Archives for December 8, 2008

‘Coaching: F: No touchdowns in two games. What did you expect? Jauron’s infatuation with deferring is getting old. At least they didn’t waste timeouts.’

‘They have no one to blame but themselves for what has become their typical predicament in 21st century Decembers.’

‘You want more proof that this strategy lacks common sense? Before Sunday, the Buffalo defense had surrendered points on the opening drive in six consecutive games.’

‘Will Allen’s end zone interception in the third quarter for Miami. The Bills were trailing 13-3 at that point but had a first-and-goal at the 3 and a touchdown would have gotten them back into the game and stolen the momentum. Instead, J.P. Losman was instructed to throw a fade pass into the right corner to Lee Evans, under threw the ball, and Allen made the pick to kill Buffalo’s scoring chance, and its hope.’

‘The Bills won the opening coin toss for the third week in a row, deferred to the second half for the third week in a row, and fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter for the third week in a row. Nice strategy. Schonert didn’t get Fred Jackson a touch, and called a pass on first-and-goal at the 3 which was picked off. His offense produced 163 yards. Perry Fewell’s guys played hard, but they forced no turnovers and gave up some third-and-long conversions that were inexcusable. This team gets out-coached worse and worse as the weeks go by.’

‘”We tried selling the tickets, but there wasn’t much of a market, so here we are,” he said.’

‘The first-ever regular season NFL game in Canada was an unmitigated disaster if you’re a Bills fan. A worst-case scenario.’

‘The bad: How many times have you heard this one? Third and 12 just before the end of the quarter and the Dolphins send one guy out to the right. He runs 15 yards turns in between four Bills defenders, and hauls in a demoralizing 18-yarder for a first down. Ouch.’

‘And at least you would have booed the (bleep) out of them after the final gun for another pathetic offensive performance, one that netted just three points and 163 net yards.’

‘This had a corporate Super Bowl feel to it. A lot of people paid a lot of money to be here and then weren’t sure what to do.’

‘”(The win) is great. I think the fact I got to come back to Toronto is just a bonus. The team is playing well. I’ve had a good time. I’m glad I came back.”‘

‘J.P. Losman’s passes were so high, he must have thought Yao Ming was one of his wideouts. Did Marshawn Lynch even make it through customs?’

‘”Look at these cops here,” Kapovich said, motioning to a sea of uniformed officers monitoring the busy crowd in the hours before kickoff. “They look like they want to bust my head in if I cracked open one of these beers.”‘

‘”This is a very good NFL market, but not a Bills market yet,” Brandon said. “But it’s something we’re focused on developing over the next five years.”‘

‘The Bills established that they can lose as well (or badly) up here as they can, and do, down there. Both constituencies might be saying today, “You can have ’em.”‘