Archives for October 12, 2009

‘I can see the argument that Parrish’s attempt at fielding that game-changing punt might, for some, be categorized as an undisciplined mistake. But I don’t buy it. The Bills had done nothing offensively. Parrish, like Lee Evans and Terrell Owens, is a playmaker, but one not entirely dependent upon Edwards to get the ball in his hands. This was a tedious, boring game yearning for an explosive play. And Parrish, true to his instincts, strived to produce it.’

‘”We’ll find out [today],” head coach Dick Jauron said. “I’m not optimistic about those injuries. We’ll find out more [today], and clearly we’ll have to do something if those turn out to be serious.”‘

‘Coaching: Hard to come up with anything original at this point. Thirteen penalties is an indictment of Jauron and his coaching staff. Grade: F.’

‘The one big play of the first quarter was wiped out by penalty.’

‘”I feel for everyone in the organization and more importantly the fans,” Brandon said in a quiet Bills locker room. “This is not where we expected to be right now.”‘

‘”Playing with him forever, he’s such a special player, and I know he’s just trying to make a play and win the game,” Costanzo said.’

‘It was the team that made the critical mistake in a game where neither team played to win but rather not to lose. That came with Roscoe Parrish’s muffed punt, setting up the winning field goal with 23 seconds left.’

‘Which team will play worse? Well, the scoreboard read 6-3 Browns, but seriously, as bad as the Bills were, the Browns were every bit their equal. However, as is often the case in games between lousy teams, it comes down to a killer mistake, and the Bills made it when Parrish lost the fumble.’

‘Four days after celebrating his 59th birthday, Dick Jauron must have felt 99 after watching his team commit 13 penalties, bogging down drive after drive. That’s indefensible and a clear reflection his team has quit on him no matter what the players say. F.’

‘Instead, there was no ceremony. Nor a band. Nor a reason to do anything but drown your sorrows in suds during halftime of what might have been the ugliest football game the stadium has ever seen.’

‘Even if you just counted false starts, the Bills would have one more penalty than the St. Louis Rams, who held a slim 32-31 lead heading into Sunday. The idle Green Bay Packers have 30 penalties, meaning the Bills also rank first in penalties per game.’

‘The worst offenders in the loss may have been the Buffalo offensive line. The unit recorded nine false starts.’

‘”I really don’t know what to say,” Owens said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a lot today.”‘

‘That was just one sad irony in a game that exposed so much incompetence.’