Archives for September 19, 2011

‘Steve Johnson was a seventh-round pick; Donald Jones and David Nelson were undrafted free agents; tight end Scott Chandler was waived by the Cowboys. Those four guys, all on minimum salaries, combined for 24 catches and three touchdowns in Sunday’s win over the Raiders and are a big reason the Bills are 2-0.’

‘This is no time for any Bills fan or me to be saying “I told you so”. Yes the Bills are a surprise 2-0 and they have looked like one of the best offenses in the league through the first pair of games. But as everyone has learned in the past, this is a long NFL season and so many things can happen to derail a good start. But can you argue with the fact that Chan Gailey knows how to coach offense in the NFL?’

‘”Chan said after the game ‘2-0 feels good but 2-0 (also) feels right after all the work we put in.’ And with what we think we have in that locker room, 2-0 feels right.'”‘

‘”We needed a big play and I felt like if I can get a spark just by making a play, everybody would feed off of it and we did,” he said. “Everybody wanted to go out and make a play. We saw Stevie hobbling around out with cramps, but he wanted to be on the field to help this team with a victory. Anytime you’ve got guys willing to put in the work like that we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”‘

‘"I think it’s taking away from the tailgating and getting amped up for the game," he said. "I think it should go back to the way it was."’

‘”I can’t recall one ever like that,” Gailey said. “That was an amazing gut check by our football team.”‘

‘”I wouldn’t necessarily call it a struggle, I’m not going to sit here and lie to you, it wasn’t a struggle,” McKelvin said. “You’re going to give up plays, you’re going to make plays. Obviously I got beat on a go route and things like that, but [Moore] made a great play. It’s not like I wasn’t there. There was one pass where I wasn’t there so it wasn’t like I wasn’t struggling, I played great defense. I just didn’t make the play.”‘

‘”Blue-collar town and I’m a blue-collar guy,” he said. “You know, I’m not overly gifted in any kind of way, I just work hard, just like the community. I really felt like I fit in great here.”‘

‘But again, feel free to hoist yourselves onto Nick Barnett’s happy train. It might be flawed, but this Bills team is sure fun to watch. They’ve put up 79 points in two weeks. They’re the talk of the league, a team that matters.’

‘”It was a special game for us,” Nelson said. “It was something you dream of as a little kid, to be able to catch the game-winning touchdown against the Oakland Raiders or a team with that prestige. I just can’t put it into words how emotional that was to me. I got really emotional after the game.”‘

‘”It was ruled an interception,” Carey said. “We came into the locker room after delaying to see if it was going to be reviewed. I got a beep in the locker room, a buzz in the locker room, that said review. [I] went back out, put the headset on. They weren’t set up but it was an erroneous transmission, and they had already confirmed the ruling on the field.”‘

‘”I had the best view of the ball over everybody,” Searcy said. “Once the ball started coming down, I just went up over everybody so I was the first guy to actually touch the ball. Once I started coming down, guys started to pull at it so I jerked away from everybody, and that’s how I fell on top of everybody.”‘

‘Gailey’s play calling was extraordinary in the second half. Team didn’t panic after weak first half. Some dubious clock management just before halftime.’

‘The heroes were numerous, starting with David Nelson catching the winning 6-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick thanks to a colossal blown coverage by the Raiders, capping what ties as the fifth-most prolific comeback in Bills’ regular-season history.’

‘”We’re giving this game ball to Mr. Wilson,” said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns including the winning six-yarder to David Nelson. “It’s the first time he’s missed an opener and we were sorry he couldn’t be here, but we hope he’s proud of what we did on the field today.”‘