Archives for September 27, 2011

‘The key word there is respect. That is what the Bills have lacked from opponents and the national media. Before this 3-0 start, the Bills were in serious danger of falling further into NFL irrelevancy. They are back on the radar – for now.’

‘Suddenly, the Bills’ immediate future doesn’t appear as bleak as when the schedule was released last April.’

‘"It gives you a piece of home," Jauch said. "A lot of us left for economic reasons, for jobs or whatever. It unites us. It brings back all of the memories from growing up. The Bills and the Sabres are my link to home."’

‘"We mixed it up a little bit, hardly any blitzes at all," Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. "They’re really savvy in what they do protection-wise. The center will back up and turn and try to clear out the middle. While you’re engaged in a rush he’ll try to pick you off so Tom can step up. That was one thing we talked about during the week, condensing the pocket, getting push up in his face, so he couldn’t really step up and move around the way he likes to. We were able to do that in spots. On a couple of the picks we were able to get there in his face."’

‘"This is different," Rex said. "Even you wrote it. There’s a feeling about these guys. A bunch of no-names who were drafted late or not at all. They have a blue-collar charm. They reflect Buffalo. I feel like they’re out there playing for me."’

‘"We’ve gotten off to a great start, no doubt," Bills running back Fred Jackson said, before adding the caveat that’s become mantra in the Bills locker room. "We have a lot of work that we can still look at and see where we can improve as an offense even with the stats we’re putting up now. There are a lot of plays that we look at on film that can still be made by us."’

‘”It doesn’t mean anything,” said safety George Wilson, one of the team leaders. “I mean, we’ve shown we can beat the Patriots now. It’s the third game of the year. You don’t win a championship by being 3-0. You don’t earn the respect around the league by winning three games. We’re just working to be 4-0. This doesn’t mean we’re in the playoffs right now. We haven’t even gotten through the first quarter of the season. We’ve got more games to go.”‘

‘Clearly, we hold the Bills to a higher standard than your average fan, and yes, that’s our job. But I’ll tell you this – Chan Gailey and Buddy Nix hold the players to a higher standard, too. If guys don’t play well, they’re benched or cut. It wasn’t like that when Dick Jauron was in charge. He was never better than 7-9 and got fired. If you’re asking me if I believe, well I believe in Gailey and Nix.’

‘If the Bills win Sunday at Cincinnati and if Green Bay loses at home to Denver, I’d probably have to rank Buffalo No. 1. I never thought I’d live to see that again.’

‘The long-dormant Buffalo Bills are fired up. And so is western New York.’

‘But almost from the day the deal was signed, there was an uncomfortable ghoulish aspect to it: The Toronto people wouldn’t say so for the record but at the time they believed they were taking out a five-year football insurance policy on Wilson’s life.’

‘”It’s the best one of my career,” said linebacker Chris Kelsay, now in his ninth season with the Bills. “Regardless of if it’s Week 3 or the last game of the season. I’ve never been to the postseason, I’ve played on Monday night, we played a close one against Dallas but we came up short. We played these guys 17 times and only won one until today. It’s awesome, anytime you can beat a great team like that, a great coaching staff like that, you’re going to enjoy it.”‘

‘Let’s just call the rest of the season off right now and immediately put the Lions and the Bills in the Super Bowl. It’s the right thing to do.’

‘The NFL might be the only employer in the world, where putting Harvard on the job application gets you shoved to the bottom of the pile.’

‘After three games this season, it’s clear that the Buffalo Bills haven’t just stolen that part of Belichick’s playbook, they’ve made it their offensive strategy. For nearly the entire game Sunday, the Bills had four wide receivers on the field, and often used five. (A traditional NFL alignment consists of two wide receivers.) They also sometimes lined up their tight ends as wide receivers and flung their running backs off to the corners.’