Buffalo Bills midyear grade: D, as in dull
The Buffalo Bills hit their bye week with a 3-5 record — not bad considering how poorly they played for most of the last six Sundays.
My midseason grade for the Bills is D: C- for performance and D- for being so dull.
Buffalo isn’t the worst team in the NFL. Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Kansas City, St. Louis and Detroit are worse and deserve grades of F.
The worst problem for the Bills is an inexperienced offensive line. We don’t know if the young nucleus ever will become a solid unit, but we do know that it now is overmatched. The team’s running backs and quarterbacks can’t fairly be judged because we don’t know exactly how little help they have up front.
The offense lacks imagination and hasn’t made nearly enough big plays. The Bills have been outgained by 861 yards (almost 108 yards per game), have averaged 14.5 first downs (29th in the 32-team NFL), have had 102 fewer plays than their opponents (568 to 466) and have averaged 4.5 yards per play (28th in the NFL). They rank 31st in average time of possession.
All things considered — including injuries and the time the players have been on the field — the defensive unit has held up fairly well and deserves at least a C+. Buffalo leads the league with 15 interceptions and rookie Jairus Byrd leads the league with seven picks.
Through eight weeks, the Bills rank 29th in total offense and 26th in total defense.
A losing record is bad enough, but Buffalo also is one of the league’s dullest teams. Pro football is supposed to be entertaining. It should be fun to root for the Bills and watch their games. But it is becoming more difficult every week.
Gavin Prout was acquired from the Colorado Mammoth in a blockbuster trade last Saturday. He’ll join John Grant Jr., Gary Gait, Shawn Williams, Shawn Evans and possibly Scott Evans (recovering from knee surgery) on the list of forwards. And don’t forget Joe Walters, Craig Point, Peter Jacobs and Jason Henhawk.
The big question is how much lacrosse a few of those high-profile players have left in them.
Prout and two 2010 first-round draft picks were acquired from Colorado for a 2012 first-round draft pick and the National Lacrosse League rights to Ilija Gajic, the extremely talented No. 2 overall pick in the 2009 NLL draft who refused to play for Rochester. He lives in Denver and his two brothers play on the Mammoth.
Prout, 31, has been one of the NLL’s best players for years. He’d been captain of the Mammoth since Gary Gait retired in 2005 and was MVP of the 2006 NLL championship game. He played for the Major League Lacrosse Rochester Rattlers in 2007 and 2008, and for the Toronto Nationals in 2009. His teams won the MLL championship the last two seasons.
Prout had 26 goals and 48 assists for 74 points in 16 games for Colorado last season. In 127 career NLL games, he has 230 goals and 441 assists for 671 points.
Rochester now has three first-round picks in the 2010 NLL draft. Knighthawks owner/general manager Curt Styres is accumulating bargaining chips in order to select his nephew, Syracuse University star Cody Jamieson, in the 2010 draft. Jamieson led the veteran-studded Major Series Lacrosse in scoring last summer and is considered a can’t-miss future NLL superstar.
The batter who had the longest average home run in 2009 (minimum 10 HRs) was Colorado catcher Chris Iannetta (423 feet). Albert Pujols was sixth in the National League. The American League leader was Howie Kendrick of the Los Angeles Angels (average 421 feet).
Former Red Wing Denard Span (Minnesota) led the majors with a .667 batting average (minimum 10 plate appearances) with the bases loaded.
Another former Red Wing, Jason Bartlett (Tampa Bay), led the American League with a .386 batting average with runners in scoring position.
David Wright (N.Y. Mets) led the majors with a .416 batting average against left-handed pitchers and Joe Mauer (Minnesota) led the majors with a .377 batting average against right-handed pitchers.
Mauer also led the AL in batting average home (.388) and away (.345). Pablo Sandoval (San Francisco) led the NL in batting average home (.361) and Hanley Ramirez (Florida) led the NL in batting average away (.353).
Sandoval led the majors in percentage of swings on the first pitch (47.2 percent) and Mauer had the lowest percentage of swings on the first pitch (6.5 percent).
Justin Verlander (Detroit) led the majors in pitches per start (112.5) and former Red Wing Nick Blackburn led the AL in pitches per batter (3.52).
Verlander had the fastest average fastball in the AL (95.6 mph) and Joel Zumaya (Detroit) led the majors with 198 pitches 100-plus mph (No. 2 Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers had 90).
2008-09 AMERKS
1-10-0-0 record; 2 of 22 possible points…outscored by opponents 53-22 (minus-31).
5 of 65 (13.1 percent) on the power play…43 of 62 (.690) penalty killing
2009-10 AMERKS
9-1-1-0 record; 19 of 22 possible points…outscoring opponents 37-24 (plus-13).
13 of 62 (21.0 percent) on the power play…61 of 68 (.897) penalty killing.
