Archives for December 11, 2008

‘"I’m the featured back here, and I don’t feel, as the featured back, that I’ve played like it. I’m going to put that on me."’

‘"You want your starting quarterback out there getting their reps, particularly if he’s not a veteran player," Jauron said. "Sometimes a guy who has played a long time can handle the practice on Friday and go into the game. J.P. got the great majority of the reps today and (third-stringer) Gibran (Hamdan) got a few."’

‘”We went through a string where we turned the ball over so much and we’re not getting any takeaways,” said Bills head coach Dick Jauron during a conference call with New York reporters today. “We were losing that takeaway/giveaway ratio by a good margin. When that happens, you lose a lot of games in our league.”‘

‘J.P. made some plays in the course of the game, but clearly we didn’t make enough plays to win a football game. On the offensive side of the ball, we’ve been really struggling to score points. Two weeks in a row we’ve only put up three points on the board. We’ve all got to get better there and I’ve got to do a much better job of getting them ready to play.’

Fans May Be Nervous, but Favre Is Confident (New York Times)

Jet QB ‘expects’ playoffs despite stinko stretch (New York Post)

Favre’s troubles a ‘short’ story (New York Post)

Next up: Jets (New York Post)

Brett Favre expects Jets to be in playoffs despite recent struggles (New York Daily News)

Favre: I expect Jets to make playoffs (New York Newsday)

Expect Losman to start again for struggling Bills (New York Newsday)

Favre expects Jets to make the playoffs (White Plains Journal News)

Mangini shortens New York Jets’ practices (Newark Star Ledger)

Favre’s herculean challenge (Bergen Record)

Jets’ Favre: ‘I expect us to make the playoffs’ (AP)

Inside slant (The Sports Xchange)

Strategy and personnel (The Sports Xchange)

Notes, quotes (The Sports Xchange)

Coach’s Wednesday News Conference (NewYorkJets.com)

Wednesday Player Interviews (NewYorkJets.com)

Favre Wednesday News Conference (NewYorkJets.com)

Buffalo Comes to Town with a Herd of Problems (NewYorkJets.com)

Brett: Let’s Ride the Wave the Rest of December (NewYorkJets.com)

Buffalo Conference Calls (NewYorkJets.com)

Five Schools Win ‘Eat Right Move More’ Contest (NewYorkJets.com)

Coach of the Year: Fred Caprista, Geo. Washington (NewYorkJets.com)

‘Based in Raleigh, he makes weekly international flights for American Airlines from New York to places like Rome and Paris.’

‘First-year chief operating officer Russ Brandon said he was “not in a position” to talk about Jauron’s contract status, presumably because Wilson won’t let him. Jauron reportedly has been given a three-year extension but the team refuses to confirm or deny it.’

‘The Bills gave up running the ball on the Jets in their 26-17 loss on Nov. 2 but now would be a good time to recommit themselves to the ground game. New York’s defense has given up 227 yards rushing the past two weeks in losses to Denver and San Francisco and 1,651 yards overall the past four games. Marshawn Lynch is coming off a poor showing against Miami and needs to be a factor early in the Meadowlands. That would make life a lot easier on QB J.P. Losman who is expected to get the start again over Trent Edwards (groin). If the Bills can protect Losman against the Jets’ No. 6 pass rush (37 sacks), there are plays to be made in the secondary. Edwards was sacked five times in the first meeting with the Jets. Defensively, the Bills have to find a way to put pressure on savvy veteran QB Brett Favre or it could be another long day. Favre wasn’t sacked in the first meeting and was able to complete 19 of 28 passes for 201 yards, engineering a clinching 14-play drive in the fourth quarter. He did make a major mistake, giving up an interception to Jabari Greer that Greer returned for a TD. Forcing those kinds of mistakes is Buffalo’s best chance for an upset.’

‘Veteran LB Kawika Mitchell, who won a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants last season, still has faith in his Buffalo teammates. He said it’s nothing that an attitude adjustment won’t solve. “You see that we have the ability to do great things, but if your mindset is not right, we are just not going to get it done,” he said. “It’s classic football talk; you want to die for one another, you want to do all those great things and that is what you have to have if you want to win games. Obviously, if we are not winning games, we are not doing the right things. I think mindset has to do a lot with the NFL. It is about 90 percent of the game.”‘

‘The quarterback position has had the biggest drop-off since the Bills’ impressive early start. And who will be under center Sunday is up in the air with starter Trent Edwards dealing with a groin injury that kept him out of a 16-3 loss to the Dolphins last week. When the Bills sprinted to a 5-1 start, Edwards had thrown five touchdowns against two interceptions.’

‘Blair added: “Mostly, they (the Bills) played like a team that (a) hates its quarterback; and (b) is waiting for its coach and offensive coordinator to be fired.’

‘The third-year safety said a group of kids from the Buffalo Public Schools reinvigorated him Tuesday at the fourth annual What Moves U Field House Party that celebrated the Bills’ partnership with BlueCross BlueShield and the American Heart Association in their continued commitment to helping area youths become more physically active through the NFL’s What Moves U fitness program.’

‘"If there’s somebody on the team who’s had a lot said about them, it’s me," he said. "You can dump the trash on me. I’m going to dust it off, step on it and rise and keep going."’