Archives for December 29, 2014

‘Buffalo’s 2015 opponents are now set. Besides the home-and-home meetings with AFC East foes New England, Miami and the New York Jets, the Bills will entertain the Cowboys, Giants, Colts, Texans and, due to the Bills second-place finish in the division, Cincinnati. Their non-division road games will be at Philadelphia, Washington, Jacksonville, Tennessee and Kansas City.’

‘The Bills went from the second-best rushing team in the league in 2013 to having the worst rushing total for a 16-game season in franchise history.’

‘”It’s hard in our business not to get caught up in the noise, but it’s just that. It’s noise,” Brandon said. “We’ll go through a methodical process. Tomorrow’s all about the team. Coach Marrone will handle the team tomorrow, and then he’ll handle his coaching staff. I’m sure at some point we’ll get into some more in-depth meetings. There’s nothing scheduled at this point. I talk to Terry all the time, and I have nothing on the books right now for any meetings as of right now.”‘

‘”He makes it how the players want it, not just how he wants it,” safety Aaron Williams said. “He always asks us, ‘What do you guys think of this? What do you guys think of that?’ He keeps a mutual respect, and I really give him a lot of respect for that. A lot of coaches don’t really do it that way. They want to do it their way or the highway. Marrone wants to make it a mutual thing and that’s why he’s changed the culture a lot.”‘

‘”It gives you guys stuff to write about and talk about,” Whaley said. “All I can do is get up and go to work every day and whatever happens, happens. I know this much: I always say winning cures all. We didn’t win enough, so we have to go back and evaluate and get more wins next year. If we can increase it three wins next year like we did last year, we’ll be sitting pretty good.”‘

‘”Hopefully we will,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said. “We would like to keep it the same. None of that’s in our control. Hopefully, for the most part, we would definitely love to keep him here. Hopefully we played well enough to keep him here.”‘

‘”Honestly, I would just say I’m the happiest I’ve been since I’ve been in the NFL,” Spikes says. “I will say that. I look forward to coming to work, I look forward to seeing the guys in the locker room every morning. It’s been real, man. I loved every second of it. Even the grind. Even the time we was out in camp for five or six weeks. All of that, in the dorm rooms, it was great. I embraced it. They embraced me from day one. I love this place. I will definitely remember this place if I was to move on or whatever, this will be a special place for me. I’m happy again. I love the game again.”‘

‘The Bills were very conservative offensively after the first drive, and it worked out for them. I didn’t like the punt on fourth and one from the New England 43 with 11:18 to play, but Doug Marrone has done that several times this year. While the Patriots surely didn’t give it their all, it’s still Buffalo’s first win in Foxborough since 2000.’

‘Eight times this season the Bills led after two quarters. Five of those times they failed to score more than a touchdown in the second half: six points at Chicago (a win in overtime), seven at Houston (a loss), three against Kansas City (a loss), three at Miami (a loss) and zero on Sunday against the uncaring husk of an otherwise good Patriots team (a win).’

‘”If I could have a Bills license plate on my car here I would, but I’ve got a Patriots one instead. But I have my Bills hat in the car all the time. I’m still a Bills fan first, but I just like football. Everybody knows who I root for.”‘

‘When Matthew Afonso of Dartmouth Tweeted at former Patriot Brandon Spikes during the NCAA Tournament in March, saying he’d buy a Spikes Buffalo Bills jersey if UConn didn’t upset Villanova, the NFL player took him up on the deal. UConn did its part, winning by 7, and on Sunday Afonso collected his prize – four tickets to the Patriots-Bills game at Gillette Stadium Sunday, left for him at the will-call office by Spikes.’

‘”He’s big, strong, fast and quick,” said Revis. “And he is very mature. I like his attitude … He’s for real.”‘

‘A lot depends on the players. I have a plan as a coach, we have a plan as a staff. We try to implement that plan, and what we talk to the players about, well that’s why we do, you know, 360s and we get a feel for the players, exactly where we’re at, things we need to work on. That’s why, even last year they did a very good job of filling those things out. It’s important if they want the program to be better and the organization to be better. It gives them a chance to tell us, and then we have evaluation processes, first within the program before it starts going to anyone else. Coaches evaluate me, I evaluate the coaches, players evaluate position coaches and all that stuff, and obviously, when I get that information, I’m not sharing it with anybody here.’

‘The Bills (9-7) were eliminated a week earlier from the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season, the longest current drought. But after winning just 28 games the past five seasons, they matched their record in 2004.’