Archives for September 2013

‘It appeared that defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, safety Da’Norris Searcy and wide receiver Stevie Johnson all had felt a little amount of pain at one point throughout the game, but Marrone said everyone checked out with full health.’

‘”Yesterday, I probably thought about a million things within that split second,” Johnson said, thinking about the amount of time he had to wait for the lofted throw to plummet down into his mitts. “It was funny because it happened so fast, but I’m thinking about all this stuff. It was weird, but I’m just happy that I made that.”‘

‘For now, we have a season and that’s pretty cool.’

‘The offensive line isn’t perfect. And there have been some hiccups by individual linemen through the first two games. But in all, the O-Line is performing at a high level early in the season.’

‘”We’re still trying to figure ourselves out,” Dareus said. “We still have 14 games to play. That’s where we’re at right now. We’re still building on it. We’ve got to build on that win and do better the rest of the season.”‘

‘Our expectation of him is extremely high. There was never any doubt that we were going to come right back to him again. I don’t think it’s one of those situations. I don’t think that Stevie, I was never ever worried with him having a lack of confidence or maybe trying to get him back in there. We just look at him as a player that can be very productive for us and going back after them. As far as the leadership in that group, I think Stevie has the ability to be very productive in that group. We also have other players in that group that can do a good job too.’

‘"We knew the situation," Manuel said. "I didn’t feel nervous or anything like that. We’ve practiced it time and time again and I’ve been in too many situations (like this) before, not just in the NFL or in practice, but also in college. We’ve won games like that before and you’ve just got to go out there and operate the offense."’

‘Of the victory, Marrone added, “It was an outstanding game. You don’t have a lot of opportunities to win in this league because it’s so close. I’m proud of the team … proud of the coaches for hanging in there.”‘

‘”Close wins dictate the type of team that you have … you have to win the close games. That’s going to happen further on down the line. Being able to overcome this, especially with the young guys, it’s going to instill confidence in them and more belief in everybody else. We already know that we can do it, and this proves it.”‘

‘”I can’t even tell you how it felt,” Manuel said of the touchdown pass. “I think I started crying right then. I’m not usually an emotional guy. But I’m going to enjoy these type of things.”‘

‘The final march was mostly a combination of check-down passes and ball-carriers doing a good job of getting out of bounds to stop the clock.’

‘”We had our times that we made plays,” he said after the Bills’ 24-23 win in Ralph Wilson Stadium. “With us in so many tight games, you would think we would know by now, but it’s still a learning and maturation thing for us. In tight situations, we have to somehow make a play.”‘

‘”I just had fun,” Spiller said. “Last week I was very frustrated, and they just took me out of my game.”‘

‘This one feels a little different, though. I’m not saying they’re going to make a playoff run. The Bills still have plenty of issues. But we might look back on this as the day when the EJ Manuel era began, when he truly began to arrive as an NFL franchise quarterback.’