision that we could’ve made considering our situation with two great players,” he said. ”I’d do it again if I had it to do over. It was the best decision and you go with the best decision.”

C.J. to talk with Gailey about being “winded”

C.J. Spiller has heard more than once about being winded and that’s why he’s come out of games. Spiller insists he’s in shape and isn’t winded by a couple of 13-yard runs as was the case yesterday. Spiller indicated he plans to talk with Coach Gailey about the “being winded” comments that have come up from time to time this season.

“I’m in shape and I’m just going to leave it at that,” said Spiller. ”And I’ll sit down with coach and just get a better understanding. I wanted to do that before I met with you guys, but time didn’t allow it. But I’ll go up there and see what he meant. I think I’m in shape.”

Gailey was asked the same question about his ‘winded’ comments concerning Spiller and assures that he believes his back is in top form.

“Yeah he’s in great shape,” said Gailey. ”I think a lot has been made about him tapping out, but we send him on a lot of deep routes and he has some long runs. We allow everybody – we allow receivers, we allow everybody to tap out if they get tired. He’s back in there when he’s rested and he’s ready to go.”

Spiller admitted that he only asked out of the lineup once Sunday against the Rams.

“I came out that one play on the screen, but once I went over to the sidelines I told the guy that does our personnel change to let them know I was ready literally after one or two plays,” said Spiller. ”I was ready to go back in, but they stuck with the personnel that was out there.”

The Bills back did acknowledge that on a big play he’ll  get winded, but so would any other top flight back.

“If you score a 60-yarder then your wind is not going to sit there and be normal like you just ran a five-yarder,” said Spiller. ”You can ask Chris Johnson. I asked him after he ran that 80-something yarder against us and he said, ‘Yeah I was a little winded.’ And he’s a world class athlete. You’re not going to have super energy after a big run like that. To me 13 yards I can run that just waking up out of my sleep.”

After Sunday’s game when asked why Spiller wasn’t utilized more often Gailey said the following.

“Well he had two good runs in that first drive, he gets winded and he comes out,” said Gailey. ”We just put Fred in there. It worked out that the next couple of carries we got behind the sticks on runs that we called he was in there. That is just the way it works out. We are trying to get those guys the football.”

C.J.: Of course I want to touch the ball more

The division of the workload between Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller was again a popular topic among fans in the wake of the team’s 15-12 loss to the Rams Sunday. C.J. Spiller was asked about his eight touches in the game following the loss.

“I really cannot control how many times I touch the ball,” he said. “I keep saying it over and over. I do not konw what else you want me to say. The only thing i can do is when my number is called, just try to do the best I can. Even when it is not, just do the best I can. Today I let a couple of my pass pros kind of slip a little bit. So I just have to go back to the drawing board to see what I did wrong, try to fix it and finish these last three games on a high note.”

Spiller, who gave up a sack on the first third down of the Indy game in pass protection in Week 12, also spent less time on the field in the second half of that game. So his mention of his pass protection assignments in the Rams game is telling.

The Bills back had one reception for 15 yards and seven carries for 37 yards in the game. When asked if he’s frustrated by his lack of work, Spiller said the following.

“Of course I want to touch the ball more, but there is no need for me to sit around, mope and groan and do all that because that is high school,” he said. “That is childish. That is not what I am about. Is the frustration there? Yeah. Deep down in your gut as a competitor, yeah it is there. But there is nothing I can do about it so I am not going to sit around and pout and be a little baby or a little girl or something.”

NFL.com Pro Bowl ballots

Here’s a rundown of the Pro Bowl ballots of some of NFL.com’s journalists, with a few Bills getting respectable support.

At running back C.J. Spiller appeared on five of the six ballots.

Andy Levitre appeared on two of the six ballots for guard.

Mario Williams was on three of the six ballots for defensive end.

Kyle Williams was on two of the six ballots for defensive tackle.

Jairus Byrd appeared on two of the six ballots for free safety.

Leodis McKelvin got one of the six votes for kick returner.

Remember you can vote for what Bills you believe are deserving of Pro Bowl recognition by casting your own ballot.

C.J. not assuming 20-plus carries

Although head coach Chan Gailey has stated that C.J. Spiller will start Sunday and get the majority of the workload, he’s not going into the Jaguars game assuming he’s going to get 20-plus carries.

“I never go into a game with ‘I want to touch it this amount of times.’ because you never how a game will turn out,” said Spiller. ”So I understand the game situation. If we are running the ball successfully and we are up on those guys then of course we are going to run more. But at the same time if we are not, of course I understand we are going to have to pass it. I never really get in that mindset of I want to touch it 20 or 30 times. Just whenever my opportunity is called I just try to make a play for my team and take what the defense gives me.”

Spiller only has one game in his career in which he has had over 20 carries and it was the Thursday night game against Miami when he had 22 carries for 91 yards.

Snap counts from Sunday

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus, here are the snap counts for the offense for Sunday’s game against the Colts for the Bills player by player.

What’s interesting is C.J. Spiller was in for 29 plays and Fred Jackson was in for 32 plays. Part of the reason why appeared to stem from Spiller’s struggle in handling a blitz pickup on the first third down of the game when LB Jerrell Freeman got by him to sack Ryan Fitzpatrick forcing Buffalo to punt.

Head coach Chan Gailey making his weekly appearance on WGR Sportsradio 550 Monday morning said it did have an impact on his thinking.

“The first third down he struggled to protect on that play so you start to wonder if that’s going to be a good day for him in pass protection,” said Gailey.

Of Spiller’s 29 snaps he was asked to block on pass plays four times. Of Jackson’s 32 snaps he was asked to block on pass plays 11 times.

Gailey did reiterate that Spiller will continue to get the majority of the work.

Offense snap counts
Cordy Glenn – 60
Andy Levitre – 60
Eric Wood – 60
Kraig Urbik – 60
Chris Hairston – 60
Ryan Fitzpatrick – 60
Stevie Johnson – 57
Scott Chandler – 53
Donald Jones – 48
Fred Jackson – 32
T.J. Graham – 31
C.J. Spiller – 29
Lee Smith – 27
Corey McIntyre – 8
Ruvell Martin – 5
Brad Smith – 4
Sam Young – 2
Dorin Dickerson – 2