Archives for September 2013

‘After leaving the Jets, in part to come out of Ryan’s imposing shadow, Pettine is itching to see how his new-look, Buffalo defense matches up against his long-time mentor on Sunday.’

”’To be compared to EJ, I’ll take it,” Smith said. ”EJ’s a great guy. He’s accomplished a bunch in his career and I think the world of him. He’s also my good friend, so it’s good to compete against a guy like that.’

‘”I think every day there’s progress,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time now to when it gets to that point where he’s going to be able to go out there. So I think we’re getting closer and closer. He’s working extremely hard.”‘

‘The interior lineman suffered a knee injury in the team’s preseason finale against Detroit and has been slowly working back over the past few weeks. Head coach Doug Marrone officially listed Legursky as a limited participant, after the player went through stretching and positional drills with the team.’

‘”I’d be a liar if said this game didn’t mean more to me or I didn’t want to win it,” said Pettine. “Coaches in the NFL I think are born with a competitive gene, a hyper-competitive gene and you want to win at everything. When I went on vacation with Rex and we were playing, throwing washers on the beach I wanted to beat him just as bad as I want to beat him on Sunday. But it’s a team thing. I can’t get drawn into the emotion of that that I have a job to do to put my players in the best position to be successful and that’s what we’re going to do.”‘

‘Buffalo and New York will meet for the 105th time in the regular season this week. The Bills hold a 54-50 record in their previous 104 meetings against the Jets. Sunday’s game will mark the 53rd regular season away game for Buffalo at New York (25-27). The two teams have met 29 times in the month of September, with the Bills defeating the Jets 15 times.’

‘Well, to talk about a couple players would be difficult because it’s a team effort by them. I think over the last five years statistically, when you look at the numbers they’ve had, they are in the top five. The one thing that they do an excellent job of, one of many things they do a great job of, is pretty much on average if you have 12 drives in a game, on average five of them are going to be three-and-outs. I think they do a very good job in attacking, confusing. I’ve competed against Rex (Ryan) before when he was in Baltimore. They did an outstanding job there and I think it changes. It presents a challenge for our offense. It’s going to be a great test for our guys.’

‘It is, but I addressed the defense after we put the Carolina game behind us that there was a lot was going to be made of this for obvious reasons. No different than what Andy Reid is going through this week as well. It’s going to come down to the Bills versus the Jets, not me versus Rex (Ryan). It makes for a good story, but again it comes down to the players and I wanted to make sure the players didn’t get caught up in this or lose sight of that.’

‘I’ve played in stadiums where it’s 95,000 people, a hundred (thousand). I know it’s going to be loud. Everybody is going to be against us except for the Bills fans that are there. I think the biggest thing is early in the game you want to really hush their crowd down. If you can go out there and put points on the board or try to get the momentum on your side because that’s where it matters the most, when you’re away. If you can get the momentum on your side early in the game and try to keep it, I think it’ll be a lot easier as far as the loudness.’

‘I think it’s just showing the work that we put in, especially after this new coaching staff and new schemes. Like I said the 11 guys on defense that are playing together, going out there and trying to make it happen.’

‘”We’ve got a group that’ll fight and will go out there and compete every single play,” said veteran safety Jim Leonhard, who joined the team just six days before the season opener against New England. “That’s good for your team. That’s going to allow you to have success.”‘

‘I think there was even a split second I was fearful Frank Wycheck was going to come out of retirement for that last play.’

‘”He’s gaining confidence,” linebacker David Harris said Tuesday at Shabazz High, where the Jets donated $40,000 worth of new helmets and shoulder pads to the Newark Pop Warner Football League. “He’s mobile, but he’d rather be a pocket passer first. But it all starts with C.J. Spiller. As we found out first-hand last year, he’s a pretty dangerous guy with the ball in his hands.”‘

‘The game very well could have ended if Manuel didn’t have the physical ability to escape a muddied pocket not once, but twice down the stretch. Defensive end Greg Hardy rushed up the interior of the line and got into the pocket quickly as the Bills had just entered Carolina territory. Manuel was in Hardy’s grasp and the rookie stumbled but escaped to extend the play, rolled to his right and found C.J. Spiller for a four-yard gain and a clock stoppage. Had he taken that sack, the probability of winning falls dramatically.’

‘Coach Doug Marrone deserves credit for his approach and attitude — it struck me how unimpressed he and key players sounded after Sunday’s thrilling comeback win — but I don’t trust him yet on game strategy. So far he’s too conservative for my taste, and he was fortunate that his adversary on Sunday was as conservative or more so. Carolina being as kick-happy as it was was a big reason the Bills won the game.’