By Matt Sohn
Sept. 22, 2008

The manner in which the Bills’ offense completely reinvented itself in the final quarter of Sunday’s stunning 24-23 comeback win over the visiting Raiders is the reason Buffalo remains undefeated after three weeks. The first three quarters saw a comedy of errors from an offense that could do little right against a discombobulated Raiders squad that was playing with a lame-duck head coach. QB Trent Edwards couldn’t hit the broad side of a wall. RB Marshawn Lynch was routinely met by a pack of Silver and Black every time he crossed the line of scrimmage. And the offensive line resembled more of a revolving door than the formidable unit it was purported to be.

The late-game turnaround was nothing short of stunning. Suddenly, the Bills’ offense could do no wrong. Receivers were getting open and Edwards was hitting them between the numbers. But the real heroes were up front.

The PFW spin

It’s not easy to hyperbolize how poorly the offensive line played early in the game. Edwards had no time to throw and was routinely put at the mercy of a decent Raiders defensive line that cascaded upon the second-year quarterback with unrelenting force. The amazing part is that Oakland did it without having to blitz much. Each Raiders D-lineman simply lined up, picked a fight with the Bills' player on the other side of the line, stole his lunch money and continued to stomp on his pride after the initial humiliation.

But as the game drew on, Buffalo’s linemen began to latch on to what their counterparts were doing, and they adapted accordingly.

“We knew it going in that it was going to be tough,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said. “Tough football game, and it was, but I’ll have to see the tape. We expect so much from our offensive line. Sometimes when they play just ‘good,’ it doesn’t seem as if it’s good enough for us, but as long as we get that ‘W,’ we can learn from it and move on. It’s certainly a great way to learn.”

It has to be stated that the line is still adapting to new protection schemes in the new offense of Turk Schonert. Earlier in the week, Edwards told PFW that one of the only things this offense has in common with the one of former coordinator Steve Fairchild is the terminology (which, it must be stated, is an underrated boon for players learning to adjust to a new philosophy). Adding time to the gradual learning curve was the holdout of OLT Jason Peters, who’s still behind the eight ball in his absorption of the offense.

But Schonert wisely adapted late in the game. Instead of trying to pick apart Oakland’s secondary downfield — which he did often early — he opted to work the underneath parts of the field. Subsequently, his linemen were engaged with an opposing lineman for only a portion of the time that they had been in the game’s former stages.

Although Buffalo escaped with a victory, the Bills’ offense needs to play with a greater sense of urgency early in games if they’re to maintain the inertia of their 3-0 start. It’s now been two weeks in a row that they’ve plodded through three-plus quarters of football, only to turn on the afterburners in the final quarter — they needed late-game heroics to leave Jacksonville victorious in Week Two.

The good news is that it appears Buffalo has plans to pick up the early-game pace. Edwards, last Wednesday, spoke glowingly to us about a new no-huddle system that the Bills are looking to break out in the next couple of weeks. He said it won’t be their base approach but will be sprinkled in intermittently throughout the course of the game.

Our fantasy take

Until proven otherwise, Edwards shouldn’t be depended upon in a fantasy lineup. There may, in fact, come a point where he’ll whip the ball around the field early, often and quickly, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when that will occur. RB Marshawn Lynch remains the only player who should be considered a fantasy mainstay, even though his yardage numbers are a bit down. He’s still a menace near the goal line and is becoming a more viable option in the passing game.