Archives for September 22, 2014

‘Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker presented Reed with his ring in front of fellow Bills Hall of Famers Joe DeLamielleure, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith and Jim Kelly.’

‘EJ Manuel passed for 238 yards for Buffalo (2-1) but made several key mistakes down the stretch. Running back Fred Jackson had 34 yards rushing and 78 receiving, including an 11-yard touchdown catch.’

‘The Chargers also showed their teeth on the other side of the ball, holding the 2-1 Bills to 87 yards rushing, 76 below their season average.’

‘Talk about them having turned the corner might have been a bit premature. Admittedly, San Diego was a tough opponent, but the Bills didn’t help their cause, making numerous mistakes that reminded some of the bad, old days. They were flagged 11 times for 101 yards in penalties, and a few of the calls wiped out sizeable gains and killed drives. “I’m not taking anything away from them,” said defensive tackle Kyle Williams of the Chargers. “They beat us and they played better than we did today, but we didn’t help ourselves.”‘

‘Unfortunately for Buffalo, despite the strong effort of bottling up the Chargers in the 4th quarter, the offense simply could not produce, with the low point being an inentional grounding call in the end zone, resulting in a safety for EJ Manuel.’

‘On the Chargers first five possessions, covering the first half and opening drive of the third quarter, San Diego put 20 points up on the board and rolled up 336 yards. The Chargers, who had the ball for more than 42 minutes in a week two triumph over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, had scoring drives that covered 75 yards, 89, 61 and 80.’

‘The mistakes were plenty for the Bills, whether it was accuracy issues from their quarterback, poor coverage from their secondary or getting called on 11 penalties for 101 yards. No matter how close the score was at times throughout the game, Buffalo continued to shoot themselves in the foot.’

‘After driving to a touchdown on their only 3rd Quarter possession, the Bills offense stalled out on back to back drives. The first ended with Manuel taking a 17 yard loss on a sack that could’ve been even worse. Manuel fumbled but the Bills recovered and punted. On the next possession Manuel rushed a throw to an open Robert Woods that had big gainer, maybe even long touchdown, written all over it. Manuel sailed the ball behind Woods, who wasn’t expecting the throw that early. At least that is what I’m assuming by the fact that Woods wasn’t even looking for the ball. That drive ended on a failed 4th down attempt. Manuel floated a ball in the general direction of Sammy Watkins but it really wasn’t even close.’

‘His stat line looks respectable for those that only stick to the box score: 23-of-39, 238 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. There are some misleading parts to the numbers that really don’t paint the picture the correct way.’

‘I thought Manuel showed some positive signs in the first two games. Sunday it seemed the Bills were asking too much for him to pull the team back from a 17 point deficit.’

‘A blah performance in a game they could have won. A tough stretch awaits. Two wins in the next three games are probably a must if they want their famine to end.’

‘Thrice in the game, Bills receivers failed to even look for the ball on quick decisions by Manuel. This includes the critical 4th-and-3 with eight minutes to play, when Manuel found Watkins. Watkins, however, didn’t even look for the ball for the second time over the game. Woods had a similar problem on a crossing route.’

‘The Chargers were making many big plays on offense but the biggest one ended the little bit of momentum the Bills had in the first half. Dan Carpenter had just hit a 45 yard field goal to pull the Bills within a touchdown when on the next play from scrimmage. Rivers hit a wide open Malcolm Floyd for 49 yards to set the Chargers up for a late field goal to get their 10 point lead back at the half.’

‘Doug Marrone didn’t seem to have the team prepared for the windy conditions and they came out flat.’

‘After six trips to the red zone in Week 2, Buffalo managed just one trip inside the Chargers’ 20 in Week 3 until the final minute of regulation.’