Archives for September 18, 2017

'Buffalo was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play. Coleman appeared upset with the Bills' sideline as he met with coach Sean McDermott, other officials and members of the Bills' training staff after the play.'

'Marooned in Cleveland for four years and on the bench for three of them, Jordan Poyer is making a name for himself as the starting free safety for the Bills. Poyer had an interception and three tackles against the Jets in Week 1, and he followed that performance Sunday with seven solo tackles and the biggest pass breakup of the day. Poyer delivered a blow to 6' 5" Kelvin Benjamin’s right side as Benjamin was coming back down to earth in the end zone that jarred the ball loose. Poyer had three total passes defensed along with a Newton sack on a blitz. He signed a four-year deal worth $13 million in March and is establishing himself as the class of Buffalo’s secondary.'

'Finally the Bills got a drive going, but it was goo little too late. After several throws by Taylor got them to Carolina's 33 yard line with 14 seconds to go, Zay Jones dropped a pass at the 4 yard line to end the game. The game ended with no touchdowns being scored by either team.'

'Do you remember when the Bills traded Sammy Watkins? Remember how we talked about the team dealing away its most explosive, dynamic player in the passing game and how much that would hurt Tyrod Taylor? Then, Anquan Boldin retired and we wondered who, among the wide receiver group, could actually make plays? On Sunday in Charlotte, the Bills passing game was as bad as you might have dreaded.'

'There just isn’t any way to divide it up. Every facet of the offense was poor.'

'Running back LeSean McCoy had one of his worst performances, carrying the ball 12 times for just 9 total yards. McCoy struggled against a Panther defense that found a way to keep him either behind or just a few yards past scrimmage.'

'That means — by the power of subtraction — Taylor had only 53 total passing yards through the first three quarters of the game, which is as putrid a statistic as you’ll find.'

'Trailing by six with two minutes to play, Tyrod Taylor led the Bills down the field on what looked like to be a potential game-winning drive, but failed to convert on 4th-and-11.'

'BKL: When you first signed your contract, what was the first thing you bought? SL: “I bought my mom a house. It’s something as a kid I always wanted to do. Make sure my family is right and when I got the check I went to go find my mom a house.”'

'Ramon Humber and Jordan Poyer led the team in tackles both racking up eleven. Buffalo only allowed 255 yards against a strong Panthers offense.'

'Sadly, what we saw Sunday is what we’re going to see a lot this season. Really solid defense. Mediocre offense. And more losses than wins.'

'We have been saying for a long time that Taylor needs to finish games to be considered a quality NFL quarterback. He had another chance today then overthrew Jones. A good throw there and it's a game winning touchdown. That hurt that they got that close to winning a game they had no business being in and lost that way.'

'Although the Panthers managed just three field goals until the late stages of the game, the Bills offense was stuck in neutral for most of the day and could manage only a field goal in a 9-3 loss to Carolina.'

'“We got a lot of pressure,” said Alexander. “(Number) one (Newton) is special. I don’t know how much he weighs, but 6-5 and 230 or 240. You’ve got to really try to wrap him up or try to get the ball out. But he extended a lot of plays and made some plays with his arm. Threw it in there like I knew he would because he’s a competitor regardless of his shoulder.”'

'I’ll start off by giving their defense credit, they’ve got a talented bunch over there and we knew it would be tough sledding coming in here for their home opener. They did a good job. With that said, we’ve got to do a better job in some areas and we will. I thought we had some opportunities and we had some good looks at some things, so we’ve got to put some more plays back to back. We didn’t have good first down success early in the game and then we came out in the second half and had good first down success so staying on schedule that way was important for us. So we’ve just got to go back to work.'