Bills GIF Recap: Week 1

Hello.

I know you’ve been waiting a while for this.

I’m trying something a bit different this year. But I hope you enjoy it all the same.

This is a GIF recap of the Bills’ season opener. They hosted the Indianapolis Colts at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday. Here’s what happened.

Listen, a lot of things happened over the summer. Doug Marrone fled the country. Rex Ryan invaded Western New York. LeSean McCoy tried to throw a party. But that’s all over now. What matters is we are here now. We are recharged. Let’s get it.

Oh good.

13:09 — Andrew Luck throws 30-yard pass to Dwayne Allen. Called back on holding penalty, Colts punt (0-0 tie)

I am calm. Everything is fine. Go get it, Tyrod.

11:15 — Matt Cassel starts at QB, Tyrod Taylor starts at wideout. LeSean McCoy runs for 6-yard loss (0-0 tie)

what

10:38 — Taylor throws 20-yard swing pass to McCoy (0-0 tie)

We saw a lot of little things like this on Sunday and I am certainly fine with that. Get Shady into space. Especially if the offensive line continues to struggle with with run blocking.

8:08 — Drive stalls, Bills Punter Punts (0-0)

A brief word about Puntasy Football: @Fuhrrer4Heisman isn’t doing weekly recaps on the Roost this year because they take a lot of time and he has a real life. He did post the scores for Week 1 and boy, did I do terribly. Perhaps relying on the Browns to punt instead of throw interceptions was a mistake.

7:27 — Luck pass goes off Frank Gore’s hands, Colts punt (0-0 tie)

Andrew Luck, all day.

4:13 — Bills take penalties, punt (0-0 tie)

no this is fine

3:17 — Luck throws 30-yard pass to Hilton (0-0 tie)

The Bills are probably very lucky that Hilton suffered a bone bruise in this game. This was the only real big play the team had all day.

2:50 — Luck intercepted by Ronald Darby (0-0 tie)

ronald come to my zubaz party it’s in my pants

Let’s just get right the More Good Stuff because it was fun.

0:09 — Taylor throws 51-yard pass to Percy Harvin (7-0 Bills)

There’s a thing I always debate when writing these out—the length of the passing play isn’t always the length of the throw itself. Not giving more detail leaves out a lot of context. So here’s some context: this was a 51-yard throw. In the air. And it was spectacular.

Pretty good quarter.

Jerry Hughes did not make an appearance in this GIF recap, but last week I wrote about the sandwich they named after him at the Ralph for Gusto. If you’re eating at the stadium sometime this season, that’s your guide to the food inside. Sneak into the suites and get some of those tacos. You won’t regret it.

11:11 — Taylor throws 26-yard pass to Charles Clay (7-0 Bills)

Let’s talk about The Score app right for a moment. It’s great. Way, way better than the ESPN app in every way. The news alerts it pushes out are timely and accurate, and it’s much faster updating scores than any other app, including Google Now. Really big fan. Thanks, Canada. Chanks.

7:53 — Dan Carpenter kicks 41-yard field goal (10-0 Bills)

Considering the preseason he had, it was good to see Kid Jesus get on the board here.

7:42 — Frank Gore rushes for no gain (10-0 Bills)

It was difficult to tell if Frank Gore was bad or if the run defense was very good. I’m going with “both.”

4:58 — Luck throws 15-yard pass to Moncrief, who is suplexed by Bacarri Rambo (0-0 tie)

As Grantland’s Bill Barnwell wrote quite fittingly, this was a good recap of the Colts day on offense.

(fast-forward on a 5-minute drive of nothing for…)

2:47 — Adam Vinatieri misses 52-yard field goal (10-0 Bills)

Let’s talk a lot about this next drive.

2:42 — Taylor throws to Harvin for 8-yard gain (10-0 Bills)

We’ve seen this situation many times over the last 15 years.

2:00 — Taylor runs for 2-yard loss (10-0 Bills)

This was not the perfect 2-minute drill.

1:19 — Taylor scrambles for 31-yard gain (10-0 Bills)

But it was a good one.

1:09 — McCoy runs for 4-yard gain, called back back on holding (10-0 Bills)

Fast-paced and (mostly) well-executed.

1:03 — Taylor runs for 5-yard gain (10-0 Bills)

This was not a team with a lead simply going into the half and starting with the ball.

0:26 — Karlos Williams runs for 26-yard touchdown (17-0 Bills)

This was snuffing out any chance for optimism for the Colts.

TACO MONKEY BACK NO FURTHER QUESTIONS

Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

14:30 — Taylor throws 11-yard pass to Clay (17-0 Bills)

I’m not sure he’s going to be a fantasy star here, but I think Clay proved already he’s a significant upgrade at tight end. Good hands, got open in space and really made some good blocks. This is going to be fun.

12:45 — Taylor throws a 12-yard pass to Robert Woods (17-0 Bills)

Bobby Woods! This was a really strong throw on a 3rd and 8 where the game could have swung on a good-length field goal. A third and long for a team desperate for a quarterback to make a play. What was so impressive about this play is how ordinary it was. Calm quarterback in the pocket, accurate throw and a nice catch along the sideline. A huge moment in this game.

If you’re looking for a more thorough breakdown of the game I’d check out an All-22 recap as well but, come on now, you probably just came here for the GIFS.

11:36 — McCoy runs for 12-yard touchdown CALLED BACK on a holding penalty (17-0 Bills)

Bummer for Shady, but I like what happens next.

9:38 — Boobie Dixon runs for 1-yard touchdown (24-0 Bills)

Dagger. Boobie is definitely my favorite Bill because of any number of things. Rex Ryan seems to love him, he’s hilarious on various social medias and he genuinely seems to like it here. He is far from the best running back on this team, but it’s fun to see him do well. I hope he stays here for a very long time.

0:57 — Luck throws 2-yard touchdown to Moncrief, 2-point conversion good (24-8 Bills)

Look at the time that evaporated from this game. An 18-play drive that took 8:40 off the clock and ultimately still had the Colts trailing by 16 with a quarter to play. This is a drive you could palate-swap and drop into any Bills game over the last 15 years.

I watched this happen in horror because it was all so familiar. But the Bills weren’t on the wrong side of it. This is completely fine.

Man. What an suddenly-old GIF.

I’m obviously trying something a bit more wordy with the recaps this year, but I’m still on the fence about making actual gifs. A great Twitter follow, however, is YardsPerPass,which as I make this is sending out a bunch of meaty defensive GIFs. Mmmmn… GIFs.

13:33 — Bills Punter punts, Colts Returner Fumbles, Bills recover (24-8 Bills)

The special teams play by the Bills in this game was another bright spot. Good hits and tackles by the first man on punts. Good distance and placement from Schmidt, and for all the talk about Carpenter having a poor training camp he didn’t miss on Sunday.

8:19 — Kick Rock hits 45-yard field goal (27-8 Bills)

Special teams is usually where you find the depth on a football team, which is something that’s still a bit of an unknown with this team. If more safeties and corners go down, will the Bills defense remain stout? It’s impossible to tell just a week into the season, but it didn’t feel like this team was in peril in any way. It was a comforting performance in more ways than one.

8:08 — Luck throws ball directly into the turf (27-8 Bills)

Luck had a bad game on Sunday. It’s rare he has those, really. But what stood out to me was this play. The constant pressure from Bills blitzes actually got to him. The Bills are going to give up big plays against their blitz. It’s not always going to work. But seeing a nervous Andrew Luck try—and fail—to adjust to the massive amount of pressure sent at him means worse quarterbacks are going to have even more trouble against this team.

Again, one game. But a fun one game.

6:00 — Luck throws 6-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Allen, conversion goes through Johnson’s hands (27-14 Bills)

Again, the Colts got it together on this drive. But they were still down two scores with 6 minutes left on the clock. The work the Bills did in the first half was enough in this one. You hope for more finish in other games this season. Then again, I think they’ll always take a 24-point lead with less than 25 minutes left in regulation.

Let’s move on to the last big play.

2:03 — Luck intercepted by Aaron Williams (27-14 Bills)

This season might be the one where Bills fans finally realize they have some talent in the secondary. Darby impressed in his debut and Williams and Rambo made some nice plays. Gilmore was quiet, which usually means he had a good game. This is the game you wanted from the Bills. It’s the game you want them to have more of as we move forward.

I’m glad Tom Brady is coming to Orchard Park on Sunday.

I was thinking about this sometime in the second half on Sunday. The way they played against the Colts was encouraging, but it made me realize something: this is a team that looks like it can really compete. They may not be great, but it’s a team that shouldn’t need luck and good fortune to find success.

So yeah, I want them to be properly weighed and measured. And that means playing against the best. A daunting start to the season is for the best. Go out there and see what happens. The crowd will be fantastic, the players will be amped up and we will all learn something new about this team.

It’s going to be fun.

Sorry about the delay, folks. See you on Monday.