Archives for December 24, 2012

‘”He can make a play any time he touches the ball,” Urbik said. “You see that big run he had, he was just all bottled up and he just squeezed out of there and made a long run. Unfortunately, for a lot of the time, we couldn’t open up holes for him to get going. But he still had quite a few yards on the ground.”‘

‘Nix needs to do whatever it takes and at the very least give Fitzpatrick some true competition for his job. While Nix has done a solid job plugging certain holes on this roster, he’s failed miserably in addressing the quarterback position.’

‘When a team loses 32 games (and counting) in three seasons under one head coach, it should be unacceptable in every NFL city including Buffalo. What is the point of the continuity that Nix preaches when the result is losing football year after year? The only reason to continue on this same path would be if there was any sign of hope or progress that would be at risk with a change. Show me that. A young quarterback? No. Signs of a dominating defense? No. A team that plays with great passion for the head coach? I think that was answered in the last couple of weeks.’

‘The one thing I believe is that Ralph IS loyal to Buffalo … he’s not doing this to carry his money bags into the great beyond. He’s in financial trouble and in desperation to keep the team in a town that’s incredibly loyal with a fan-base second to none. But you get the idea the fight won’t/can’t last much longer.’

‘This team plays with no emotion, no intensity and no inspiration.’

‘Given the investment taxpayers will be making in this operation, there’s one more item that the Bills need to fix. It’s time for the team to drop its recent practice of playing some "home" games in Toronto. Such games have not sold well to begin with, and taking the team away from the fans that have supported them and the governments that are subsidizing them is not good policy.’

‘This is the fourth straight season the Bills have registered double-digit losses. The Bills haven’t won more than six games in the Chan Gailey era, and they haven’t won more than seven in a season since 2004, when the team went 9-7 and missed the playoffs.’

‘”It stinks that we’re not winning, and a lot of people are gonna lose their jobs because of it,” said Bills center Eric Wood after the team’s dismal, 24-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins.’

‘They paid through the nose for Mario Williams. The schedule was in their favor. They had five games against rookie quarterbacks. It was a perfect setup. They’re 5-10. This makes them 0 for their last 3 against teams starting a rookie quarterback. That should get people fired.’

‘Johnson had a day to forget. He fumbled. He dropped passes. He failed to secure what should’ve been a touchdown, losing the ball after crossing the goal line and leaving the call open to interpretation.’

‘It was the 14th fumble of the season for the Bills. Buffalo entered the game tied for the fifth most fumbles in the league.’

‘The Bills didn’t produce on offense and failed to stop the Dolphins when it mattered. The Bills came out flat and played with no sense of urgency when down by 21 points with a full quarter to play. Their hurry-up offense didn’t look too eager. The Bills were minus-4 in turnovers and committed 11 penalties for 93 yards. The Dolphins didn’t have any penalties until there were less than five minutes to play.’

‘”The reality is that it’s going to be very difficult to keep this team here in the long run,” Giambra said in a telephone interview. “It appears to me that in order to keep this franchise in this community [long-term], it’s going to take an ownership group willing to lose tens of millions a year for a long period of time. We should find out now if there is an ownership group willing to buy this team,” he added. “Shouldn’t we find out sooner, rather than later?”‘

‘Buffalo had four turnovers, committed 11 penalties for 93 yards, scored only one touchdown, allowed Miami’s Reggie Bush to score three touchdowns, and thus lost to a rookie quarterback (Ryan Tannehill) for a third straight time.’

‘On the other end of the spectrum, there’s Mario Williams, who did almost nothing in the game, and never once referred to himself when he reeled off all the problems the Bills had on defense. Lots of “we” and “us” but never “me.” And he was more than eager to call out punter Shawn Powell’s shanked punt and the offense’s four turnovers which put the defense in bad spots.’