Olean Times Herald

‘Still, the spectre of questionable officiating has become, by far, the NFL’s biggest public relations problem and desperately needs to be fixed.’

‘“NOBODY WANTS to be 6-10, I’m not a good loser in terms of 6-10. That keeps me up at night. It wakes me up awful early,” he admitted. “That’s a bit of uncharted territory for myself and a lot of the guys on this team, but it’s where we are and we have a lot of work to do. We are where we are because of some things certainly that we can do better, starting with myself, but also because of dealing with some things: (salary) cap management, drafting, not developing players, everything that we inherited when we got here.’

‘“It’s pretty promising and exciting to think about what we could’ve done and what we can do and what’s in the future. I’m extremely excited to have the guys that we have. I’m looking forward to growing with these guys and going into next season with some momentum.”’

‘“Judicious is probably the word that I would use instead of aggressive,” he said. “If you’re not wise with it, you can be back to where it was when I walked in here. “We definitely want to fill holes in free agency. But I’ve said it before – you use free agency to help you so you’re not going to the draft in April with all these holes … now you’re drafting for need. I promise you drafting for need is a mistake that can set franchises back, and I’m not going to do that as long as I’m in charge here.”’

‘Thus my conclusion was that an 8-8 prediction was overly optimistic and 7-9 or 6-10 were more appropriate. And since, at that point, the Bills had traded veteran QB A.J. McCarron to Oakland and were uncertain whether second-year pro Nathan Peterman or Allen would start at quarterback, I opted for the latter.’

‘The win made Allen 5-6 as a starter and the factor that stood out in the 12 games he played is his mobility, a weapon displayed again yesterday. He rushed 95 yards on nine carries and two of those were 1-yard-loss kneel-downs. Thus, he just missed logging a third 100-yard rushing game this season and had four starts in which he totaled at least 95.’

‘Afterward, McDermott said of his orchestrated effort to bring Williams out of the game, “I just thought you don’t have those opportunities a lot to be able to do that. It’s more of a basketball-type deal. But to be able to put the defense out there one more time … it was more important to me to honor Kyle’s career than it was potentially to score one more touchdown.’

‘“We for sure want to end on a good note. We want to go into the offseason with a victory and some confidence, continuing to build that trust and relationship with everybody on this team.”’

‘Hyde admitted, “ If I’m the offensive coordinator for them I’m doing the same thing. We couldn’t stop it and that’s one of those situations (where) as a defensive player you’re just trying to figure out a way. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. (Patterson’s) a good player, he’s fast. He turns the corner like no other when he’s running full speed. Most guys, when they run that fast, can’t turn the corner.”’

‘Yeah, the Pats are are fifth in offensive yardage (395 yards per game), sixth in passing yards (278), seventh in scoring (27 points per) and ninth in third-down conversions (42 percent). But the defense is showing cracks. It’s 29th in sacks and 23rd in both offensive yards (373) and passing yards (257) surrendered per game.

‘Alexander’s seeming slight is tied to the reality that many fan voters cast their ballots for more than his play on the field. They considered his extremely high character and vast leadership skills which easily make him a Pro Bowl “person,” especially since he’s the Bills representative for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his work both on and off the field.’

‘What decided this non-conference meeting before a crowd of 59,110, that finished in an economical 2:58, was a bad snap on the extra point following Detroit’s first touchdown and a missed 48-yard field goal by Lions kicker Matt Prater that would have given his team the lead with under six minutes to play.’

‘The defense had four such players: defensive tackle Harrison Phillips (3rd round ‘18), safety Siran Neal (5th round ‘18) plus two free agents, end Eddie Yarbrough and linebacker Deon Lacey. And their collective contributions to the win were not insignificant.’

‘But, offensive struggles aside, Buffalo’s real problem has been poor play on the part of the special teams in the consecutive losses to the Dolphins and Jets.’

‘Simply put, this was a terrible loss for the Bills … and a big step backward for the organization.’