USA Today

‘”Your actions were not incidental, could have been avoided and placed the opposing player at risk of serious injury,” Runyan wrote. “The Competition Committee has clearly expressed its goal of ‘eliminating flagrant hits that have no place in our game.’ Those hits include the play you were involved in yesterday.”‘

‘When asked about what specifically he was frustrated about, Gronkowski said he believes White should have been called for a holding penalty at the top of the route.’

‘”It’s the right thing for our team,” Bills coach Sean McDermott told reporters Wednesday. “It was my decision and it will always be about what’s best for our team.”’

‘”I’ve been impressed with the maturity from Nathan Peterman,” McDermott said. “I’m comfortable making a calculated risk to try and get us where we need to go.”‘

‘“We got beat physically,” Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. “We were out of our gaps. We were not where we were supposed to be. It just snowballed into a nightmare.”’

‘All season long, in order to snap the NFL’s longest active postseason drought at 17 seasons and counting, the Bills have had a formula: Protect the ball, force turnovers, run the ball and stop the opponent’s rushing game. Thursday night, that blueprint buckled.’

‘“But, you know, whatever. The league makes money off of it. That’s all they care about, anyway. So we just keep trucking. We’ve got a tough group of guys in this locker room, so it’s back to the drawing board, back to Buffalo, and we’ve got the Saints.”’

‘But a funny thing happened on the way to tanking the 2017 season. The Bills are 5-2. FiveThirtyEight.com puts their playoff odds at 63%. Even so, gun-shy Bills fans readily recall what happened in 2011, the last time the Bills started 5-2. They promptly lost their next seven games.’

‘The foremost priority has involved changing the culture. The former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator has convinced players to buy into his “One-11th” mantra, which means each member of a unit has to focus on doing his respective job while remembering that he is part of a group, and his contribution leads to the greater good.’

‘Dareus was the third overall selection in what was a loaded 2011 NFL Draft. Cam Newton and Von Miller were selected one-two before Dareus, and immediately after A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson and Julio Jones were selected. Tyron Smith, J.J. Watt, Robert Quinn, Ryan Kerrigan and Cameron Jordan were also first-round picks that year. In all, the first round of the 2011 draft produced 15 players who earned at least one Pro Bowl selection. While Dareus does have those two Pro Bowl selections in tow, a strong case could be made that the Bills might have done better with their third overall pick.’