Archives for December 13, 2016

'“Ryan is in his second year with the club, and the decision to hire his brother Rob as defensive (coach) has not been well received. Rex Ryan made significant changes to his staff after a 2015 season in which the Bills fell well short of the coach’s playoff talk, and that bled into this season, when offensive coordinator Greg Roman was fired mere weeks into the season. The Bills’ passing game remains limited, and the secondary — thought to be one of the team’s strengths — has struggled while top-paid defenders like Marcell Dareus and Jerry Hughes have slumped or been absent, injured or suspended.

'"I really don't know what to feel," Ryan said when asked if it felt like he was on the proverbial hot seat. "I’ve been in this game a long time. I know one thing — to do the very best job that I can do, I have to focus on what’s right in front of me, and that’s the Cleveland Browns. I promise you that’s exactly what I’m going to do. So I’m not going to think one minute about something that may or may not happen. I know one thing: We’re playing the Cleveland Browns on Sunday and we have to be ready and obviously have to play better than we did this past week."'

'"I have the final say on who's out there or whatever," Ryan said. "That doesn't mean I don't take input. But clearly that's my decision."'

'"We don’t really really care about what’s going on outside," inside linebacker Preston Brown said. "That’s our coach. We love our coach. We’re going to go out and give everything we have for him. Each and every game, we have to try and keep getting better, go out and perform for him, because we know what the situation is. If we all want to be in this league, we’ve got to go out there and keep playing."'

'Cardale Jones is far from ready to be the man next season. Despite Whaley's long obsession, EJ Manuel will be gone. They'll look for help in the draft. But if Whaley wants to prove that he built a playoff roster, he has to find a veteran free agent quarterback to put it over the top.'

'Hughes has 40 tackles and five sacks this season, about on par with his rates from a year ago, though four of his five sacks came in the first four games of the season.'

'Here's the full Craigslist ad, which has since been flagged for spam and removed. Obviously, Ryan was not the creator of this ad, and the original poster could not be tracked down due to the post's removal.'

'I think, you know, in sports and all that, you’ve got a lot of people with a lot of opinions and so I get all that. You know, I told you guys I never knew anything about it until I came out there to see. That wasn’t any distraction to me. I wasn’t aware of it. Moving forward, it can’t be a distraction to our team or anybody else. We’ve just got to do our job, find ways to win, and that’s where the focus is.'

'"While it was a bit unsightly, as a percentage of the rubber and sand infill in the system – almost 600,000 pounds, 300,000 pounds each of rubber and sand – what was brought on to the surface was a very small percentage," Jim Dobmeier, the president and founder of A-Turf, said in an email to The News.'

'The game had a 42.3 rating on WIVB-TV, the local CBS affiliate. It peaked with a 46.0 rating at 3:15 p.m.'

'A video circulating online appears to show a Bills fan suffering a serious leg injury during a tailgating stunt before Sunday's game against the Steelers.'

'QB Tyrod Taylor: It feels like he's taken up permanent residence here. Taylor had 71 yards entering the fourth quarter, then threw an interception on the first play. There really shouldn't be much of a debate left about whether the Bills should pick up Taylor's option. It's clear that he's not the answer for the Bills.'

'Like the Bills, you expected Simms and Nantz to be better than they were Sunday.'

'What really grabbed my attention, though, is the fine-print news regarding Tyrod Taylor’s controversial contract extension, and if Taylor’s own poor season isn’t enough to get him benched, the language in his contract might do it.'

'"While it was a bit unsightly … what was brought on to the surface was a very small percentage," added Dobmeier, who said he attended the game. "Very notably, the footing on the surface given the playing conditions was phenomenal. I saw one slip in the game and it was clearly caused by snow on the fibers."'