Their opening performance in Week 1 against the Dolphins was not encouraging when it came to results, but the players on Buffalo's offense remain resolute in their belief that they will improve and become more consistent with their play as season wears on.
Naturally the offense wanted to get off to a promising start and be air tight with their execution, but with a new offense to master at regular season game speed, the players and coaches realize it's going to be a process that moves at a methodical pace rather than at light speed.
"We've got to get to a level of consistency throughout the ball game to get where we need to be," said head coach Chan Gailey. "We have done it in preseason, but that was preseason and it doesn't count. Now it counts and we've got to get to that level of consistency. That's what we'll be working on, this week and in the weeks to come."
The players know they left opportunities out on the field Sunday, particularly in the third quarter when the defense and special teams helped to provide them with great field position near midfield on two consecutive possessions. Buffalo was forced to punt on both drives.
Players were frustrated and were quick to put it on their shoulders to improve the overall performance moving forward.
"I've got to do a better job of making guys miss," said C.J. Spiller, who had 14 total yards on 11 offensive touches Sunday. "I didn't do a good job of that. They did a good job of as soon as I was there they were right down on top of my toes. A couple of plays I was a shoestring away from making a big run. That's why you work in practice. I've just got to learn."
"We'll understand how they tried to play us for one, and what other defenses might try to do to us in the future," said Lee Evans. "I think that's just from everybody- guys that have been around, rookies, coaches, everybody. I think the blame falls on everybody when you miss the opportunities we had. I'm pretty confident that we'll be a lot better offensively than we were (Sunday)."
As much as Sunday's performance on offense may have reminded fans of the struggles of the recent past, the players trust in their head coach and their offensive staff and believe consistency will come sooner rather than later.
"We have a lot of talent on our offense and whatever Chan Gailey calls, we just have to execute that play," said Roscoe Parrish. "Whether it's a quick gain, a deep route, a run where we have to block for those guys, and vice versa. Right now we have to look at film and see how we can break things down to get a faster start on offense."
"I don't think our performance (Sunday) is going to affect the rest of our season," said Andy Levitre. "We've got to get back to work this week and hopefully next week will be a lot better than this week."
In no way are the members of Buffalo's offense content with what happened on Sunday. They know there were opportunities missed in what was largely a one possession game until the late stages. That's why they're confident and committed to making more consistent offensive play a reality.
"There are still 15 football games left to prove that," said Trent Edwards. "I don't see any reason why we can't do that. We have the players in this locker room and the coaches that can do it. There's no reason to be down or disappointed and we'll come back next week." "I think we'll get a lot better from this game," said Evans. "We'll learn from this game. I think we'll be a much better offense in the future."
