Archives for October 24, 2016

'In the backfield, news might be even worse for the Bills. LeSean McCoy (8 carries, 11 yards) tried to play through a hamstring injury he sustained on Wednesday during practice. Following half, the Bills announced McCoy was pulled from the game for re-aggravating the injury.'

'If you don't count Mike Gillislee's 20-yard run and Tyrod Taylor's 10-yard touchdown run, the Bills had 20 carries for 37 yards. That's a pathetic effort. There are no excuses for it. Yes, LeSean McCoy is hurt. But Gillislee has shown he can break off big runs. Yet, the Bills coaching staff didn't seem too interested getting him involved in the rushing attack. Gillislee finished with five carries. (McCoy had eight.) '

'Usually a Ryan-coached defence makes adjustments to at least diminish any offensive element causing problems, but Ajayi only ran stronger as the game progressed, until suffering a leg-muscle cramp with four minutes remaining. Did Ryan and his coaches change things up enough?'

'Landry, speaking after the game, was visibly upset about hurting a fellow player. “If I could take that hit back, I would,” Landry said. “The guy has a family to feed and this is his livelihood. You never want to see that with anybody.”'

'“Reggie [Bush] got in [the end zone], the ball came squirting loose so I went to jump on it and then the next thing you know I’m at the bottom of a pile and everyone was going at it, so I don’t know,” Incognito explained. “I was at the bottom.”'

'The Dolphins (3-4) used an extra lineman much of the time to clear big holes for Ajayi, who tied the NFL record for consecutive 200-yard games held by O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams.'

'"I apologized," Landry said. "I just told him to get better. You never want to see that happen to anybody. … If I could take that hit back, I would. It's a guy's livelihood."'

'The Bills were led by quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who threw a touchdown pass and also ran for a score. But Bills running back LeSean McCoy re-injured his hamstring and was held to 11 yards on eight carries.'

'"They out-toughed us," Bills starting right tackle Jordan Mills said. "I wouldn't say it was a surprise, but we didn't expect it."'

'Landry launched into Williams while blocking for Jay Ajayi on a 6-yard run in the second quarter. The Dolphins' top receiver was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play, but the Bills declined that penalty and instead accepted a holding call against Miami on the same play.'

'That defense would get gashed again by the dolphins running attack and would take the lead on a terrific Damien Williams 12-yard touchdown run that gave the Dolphins their first lead since 3-0 early in the first quarter. The Bills would get yet another shot on offense, but would fail once again to put anything together and go three-and-out again.'

'The source of pride for Rex Ryan and his coaching staff took a direct hit. Miami manhandled them at all levels. Jay Ajayi ran for 214 yards. As a team, the Dolphins piled up 256 on the ground and 454 overall. They ran for 6.1 yards per carry. The numbers weren't deceiving. The play was as bad as the stats indicate.'

'The Dolphins' Jay Ajayi ran for 214 yards, becoming the second play in NFL history to have back-to-back games with 200 yards rushing or more.'

'The Bills not only activated him, but they decided to ride him all through the first half and early on in the third quarter. The Bills weren’t treating him as a man that just suffered a hamstring injury, they were operating — almost stubbornly at times — as if McCoy was his normal self and nothing had happened earlier in the week.'

'So, now the complexion of the Bills season has changed a bit. This game was another measuring stick. Had they been able to get out of South Beach with a victory, they would have been sitting pretty. It very well may take 10 wins to secure a wildcard. Sunday’s loss drops them to 1-3 in conference games, which comes into play when invoking tiebreakers.'