Buffalo Bills News and Discussion
‘You started Troy Vincent at free safety against the Cleveland Browns and he was very effective. Do you plan to start him at safety the rest of the season? Or does it depend on who you are playing that particular week?
MM: We’ll re-evaluate the decision to play Troy Vincent at safety and see if it’s the best fit. Speaking Monday, after his first game at that position, I will say that he will play free safety for our next game.’
‘You mentioned last week that Drew graded above 90 percent in 10 of the first 12 games. Could you give us a little more insight into how those grades are calculated?
TD: Our players are graded each week by their position coach. The coach will evaluate each play based on the call and the assignment. In the case of Drew and the other quarterbacks they are graded by Sam Wyche and Sam is a very tough grader. The vast majority of times Drew’s performances this year have been good enough for us to win the game and there is no question that Drew and all of our quarterbacks have benefited by the addition of Sam Wyche to our staff.’
‘McCown was battered all game long by the Buffalo defense, as the Browns’ offensive line surrendered eight sacks for a loss of 79 yards while allowing him to get hit numerous other times. The line just couldn’t keep the Browns’ defenders out of the youngster’s face.’
‘”We’ve won four in a row, that’s the important number,” Buffalo cornerback Lawyer Milloy said. “You’re judged by wins and losses, and right now we’re winning.”‘
‘It’s about a three-hour bus ride to Cleveland, and it looked like the Browns were running for that bus by the end of the third quarter. McCown was not ready to be in thrown to the wolves against Buffalo’s aggressive defense. Butch Davis knew this was a mess when he quit two weeks ago, sticking interim coach Terry Robiskie with the task of dealing with the stench. Browns are awful.’
‘"You have a little swagger when you score like that and you have a defense playing behind you," said tackle Jonas Jennings. "A little cockiness brings confidence.’
‘”We’re still mathematically alive and anything can happen,” the Bills’ owner said. “It takes me back to last year. The Vikings started at 6-0 and they missed the playoffs on a last second pass by Arizona in the final game. It was not against the Vikings, but somebody else. So, how do you know? How do you know in this game? There’s no form.”‘
‘The Bills weren’t stylish or sleek on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Thanks to their overwhelming physical dominance of team that looked like it would rather be anywhere else for nearly three quarters, they didn’t need to be.’
‘”The difference is the offense is scoring points,” Vincent emphasized. “When you do that and your defense gets off the field (after) third down you have a chance to win.”‘
‘How bad was it for McCown? His 25.4 QB rating was lower than Bills’ punter Brian Moorman (39.6), who threw an incompletion at the end of the first half on a muffed snap for a field goal try.’
‘”You’ve got a young quarterback that’s in there and you have to disrupt him a little bit,” he said. “When you’re that young and don’t have the experience knowing where guys are and you’re on the run, it’s not as easy as if you’re a guy who’s been getting a lot of snaps back there. We wanted to be in front of his face as much as we could and it was effective.”‘
‘”We had a lot of young guys out there (on the line),” Robiskie said. “With them, they have Sam Adams in the game, London Fletcher in the game, Takeo Spikes and Jeff Posey with their group. I got a sense on our sideline that it was too big for us. We were trying running plays, and we couldn’t block them, and on passing plays we couldn’t block them.”‘
‘The on-site parking lots opened at 8 a.m., and were filled with several hundred tailgaters within minutes. . . . The most unusual item on sale at the concession stands was a “venison dog,” which cost 50 cents more than a “kielbasa dog.”‘
‘"When you’ve got two guys that are two feet from each other that the combined weight is almost 800,000 pounds then you’re not going to have a lot of time," said McCown of Adams and Pat Williams. "Those guys, a lot of times you can’t just block those guys with one lineman. It takes two or three guys to block those two guys and that frees up a linebacker to come on a blitz and then we can’t pick him up. They had a great scheme for us."’
‘”It’s about points and attitude,” Bills veteran Troy Vincent said of the winning streak. “When you score points, you start believing in yourself, believing in what the coaches are preaching, and you give yourself a great chance to win.”‘