Archives for September 26, 2015

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'The Bills committed six special-teams penalties against New England. Most stemmed from a clear lack of discipline, such as personal fouls and offside calls. Special teams coach Danny Crossman has spent the week delivering a stern message to the players who block for and cover kicks that the yellow flag fest is over. Now we’ll see if they were actually listening.'

'“We addressed it, kind of took all the emotion out of it,” receiver/special-teams ace Chris Hogan said. “We can’t hurt ourselves like that.'

'Now, fans are calling via social media for Kemper to come to Buffalo and sing the song live. He’s wrestling with that idea, but in the meantime released on Friday a homemade video of him performing the song on his Yamaha grand piano.'

'Suh's deal averages $19 million a year and Dareus' $16 million. Makes you wonder what Buck Buchannan, Curley Culp, Alan Page, Randy White, Warren Sapp, John Randle and Bills Wall of Famer Fred Smerlas, among others, would be worth today.'

'Rex Ryan took his foot of the gas against the Patriots and didn't blitz nearly as often as he did against the Colts. Expect a more aggressive Bills defense against the Dolphins and Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill has only four touchdowns in six career games against Rex Ryan. We'll see if the Bills can replicate that success.'

'Buffalo's pass defense must improve if they plan to top Miami (1-1) this week as the Ryan Tannehill-led Dolphins have passed on a remarkable 70 percent of their offensive plays this season.'

'According to Hanrahan there are more than 700 members in his crew, of which 200 to 300 take in the game every week at City Pub. The atmosphere, as you can imagine, is definitely pro-Buffalo Bills. "They play the Buffalo Shout Song after every touchdown, and we have loud speakers set up during the game — the fans go nuts during the game."'

'"Everybody isn't Brady," defensive tackle Marcell Dareus said.'

'“I’m sure it’ll be a little bit new but I think he has the makeup. He’s got that flat line ability to deal with such things,” Roman said of his starting QB.'

'Upon suffering an injury to his neck against the New England Patriots, starting safety Aaron Williams did not practice at all in the week leading up to the Dolphins game. He is officially listed as out, and although the Bills tried to be coy earlier in the week, he’ll be replaced by Bacarri Rambo according to Rex Ryan.'

'Bills fans should be quite familiar with Sheppard, who was dealt to Indianapolis straight up for Jerry Hughes. Since leaving Buffalo, Sheppard has been released and had to work his way back up a depth chart, and earned the starting middle linebacker job for the Dolphins this year. A slower linebacker, Sheppard certainly needs his reaction time to be a lot better than it is, and he gets covered up and pushed out of the way on run plays.'

'“It is clear that’s how people are valuing these defense tackles,” said Bills head coach Rex Ryan. “But it is really rare to get somebody like a Suh, like a Marcell Dareus, two guys that play the run extremely well and they get after the quarterback. So I think those guys are hard to find. They are rare guys, as my dad would always say it is hard to find an unusual guy like this. And he had Alan Page, Eric Swanson, Dan Hampton through the years. But I am certainly happy we have Marcell and I am sure Miami is happy they have Suh.”'

'If the Bills can keep penalties to a minimum and stay in manageable down and distance they should be able to sustain drives and finish them with points. Buffalo’s offense is one of the more productive attacks on first down averaging 5.9 yards per play, good for 10th in the NFL. Miami’s defense ranks 23rd in yards allowed on first downs giving up almost the same yardage on average (5.85).'