Archives for October 3, 2015

'Take the opening TD drive. The Bills moved 77 yards in just five plays — all of which featured pre-snap shifts, all of which keyed on misdirection, and all of which were passes off play-action (that is, after fake handoffs) thrown either horizontally, or to horizontally moving targets.'

'Here is the Giants’ formula for success: Smack Ryan’s Bills in the mouth first, before the Bills have a chance to smack them. This is always the best way to neutralize a supposed bully. It also will slow the Bills down, because Ryan is a front-running coach whose teams reflect his personality.'

'The Bills are 5.5 point favorites per the guys and gals over at bovada.lv. And here are the NJ.com staff predictions for the game…'

'"I've definitely got to be smarter and more mature about situations, and try to handle stuff like that," said Williams, who was restrained by teammates and coaches after being flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty against New England.'

'McCoy spoke about the setback for the first time on Friday. He said he was making progress in his recovery from the left hamstring injury before Buffalo's Week 3 game against the Miami Dolphins, but hurt it again on Sept. 24. McCoy attempted to play through the injury in Buffalo's 41-14 win over the Dolphins but ran for just 16 yards on 11 carries.'

'"One thing I promised myself is I can't go out there if I'm not 100 percent," McCoy told reporters. "So if it's this game or next game, whenever it is, I'm rushing to get back but I'm not playing until I'm 100 percent."'

'McCoy said he doesn't want to "coach" Williams on the sidelines, but will do whatever he can to help his backfield mate when he comes off the field. McCoy conformed to me he will be on sidelines for the game. The Bills previous head coach, Doug Marrone, often wouldn't let injured players on the sideline for games for fear of them getting rolled up on and re-injured. However, McCoy said current head coach Rex Ryan wants him involved in the game and he wants to help out.'

'“Of course he is. Of course he is,” Roman told reporters Wednesday. “You gotta understand, we look at it like this – If you’re on the team you are a starter, because at some point you’re gonna play. So if a guy’s on the third through twentieth play or the first through the fifth…I mean he’s done a great job and he’s got a great attitude. I love his attitude, his work ethic, his approach every day, and I love what he brings on the field obviously. I think that’s pretty apparent. The Giants are gonna be a touch challenge and I think Karlos will be up for the challenge. But again it’s important moving forward that we understand if a guys on the team, he’s a starter. If somebody goes down next thing you know he’s in the game, so he is a starter.”'

'Unlike McCoy and Watkins, the Bills did have starting safety Aaron Williams at practice in a limited capacity all week. However, less than two weeks removed from could have been a very serious neck injury, the Bills are using caution with their starting safety.'

'“I can bring my knowledge of what I know from college and being around [Beckham" target="_blank"> back then and seeing how [he’s" target="_blank"> progressed now. [I can give" target="_blank"> my guys tips that I know or things that I’ve seen or noticed that can help out with how they run routes or their releases or things that they do and don’t like versus certain coverages. I think that gives us an advantage on our side of the ball, and we’re going to try to use it.”'

'In the wake of LeSean McCoy being declared out for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, the Bills have promoted RB Cierre Wood from their practice squad.'

'Buffalo’s defense has fared pretty well thus far this season on third down, and that will need to continue Sunday against the Giants. New York is ranked sixth in the league in third down conversion percentage at a strong clip of 46.5 percent. With reliable weapons to move the sticks like Odell Beckham Jr., Shane Vereen and Rueben Randle, the Bills will need consistent coverage in the back and steady pressure up front to hurry or alter throws from Eli Manning.'