Archives for October 2016

'“It’s a great win. My D-Line, I give them my hats off, Brown said. “They kept the offensive line off us. Me and Preston (Brown) were just free, running around making tackles.”'

'To me, constructing a proper football organization comes down to three phases: ownership, the coach and the quarterback. The Bills have been encouraging in all three facets lately.'

'Bills defensive backs appeared to take offense at Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett jogging through their part of the field during warmups. Safety Robert Blanton pushed Brissett, which started a scuffle.'

'Belichick hates press conferences. And he definitely hated Sunday's.'

'The Bills were miserable on third down the first three weeks. They converted just 27.8 percent, worst in the NFL. They got it straightened out against a quality Patriots defense. Buffalo converted 7 of 15, 47 percent'

'I mean it's satisfying, but let's face it, they had a player out. This just in, they had a player out and we had our team, so you know, we expected to win.'

'“You never have to give Shady too much space,” Woods said. “He’s always going to make guys miss, outrun guys. Just give him enough room to let him be Shady.”'

'Give credit to Rex Ryan: He needed to have his team ready, and he did. The results from the defensive game plan speak for themselves. There were some questionable decisions – like declining an offside penalty that could have given the team another chance to pick up a first down. From this corner, that looked like coaching scared. Ryan’s use of first-half timeouts also can be dissected, but those amount to nitpicking after the fact. Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn’s game plan put more on Taylor’s plate, and the Bills’ quarterback showed he was able to digest it.'

'It was a massive achievement beyond the fact it came against a team they almost never beat in a place they almost never win. The Bills' record here is 2-13, and the other win came in a meaningless season-finale in 2014 when Tom Brady only played a half. The Bills also handed the Patriots their first home shutout since 1993 and ended a five-game road losing streak.'

'I considered this the most important game of Ryan's head coaching career. He was up against his bitter rival, Bill Belichick, with his team on the brink of going 0-3 in the conference and with his long-term job prospects in apparent jeopardy.'

'Again, the Bills made it look easy.'

'How good was Brown? He had 17 tackles, three of them for loss and a forced fumble. That’s looking like a great, cheap free-agent signing by general maanger Doug Whaley. Hard to imagine Reggie Ragland doing more than that on any given day.'

'Rex Ryan had to come up with a game plan that was successful against a third-stringer, and he did. Tyrod Taylor had to be the best quarterback on the field, and he was. Robert Woods and Charles Clay needed to be involved in the offense, and they were.'

'Former Bill Chris Hogan was also shut out in the game. He had no catches on two targets, both in the fourth quarter.'

'In evaluating whether Tyrod Taylor is a "franchise" quarterback, pundits often point to the fact that the Bills are 0-6 when Taylor throws 30 or more passes. Some of that is certainly situational – teams that are behind have to pass – but Taylor went over 30 passes midway through the third quarter with a 13-0 lead.'