Archives for September 2013

‘The Bills need some help. There are veteran options out there? Will they go after one (or more) of them? At this point, they may not have a choice.’

‘The Jets’ defensive front was spectacular, especially Muhammad Wilkerson, a 315-pound first-round draft choice from 2011, and Sheldon Richardson, a 294-pounder who was a first-round pick this year. Those two looked like the great New England tandem of Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork of the mid-2000s.’

‘But the Bills didn’t play nearly well enough to win a road game, or any game, for that matter. On a day of wild and unpredictable NFL games, this might have been the most bizarre of all. In the end, though, it’s simply a loss, one that drops the Bills to 1-2 and 0-2 in the AFC East.’

‘Bills coach Doug Marrone didn’t have an update on Williams, who was spotted limping mightily in the corridor outside the locker room after the game. Williams didn’t have crutches, but he labored to walk after getting an X-ray.’

‘New York finished with a team-record 20 penalties for 168 yards. The Jets were called for five penalties alone on Buffalo’s fourth-quarter touchdown drive.’

‘The Bills were irrelevant when trying to run in the red zone, a major factor in their scoring four field goals instead of touchdowns.’

‘”We lost the game; that’s all the matters,” said Manuel, who had a disappointing day in taking eight sacks and completing just 19 of 42 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown. “We just have to get better.”‘

‘Ugly doesn’t come to close to capsulizing that nightmare at MetLife Stadium as the Bills allowed EJ Manuel to be sacked eight times, got only 10 yards of total offense on 11 touches from C.J. Spiller, and yielded 513 yards to a New York offense operated by rookie Geno Smith.’

‘It is almost astounding how the Bills could lose a game to an opponent that was as undisciplined as the Jets were. They took a team-record 20 penalties for 168 yards, and eight of those gave the Bills first downs. However, while the Jets couldn’t stop breaking the rules, the Bills couldn’t get out of their own way and they stunk out MetLife Stadium on both sides of the ball.’

‘This game was pretty much a disaster as the Bills looked terrible on both sides and really were only in it because of all the Jets penalties. Beyond that, injuries to McKelvin, Spiller, Alex Carrington and Marcel Dareus cast a huge pall on the loss. They have major secondary problems now.’

‘Instead, Buffalo finds itself in the bottom of the division again, for now at least. There’s still a chance the Bills pass New York by the end of the season, but Sunday’s loss made it clear that there’s still a lot of ground to be gained.’

‘Offensive line: Buffalo looked overmatched up front, surrendering eight sacks. They also couldn’t get the running game going, which put Manuel in a tough spot in the second half. Grade: F’

‘One thing this game exposed was how weak the offensive line is. The Jets sacked Manuel eight times and one of the reasons the running game couldn’t get going was poor blocking.’

‘The numbers told just part of the story, however, as Manuel seemed unprepared to handle the surging Jets defence. A week after a fearless fourth-quarter drive made him the late-game hero, Manuel looked skittish, overmatched and unsure.’

‘Despite themselves, the Bills were still in it in the fourth quarter. Really. It had nothing to do with them. It was all the Jets. Whatever lack of maturity Smith suffers from, it may be something going around the locker room. Like the flu.’