Archives for December 30, 2015

'“I’ve always had this confidence, it was the matter of opportunity and the Bills gave me a hell of an opportunity,” Gillislee said after Sunday’s win, in which he made his first career start in place of the injured McCoy. “I’m taking advantage of it.”'

'“I’d say disappointment but not a disaster. I was a Pittsburgh Pirate fan so I understand the long-suffering playoff drought. But if you strip the 16 seasons away and the logo off the helmet, you have a team with the possibility and I stress possibility of the quarterback in the future. You have a No. 1-rated rushing offense. You have a lot of talent on offense. And offensively, you went from 28th to 13th so you have to give great credit to the offensive coordinator Greg Roman. I personally don’t understand why people think I wouldn’t be happy with that.'

'Donahoe replaces Ed Marynowitz, the Eagles' vice president of player personnel. Marynowitz was hand-picked by Kelly to run the Eagles' personnel department, but it was the coach who had final say on player acquisitions. Kelly's moves in that role have been nothing short of disastrous. After consecutive 10-6 seasons to start his NFL career, the Eagles have fallen to 6-9 this season. One of those wins came against the Bills in Week 14, a damaging blow to Buffalo's playoff hopes.'

'The Pegulas now own two franchises going nowhere rather than just one.'

'True, the Bills don't want to lose their quarterback to a significant injury in a game that, effectively, means nothing. But if we're talking big picture, the Bills should not hold back Taylor at all. There are things Taylor has not done with consistency — throw over the middle of the field, hit receivers on intermediate timing routes. But this element of his game is rare, is something the Bills should accentuate and encourage. While Buffalo should want him sliding a bit more, coaches should not discourage Taylor from running at all. He dazzles in the open field. He brings the belief that any third down conversion is possible because of his legs.'

'On the third play of of the third quarter, Leonard Smith intercepted Mark Rypien at Bills 38. Third-string QB Gale Gilbert, seeing his first regular-season action since 1986, drove the Bills 59 yards to his TD pass to Kenneth Davis.'

'"I'd say disappointment but not a disaster," Whaley said. "I was a Pittsburgh Pirate fan so I understand the long-suffering playoff drought. But if you strip the 16 seasons away and the logo off the helmet, you have a team with the possibility and I stress possibility of the quarterback in the future. You have a No. 1-rated rushing offense. You have a lot of talent on offense. And offensively, you went from 28th to 13th so you have to give great credit to the offensive coordinator Greg Roman. I personally don't understand why people think I wouldn't be happy with that. Anybody should be happy with somebody who can take a first-year quarterback — a former sixth-round quarterback — and get him to lead an offense that's in the Top 15. I think it's 12th this year."'

'"The next step he has to do, is we have to open things up where we design some things for him to have those inside-the-numbers throws," Whaley said. "But the biggest thing for him is he has to take that next step and that next step is the end-of-the-game situations where we can count on him like he did in Tennessee. To get that consistency in the end of game situations where we can depend on him and basically throw the game on his back and have him come through and deliver."'

'"The thing that kind of gives this team a black eye when we're looking at it is that I let my mouth get ahead of everything. And I think if I would have come in there and just said, 'Hey, we're gonna compete,' and do all that stuff, maybe we wouldn't have such a bad feeling about this team.'

'Fitzpatrick is 1-7 as a starter against Rex Ryan’s defenses, so he will have to be on point from the start.'

'Which is part of what makes a final-week, early-afternoon contest between Buffalo and the Jets seem like so much fun. The build-up is what has everyone talking, no matter the reality that unfolds. Just the way Ryan knows it, even if it’s not the way he’d always like it.'

'Clay missed the previous two games after hurting his back in a 23-20 loss at Philadelphia. Brooks hurt his neck in a 16-6 win against Dallas on Sunday.'

'When it comes to height, that will never change. Can the Bills work around it? Sure. I did a bit of research (Ok, googling) and found that Hall of Famer Bill Polian’s opinion of Russell Wilson at draft time, was spot on.'

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"The committee on which I serve, the NFL's personnel development committee, has members that when they go through the hiring process, I made it clear that even though some teams have asked me to do that in the past, I can't do it because of the terms of my ESPN contract. That prohibits me from doing that, so I don't serve in that same capacity, and cannot as they do."'

'Quite obviously, with only one game to go, that means only the teams from 9th to 19th are considered for the purposes of the Bills ultimate spot in the 2016 draft order.'