Archives for November 19, 2017

‘”When there’s a playoff opportunity in front of you,” Warner said, “it’s tough to reconcile making that kind of move. If you’re not the Patriots, you know how few and far between those opportunities are.”‘

‘Ryan’s defense allowed an average of 357 yards a game over two seasons. McDermott’s has given up an average of 360 through nine games. The average yards per play, a good gauge of a defense, is roughly the same (5.6 in 2016, 5.5 this year). They ranked eighth in sacks last year. Now, they’re 30th.’

‘Buffalo has played 56 regular-season games in the Pacific time zone yet has won only 17 of them.’

‘Bills 24, Chargers 23.’

‘Announcers: Chris Myers (play by play), Daryl Johnston (color analyst).’

‘The Chargers’ two elite edge rushers have combined for 36.5 sacks since the start of 2016. Joey Bosa has 9.5 this season. Melvin Ingram has 8.5. They are terrors off the edge and look for them to move around to try to exploit the Bills’ pass protection. The Bills must avoid third and long. The Chargers rank 17th overall on third down defense, allowing 40.3 percent conversions. But they’re tied for third on third-and-8 or more, allowing just 15 percent conversions. And their 14 sacks on third down ranks second in the NFL in that category.’

‘This play was a 16-yard pass on a third-and-7 play against Oakland in Week 6. Tight end Antonio Gates (85) ran a clear-out route straight up the seam against the Raiders’ Cover 3 defense. Allen (13) ran the in-cut behind him and turned it into a 28-yard gain. Allen also has the most catches on third and 7 or more for first downs (8).’

‘Not only are Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram elite speed rushers, they are versatile and are used in a variety of ways by Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. Both can bump inside to a defensive tackle position, and they run hard-to-handle twist stunts. Three of Ingram’s 8.5 sacks this season have come on twists.’

‘The main issue I have with Dennison is his unwillingness or inability to pair his scheme to what Taylor does best. When he took over, all the talk was about how we would see more bootlegs and moving pockets to take advantage of Taylor’s superior athleticism. Where have those been? The best coaches know what their players do best and put them in those situations. It’s hard to look at the Bills’ offense through nine games and say Dennison has done that.’

‘“He just really busted his butt to make the club,” McDermott recalled this week. “He stuck with it. You saw the work ethic, you saw the quality of the person when things were going well and when things weren’t going well he kept at it, kept at it. … That speaks volumes about a person.”’

‘The Bills crowd now takes over two-thirds of Busby’s West every Sunday, with as many as 500 people singing along to the “Shout!” song for big games.’

‘“It was fun at first,” she said. “But whenever I’d weigh in with a comment or some analysis about a player or game, people assumed I was a guy. That bothered me a lot, so I changed the name to @Bills_Chick. Once they saw that I was a woman, they’d throw the whole, ‘you’ve never played football, you don’t know what you’re talking about’ out there. But it got better.”’