Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘It was quite a concession for a hard-boiled manly man coach like Campbell, but he was right. The Bills played with an unbridled passion and rose to every moment in beating a team that had won 11 games in a row and had outscored its opposition by a league-high 189 points.’

‘Yeah, it’s going to trash Buffalo’s defensive rankings, but McDermott’s not sweating that. To have survived this game in those circumstances and leave town with a W was impressive.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Lions 34, Bills 31.’

‘Cable/Network TV: CBS. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WROC channel 8 (Rochester area), WIVB channel 4 (Buffalo area), WTVH channel 5 (Syracuse area), WKTV channel 2 (Utica area), WENY channel 2 (Elmira area), WRGB channel 10 (Albany area), and WBNG channel 12 (Binghamton area).’

‘Douglas and Rapp were hurt on the same play, a touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp. Rapp hurt his shoulder, and Douglas’ injury was unspecified. Both returned to the game and Rapp finished it, not missing a play, but Douglas later suffered a knee injury which knocked him out for most of the fourth quarter.’

‘Ward grew up in Rochester and is a graduate of Allendale Columbia School in Pittsford. He began his business career with Montgomery Securities and then Smith Barney before co-founding a company in 1999 called Meritech where, according to its website, he helps lead the firm’s infrastructure, application software, and data and analytics investment practices.’

‘The run defense was leaky, the third-down defense was horrific, there was no pass rush pressure, and the back seven – normally the strength of the unit — could not have covered sumo wrestlers Sunday as Rams receivers were running wide open all day at SoFi Stadium.’

‘This year they are 12-1 and will be riding a team-record 11-game winning streak when they host the Bills in what many are advertising as a possible Super Bowl preview, a showdown with huge playoff seeding ramifications between teams with a combined record of 22-4.’

‘“I think we’re all (ticked) off that we lost, but we’re not sitting here pressing the panic button by no means,” defensive tackle DaQuan Jones said. “How we played got us to where we are, and there’s stuff we can clean up, sure, but I’m not gonna sit here and press the panic button. We’re still a pretty damn good football team.”’

‘Embarrassing. There is no other way to describe how a normally sound pass defense played in this game. Matthew Stafford completed 23 of 30 for 320 yards and two TDs, he was never sacked because there was zero pass rush, and he was pitching to WRs who were running wide open on far too many plays.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Bills 31, Rams 17.’

‘This is the third consecutive year the Bills are playing at the $5 billion palace that is home to both the Rams and Chargers, and they have beaten each of those teams there. In the 2022 season opener, the Bills blew out the defending Super Bowl champion Rams 31-10 in the NFL’s season opening game.’

‘“Everyone will practice today and at this point we’re not ready to rule anybody out,” McDermott said.’

‘“Yeah, just had a feeling,” the backup safety said Wednesday following the Bills’ walk-through practice. “We didn’t clean his locker out. That 2-3 and all his stuff was still there this whole time, since the end of last season to now. So it’s like you got that feeling in the back of your head when you know he’s going to come back. He’s not done yet. Yeah, man, I just felt it. So it’s always good to have him back, though.”’

‘“I think we’ve got such a great leadership group and guys beyond even that group that are leaders on this team that are really focused on just the day to day, and trying to get our level of play to where it needs to be every week,” McDermott said. “So I’m comfortable with the guys that we have and how they approach the challenge on a day-to-day basis. I think that along with some gentle reminders, if you will, we’ll be just fine.”’