Archives for October 2011

‘”It was difficult to leave there,” he said. “They were great teammates and great guys. I still keep in touch with a lot of them. Jacksonville, I could just tell they wanted me a lot more. I wanted to be part of this team and this organization.”‘

‘Ryan Fitzpatrick (21 of 30 for 244 yards) threw touchdown passes of 60 yards to Naaman Roosevelt and 9 yards to Stevie Johnson, but his final attempt was batted down by Jason Pierre-Paul on a fourth-and-5 from the Bills 25 to preserve the win.’

‘Williams was listed as questionable for the game Friday with a foot problem. Linebacker Shawne Merriman was declared out Saturday with an Achilles tendon problem, joining receiver Donald Jones (ankle), linebacker Chris Kelsay (calf) and tackle Demetrius Bell (shoulder) as inactive.’

‘Ryan Fitzpatrick had 244 yards through the air and two touchdowns on 21-of-30 passing for Buffalo (4-2), but was picked off twice by Corey Webster.’

‘The Bills had a chance to take the lead late in the game, but Fitzpatrick threw an interception to Corey Webster. To make matters worse, Stevie Johnson hauled him down by his facemask, which resulted in the Giants getting an additional 15-yards.’

‘Speaking of that play call, the guy who gets saddled with this loss is undoubtedly Ryan Fitzpatrick. He cost the team this game with untimely interceptions that were badly underthrown. He’s the type of guy that will take the blame for this one in full, as he should — if those passes are any place else the Bills may have a win today. The defense, while they gave up a bunch of yards, did their part when they needed it most. It’s on Fitzpatrick to convert. He cost the Bills the game on Sunday.’

‘If you watched the game you know this story is still incomplete. With Terrence McGee coming back to start, Leodis McKelvin went to the bench and Drayton Florence started. To say he had a tough afternoon is simply being polite. He got torched by Hakeem Nicks for a 60 yard completion, he had two bad pass interference penalties to keep the Giants final drive alive. He had three pass interference penalties on the game and it got so bad the Giants never went after McKelvin when he got in the game.’

‘You don’t even have to have a good memory to recall how long it has been since the Bills were a team that is still relevant and a tough out for anybody at home or on the road. A work in progress, but the key word here being – progress.’

‘The Bills defense continues to give up huge yardage. Sal Maiorana and I talked about this during our weekly roundtable that appears in this section before this game. Heading into this week, the Bills defense was giving up an average of 421.8 yards per game. That ranked 30th in the league. The fact they led the league in turnover ratio (+11) offset that in many ways. That wasn’t the case on Sunday. The defense didn’t take the ball away, and didn’t sack or pressure Eli Manning. Head coach Chan Gailey didn’t mince words on the issue.’

‘The Bills did not have a takeaway, despite coming in as the league leader.’

‘Asked if he felt pretty good where the Bills stand, all things considered, Fitz said, “I probably can’t answer that one today because I don’t feel very good right now. A lot of it – like I said earlier – is because of those two plays.”‘

‘Feels like Ahmad Bradshaw had more than his 26 carries for 104 yards and three scores. He was quick to the holes and outside. One has to wonder how different the Giants would’ve looked had Kyle Williams been ready to go!’

‘For the first time Buffalo was beaten in the turnover category and it proved costly. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a pair of second half interceptions and the Bills defense did not record a takeaway of their own for the first time this season, and it was directly tied to the difference on the scoreboard as the Giants got a field goal off of Buffalo’s two turnovers.’

‘One big difference is the Bills are forcing turnovers at a record rate, while the Giants have continued the disturbing 2010 trend of giving the ball away more than they take it.’

‘”Wilson can sign a lease tomorrow and say the franchise is committed to spending the next 10 or 20 years in Buffalo, and any new owner would be bound to that,” said Zimbalist. “But I don’t think he’d do that, because the team is worth more somewhere else.”‘