Archives for October 17, 2011

‘”It doesn’t look good,” said Gailey of Hairston’s prognosis. “It looks like it’ll be two to four weeks probably so he’ll miss the next game for sure. I don’t know how bad, but it’s an ankle."’

‘While there are no acceptable losses some hurt less than others. Losing on the road to a non division foe the week before the bye week is a bit more acceptable than others. The Bills were resting hurt players to give them an extra week off. The loss hurts them in the standing as it dropped them behind New England but doesn’t hurt them in a tiebreaker scenarios.’

‘Ryan Fitzpatrick Was pretty accurate with most his passes but two poorly thrown balls were intercepted. He finished with a QB rating of 88.8 completing 21 of 30 for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Grade C-: The two interceptions were the difference in a tight game.’

‘”(Fitzpatrick) did some really good things today – he did a great job of checking to the (60-yard) touchdown to Naaman (Roosevelt) to get us in the right play – we just need to hit those two passes down the field. We’ve been doing that some … (but) we didn’t do it today.”‘

‘”I was doing my best to stay up top,” McGee said. “He got past me a little bit so when I saw the ball come down I knew where he had to catch that I might have a chance to get my arm in there. So as soon as he caught it I was able to stick my arm in there and going down I was able to rake it and luckily the ball bounced out because he had it in his hands.”‘

‘And then it slipped through their fingers. Or, more accurately, it slipped into the fingers of Giants cornerback Corey Webster. Ryan Fitzpatrick’s pass down the sideline for Stevie Johnson, who had a step on Webster, came up short. Webster picked it off, just as he picked off an underthrown Fitzpatrick pass for Johnson in the third quarter.’

‘”I take the blame for the loss, if you want to point someone to blame for the loss, point me out,” said Florence, the veteran cornerback, after the Bills’ 27-24 loss to the Giants. “I didn’t make any plays and I gave up some plays. I didn’t play good enough for our team to win. I think all 10 guys on defense played good enough to win and I didn’t play like I’m capable of playing. … Those pass interference calls really gave them a lot of momentum. To put a game in the referee’s hands is always going to be a bad outcome.”‘

‘There were four acknowledged concerns about the Bills coming into the season: 1) The lack of a consistent pass rush; 2) A lack of depth on the offensive line; 3) A lack of speedy wide receivers who can stretch defenses down the field; 4) The run defense.’

‘”The guy makes you smile,” Fitzpatrick said. “He did a great job after he got the catch. Naaman just being a smart football player, he ran a route where they weren’t. They showed pressure and ran out. Naaman found a hole, and I have a lot of trust in him. I threw it to him and he did the rest.”‘

‘Webster, a second-round pick in 2005, saw his career turn around starting with a game in Buffalo the second last week of the regular season in 2007. He had a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 38-21 Giants comeback win. He started from that point on and played great in the playoffs that year, helping the Giants to the Super Bowl title.’

‘Gailey had creative game plan, got Spiller involved as wideout. Might have run clock instead of calling fateful long pass to Johnson late.’

‘”I want to give credit to Corey Webster, he made plays on both,” said Fitzpatrick. “That said, Stevie beat him and I underthrew him. We had two chances to win (those particular plays) and I would have said we’d win 100 percent of the time, but it didn’t happen today and I’ll have to live with that. It’s tough as a quarterback to look all the other guys in the face, but that’s what you have to do as a quarterback and a leader, and you have to be able to move on from that.”‘

‘This defense is pretty bad. On paper, it should be better with the additions of DE Marcell Dareus, LBs Nick Barnett and Shawne Merriman, and some promising young players, but the games aren’t played on paper. The Bills have no semblance of a pass rush, and they still can’t stop the run.’

‘The Bills’ defense had been living off takeaways in the first five games, but they had zero against the Giants, and gave up 414 yards and 27 points. At some point you have to stop the other team, but the Bills allowed scoring drives of 69, 84, 89, 75 and 76 yards.’

‘This group is not getting it done in any area. Playing without Kyle Williams hurt, but even when Williams was in there, things were the same: No pass rush, and big holes for backs to run through. The Bills had no sacks, have only five for the year, and the only two by linemen are by Marcell Dareus and Spencer Johnson. Chan Gailey said it afterward: “We have to find a way to get pressure.” Dwan Edwards had a good game with seven tackles.’