Week 3 Observations: San Diego Chargers 22, Buffalo Bills 10

WGR's Joe Buscaglia wrote about it, and we'll restate it here.

EJ Manuel's stat line looks fine if you only look at his numbers.  But there's a lot hidden in those numbers.  Let's compare numbers, shall we?

First, EJ Manuel:
23/39, 238 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

Now, Phillip Rivers:
18/25, 256 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

You can already see some of the trouble with Sunday's game.  But look tighter.  Manuel's average yard per attempt was 6.1 yards, compared to Rivers 10.4 yards per attempt.

The Buffalo Bills played it safe on a windy day at the Ralph, relying on short passing plays more often than not.  The Chargers defense came ready to play a week after taking down the defending Super Bowl champions, forcing EJ Manuel into three sacks that lost 33 yards.  

If you include those three sacks, EJ Manuel picked up an average of 4.8 yards any time he dropped back to pass.  

Another rough moment for EJ Manuel came in the closing minutes of the 4th Quarter, when he was flagged for intentional grounding inside the end zone, which by rule gives San Diego a safety plus the ball back.

But the loss cannot be pushed onto EJ Manuel's shoulders alone.  There were questionable decisions being made on the sideline, first coming when the Bills on a 4th and 6 when the San Diego Chargers were flagged for offsides as well as a foul after the punt.  The Bills opted to accept not the offsides that would have become a 4th and 1, but to accept the other foul instead.

Then, after the safety in the fourth quarter, there was no attempt by Doug Marrone to have the Bills kicker attempt an onside kick.  Instead, the free kick went down the field so that the Chargers could kill more clock.

By the time the Bills got the ball back, the damage was already done.  On the last series, EJ Manuel went 6/12 for 75 yards and failed to show he has the potential at this stage in his young career to be a threat with the ball with less than two minutes to play.

Meanwhile, three hours later a quarterback known for two-minute drive heroics flashed his magic once again, pulling his Denver Broncos to a tie and forcing overtime against the Seattle Seahawks.

It'll be nice if Buffalo can have that kind of threatening quarterback.  But it'll be even nicer if the Bills can connect with their costly draft pick, Sammy Watkins.

Watkins, picked 4th in the draft by the Buffalo Bills after trading their 1st and 4th round picks in next year's draft, had only two catches for 19 yards, both of which came in the 4th Quarter.  

As I wrote during the preseason, it takes time for Watkins and Manuel to develop chemistry, but it seemed like some of that chemistry was off on Sunday.  Some of it was Manuel's error, misthrowing on several occasions, but some of it can also fall on the shoulders of Watkins.

In all, Schopp and the Bulldog in the postgame is correct.  The Bills got beat by the better team.  But, the Bills also beat themselves.

They have a 2-1 record.  It's not like they have an 0-3 record.  But with that first game against the Patriots lurking in three weeks, things that caused the Bills fits on Sunday are items Doug Marrone need to bring up in practice this week before making this weekend's trip to Houston.

The NFL: Week 1 in Review

Wild finishes became the theme for Week 1 in the National Football League.  Whether it be a late field goal to seal victory, or an onside kick that almost worked, the final minutes of some of Week 1's games gives us more reasons why you shouldn't look away during those critical moments.

Here's what entertained us the most in Week 1:

New England (1-0) 23, Buffalo (0-1) 21 - To be honest, the Buffalo Bills surprised me during this divisional showdown with the Patriots.  Granted, there were moments when you watched (or listened) and wondered if this was going to turn into another 30 point loss for the Bills against the division's best team, but the Bills hung in there.

The defense wasn't stellar, allowing the Patriots to convert 11 of their 20 3rd down opportunities.  And discipline was an issue, with the Bills being penalized 10 times for 75 yards.  Those are two things Coach Doug Marrone will want to work on as they prepare for the Carolina Panthers.

The Bills were able to hang in the game thanks to the work of EJ Manuel.  Manuel did look a little rusty at first, but calmed down to complete 18 of his 27 passes, throwing for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Fred Jackson added 67 yards on 13 carries.

Tom Brady did not look as sharp as he usually does, going 29 for 52 for 288 yards, throwing for 2 touchdowns and had one interception.  But he was aided by the leg of Stephen Gostkowski, who converted all three field goal tries, including the 35 yard attempt with 5 seconds left on the clock to give the Patriots the victory.

Detroit (1-0) 34, Minnesota (0-1) 24 - Adrian Peterson's two touchdown runs and catch for a touchdown wasn't enough to overcome Christian Ponder's 3 intersections, as the Lions roar to victory in Week 1.

Adrian Peterson took his first touch of the football 78 yards for the opening touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings.  He would finish with 93 yards on 18 carries, which meant he ran an average of less than a yard per carry after that 78 yard touchdown run. Christian Ponder completed 18 of 26 passes, for 236 yards, but those three picks hurt the Vikings.

Reggie Bush ran for 90 yards on 21 carries, and took a pass from Matt Stafford 77 yards for the score in the 3rd Quarter.  Stafford finished the day 28-for-43, 357 yards with two touchdowns and 1 interception.

Kansas City (1-0) 28, Jacksonville (0-1) 2 - All 30 points in this game was scored by the Kansas City Chiefs.  And that's a weird statistic.  But for some reason, I love scores that have a 2 in it.

Dustin Colquitt put the Jaguars on the board first when his punt for the Chiefs was blocked and went out the end zone for the safety.  But then the Chiefs started scoring the right way, with Alex Smith connecting with Dennis Avery for a 5 yard touchdown pass to give the Chiefs the lead.

Alex Smith would be accountable for 2 touchdown throws, the other a 3 yard pass to Junior Hemingway for his lone reception of the game.  He would complete 21 of his 34 passes for 173 yards.

After the safety, the Jaguars looked flat, as Blaine Gabbert completed only 16 of his 35 passes for 121 yards, and Maurice Jones-Drew only was able to gather 45 yards of rushing offense for the Jaguars.  Overall, it looked like old days could be back in Kansas City with Andy Reid and Alex Smith wearing the Red and White.  And for Jacksonville, they've got a lot of work to do, which won't be easy with a pair of west coast games coming up.

New York Jets (1-0) 18, Tampa Bay (0-1) 17 - The Jets were the only team to get a safety and win the game (Pittsburgh got the safety against Tennessee but lost).

But the play people are talking about is the penalty to Tampa Bay's Lavonte David with just a few seconds left that not only stopped the clock, it also gave the Jets a bonus 15 yards, which made things easier for Nick Folk to boot the 48 yard winning field goal for the victory.

Dallas (1-0) 36, New York Giants (0-1) 31 - The shocking thing about this game was that the Giants were in this game despite 6 turnovers.

Eli Manning's 450 yards kept the Giants in the game, but his 3 interceptions hurt the G-men.  One of those interceptions came in the first play, connecting with a man in silver and blue instead of one of his own.  Luckily for the G-men, the Cowboys were only able to walk away with three points despite three first quarter turnovers.

A scary moment for the Dallas Cowboys came just before the half when it looked like Tony Romo would be out as he was sandwiched between two Giants, but he would later return.

The 6 turnovers are a pause for concern for the Giants, who have to travel to Denver for their Sunday afternoon contest against the Denver Broncos.

Houston (1-0) 31, San Diego 28 - If you went to bed before midnight, you may be surprised to read today that the Houston Texans won.  And if you waited until after halftime to retire to the slumbers, seeing Houston down 28-7 was enough to prompt a good night.

But the Texans came back.  With authority.  The comeback started with Garrett Graham's 7 yard reception to cap a 11 play, 70 yard drive in the 3rd Quarter, and continued with Owen Daniel's 2nd touchdown reception of the game in the 4th Quarter.  The tying play came on a Philip Rivers interception, his lone of the game, as Brian Cushing ran it back 18 yards to the end zone.

The Texans had the ball last, and they made it count.  Randy Bullock's 41 yard field goal with time expiring capped a 9 play drive that took up the remainder 3:53 on the clock, and spoiled the good mood in San Diego as Week 1 drew to a close.

So your turn.  What do you think was the most memorable moment in Week 1?  What are you looking forward to in Week 2?