Archives for October 23, 2006

‘On whether he has hit bottom – Myself personally? No. I think as a team we have dug ourselves a deep hole, that’s what I’m talking about. There are stories where teams come back and catch fire. That’s what we’ve been trying to do that last couple weeks, but it hasn’t worked out for us. We have to get better. We have to believe there is a chance, a shot. There’s something about a team, a bunch of guys coming together. It’s easy to keep things rolling when you come out on fire, but now we have our backs up against the wall. We’re going get some W’s and make the fans happy if we can pull this together and make it work.’

‘We’re all really disappointed in the outcome and in some of the things we did that were just foolish. We have to give ourselves a better chance. They’re an awfully good football team and when we do some of the things we did it really takes our chances away of competing. We believe that if we play at a high level and play a smart football game that we can play teams into the fourth quarter and then find a way to win them and that’s what we have to do to be a good, consistent team. We have a ways to go and we all recognize it. I certainly recognize that I have to do a better job of getting them ready and that’s what we’re going to do.’

‘When your center forgets the snap count, somebody on the punt team forgets to take the field when you’re punting and your quarterback can’t elude a guy in black-and-white stripes, it’s time for a break.’

‘”They’re foolish things (disastrous penalties, wasted timeouts, bad decisions on both sides of the ball) and they’re on my shoulders. I’ve got to do a better job of getting to these guys and getting them ready so that we don’t end up in these holes against quality teams.”‘

‘What was bothersome – forget the physical mismatches – was the Bills’ propensity for dumb football.’

‘Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel had a pair of sacks and a forced fumble Sunday to become just the fourth player in franchise history with 50 or more career sacks joining Bruce Smith, Phil Hansen and Cornelius Bennett.’

‘"I was at the time trying to cover something I shouldn’t have been covering," said McGee bluntly. "By the time I realized what I was doing wrong, Brady had already seen the opening and took advantage of it. Every week it’s the same thing. It’s a mental breakdown or something. And something bad happens."’

‘The Bills did what bad football teams usually do – they made enough mistakes to hasten their own demise.’

‘”Yeah, it hurts when you’ve got to be pulled off the field,” he said. “At the same time, I understood why he did it. It wasn’t like I feel like I did something good and I should still be out there.”‘

‘New England didn’t bury Buffalo with an aerial assault destined for the highlight reels. The Patriots didn’t do anything spectacular. It was more a meticulous, bite-by-bite short-passing attack that slowly drained life from the Bills’ defense.’

‘They’re boring. Unwatchable. I’d call them a train wreck, but a train wreck has a way of commanding your attention. These Bills have become a perfect excuse to shut off the TV and spend your Sunday afternoon hauling broken trees out to the curb.’

‘But there’s more to the Pats’ long run of success than their insatiable appetite for detail. What makes the Patriots special, a perennial threat to go the distance, is that they strive for perfection while believing there’s no such thing. They play two games every week, one against another team, one against their own expectations. And infrequently if ever during the Tom Brady era have they triumphed over the latter.’

‘The downside for the Bills was they didn’t capitalize on Royal’s catches. Two of his receptions were followed by turnovers.’

‘Defense improved against the run. Offensive play-calling wasn’t bad. It just was not well executed.’

‘The teams had been in discussions about a trade that would have sent McFarland to Buffalo for CB Nate Clements. The Bills were shopping Clements because they are concerned they might lose him as a free agent after the season. McFarland would have replaced first-round draft pick John McCargo, who recently went on injured reserve. After the talks broke off, the Colts moved in and acquired McFarland for a second-round pick.’