Archives for December 2012

‘A sparse crowd of 53,971 watched on an unseasonably warm, but wet and windy day and playing a weak opponent no doubt helped the struggling Bills win. With the victory, the Bills moved their record to 5-7 with four games to play while Jacksonville, coached by former Buffalo coach Mike Mularkey, fell to 2-10.’

‘By running with conviction, giving the ball 25 times to Fred Jackson and 14 more to C.J. Spiller, the Bills cruised. As entertaining as it was to watch, it magnified all those lost opportunities this season when Gailey chose to let the opponent dictate how an afternoon of football should be played, by their rules and not his.’

‘Again, even in a game where the Bills needed to run, Spiller was on the bench as much as he was on the field, especially in the red zone.’

‘The Bills coach didn’t have much of a chance to screw this one up because the weather dictated that he had to pound the ball on the ground, and the Bills responded with a season-best rushing output. Of course, there was the usual misuse of C.J. Spiller to debate.’

‘It’s still a criminal act that Gailey uses Spiller so little, but at least he showed some common sense this week and called more runs (46) than passes (17).’

‘”You still want to strike a balance, but once we found out that was the way to attack these guys and that we could, we stuck with it,” said Gailey. “The conditions made it more so. We had the lead – which helps. All of those things help.”‘

‘”We feel like we know our best players are in the running back room,” Jackson said. “So that’s how we want to approach the game. We have to go out and get started early, we feel like if we do that, then it gives us a good opportunity to win football games. If we continue to do this, we make plays, it is going to take a lot pressure off our offense.”‘

‘The Bills play NFC opponents the next two weeks, hosting St. Louis on Sunday and then meeting Seattle in Toronto the next week. They play the Dolphins and Jets the final two weeks, and likely will need to win all four games to have any shot at ending their 12-year playoff drought.’

‘”For me to get back out there and get established, it’s a long time coming,” said Jackson, who surpassed 100 yards for the first time since Week 9 last season.’

‘If Wood misses significant time, the Bills could be forced to re-shuffle their line, as they don’t carry a true backup center. The first option probably would be rookie David Snow.’

‘The announced attendance was 53,971, but thousands of the soaked did not return after halftime. At least the temperature wasn’t what you’d expect for early December on Lake Erie — 11 C at kickoff (52 F).’

Jaguars take another step back with loss to Bills (Florida Times Union)

Jason Babin mostly a non-factor in debut with Jaguars (Florida Times Union)

Jaguars hurting at running back (Florida Times Union)

Javon Belcher’s death ‘hard to shake,’ says Montell Owens, his former college teammate (Florida Times Union)

Jaguars’ sorry show has four episodes left (Florida Times Union)

Poor throws, drops plague Chad Henne (Florida Times Union)

Run game, Chad Henne go nowhere (Florida Times Union)

MMQB: Readers react to the Jaguars’ loss to Buffalo (Florida Times Union)

Jaguars lose to Bills (Jaguars.com)

All-too familiar (Jaguars.com)

Final game notes: Jaguars vs. Bills (Jaguars.com)

Bills 34, Jaguars 18 (Jaguars.com)

Photo gallery (Jaguars.com)

Photo gallery 1 (BuffaloBills.com)

Photo gallery 2 (BuffaloBills.com)

Photo gallery (Buffalo News)

Photo gallery (Rochester D&C)

Photo gallery (WGRZ-TV)

Photo gallery (WIVB-TV)

‘Fitzpatrick threw two touchdown passes and scored on a 1-yard plunge in providing a spark to an injury-depleted offense that finished the game minus its top two receivers. Starter Stevie Johnson did not return after hurting his left hamstring in the third quarter, while Donald Jones was out due to a calf injury.’

‘The list of injuries is growing for the Bills (5-7) after they finished the game without three offensive regulars.’

‘Jones missed Friday’s practice because of a calf injury that limited him in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He’s the Bills second-leading receiver with 38 catches for 410 yards and four touchdowns.’