Archives for September 2015

'"The great thing about (the ceremony) is that I get to share this honor with so many of the people who helped me achieve it," Polian told the crowd of 73,000-plus at halftime of Buffalo's loss to New England. "And most of all, you, the most loyal, dedicated fans in America."'

'Williams was monitored overnight. He was taken off the field by an ambulance with a neck injury suffered during the third quarter of Sunday's game against the New England Patriots.'

'The Bills head coach didn’t pin the loss or poor play on any one unit. He made sure to spread it around. “Watching the tape, there’s an old saying that ’it’s never as good as you think, and it’s never as bad as you think.’ I’ll say today was pretty much as bad as I thought…..It can’t be worse than that. In all three phases.”'

'However, Ryan thinks he knows part of the problem, or at least, what he’d like to see Taylor do a better job of: stepping up in the pocket. Taylor isn’t the tallest of passers and may have some trouble seeing targets down the field, but, stepping up in the pocket rather than looking for an escape strategy. Whatever the fix is, Taylor has to quickly prove himself as a downfield passer.'

'We’ve always said that, but we want to do it within the confinement of the rules. I think we’ve got to learn from that and make it to where the penalties are in our favor, not the other way. It’s hard to play against a good football team and also overcome penalties. Number one that’s the first thing we’ve got to get better at.'

'But Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have the stoicism of Boris Mikhailov and Viktor Tikhonov. Together, Brady and Belichick led the defending champs on a reign of terror for the next 55 minutes and bruised the Bills’ ego in the process with a 37-13 win Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park.'

'"I have a lot of confidence in these guys, I love Rex Ryan, I love what they bring to the table week-in and week-out and I know it’s only the second game of the season and we still have a long way to go but until we knock the king off the throne, we’re still the Buffalo Bills of before but we got an attitude now. It’s all about attitude."'

'The Buffalo native seemed wide open against Pittsburgh. Watching his every move, every place he lines up, you can almost see why.'

'In all New England ran up 507 yards total offense while averaging nearly seven yards per play.'

'It may seem too easy, maybe even lazy, to make another Bills-Patriots game about the 38-year-old signal-caller, perhaps the greatest the game has ever seen. He’s owned the Bills for so long, there’s almost nothing left for us to say, almost nothing left for him to do.'

'As linebacker Preston Brown noted of his team’s media day cockiness, “Guys will say whatever they want … they have a right to their own opinion. So if they want to talk, they can talk. But we have to go out there and back it up.”'

'The previous high against Buffalo was 464 yards set by Houston’s George Blanda in 1961 during the American Football League days.'

'They don’t allow themselves to fall into 24-point holes with sloppy, chaotic and confused play. They don’t claim to have the NFL’s best defense and then be subjected to a historic shredding by the opposing quarterback.'

'New England’s 40-32 victory Sunday before 70,858 fans in Ralph Wilson Stadium was just another day at the office. Since 2004, the Pats have played 20 playoff games. They’ve been to the Super Bowl four times, winning two, since Buffalo’s memorable clunker against Pittsburgh.'

'Well, maybe being dull doesn’t help you win. But if Sunday was any indication, being too emotionally volatile can contribute to a loss. Yes, football is an emotional game. But there’s a fine line between playing with an edge and playing dumb. And the Bills crossed that line against the Pats.'