Archives for September 2017

'Zay Jones yips: Despite being a major piece in Buffalo’s offense after the departure of Sammy Watkins, Jones hasn’t been overly impressive and hopefully he doesn’t have a case of the “yips.” Jones had one catch in the season opener against the Jets and added two more during Week 2’s game in Carolina. But Jones nearly had three. The rookie had a drop at the end of the game in Carolina which could have won the game for Buffalo. The xzvsa would be 3-0 instead of 2-1. It’s only one drop, but last week Jones had a goose egg. No catches. Nothing. Here’s to hoping he gets more involved this week.'

'I was really impressed with Buffalo against the Broncos and I think this is going to be a hard-fought game. I'm going to say a narrow Falcons win, 27-24.'

'“Personally, I think he might be a little more physical run-after-the-catch; he likes to use the stiff arm a lot. Pretty good stiff arm, but they’re pretty similar players,” Campbell said of Clay. “I never played against anybody (in college) that’s like the guys in the League. That’s why they’re here.”'

'Although the Bills play a 4-3 defense, which typically relies on defensive ends to provide the bulk of the pass rush, they aren’t afraid to blitz with linebackers or safeties. Veteran linebacker Lorenzo Alexander is coming off a career year where he recorded 12.5 sacks, and he already has two sacks this season. Tied with Alexander for the team lead in sacks are defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Jerry Hughes and safety Jordan Poyer.'

'"The defenses in which he's been involved were always hard-nosed and really good," Quinn said. "Now, you can see that coming through to the entire team. That's not easy to do, but that's now his personality coming through to the team."'

'RB LeSean McCoy has four TDs in last two games against Falcons.'

'“I try to take the good things from everybody,” he tells me. “Obviously, you're going to have staples of your game no matter what they are, and my work ethic and the way that I practice I hope is a staple. And then I use input from the coaches, whether it's Bill Kollar, who was my first one, to Coach Waufle now, use the input into my game and how to improve it. I try to take all the good things from all of them.”'

'White is just the third Bills rookie cornerback to be honored as Defensive Rookie of the Month. Leodis McKelvin was the first to be honored in November of 2008, and Ronald Darby was given the honor in September of 2015.'

'“I know that I belong in this league,” said White. “If I continue to take that approach and continue to practice hard like I do and continue to be a team player and accept the coaching, I’ll be fine.”'

'The Bills may be the toughest test thus far for the Falcons, but it will certainly be the toughest test so far for Buffalo as well.'

'What’s certain is, the disagreement continues with no sign of going away.'

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'"Like I texted him, he said some things to the media that he probably could have said to me, but it doesn't really matter to me," McCoy told reporters. "I like Jim Kelly. He texted me and I just told him, 'Hey, you're human. People have their own opinions. And what you said? You don't have to apologize for it. I don't think you're wrong. That's how you felt, I understand. You're human.''

'"It's something I can teach my kids someday," Hyde said Wednesday after practice with the Bills. "It's about feeding your family. I'm not going to say I'm an expert at gardening, but I have the basic fundamentals of how to start. No matter how much money you have, no matter how poor you are, you can always feed your family."'

'“We’ve touched the subject a little bit, a little bit of common ground,” McDermott said Wednesday. “Two years ago I was in a similar position, the game was slightly different, albeit like all games are. Last year, with his experience, there’s a lot we can learn from those experiences, of being in big games and what we learn from those situations. We’ve touched the subject, with respect to that as well, ‘hey, what would you have done differently, in terms of as a team, what was said.’'

'"Dan was one of those coaches that just had it," McDermott said. "He had a great way with players. Having that great way with players, he still had a tough-minded approach to the game, which being a defensive player and then defensive coach, and head coach now, I really appreciated.'

'Injury wise, injury updates, the following players will not practice starting with Cordy Glenn still with the foot and ankle. Kyle Williams will not practice, as well as Lorenzo Alexander due to scheduled rest days. Marcell Dareus will be limited in practice, and Jerel Worthy is out of the concussion protocol at this time. Finally, congratulations to Stephen Hauschka, the AFC special teams player of the week, for a tremendous effort in last week’s game against Denver.'

'The Falcons announced that single-game tickets and standing room-only tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday on a first-come, first-served basis at the guest services desk inside Game 2 of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.'

'"There are a lot of issues that are really important to talk about, and we’ll spend some time and we have as a team talking through some of those.”'

'"Man-to-man against the league’s top receiver is super aggressive and not highly advised."'

'The escape was a big one. It came on a third and 6 in the fourth quarter with 9:29 to play. Taylor couldn't find anyone open, and after he drifted to his left he made a move back to his right toward the middle of the pocket. He slipped, and Denver pass-rusher Shaq Barrett was next to him but was unable to corral the quarterback. Taylor put his hand on the ground for balance, reversed his field back to the left, then outran safety Justin Simmons to get the first down.'

'Trevor Siemian threw at him eight times, and completed four of those passes for 65 yards. White defended three passes and added an interception. The Denver quarterback had a passer rating of 38.0 when targeting White, the 10th-lowest figure of 108 qualifying cornerbacks in Week Three.'

'Vance Walker, free agent: Walker spent 2016 on the Broncos' IR list after he suffered an injury that August. In 2015 in Denver, the former Georgia Tech standout had a +11.8 run-stopping grade that featured 25 run-game stops on just 447 snaps. The 30-year-old, 6-foot-2, 304-pound defensive tackle wouldn't provide a ton of pass-rush but could help clog the middle.'

'White looked to have made a good play on the football to break up the pass thrown to Demaryius Thomas, but there was a good amount of contact, and he was flagged. It continued the drive for the Broncos, and they gained 20 more yards before being forced to kick a 38-yard field goal.'

'When McDermott was a safety for the College of William and Mary, one of the graduate assistant coaches in 1994 was Quinn, who worked with the defensive line. Quinn, four years older than McDermott, went on to work for VMI and Hofstra before entering the NFL with the 49ers in 2001. He became head coach of the Falcons in 2015 after a successful two-year stint as defensive coordinator for the Seahawks when Seattle made back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, winning the game following the 2013 season.'

'Of course, the other issue with Dareus – which McDermott raised last week with an NFL Network reporter – is the level of his commitment to the team and whether he’s fully buying in with what’s happening on defense, and his role in it. McDermott was asked again Wednesday whether he’s comfortable with Dareus at this stage.'

' To date Buffalo has faced the New York Jets (30th), Carolina Panthers (28th) and Denver Broncos (11th) offenses. More specifically, they’ve faced journeyman quarterback Josh McCown, a physically limited Cam Newton and second-year starter Trevor Siemian.'

'“I haven’t thought about that,” McCoy said. “That was last week. You see around the whole NFL, people really took the president’s words and really expressed themselves. Some teams didn’t even come out for the national anthem. Guys were just extremely hurt. I guess we’ll go over that with the (team players’) council and see what the team, how we feel together and where we want to go in the future.”'

'"I like LeSean McCoy, don't get me wrong, but I totally, 100 percent I disagree with what he did," Kelly said. "You want to kneel? Fine. But when you go and do what he did yesterday, that sort of bummed me out. And I lost a lot of respect for him. … You want to kneel? That's your prerogative. I would never do that. I will always stand, thank the good Lord for everything I got. But when you disrespect the way he did and just go by his everyday duty in the national anthem being sung? Uh-uh. I won't go for that."'

'"I was extremely hurt to be honest," McCoy said. "Because at first everybody has their own opinion like I talked about. People believe different things. They want to stand up for it or they don't want to stand up for it. That's their right. Some of the words the president used just rubbed me the wrong way. It really did. I was upset and I was frustrated. That was the way I wanted to express myself. I took a knee, I started stretching. I was angry. I was hurt. Like I said before after the game, somebody like the president and being our leader of this country for millions and millions and millions of people. They look at America and see the type of words he's saying about us. It just got to me. It really did. Every week it will be different."'

'Worthy has missed the first three games of the season after suffering a concussion in the Bills' fourth preseason game against the Detroit Lions. He has not practiced since suffering the concussion.'

'After three weeks, the Cincinnati Bengals are 0-3. There's no telling how they'll fare in Week 4, but Buffalo matches up well with Cincinnati. The Bengals are 25th in the league in run defense (129.7 YPG) which bodes well for LeSean McCoy, Tyrod Taylor and company. Offensively, the Bengals are really struggling this season. They've averaged 11 points per game through three weeks and could continue to struggle in the short-term as tight end Tyler Eifert is expected to miss the next few weeks with a back injury.'

'A few days later, gunman James Eagan Holmes walked into midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises and took the lives of 12 people while injuring 70 others. The incident was the largest number of casualties from a mass shooting in United States history until the Orlando nightclub shooting in June of 2016.'

'“This is a good offense, the stats speak for themselves,” McDermott added.'

'“I told (Kelly) exactly: My respect for you hasn’t changed. It’s still very high. He was a hell of a player and I respect him,” McCoy said. “It didn’t affect me at all.”'

'If history repeats itself, the Bills are in for a world of hurt against the Falcons. All-time, the Bills have a 4-7 record against the Falcons and on the road, it’s even worse, 1-5.'

"He said, 'It's hard to imagine you guys having only been here for such a short period of time with how fast you're playing,'" Frazier said without revealing the Broncos coach. "He said, 'It's three games, but you don't look like a group that's been together for three games."'

'"I think their defense has done a good job," Ryan said Wednesday. "The secondary has been stout. The defense in general hasn't given up many points and has played really well in the first three weeks."'

'The only issue McCoy had was that Kelly could have shared his concerns directly rather than express them on his weekly radio show on Monday.'

'On offense, the Bills have to figure out a way to get their sagging running game going. McCoy has been held to 30 yards on 26 carries in the last two games, primarily because the Panthers and Broncos were loaded up to stop him, so the onus may be on Taylor to take some heat off with the passing game.'