Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘“Yeah, I mean that’s definitely something that I would like to be referred to as,” said the fourth-round pick who has been one of the scant few feel-good stories of Buffalo’s 1-3 start. “I mean I want to play like that, that’s just my main goal; I want to play physical, I want to play fast, I want to play smart.”’

‘That first day at Fisher in late July of 2000, no one could have foreseen the coming agony of the next 17 years because the Bills had been to the playoffs in 10 of the previous 12 seasons. Back then, the playoffs were almost a given, and on that initial day of camp, the Bills were anxious to get going on making it 11 trips in 13 years.’

‘“We didn’t do well enough in any area, that’s my responsibility,” he offered after watching the film of the dispiriting 22-0 loss to the Packers, the Bills first shutout loss in 10 years. “We’ll work hard to get it fixed, but at the end of the day, just not good enough.”’

‘“I’m sure we’ll find some ways to figure that out,” Vrabel said of handling success. “I have some experience in my past with things like that, so we’ll try to point out the good, fix the bad and move on … to Buffalo. If you don’t play well in this league, I don’t care where you play, I don’t care who you play, you lose — that’s the NFL.”’

‘He started all 16 games for San Francisco last season and registered career highs in passes defended (7) and tackles (77).’

‘Look at what happened in the NFL, Thursday through Sunday: There were five quarterbacks who topped 400 yards passing – Jared Goff of the Rams, Kirk Cousins of the Vikings, Andrew Luck of the Colts, Derek Carr of the Raiders, and Matt Ryan of the Falcons.’

‘If that’s progress, so be it, but for the third time in four games, the Bills were completely outclassed in the first half Sunday, and their no-show in every phase set the stage for what became another beat-down loss, this one 22-0 at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in front of 78,312 leather-lunged fans at Lambeau Field.’

‘McCoy carried only five times for 24 yards in his return from a one-week hiatus due to a rib injury. The Bills utilized him on two of the first three plays, but they went three and out on that series, quickly fell behind 13-0 by early in the second quarter, and he touched the ball just six more times the rest of the day.’

‘For the third time in four games, the Bills were completely out of their league. They looked like a double-A team trying to compete in the majors, and what was so disappointing is that this came on a day when Aaron Rodgers wasn’t even great. Far from it, in fact. Sure, he was a million times better than his counterpart, Josh Allen, but it wasn’t vintage Rodgers. Of course, that may have been because he didn’t need to be. The Bills were horrific on offense, not very good on defense, and the result was a third one-sided loss before September ends. Yes, it’s going to be a long year.’

‘Packers 27, Bills 16.’

‘The Packers have one significant injury as DT Muhammad Wilkerson is out for the season due to an ankle injury, and that hurts their run defense. Also, TE Jimmy Graham has limited in practice due to a knee injury and his status may be questionable.’

‘Moved by a victory I never saw coming, I went back to the beginning of the century to see how many other victories could be classified in the improbable category, and here’s what I came up with.’

‘“If you tackle a quarterback the way you’re supposed to tackle the quarterback, they take $15,000 or $20,000 from your pocket for doing something you’ve been taught since you were 8 years old. It’s not that you’re being mean or malicious, but you’re taught to form tackle, put your head to the side, leave your feet, shoot your guns, whatever lingo you have, but it’s what we’ve been taught. They’re putting way too much emphasis on it now and making it a lot harder for defensive players just to go out and play football. It’s making the game too ticky-tacky with penalties at the wrong time.’’’

‘“I’ve gone twice against him,’’ Alexander said the other day at New Era Field after practice. “I sacked him once, he’s beaten me once (for a touchdown), so we’re split. It’s always fun to play against former teammates and catch up. There’s a lot of history there, especially in college when we hung out together and were really tight. It’s going to be fun.’’’

‘“I didn’t want to affect the team and go out there and be about 80 percent,’’ he said. “They sat me out, but today I was full go, sprinting. I’m ready to go and to get it going.’’’