Archives for November 4, 2013

‘”It’s the most frustrating loss that I’ve had in the NFL, for sure,” said Bills tight end Scott Chandler after the 23-13 loss at Ralph Wilson Stadium.’

‘To be fair, Tuel didn’t get a lot of help. There were at least six drops by Bills receivers, and the Chiefs scored another defensive touchdown when Tamba Hali picked up a fumble by Bills receiver T.J. Graham and ran 11 yards to the end zone.’

‘Goodwin found it and used his Roadrunner-like speed to chase it down, his second touchdown of 40-plus yards this season. It’s easy to ask “what if” when it comes to the rookie third-round pick from Texas. Goodwin has eight catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns, a preposterous average of 21.4 yards per catch.’

‘They couldn’t close the deal. We’ve witnessed that more times than we can count over the years. But never has a game turned so dramatically on a single, fateful play. And the coaches brought it on themselves by asking Tuel to do too much.’

‘Marrone looked like he was still in shock after the game. Obviously, he’s new in town. Anybody who had paid attention to the Bills in recent years wasn’t remotely surprised by the result. It wasn’t their first ride on the subway. The Bills dominated the Chiefs in almost every meaningful area and invented another way to lose.’

‘For the first time since Spiller ran for 103 yards in Week Two, he looked like the superstar who could go the distance on any play.’

‘”We were out-gained by a ton,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “But the turnovers and the score are kind of the important things. Turnovers, either created or lost, really, that’s what the game came down to.”‘

‘Play-calling entails more than drawing up the perfect play. An offensive coordinator must also consider the personnel’s ability to execute it. Tuel looked like an undrafted rookie making his first NFL start when he threw right to Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith on third-and-goal from the 1. But I liked that Doug Marrone went for it on fourth and 2 from the Chiefs’ 36-yard line in the third quarter. Marrone lost another challenge, but the gamble of picking up a 42-yard gain while trailing in the fourth quarter was worth the try.’

‘The Buffalo Bills today joined those lauding heroic bus driver Darnell J. Barton, making him a guest at today’s game after a locker-room greeting from head coach Doug Marrone and Russ Brandon, president and chief executive officer.’

‘And so, instead of climbing to within a game of .500, the Bills fell to a distressing 3-6. This, despite more than doubling the Chiefs in total offense (464-208).’

‘”It was a combination of a couple things,” Hackett explained. “They show a lot of all-out pressure when they bring everybody, so if you want to run the ball, it sucks, and if you want to throw the ball, you have to get it out quick. Jeff saw the all-out blitz and he wanted to throw the ball to his first read and the guy just stopped and stood there and Jeff let it go. He was so into ‘I’ve got to get it out’ and he just threw it a little bit blind. There were a lot of bodies down there.”‘

‘”There are a lot of things we can improve on,” Reid said. “We were out-gained by a ton. But the turnovers and the score are kind of important things.”‘

‘Who knows what Thad Lewis would have done, or EJ Manuel, but you’d have to think it would have been a little more than Jeff Tuel did.’

‘The main reason the Chiefs are 9-0 is because they play simple and let their opponents make the game-deciding mistakes. A perfect scenario given they were playing the 3-6 Bills who excel in making the types of mistakes that cost them games. This loss was as inexcusable as the one to Cleveland.’

‘Marrone added, “You saw it, they’re an 8-0 football team, 9-0 now and we’re 3-6. When it’s time to make the plays you have to make the plays and we didn’t do that.”‘