Archives for November 6, 2003

‘The Bills list Jennings as questionable, meaning he has a 50-percent chance of playing. Without him, Marcus Price would take over the starting job.’

‘The Bills will be out to prove themselves in a tough contest at Texas Stadium. Dallas has been a mediocre at best in the past few weeks and it will catch up with it in this contest. Expect a well-rested Buffalo team to come out and play its best game of the year.’

‘The second half slate features the Colts, Giants, and a three game finish against the Titans, Dolphins, and Patriots. The Bills won’t survive that gauntlet, and they’ll be lucky to finish 8-8.’

‘Since 1998, the pivot is just 2-15 on the road against teams that finished the season with a winning record. Not exactly a comforting statistic considering three of the Bills’ four remaining road games are against plus-.500 teams (Dallas, 4-4 New York Giants, 6-2 Tennessee Titans, and 7-2 New England).’

‘Conclusion: The Bills either need to do a whole lot of damage on second down . . . or start playing significantly better overall.’

‘Parcells is a classic bully. You beat the bully by punching back, by hitting him in the mouth. That’s what the Bills must do to have a chance. They have to run the ball at the Cowboys and run it some more. They have to beat him at his own game, the way they failed to do – sorry – in a certain Super Bowl loss 13 years ago.’

‘To make room for McGahee, the Bills released running back Ken Simonton. If he clears waivers, Simonton may be re-signed to the practice squad.’

‘You’re right, it should be a point of emphasis. The Bills say it has been something they’ve stressed and will continue to stress. I don’t think they’ve stopped it, but they aren’t doing a good job of keeping drives alive. They had success running short drops versus Washington. I don’t think deep drops cost them in the first half in Kansas City. Bledsoe just couldn’t make plays on third down.’

‘Wright’s troubles began about three months after he was selected in the final round of the 2002 National Football League draft by the Buffalo Bills.’

‘The three-week window ended Wednesday, and McGahee showed enough progress to warrant the activation, but it doesn’t mean the Bills have to play him in games right away. He will very likely be inactive for Sunday’s game in Dallas, and perhaps a few games after that until he proves he can withstand the wear and tear of live action.’

‘”We stack up pretty well,” Winfield said. “They’re not big guys. We don’t have to worry about the jump ball, but they have good speed and they’re experienced receivers. So it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”‘

‘There were testy times, but looking back Bledsoe appreciates what Parcells meant to him. He can laugh now at having to take Parcells a cup of Gatorade before practice, just as this year’s top draft pick, Terence Newman, does.’

‘"We can run the ball on third down and I anticipate that we will do that more through the last eight games of the regular season. We’ve shown some great progress in the running game in the last few weeks. I anticipate that will become a bigger part of what we do on third downs. To be able to run the ball on some passing downs and to pass the ball more on the running downs (is an advantage)."’

‘"There are certain things and certain plays on both sides of the ball of all three phases that we are doing well. We have to try to take a look and emphasize in doing those a little bit more. There are certain plays within the run game that are averaging out better than some of the other plays. We have to analyze that and see why that is so technique wise, defensive front wise, and scheme wise. What was causing some of those breakdowns? We have to emphasize the runs that did do well. We also took a look at some of our fronts and coverage on defense and where those things were standing out and the emphasis of where it should go in game plan going out the rest of the season."’

‘"This is my first day so hopefully I’ll learn some things before I get in there," Conaty said. "It’s a lot of stuff I’ve heard before though. I’ve been around, this is my seventh year. A lot of the terminology is the same so I think I’ll be a quick study."’