ORCHARD PARK NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Fred Jackson #22 of the Buffalo Bills is forced out of bounds by Jason Allen #32 of the Miami Dolphins during the NFL season opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium on September 12 2010 in Orchard Park New York. Miami won 15-10. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)
In the wake of the Buffalo Bills' anemic offensive performance in Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins, I wrote a post imploring Bills head coach Chan Gailey to get back to basics offensively. While addressing the media on Monday afternoon following the loss, Gailey himself made the same observation.
"I've got to get this thing where we can be on the same page and go in the same direction on a consistent basis," Gailey said. "Right now, I felt like we were trying to maybe do too much for this ballgame. I probably had too much in there for them, and we need to get back to basics offensively."
Gailey's not wrong from a schematic standpoint. In the first half alone - as the Dolphins were dominating time of possession and limiting the Bills to just 21 offensive snaps - the Bills employed six different personnel packages, eight different formations, several different types of motion, while using nine different offensive skill players for at least five reps each.
The biggest problem was not the shotgun formation, as I erroneously postulated yesterday. It was simply execution. Trent Edwards missed throws, had throws altered or batted down, got rid of the ball too quickly on occasion, and held it too long on others. The offensive line whiffed on some blocks, missed some assignments, and Cornell Green got beaten by Cameron Wake for a sack. C.J. Spiller was a broken tackle away from a couple of big gainers. Again - that was all just in the first half.
Execution can be fixed. Talent cannot, and there are certainly some talent deficiencies. Gailey must figure out what his players can do well, and figure that out quickly. His task certainly isn't getting any easier with the Green Bay Packers on the docket in Week 2.