Archives for December 13, 2005

‘How far away are the Bills from contending with the Patriots? “If we play like that, we’re a long ways away,” coach Mike Mularkey said. “If we hadn’t had the chance to play them earlier in the year, I’d question ourselves, but we are better than that. We’ve played better than that, I should say, and we’ve responded better than that after tough losses. When we played them the last time, we were coming off a bad road loss (38-17 at Oakland) and we came back and played better in their place, but we didn’t respond (this time).”‘

‘There’s no defense for a Buffalo coaching staff that runs the ball just 12 times in the snow and cold at home.’

‘”We were minutes away from being in a game (on Sunday vs. the Patriots) for first place in the division, instead we’re not,” he said. “Those close losses I think over time they can just work on you a bit. I know everyone is very disappointed. I know the fans are, but not as disappointed as our team, our staff, our organization is. We had high expectations, and we’re going to try and finish strong. We’re going to try and play better, get better, and finish this thing off right.”‘

‘Levy said he’d never want to coach a player who wasn’t intrinsically motivated to be a better player. He also said he’s been contacted by two teams about coming back to work in the NFL.’

Patriots report card (Boston Herald)

Inside slant (The Sports Xchange)

Strategy and personnel (The Sports Xchange)

Notes, quotes (The Sports Xchange)

Belichick Press Conference (Patriots.com)

‘Just a guess, but I’d expect Wilson to wait until season’s end before doing anything, and then we’ll learn that Donahoe is resigning, with Mularkey remaining as head coach. Bills fans may not be totally happy with that, but here’s hoping they understand that at this point, the thought of rebuilding with a new coach and staff and system is the least appealing of all options.’

‘Why try a field goal late in the third quarter down 21-0? Oh, I get it, instead of playing to win the game; the Bills are playing not to get shutout.’

‘”I don’t think anybody wants a head-coaching change around here,” said middle linebacker London Fletcher, who had an interception and a game-high 14 tackles but got precious-little help. “If you want to say, ‘Are we playing for him?’ I guess we are … (but) I don’t know how much of an issue it is as far as making a head-coaching change because just a year ago he was one game away from (us) being a playoff team.”‘

‘”We’re not going to be a team that loses confidence, regardless of whether we’re losing or everything’s not going our way,” Branch said. “We always keep our composure. We count on each other. During the course of a game a lot won’t go right, but we’ll continue to stay together.”‘

‘Brady improved to 19-0 in games played in temperatures under 40 degrees and is 29-4 in games after Thanksgiving.’