Did anyone else watch the Watkins/Revis matchup intently like I tried to do? I noticed that far more often than not, on Bills pass plays, Watkins was just running vertical routes on the sideline, and Orton never even looked his way. It's as if Watkins was a decoy on almost every play just to take Revis out of the game. Revis was on the line against Watkins on nearly every down, but almost never played bump coverage. Watkins would get a free release and head straight down the sideline with Revis blanketing him.
I will say, however, that Watkins did create separation here and there. There was one play in particular where he torched Revis, absolutely torched him, and had him beat by 2-3 steps. There was safety help over the top, but it was an easy 30+ yard gain if Orton had looked his way. Orton threw it to Chandler, though, and he converted for a first down.
I just felt it was a lack of innovation from the coaching staff. I understand Revis is a very good player, no doubt. But it's almost like they gameplanned away from him. IMO, if your gameplan involves taking your own best offensive weapon out of the game entirely because you're afraid of a ####### cornerback from the other team...that's just silly. And if you're gonna do that, why bench Mike Williams? I know matchups are important and Marrone stressed matchups heavily in his post-game comments....but if you're gonna draft a receiver top 5 - a receiver who has looked very, very good so far - you can't just hide him when he goes up against a good corner. Let him play.
I was pretty disappointed in how they used him yesterday. It wasn't that he got dominated by Revis. It's that the Bills offense was designed in such a way to make Watkins invisible to neutralize Revis. That's silly to me.
