Archives for October 28, 2015

'“That report we had low batteries is completely” wrong, a Bills source told The News.'

'Believe me, it’s not easy whittling down the tough losses. When you’re going back over 15-plus seasons, you come across some ghastly stuff, games you’d all but forgotten. It’s like finding a rotting corpse under the floorboards.'

'Analytics website Football Outsiders ranks running backs according to defense-adjusted yards above replacement, a statistic that gives a value to the performance of a player compared to a replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and translated into yardage. McCoy ranks 24th in that statistic, as well as in the website’s defense-adjusted value over average rankings, which represents the value, per play, over an average running back in the same game situations.'

'Because right now, New England, New York and Miami are all on the upswing.'

'The Bills extended their winning streak to five to remain tied atop the AFC East with Miami at 6-1, but this time they needed no late-game dramatics to beat the lowly Patriots.'

'Dissect it anyway you want, but Manuel was awful against the Jaguars. Pro Football Focus points out that he had a -.7.7 passing grade between the numbers. He continues to struggle to read the field, and that was evident often on Sunday, though you probably didn't need numbers to tell you that.'

'Marrone didn't open up on exactly why he left Buffalo, saying he will wait until he's retired to share that information. He did say that he thought he would stay in Buffalo on the first day of his opt-out window but concerns popped up after he met with Buffalo management.'

'"Good gracious. The only time I ever won the NFC North was when I was gone (from Detroit), because we swept that division last year in Buffalo."'

'"He's obviously not Rex Ryan," said former NFL exec Bill Polian, an ESPN analyst who considered taking a front-office job with the Bills this past winter before Marrone left and who believes firmly that the bad publicity doomed Marrone's chances. "But he's not Lex Luthor, either, and that's how he was depicted."'

'“Buffalo was good for my state of mind,” Schwartz said. “Nobody feels good when you’re fired, but after leaving Detroit I was able to get back on that horse pretty quickly and be able to have some success. Even though we didn’t make the playoffs, that was the first winning season (9-7) Buffalo had had in 10 years. It was good for me to go back to being a coordinator, where the only thing you were concentrating on was that one side of the ball.'

'The Bills need their starting quarterback back in the worst way. He may not be the solution to all of their problems, but he certainly gives them a better chance to win games than what EJ Manuel has.'

I really thought the Bills had a chance this year – I really thought they had the talent to make it happen, but along the way something happened – the Bills became the Bills. Whether it’s failing to live up to potential, pissing away games they can’t really afford to lose, suffering a ridiculous amount of injuries and getting [redacted] by the officials, it’s all classic Buffalo Bills.

'And, not even halfway into his first season, a surprising number of the Buffalo faithful feel that their head coach, who they perceive to be long on posturing but short on production, has to go.'