Archives for November 2011

‘”I sit by him every week and we go over all the plays together and anything the coaches say I write it down,” said Searcy. “If I have any questions I ask him, or he’ll come to me to see if I have any questions or if I need to discuss anything. He tells me what’s going to happen in the game and reminds me that you never know when your number is going to be called and to be prepared.”‘

‘The Bills are converting at a 44 percent (28 of 64) clip in the team’s five wins. That number drops to 33 percent (14 of 43) in the four losses.’

‘Buffalo also re-signed receiver Tim Toone to its practice squad.’

‘Moore has spent the entire 2011 season on the Detroit Lions practice squad after he was released by Tampa Bay during final cuts on Sept. 2nd.’

‘When Dick Jauron was the head coach, the Bills were boring and it became paifully obvious how inferior the talent was at almost every position. Now, under Chan Gailey, the Bills are competitive most weeks and have good players at several positions. The quarterback position is settled for at least the next couple of years and the running back – once he receives his much-deserved contract extension – is having an All-Pro season. However, these last two weeks have exposed some seriously inferior parts to the roster, specifically the pass rush.’

‘Clearly, recently – two touchdowns in nine quarters – Buffalo’s offense has been lousy. But the more immediate problem is a defense, when it doesn’t get takeaways, that gives up big chunks of yardage and can’t get off the field on third down (the Jets and Cowboys were a combined 14-of-23, over 60 percent success) and that’s a recipe for disaster.’

‘More blitzes isn’t the answer, either, because the team lacks the personnel for the scheme to be effective. Merriman, an All-Pro linebacker during his days in San Diego, was a shell of himself in Buffalo. Yet he was the lone player on the roster who could get to the quarterback without the use of a blitz.’

‘"I know how tough it is. I’ve been through it. Last season wasn’t fun because I was still hurting from the previous year, but I proved to myself I could do it before, and I’ll do it again."’

‘In losing to the Jets and Cowboys by a combined 71-18 score, the Bills are rounding into the team both of us thought they were when the season began. Improved from last year’s 4-12 product, but not a team ready to make the playoffs.’

‘Wood says no timetable has been set for him to have surgery. He is aiming to be back in time for the start of training camp next summer.’

‘”We wanted to rebound from last week when we didn’t think we performed,” said Fitzpatrick, who has thrown five interceptions in the last two games after throwing seven in the first seven games. “The last two weeks it hasn’t been there. We had a lot of mistakes. I’m the quarterback and you usually see my mistakes the most and I had a lot of them.”‘

‘At some point, the heat is going to start flaming at the seat of defensive coordinator George Edwards. Now in his second season, his unit has failed repeatedly and it endured its sixth game this season of allowing at least 400 yards. Chan Gailey had to alter his game plan when the Bills fell behind immediately, but he was calling decent plays that his guys didn’t execute. Not sure how much blame can be pinned on him this time.’

‘The Bills have been one of the most injury-prone teams in the NFL the past few years, and it’s starting to become a problem again.’

‘If we thought the low point came in the 27-11 home loss to the Jets, we thought wrong.’