Archives for October 23, 2013

‘In short, come the season’s second half, every Bills’ game is winnable – pending how much the Pats need the finale – though they could also lose every one of them.’

‘Every Bills game this year has had a final score within one possession, save the 37-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. In that game, the Bills got the ball back down by six points with 2:19 to play, but backup quarterback Jeff Tuel threw a game-deciding pick-six to Browns safety T.J. Ward.’

‘One bonus for the Bills could be Marrone’s familiarity with with Saints coach Sean Payton. Marrone served at Saints offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Payton from 2006-08.’

‘We won’t know until later this week if Buffalo running back Fred Jackson is able to play Sunday. What we do know is that his gusty effort against Miami (36 rushing yards, TD, 49 receiving yards) inspired the Bills. Jackson left the game multiple times, only to return. The Bills are already playing without quarterback E.J. Manuel and running back C.J. Spiller, and Jackson wasn’t about to join the gang.’

‘There were a few plays that stood out for very good reasons, and they will likely be the ones to stick in the minds of Bills fans as they go forward. At the top of the list is likely the 17-yard strike on third down in the third quarter, when Lewis essentially stared down the barrel of a loaded gun and delivered a pass to Stevie Johnson while getting his helmet knocked off by Jelani Jenkins. That play, and the third down conversion in the second quarter to T.J. Graham for 30 yards were his two big flash plays.’

‘What Marrone has done since then that his predecessors did not was develop a solution to change the collective mindset of the team. He’s delivered the message before, but heading into this past week’s road game at Miami he reiterated it.’

‘With a win over New Orleans on Sunday, Buffalo will win back-to-back road games for the first time since 2009 (Weeks 6-7)’

‘The Bills have backed off the pace very slightly on the offensive side of the ball in the last few weeks. After averaging 75 offensive plays per game for the previous four weeks (Carolina, Jets, Baltimore and Cleveland) the Bills have averaged 68 plays in each of the last two games (Bengals, Dolphins). The reason? Maybe it’s an attempt to ease in new Quarterback Thad Lewis. Maybe it’s an effort to take some of the pressure off the Buffalo defense by burning more clock. Ball control may be even more of an issue this Sunday with a game against the Saints high octane attack.’