Did Bills WR Sammy Watkins admit 'clouds' affect his game?
Sammy Watkins erupted in the first half of Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, catching six passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. After halftime, though, he disappeared -- just as the rest of the Bills offense did.
Watkins was shut out in the second half and was targeted just once as the Bills fell to the Chiefs, 30-22. On Wednesday, Watkins talked about what caused his disappearance, and cited a strange culprit for his struggles ... sort of.
“The weather, the clouds, little things like that, that you can’t let affect your game," Watkins said via Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News. "You can’t fall asleep when they’re holding the ball for six minutes. Things like that, you have to stay in tune. You can’t worry about what the defense is doing. You’ve got to really control the offense. When the defense gives up a touchdown, we have to go score a touchdown. If the defense stops the offense, we’ve got to go and score."
Now, Watkins didn't say for sure that the clouds are what caused his lack of production in the second half, but the fact that he even mentioned it is somewhat surprising. If the weather does indeed impact Watkins' game, he may or may not be happy to heard the forecast in Buffalo for Week 13: 49 degrees and partly cloudy.
On a more serious note, Watkins did say that the Bills need to be better at responding to adversity, specifically after opponents put up points on them.
"They go and score, we have to line back up, make plays and go out there," Watkins said. "I think we get down in the game. Guys that aren’t getting balls get down and when I don’t get the ball I get down. So it’s really just staying consistent through all the plays. Blocking throughout the whole game. I think I kind of died down a bit in the second half and I have to stay alive, stay playing fast and competing.”
The Bills need a win against the streaking Houston Texans this week in order to get back to .500 on the year. They're one game back of a playoff berth with just five games to go.
