Archives for December 2008

‘Whether one sees it as a wasted effort or the bright side of a miserable loss, the defense set a good example that nobody else followed in Sunday’s 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Everything started in the back, as the safeties toiled admirably for the half of Buffalo’s team that bothered. Bryan Scott led the brigade with 10 stops; it usually means rotten truths when a safety leads the tackle count, but on this day it reflected a good effort for the player rather than a poor one for the defense.’

‘So, Langston, has the coach lost the locker room? “Don’t even try that because he hasn’t,” Walker said. “Dick has my utmost respect, and you can ask the guys in here. He’s a good coach and a good person. Everybody knows that. Unfortunately, we’ve gone through a bad spot. People on the outside, that’s what sells papers, making comments like that, and I’m not going to fall into that.”‘

‘The Bills haven’t selected anyone who’s emerged as a true impact player since Evans in the first round of 2004. They haven’t had a draft where they’ve selected multiple impact players since Nate Clements, Schobel, Travis Henry and Jonas Jennings in 2001. That’s 68 draft picks spent on five difference-makers. Just because a team finds room for its draft picks on its roster doesn’t mean it has good players. It might even mean it has done nothing more than continue to churn mediocrity.’

‘Adrian Montgomery of Rogers Communications, who oversaw Sunday’s Bills-Dolphins game at Rogers Centre, says there’s no reason why next year’s NFL game couldn’t be played during the CFL season. Nothing in the five-year, $78 million deal with the Bills stipulates when games can be played here, he said. “In theory, it’s possible that the game could be played any month,” he said yesterday. “But that’s something we would sit down and figure out in a spirit of collaboration with the Argos and Bills. There may be an opportunity, in theory, to do a football weekend with the Argos or something like that.”‘

‘From all accounts, the first N.F.L. regular-season game in Canada was a bore. Organizers had trouble filling Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sunday, the atmosphere was lifeless, and the game was a field-goal festival (Miami beat Buffalo, 16-3). The real drama played out behind the scenes, where the N.F.L. has stirred concern that it will eventually muscle out the Canadian Football League. The issue is one of Canadian identity.’

Jets becoming too much like meek Mangini (New York Post)

Jets’ GM Mike Tannenbaum incorporates Red Auerbach’s style (New York Daily News)

Three is the most important number of all for Jets (New York Newsday)

Jets’ Richardson thrills Yonkers schoolkids (White Plains Journal News)

Dave Hutchinson with the New York Jets (Newark Star Ledger)

Jets look ahead: Jets (8-5) vs. Bills (6-7) (Bergen Record)

Jets Waive RB Mason (NewYorkJets.com)

Bowens to Jets: Barbecue … or Keep On Playing? (NewYorkJets.com)

‘ Last Thursday, Kelly posed for pictures with fans of all ages and signed autographs for a huge crowd in the HH Boyd’s Bears store at the Boulevard Mall in Amherst.’

‘It’s time – again – to clean house. That goes for players and coaches. No one should be immune to the fallout.’

‘I believe that most Canadians are fans of NFL football in general, and just because some of them live in Toronto it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will cheer for the Bills when the play at the Rogers Centre. I can think of one friend back home who is a Bills fan. Everyone else I know is a fan of some other NFL team (the majority of them are Cowboys fans somehow).’

‘Do we blame the coaches for six losses in the past seven games? The players? Both?’

‘The situation didn’t improve after the break, either. The two had 13 total chances by the third quarter’s end, with Evans increasing his output by infinity percent; unfortunately, his catch quantity only jumped by one to one. The Wisconsin product continued to go shamefully ignored to the point where he may has well have spent the afternoon patronizing the Hard Rock Café housed within Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Evans’ only other direct action came in the form of a catch each on the final two drives, and the fact he didn’t get to indulge in a Pig Sandwich was just a further affront.’

‘”The last two games with three points, what can you say?” left tackle Jason Peters said. “We have to put more points on the board. We are driving the ball. We are just not getting in the end zone.”‘

‘This is the point where Russ Brandon has to seize whatever real power he has and convince the owner he has a hell of a mess on his hands. If Wilson is reluctant to get rid of Jauron, the master salesman has to persuade him he can’t sell Jauron to this fan base any longer.’

‘”It was pretty frustrating to know that the guys were out there struggling, and you wanted to be out there to help them and weren’t getting opportunities,” Jackson said. “It’s just something where you have to grin and bear it, so to speak. They were out there trying their hardest. I just wasn’t able to help them.”‘