Archives for December 18, 2006

‘I am very impressed with the coaching staff of the Bills. To keep this team together after a 2-5 start, and win 5 of their next 7 to get back to .500 is nothing short of remarkable. The coaches believe in the players and the players believe in the coaches, and that makes for a tremendous combination.’

‘Robert Royal has a touchdown reception in each of the last three games. He’s only the second Bills tight end in team history to have a three-game touchdown scoring streak.’

‘Buffalo is averaging 23 points in its past seven games, an 11-point improvement over what it produced in its first seven. And that includes a five-game streak scoring at least 21. Losman has been the key, helped by a reshuffled offensive line with Jason Peters switched from right to left tackle. Besides being more efficient, with 11 touchdowns against four interceptions in his past seven games, the second-year starter has shown an ability to produce in the clutch.’

‘If you have small children in the room, you shouldn’t allow them to see these numbers — five completions in 17 attempts for all of 20 yards — that’s 1.18 yards per attempt — and a 0.0 passer rating. That’s right. Zero point zero.’

‘Bills owner Ralph Wilson, Jr. said, “The high-revenue clubs are not going to give teams like Buffalo any revenue sharing. They haven’t done it. They stalled it for years, and I’m sick and tired of hearing about it. I’ve run myself ragged trying to help Buffalo stay alive.”‘

‘Even Bills’ haters can’t deny this one.’

‘Then, warming to the subject, Wilson added, “There’s a closeness, a different attitude … a different atmosphere this year, a lot of camaraderie. We’ve got a lot of really top players … they don’t get a lot of publicity because they’re in a small market. (But) I think this is a really coming team and if we just have a decent draft this year, we’ll have a possible playoff team with any breaks next year.”‘

‘Mike Mularkey made a good choice in not returning to coach the Bills. If that’s the kind of offensive gameplan he likes in those conditions, he wouldn’t have been long for that place anyway. What a wimpy gameplan. I don’t care who your quarterback is, you have to take more chances down the field, just to keep the defenders and coordinators honest. J.P. Losman didn’t have any trouble throwing out there and it’s not like he’s John Elway or anything. It seemed like the Dolphins were just content to hang onto to the ball and wait for their defense to make a play. That ain’t going to cut it.’

‘”They started off pretty good running the football against us and running well,” said London Fletcher. “We played good fourth down defense against them and that was big in the game. We made plays when we had to.”‘

‘”People kind of underappreciate the way he can throw the ball in the winds of this stadium,” Bills quarterbacks coach Turk Schonert said of J.P. Losman. “We dominated the second quarter into the wind, and we threw the ball downfield. He’s got that mentality that he can throw it through a hurricane.”‘

‘”You always suffer with the losses,” Jauron said. “But I think the great thing about sport in general is that hope springs eternal. Week to week, you’ve got to get over the losses quickly. You’ve got to get over the wins quickly and go to the next one, and get ready to play. I think that’s why we all like it so much.”‘

‘There was no garbage touchdown yielded on this occasion, no late TD that spared the Dolphins the embarrassment of being blanked in the defeat that extinguished their playoff chances. The Bills foiled Miami on four straight attempts from the Buffalo 2. And when a penalty gave the Dolphins one more shot, a mulligan as Fletcher called it, Ryan Denney batted down a pass to stymie them again, preserving the ultimate reward for a defense on the rapid rise.’

‘”It’s always fun [being involved in the passing game], but obviously when you win the game it’s even better,” he said. “The coaches saw something in me that a lot of teams didn’t see in me earlier, that I can go out there and catch the ball when I need to. Of course, I’m going to block all the time, and I don’t have a problem with that. There were a couple of plays we called in practice and it worked. It just so happened that [Losman] was able to find me on a couple of passes.”‘

‘”When you play running back you always have something,” tight end Robert Royal said. “Willis is a tough guy. Obviously, the injury he had coming into the NFL [three torn knee ligaments] was tough, so I think that Willis could play through anything. If he can play through that, he can play through a wrist or a little rib or something like that.”‘

‘”That’s why you can’t read into all that [preseason hype],” said Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas. “Teams are so different. Before the season, we thought Buffalo would be a pushover, and look at how they’re playing. . . . We feel like we didn’t start coming along until later in the season.”‘