Archives for October 19, 2015

'“We have had some great opening drives and then for some reason it doesn’t look like we can get a first down. Like it just — I don’t understand. Obviously it comes down to execution and things. But I wish I could tell you,” said Ryan.'

'In all, Buffalo had eight penalties for 93 yards. Three of them were holds on offensive plays.'

'“We had talked about the play on the sidelines a couple of times,” said quarterback Andy Dalton, who dropped in a near perfect ball to his wideout. “It’s one of those things where if you get the right look, you get the chance to hit it, and he kept saying, ‘Hey, if we get the look that we want, I’m going to go get it,’ and he did.”'

'This season, the extraordinarily expensive starting front four, in six games, has put up appalling tackling numbers: Marcell Dareus and Jerry Hughes have 18 stops, Kyle Williams 14 and Mario Williams, in the midst of a $100 million contract, 11. That quartet has combined for five sacks, one forced fumble and one tackle for loss.'

'Bills starting right tackle Seantrel Henderson left the game in the first quarter with a concussion. His place was taken by Cyrus Kouandjio. Finally, defensive tackle Kyle Williams, left late in the game with a knee injury.'

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'“When we’ve got four guys rushing, we can do some different things,” end Mario Williams said. “Some of the calls that we had, we just didn’t have four guys out there rushing in certain situations, things like that. You know, you’re just playing the call.'

'What the Bills did Sunday wasn’t unusual for them. Three times this season they have started a game with an almost flawless drive, but sustaining that rhythm has been an exercise in frustration.'

'Receivers are getting open — receivers taken high in the NFL draft, receivers paid millions in free agency – and the quarterback cannot connect with them. In Sunday’s 34-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, EJ Manuel took over again and it wasn’t pretty. Despite Watkins’ prediction of a “monster” game from Manuel, the Bills’ downfield weaponry was mostly rendered useless.'

'It was just Rex being Rex, of course, unfiltered as usual. He wasn’t kidding anyone but himself. He certainly didn’t fool the 69,593 watching from the stands and across Western New York and beyond.'

'But it was one more mind-boggling episode in a distressing afternoon in Bills Land, another example of how dysfunctional things have become six games into the Rex Ryan era. Wow, that’s the first time I’ve played the dysfunction card since Ryan came riding into town.'

'Watkins hurt his ankle adjusting to a low EJ Manuel throw in the end zone, while Lawson rolled up on Williams’ back leg in a pile. If Williams is forced to miss substantial time, defensive linemen Stefan Charles and Corbin Bryant could see expanded roles.'

'Although starting Manuel was the prudent thing to do because he was healthy, he hardly came close to delivering the sort of performance the Bills badly needed from their quarterback to overcome a rash of injuries (mostly on offense) and a defense that was overmatched. He pretty much confirmed why the coaching staff didn’t want him as the No. 2 quarterback but had to live with him in the role after previous No. 2 Matt Cassel was shipped to Dallas.'

'Dalton on target. Andy Dalton is by far the most criticized winning QB in the NFL. Yes, he has lost four one-and-done playoff games the past four years. But his 46-23-1 career record is no joke.'

'Go for it! The Bills had just given up a 90-yard drive on defense to start the second half. Down 10 points, the offense had an opportunity to stay on the field. A holding penalty against Robert Woods put them in a first-and-20 hole, but the Bills picked up 15 yards on second- and third-down plays to make fourth down reasonable. The defense had been facing bad field position all game, and sometimes has to be asked to bail out the offense in situations like this. More aggressiveness here would have been welcome.'