Archives for December 19, 2011

‘”I just haven’t been able to connect for whatever reason,” he said of his passes. “Our defense played well today … they held us in the game. So it’s hard for me to go out there and turn the ball over three times and struggle like I did today and have people angry and upset and you hear the boos … that’s the hard thing about playing quarterback when things aren’t going well. I’m a guy that’s never going to stop playing, never going to stop fighting. Unfortunately, following last week’s loss, I came out and didn’t play well today and I just have to figure it out.”‘

‘”It was a good day, tough losing the game,” said Spiller. “Obviously we really wanted this one. I think we played hard. The first half we really couldn’t get anything established on offense; weren’t executing, penalties. We just have to go back and, that’s something we can fix. See what we did bad, correct it, and see what we did good and learn of it.”‘

‘”I think we were the culprit,” said coach Chan Gailey. “We were moving the football, and we’d get a penalty. And we’d end up in second and 20 or second and 15. … We had a couple shots [downfield], and we missed those shots early in the game, but we were our own worst enemy. That’s something we were not doing early in the year.”‘

‘”I’d trade those stats in for a win,” Spiller said. “I was just trying to make plays. I knew what I had to do coming into the game. I knew what I wanted to try and correct from last game. Obviously I wasn’t making enough people miss last game and that’s something I wanted to correct and I knew those guys have a great rush defense. I really took that to heart to go out and show that we can run the ball against anybody.”‘

‘"We’ve been bad for a long time, both of us," said Rose, a member of the Dolphins’ radio broadcast team. "At one time, it was one of the best rivalries. Remember when it meant something? It’s sad that here we are in December and the games mean nothing."’

‘The Bills can deny it all they want, but the door is open to taking a quarterback high in the draft. That was their position last year, remember. If they saw a 10-year franchise guy, they would grab him. But when Cam Newton went No. 1, they decided to stick with Fitz.’

‘”Of course, I’ve thought about it,” Johnson said in a quiet locker room after the Dolphins’ 30-23 win over the Bills. “Is it the first thing on my mind or the second? It’s not even the third or fourth or fifth thing that’s on my mind. I want to get a win.”‘

‘When asked about the miserable losing streak, an emotional Chris Kelsay fought back tears and paused for several seconds before finishing his answer.’

‘It wasn’t a good first half for right tackle Erik Pears, who just signed a contract extension this week. On the first drive, he was called for holding and gave up a sack to Cameron Wake. Early in the second quarter he was called for a 15-yard face mask penalty.’

‘Few answers on either side of the ball. Gailey denied rumor that Wannstedt called defensive signals. Does it really matter with this bunch?’

‘In fact, it was the Dolphins’ own ineptitude that prevented the game from being another blowout along the lines of the 35-8 debacle in Miami, as they made just enough mistakes to let the Bills stay in it early, and then get close at the end.’

‘”I don’t know what it is but we need to get back to whatever it was we had in the beginning of the season when we were down, but we still felt like we could play and win games,” said Johnson, referring to a stretch of comeback wins that propelled Buffalo to a 5-2 record in September and October. “I don’t know what it is. It’s kind of like the oomph is gone.”‘

‘Fitz’s struggles make me wonder about Stevie Johnson. Does he want to come back to Buffalo and play in this offense, or test the market and hope for a better gig? Something he should think about.’

‘It was a disappointing performance by a team that claimed it wanted some revenge for what happened a month ago in Miami. But that’s what the Bills do, they disappoint.’

‘The real story was Fitzpatrick’s three bad interceptions, giving him 12 during the team’s seven-game losing streak, and his 3-of-10 passing on third down. This isn’t a slump. It’s a quarterback in freefall giving his team plenty of reasons to draft a quarterback in April.’