Archives for October 6, 2014

‘Three players he brought in, two free agents – quarterback Kyle Orton and kicker Dan Carpenter – and his VERY expensive first-round draft choice, wide receiver Sammy Watkins, had two hands, one arm and a foot in Sunday’s dramatic, 17-14 win over the Lions.’

‘Orton went 30 for 43 for 308 yards and a touchdown and an interception. Fred Jackson rushed for 50 yards and had seven catches for 58 yards. Watkins had seven catches for 87 yards.’

‘”You could just tell he was passionate about it. You could hear it in his voice,” linebacker Brandon Spikes said. “We just fed off that. He gave us the plan, and we go execute.”‘

‘The Bills are still committing too many penalties on both sides of the ball. The Bills finished with 10 penalties on Sunday, but they took five of those in the first half of the first quarter. Those are the little things Marrone is always preaching about, and they add up throughout the course of the game.’

‘”That’s part of quarterback, you know?” Orton said. “You have to lead the offense, make the plays when they’re called to make them, and I was excited for the chance to do that. I think we’ve got a young offense that has a lot of room to grow and has a lot of room to become an explosive offense, but it won’t happen overnight. Take it in bits and pieces and just try to improve each week.”‘

‘”Obviously it was a big day,” team president and CEO Russ Brandon said in the locker room after the game. “All the way around, a lot of resiliency from this team. It was really amazing. To cap it off for the Wilson family in their hometown in Detroit, I mean, you can’t write a better script. It’s a Hollywood type script, really.”‘

‘As close as the 17-14 win over the Lions was, it’s not hard to argue the result may have been different had Detroit had a healthy Calvin Johnson or if Reggie Bush hadn’t gotten hurt, particularly with Joique Bell not dressing with his own injury.’

‘This was arguably Doug Marrone’s biggest win since he took over as head coach in 2013. The Bills came in on a two-game losing streak and Marrone made the decision to bench E.J. Manuel in favor of Kyle Orton.’

‘”I think that he’s a guy who exudes confidence,” Bills tight end Scott Chandler said. “He knows what he’s doing out there and it’s easy to follow a guy like that.”‘

‘”As a defense, we played for coach Schwartz,” said cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who had an interception. “He told us before the game this would mean a lot to get a win for him.”‘

‘Several players from both teams surrounded Brooks as trainers examined him. After they put Brooks on the cart, Lions running back Reggie Bush was among the players who gave him well-wishes, as well as Bills running back Fred Jackson, safety Aaron Williams and cornerback Nickell Roby.’

‘”He was excited,” Johnson said. “He was eager for this game, he was ready for this game, probably this whole season.”‘

‘”He was fired up (after the game-winner),” Marrone said. “On (his) one miss there was a, what do they call it, lasers (aimed) down on the carpet. We reported it to NFL Security, and they did a good job, but he was all fired up.”‘

‘After the game, Schwartz was presented with the game ball by head coach Doug Marrone. “It’s his town — well, it is his former town — and he deserved it,” Johnson said.’

‘”It was shining on Colton on the hold,” Carpenter said after the Bills’ victory Sunday. “As far as that goes, I understand the NFL security is looking into it to see if they can figure anything out.”‘