Two Bills Drive

‘“I thought we were probably more inconsistent that I would have liked to have seen this year, particularly after Von went down,” coach Sean McDermott said the day after the season ended. “I thought each one of those guys had their games where they played well, just overall as a group, I didn’t feel like – or I felt like we were a little bit too inconsistent, and yesterday (against the Bengals) again.”’

‘“This has been a vision of mine for a very, very long time,” Reese said. “It’s come to life and snowballed into this.”’

‘The event may not be for everyone, but Buffalo Bills long snapper Reid Ferguson took issue with Jacobs’ stance. Ferguson noted that every player in attendance gets a Pro Bowl check and that the changes to the game were announced well in advance. Simply put, Jacobs could have passed on attending the all-star event.’

‘The 25-year-old appeared in 13 games in 2022, starting all of them, and finished with 34 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hits. In 2021, Oliver played in all 17 games, again starting them all, and finished with 41 tackles, four sacks and the same 14 quarterback hits. The reduction in games played from 2021 to 2022 is because of a high-ankle sprain that kept Oliver out of the lineup from Weeks 2-4, as well as the cancellation of the Week 17 game against Cincinnati.’

‘Dallas linebacker Micah Parsons finished second, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was third and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, whose team just beat Allen in the playoffs, finished fourth. The other quarterbacks in the top 10 were Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears and Brady.’

‘After that, when it comes to Poyer and Edmunds, I’d keep Edmunds, with the main reason being age. Edmunds is entering his age-25 season, while Poyer will be 32 at the start of next year. Poyer has been an absolute warrior for the Bills, but injuries caught up to him in 2022, and there has to be some long-term concern about that from the organization. Both players are team captains and respected leaders who, in a perfect world, would return. The realities of the salary cap, however, make that unlikely.’

‘Orchard Park Supervisor Gene Majchrzak and Councilman Joseph Liberti have also proposed changing the zoning around the stadium to promote development and allow for multiple-story hotels. There’s been little trickle-down development around the stadium in the 50 years since it was first built.’

‘I am not here to excuse every coaching decision, draft pick and free agent signing. There are plenty of things to question that go beyond being able to overcome a season of overwhelming adversity. At the end of the day, I am willing to give them the grace they deserve. I am proud of them as human beings as much as players. They have been through the wringer. They ran out of gas and got knocked down after withstanding blow after blow.’

‘“I thought the last couple of weeks, in those two postseason games you really started seeing the Cole who was here before,” Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said. “This offense is similar, but it’s not exactly the same, so there was a little bit of nuance there from that standpoint of the route combinations versus exactly what he left from when (former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll) was here.”’