Archives for October 4, 2017

'By design, the Bills' offense includes quite a few play-action passes as part of the basic philosophy of offensive coordinator Rick Dennison. Both of the big throws to Clay followed play fakes and half-rollouts by Taylor.'

'There is a big difference between the 3-1 start the Bills have gotten off to when compared to a 2-2 record. Since 1990, when the NFL went to a 12-team playoff system, teams that went .500 over their first four games advanced to the playoffs 36.2 percent of the time. Teams that start 3-1 made it 64.1 percent of the time.'

'The Bills had waived Elston, whom they claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Browns, on Sept. 19. Thomas was with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2013 to 2016, and was with the New York Jets during the past offseason and preseason.'

'The women say that they were wrongly classified as “independent contractors” instead of team employees, and that they were not paid for performing at Bills games, or for hundreds of hours of practice time and charity work.'

'So in a real sense, Buffalo is the most distressed sports city in America. And while the Bills' drought began well before Terry and Kim Pegula came to town, the teams have traveled along parallel tracks of woe and dysfunction since they bought the Sabres six years ago.'

'Teammates Lorenzo Alexander, Colton Schmidt, Joe Webb, Robert Blanton, Reid Ferguson, Joe Banyard, Conor McDermott, Andre Holmes, Khari Lee, Orion Stewart and mascot Billy Buffalo joined Brown in running the clinic.'

'Tom McCarthy will handle the play-by-play and Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker and Steve Beuerlein.

'The Bills' feature back ran 15 pass routes and accumulated 32 yards, good for a 2.13 yards per route run number. Heading into Week Five, McCoy is averaging 1.96 yards per route run, which is the sixth-highest among 26 running backs who've run at least 60 routes so far this season. Remember, a season ago, McCoy averaged 1.39 yards per route run.'

'But also as Taylor has shown during his time in Western New York, he's been smart with the football and rather efficient when throwing it. He has just one interception on the season and is averaging 7.5 yards per attempt, the 10th-highest figure in football.'

'Taylor’s high passer rating this season is emphasized by his strong touchdown-to-interception rate of 5:1. Joining Joe Ferguson as the only Bills’ quarterbacks in franchise history to have at least five touchdown passes and no more than one interception thrown through the first four weeks of a given year – Ferguson accomplished this feat four times, in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1979.'

'Only a 10 percent probability of isolated showers in the region. Likely rain-free.'

' Suddenly, the rest of Buffalo’s schedule has massaged itself into something that appears a lot less daunting than when the season kicked off. More like an Adirondack High Peak to climb instead of something you’d find in the Himalayas.'

'Clay is thriving early this season in Rick Dennison's tight end friendly offense.'

'Thomas is a new face for the Bills, but he played college football just down the road at Syracuse University. Thomas spent the first four seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the team drafted him in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Jets signed him this offseason but cut him prior to the start of the regular season.'

'While Buffalo was once a haven for SU products under former head coach Doug Marrone, Thomas becomes the lone Orange product on the team's roster. Assistant strength and conditioning coach Hal Luther and assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington will be familiar faces.'