Archives for December 25, 2011

‘”You look around and there’s probably as many Broncos fans as Bills fans,” said Mel Harris, 43, a Denver fan from Albany in town for Saturday’s game. “It’s not because all of them are fans of the Broncos – they’re fans of Tebow.”‘

‘Thanks to a generous donation through the United Way of Buffalo& Erie County, Fitzpatrick and his family have provided toys for the children, computers for school, furniture and much more to help these families on the road to recovery.’

‘"It’s been a long time coming," said defensive end Spencer Johnson. "Gosh, seven games? It felt good to come smiling into the locker room. For us to go out and play like we did, it’s great to finally get that big gorilla off our backs."’

‘”It was obviously a great team win and for the defense to do what they did,” Fitzpatrick said. “To be able to return was something that hadn’t happened a lot this year, just in terms of everybody coming together and having a game where there’s a lot of stuff that goes well, in terms of penalties and the tipped passes or whatever it is and there was a lot of good stuff going on.”‘

‘”I think it motivated us to walk out and see a lot of Broncos fans,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick. “Our fans were awesome, but there were a lot of empty seats. A lot of that is because of our play, so that motivated us, too. We want to get those fans back in the seats, so we want to create some momentum going into the offseason.”‘

‘Tebow is a good man who is polished in every aspect of his life but one: His ability to play quarterback in the NFL. Heaven help his performance Saturday. The Bills exposed his flaws when it comes to making good decisions and accuracy. He had been hailed as a savior but looked lost in the Broncos’ biggest game of the year.’

‘Obviously, the college draft could be the solution, but the Bills were too good early in the season to qualify for top prize Andrew Luck of Stanford, who may end up replacing injured superstar Peyton Manning in Indianapolis. The Bills are likely to pick somewhere around sixth to ninth. An important factor in their favor is that in the last draft five quarterbacks were picked in the first round.’

‘”You guys know all the things that have been going on with me this season,” McKelvin said. “Being able to bounce back, being able to go out there and not keep my head down and just go out there, play my part and play my position and do the best that I can do in the game. It’s giving the best field position for the offense or even score, that’s my job.”‘

‘Buffalo was leading the league in takeaways through seven games of the season with 17. But over the next seven games, all losses, it managed just seven takeaways. But the Bills intercepted three Tim Tebow passes in the final 15 minutes and took two of them back for touchdowns. For the game, the Bills had four interceptions.’

‘Embattled Edwards had his defense well-prepared for Broncos’ one-dimensional offense. Gailey play calling was solid. DeHaven’s return units terrific.’

‘Even against Tebow, who has become a phenomenon the past two months for the way he has willed Denver to the brink of the AFC West title, it’s pretty hard to lose a game when you score a touchdown in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams.’

‘”It’s frustrating, sure, but my mom taught me a long time ago to give your praise to the Lord and give your disappointment to the Lord,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 way I can deal with it. I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future. That’s what gives me a lot of peace and comfort when there might be a lot of turbulence around me.”‘

‘Anyway, as I said, good for the Bills. The guys on this team needed something to smile about, because to be honest, not one of them cares where the Bills will be drafting in April.’

‘Actually, it didn’t take a miracle to beat this Broncos team. The miracle is that Denver has eight wins this season.’

‘”Things just happened to fall into place where I was in position to make some plays and I made some” Kelsay said. “We fought them hard and our defensive coordinator (George Edwards) did a great job of calling the game.”‘