Archives for October 2004

‘Center Trey Teague and left tackle Jonas Jennings were held out of practice Wednesday, leaving the Buffalo Bills potentially short two starters for this weekend’s game at the New York Jets.’

‘The mood among the team right now is one of a little frustration, frustration over the fact that a lot of their problems have been self-inflicted. I think certainly when you look closely at the three games that they’ve lost, if you take away some of their own mental mistakes and breakdowns, they very easily could be 3-0 right now. I think that’s the different between good teams and bad teams. Good teams limit their mistakes and continue to play good, solid football. The Bills just have not been doing enough of that lately.’

‘The Bills said the bootleg would have worked if everyone had executed his assignment. But given how deep Bledsoe was in the backfield, he would have had to cover a lot of ground to get the 3 yards needed for the first down. That’s a lot to ask, given his limited mobility.’

Who is responsible for the Bills losing their last 6 games? Who is responsible for the team being 17-34 since 2001? Who is responsible for ensuring the word ‘Bills’ is never mentioned with the term ‘playoff team’? Let’s take a look at the candidates for the title of scapegoat king/bringer of weekly indigestion.

The Bills and Jets are two teams going in opposite directions so far this season. The Bills are one of the league’s biggest disappointments at 0-3 and need to right the ship quickly. It will be a very hard job to do at the Meadowlands this week.

Jets pick sleeper in Coleman (New York Daily News)

Jets heed Martin mantra (New York Post)

No Super reservations, yet (Newsday)

A Jet on the rise (White Plains Journal News)

Abraham is looking like a money player (Newark Star Ledger)

Jordan not kicking about his role (Bergen Record)

Opportunistic defense helps Jets improve (AP)

Jets vs. Bills press release (NewYorkJets.com)

‘The players need to be held accountable for their actions. You hate to take your best players off the field, but you have to send a message. You can’t play stupid football. Stupid football will make you lose every time, it doesn’t matter if you’re the most talented team in the league. If you don’t play smart, you’re not going to win. That’s been the biggest issue so far. Until they get this problem cleaned-up it’s going to remain a serious issue. Obviously you hate to take certain guys off the field, but if you have repeat offenders that just aren’t getting the message then maybe, you need to bench them. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but if you’re able to damage a guy’s ego he may think long and hard about what he’s doing on the field and it may help to fix some of those mistakes.’

‘Coach Mike Kane of Olean High School has been named the Buffalo Bills high school football “Coach of the Week” for the fifth weekend of the 2004 season (October 1-2).’

‘The Bills currently rank 1st in the AFC in both kickoff returns and kickoff coverage.’

‘But that doesn’t change the fact Bills’ players lack a sense of fear. Just because the head coach doesn’t get in their face doesn’t mean there can’t be consequences for dumb or careless play.’

‘"I think that has a huge effect on your secondary when you have a guy like Lawyer Milloy out and Troy Vincent," head coach Mike Mularkey said. "We understand we’re young back there, and we got to make sure that we’re putting these guys in a scheme that they’re confident. We know if we’re sitting there and we’re guessing, "Do we think he can do it?’ he’s probably doing the same thing. We’ve got to just be smart about how we scheme with the younger guys."’

‘Your vote for Evans can be placed on NFL.com beginning Tuesday morning and ending on Thursday afternoon. The winner will be announced Thursday afternoon on NFL.com.’

‘”Everyone has to be accountable to each other,” Buffalo offensive lineman Ross Tucker said. “When everyone is watching, you’re held accountable.”‘

‘The Bills are not sure about the status of center Trey Teague, who also left Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Coach Mike Mularkey said he didn’t know the results of a magnetic resonance imaging exam done on Teague’s left knee Monday. Mularkey thinks it may only be a sprain but isn’t sure if it is severe enough to keep Teague off the field.’

‘"It’s going to get worse, too," Rex said. "Donahoe’s first draft class was his best. Guys like Aaron Schobel and Jonas Jennings were value players in their first contracts. What’s coming behind them? Josh Reed isn’t value. Mike Williams isn’t."’