Archives for October 10, 2015

'Buffalo has been flagged 47 times — and that doesn’t include the handful which have been declined — and the next closest team has 38.'

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'“I had to pass the doctors’ tests before I could even practice,” said Williams, who is listed as probable for the game. “I had to show I could turn my head a certain way. Do I feel pinching in this? Do I feel this pain in that? There was a lot of stuff that they did. They really took precaution with my injury and wanted to make sure I was ready to come back.”'

'Marcus Mariota feels like a rookie quarterback making only his fourth NFL start. The Bills’ defense should be preparing for a feast. Young, inexperienced quarterbacks aren’t supposed to be any match for a unit whose intention is to create chaos and confusion for the guy under center and the guys protecting him. And this, at least logically, is a game where Rex Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman don’t think twice about unloading their wide array of blitz packages all over Mariota.'

'Williams is one of the NFL's better players at his position. Part of that is because his replacement, Bacarri Rambo, is likely to miss Sunday's game with a quad injury. Most of it, however, is because safeties are so integral to the success of Ryan's scheme.'

'How long did you have the sixth finger? I didn’t have it long at all. Right after birth, right then and there, it got dealt with. String. Let it droop and die. And then just cut it off.'

'“Ron and I were always competitors,” Smith recalled. “We both got the shot of O.J. scoring his 2,003 yards except mine showed his shoes he was wearing and I got paid $10,000 for that picture. I thought Ron was going to go out of his mind when he found out.”'

'"When I smash it in there, get a knockdown to spring a running back, I get happiness from that," said Felton, who signed a four-year free agent contract with the Bills in March after three successful seasons in Minnesota, one of which resulted in a Pro Bowl invitation when he helped Adrian Peterson gain 2,097 yards in 2012. "It's definitely something I've acquired throughout the years."'

'Bills 26, Titans 16.'

'"No, it's not an easy move," Whaley said. "It wasn't. He's been the heart and soul of not only our team but the community. It's one of those things where we decided it something we had to do and especially the timing we thought would be best for him and obviously look, he went out to Seattle and everything. But to say I acted alone … that would be irresponsible for me to do something without informing the coaches, the owners, the running back coach, the offensive coordinator."'

'The Patriots game skewed things a bit, but the Bills aren't off to a much different start than they were a year ago. The sack number is a bit lower, but that may have something to do with the fact that quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball in an average of 1.7 seconds against Buffalo.'

'But here’s the thing about Dixon: He has injury issues of his own, nursing a calf ailment. Running backs coach Anthony Lynn even said he isn’t sure how far Dixon will be able to go against the Titans.'

'“I really liked watching Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith and Andre Reed,’’ Kern said. “Steve Tasker, Don Beebe, all those guys, they were a fun team to watch. To see them go to four Super Bowls, it was pretty cool to see growing up.”'

'Hughes, who has a history of verbally admonishing game officials, was fined $23,152 Friday for abusive language toward an official. He also was docked $8,681 for unnecessary roughness for head-butting Giants rookie tackle Ereck Flowers.'

'"Yeah, I think I just made it worse," McCoy said, sitting at his locker. "I'd rather come back 100 percent and get the player that everybody was expecting instead of being out there on one leg. That's truth."'