Archives for December 9, 2008

‘The situation didn’t improve after the break, either. The two had 13 total chances by the third quarter’s end, with Evans increasing his output by infinity percent; unfortunately, his catch quantity only jumped by one to one. The Wisconsin product continued to go shamefully ignored to the point where he may has well have spent the afternoon patronizing the Hard Rock Café housed within Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Evans’ only other direct action came in the form of a catch each on the final two drives, and the fact he didn’t get to indulge in a Pig Sandwich was just a further affront.’

‘”The last two games with three points, what can you say?” left tackle Jason Peters said. “We have to put more points on the board. We are driving the ball. We are just not getting in the end zone.”‘

‘This is the point where Russ Brandon has to seize whatever real power he has and convince the owner he has a hell of a mess on his hands. If Wilson is reluctant to get rid of Jauron, the master salesman has to persuade him he can’t sell Jauron to this fan base any longer.’

‘”It was pretty frustrating to know that the guys were out there struggling, and you wanted to be out there to help them and weren’t getting opportunities,” Jackson said. “It’s just something where you have to grin and bear it, so to speak. They were out there trying their hardest. I just wasn’t able to help them.”‘

‘In fact, even the Bills themselves were criticizing their play, though more to the point, they seemed to be criticizing their coaching, a common trend around these parts for, oh, about a decade now, but rarely does it come from the employees who work at One Bills Drive.’

‘”We just didn’t play well,” Wilson said. “We haven’t got the talent. We didn’t play well. The coaches? They can’t go out and kick the ball. They can’t go out and tackle. … Hey, the way we’re playing it’s tough to get three points.”‘

‘As long as you have a shovel out, I’ll offer this: Whatever is left of that $78 million after the Wall Street crash, owner Ralph Wilson better take all of it and give it to a credible coach. Dick Jauron has done nothing in Buffalo to warrant a return for a fourth season. It’s over.’

‘But when she was in the middle of the anthem there was a problem. “I couldn’t hear anything,” she said of her own voice. “And it was bouncing off the walls.”‘

‘”We thought it was a tremendous day,” said Adrian Montgomery, GM for the five-year Bills in Toronto series. “People said it was an event and we very much felt that we witnessed a great event (Sunday).”‘

‘”It’s definitely a possibility, but it’s something we would have to sit down and discuss with the [CFL] and our friends at the Argos,” said Adrian Montgomery, the general manager of the Bills in Toronto series. “A game late in the season, after the CFL, is good, but anything’s possible.”‘

‘”When you’ve got a home game and the crowd is supposed to cheer, they were cheering more for the Dolphins,” Peters told The Buffalo News. “I wasn’t here in the pre-season, so I don’t know how it was then. But that stunned me. They’re not even cheering on third down. They’re not cheering when we do get a first down. They’re just sitting there like they don’t know what’s going on. I hate the idea of us playing here. It’s crazy.”‘

‘Fans, hoping to make it home in time for work on Monday morning, took action. It began under the JumboTron in one end zone, spreading through the entire stadium within a few words. And by the end, it seemed like the entire crowd of more than 52,000 was singing in unison.’

‘In the meantime, though, the consortium is stuck with six more games, which may prove as hard a sell as the first two. Sure, some American money flowed into the beer tents — sorry, tailgate parties — in Toronto this weekend. But that doesn’t mean we need or want an NFL team on this side of the border. Let’s work on bolstering the CFL, rather than replacing it with the inferior American version.’

‘”It’s hard to be confident right now,” said WRG sports radio 550 producer and personality Nick Mendola. “Once you realize you can make a ton of money up there, what businessman would say no?”‘

‘When the Bills seemed to never lose at then Rich Stadium when they were going to Super Bowls, and especially in December and in playoff games in January, it had far more to do with the fact the Bills had Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith and Andre Reed and the rest of the gang making plays. That bunch would have won just as many of those big games in the Rogers Centre as in Orchard Park, most likely.’