Archives for November 2012

‘Viewed through the prism of the last two games, the run defense has improved, allowing an average of just 74 yards per game. But when one considers the entire body of work, both offensively and defensively, finding meaningful progress requires a high-powered magnifying glass when using rudimentary statistics.’

‘Maybe Johnson is guilty of speaking from the heart and walking it back later. That doesn’t mean he isn’t speaking for the team. Surely, he isn’t the only player rolling his eyes at Gailey’s decisions. A lot of fans are feeling the same way.’

‘”What do they do when they eject a person from the game?” Gerken’s mother, Marion, asked Monday. “Do they just point to the exit and say, ‘Get out’?’

‘For the good of the franchise, Ralph needs to step away, sell this toy that he has enjoyed for more than half of his life, and allow the team to move forward. Seriously, is it still possible that he derives pleasure from owning the Bills?’

‘Johnson said he spoke out in frustration following a loss that all but mathematically ended the Bills’ playoff chances.’

‘Chan Gailey wasn’t offended. He just thinks it’s Stevie being Stevie, “(Bob Bicknell) talked to him, I didn’t talk to him, but I talked to ‘Bick’ and I know where he’s coming from and Stevie just wants to win. You say a lot of things and he just wants to win. So he’s fine. If you don’t know a guy, you might tend to get really upset but if you know a guy you know where his heart is even though he might not have said it exactly right, you know where his heart is. I know Stevie.”‘

”'”I’m working as hard as I can work to try to get this thing where it needs to be. I don’t evaluate that stuff. I don’t evaluate it, look at it. I’m not going to say I don’t care about it, that would be a lie, but I’m just doing the best I can.”‘

‘”How I see it is I think we need to let our quarterback call these plays you know what I mean?” Johnson said to reporters in the visitors lockerroom at Lucas Oil Stadium. “He’s out there on the field, he sees the adjustments that need to be done and I think we should just let him make the adjustments on the go. I think that’s how we can move the ball better. He did it a little in the game and we moved the ball so that’s how I feel about it”.’

‘Most importantly, we’ll find out who the real players are, even though by this time we have a pretty good idea. Despite the qb and coaching situations, Nix has built a nucleus that can win with another good draft or two and continued development of players already on the roster.’

‘”The talks have gone extraordinarily well. I certainly am not at liberty to disclose where we’re at. I can tell you it has been very positive. Hats off to Jeff Littmann (Bills Chief Financial Officer) and hit team, on behalf of the Bills and Russ Brandon (Bills Chief Executive Officer). We are in a good place, but no deal and no agreement is finalized until it’s finalized,” said Duffy.’

‘”The intent was more so the audibles,” said Johnson Monday. “I didn’t mean changing play calling duties and all that. I may have said it, but what I meant to say was audible and giving Fitz the ability to audible a little more.”‘

‘We have done that some, but it has been revolving around the pass game. We are trying to make sure we get the running game going. When you do no-huddle sometimes it revolves too much around the pass game. We do not want to get into that. We want to keep a balance between our run and pass.’

‘Yeah. Chan (Gailey) and I have worked together long enough now that I have a ton of freedom. Even in year one I had a good amount of freedom. There is a lot of give and take with that. I feel 100-percent comfortable. It is not always on the field, it is not always during a specific play. Sometimes that stuff happens on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when we are sitting up in our meeting room and talking about plays, things that we have installed and what we are trying to attack.’

‘I will always be the speed back because I am fast. I do not expect that perception to go away. I really do not care. I know what I can do as a player and I take pride in my craft. I work hard to try to improve it each and every week so I cannot help it that I was blessed with tremendous speed.’

‘My issue is not even no-huddle. It is not even that deep. When I even say to make audibles, that is not even just to throw the ball. Even with runs. When you are back there you see what the defenders are doing and all of that. Maybe we check it into a draw play for C.J. (Spiller) or what not. That is the basis of it. It was not even turning to no-huddle or do the two-minute drill. It was not even that deep. It was just simply making an audible.’