Archives for October 5, 2015

'In a Week Two repeat, Rex Ryan lost control.'

'I’m unsure whether I received more in-game complaints about the Buffalo Bills’ penalties or the train horn Ralph Wilson Stadium blasted throughout Sunday’s 24-10 derailment against the New York Giants. We got one or the other practically on every play. Sometimes both.'

'The Tennessee Titans’ rookie quarterback has put up solid numbers in his first three NFL starts, completing 62.9 percent of his passes for 833 yards, eight TDs and only two interceptions. He has a passer rating of 109.2, which ranked seventh in the NFL.'

'Ryan can sing the praises of his spunky 2-2 team all he wants, but if the Bills keep playing the way they have the first month of the NFL calendar – win, lose, win, lose – they aren't going anywhere and that playoff drought, which is now the longest in America's four major sports thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays finally finding their way, is going to extend to a 16th year.;

'While the Bills, who are stalled at 2-2 instead of soaring at 3-1, weren’t foolish enough to outwardly blame the officiating for this momentum-stuffing loss, the assertions were as plain as a yellow handkerchief.'

'The Bills ran for just 55 yards (2.3 average) on 24 attempts against New York's No. 2-ranked defense against the run. Rookie running back Karlos Williams averaged just 2.2 yards per carry as the Giants had an easy time handling his between-the-tackles skill set. This is where LeSean McCoy's outside speed was really missed.'

'How will the Bills overcome the absences of LeSean McCoy and Sammy Watkins? They didn't, plain and simple.'

'210 – The combined penalty yardage between the teams, including a whopping, laughable 135 by the Bills on 17 infractions, the most ever by the Bills in a home game.'

'Coming off such a solid victory in Miami, back home in the place where they once actually had a home-field advantage, the Bills were simply atrocious and they blew a chance to get to 3-1. There was nothing positive to take from this debacle, just a complete mess in every phase. Rex Ryan's honeymoon is over.'

'The Bills had no answer. Playing without LeSean McCoy and Sammy Watkins, their top two offensive players, Buffalo struggled to make big plays. As a result, the Giants controlled the clock and didn't have much fear in Tyrod Taylor and the Bills' offense. The Bills' offense finished the first half with just 78 yards and didn't have a single play go for over 30 yards in the game.'

'"I don't know," Ryan said. "You guys write the stories, so I guess you'll write it the way you want to write it. The one thing I know for a fact is we've got heart. The discipline thing, I get it. When you have 17 penalties, that's obviously a sign of a lack of discipline. That's not the real deal, but hey, it's a free country, write what you believe."'

'The Buffalo Bills could be without star running back LeSean McCoy for up to a month after he suffered a new tear in his hamstring, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports.'

'He had played against a Rex Ryan team before, and he saw what the New England Patriots did to the Bills two weeks earlier in a 40-32 win. That's why, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN, Coughlin told his players the Bills would beat themselves with penalties. Sure enough, the Bills committed 17 penalties for 135 yards on their way to a 24-10 loss Sunday.'

'I mean, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to go out there and get all those penalties. I mean, it is one after another. Dumb penalties, situations you just have to shut up sometimes. So it's one of those situations we can't afford to do it, and we can't spot teams all those yards, and we just have to be more disciplined. It's very disappointing.'

'"They were saying it was over out there," Pugh said. "On that last drive, their defense was kind of like, when they were getting penalties, they were like, Tthis game is over anyway.' That is kind of how it was. It was kind of crazy out there that last drive. Mayhem. Refs yelling at players, players yelling at refs. I was just sitting back and trying not to get fined $15,000 for something."'