Archives for December 22, 2015

'LG Richie Incognito: The Bills played Russian Roulette repeatedly last off-season — no risk seemingly bigger than this one. A player once banished by the NFL, the face of a “bullying” scandal didn’t know if a team would ever sign him again as he trained at EXOS in Arizona through the 2014 season. The Bills gambled and Incognito rewarded them. This unpredictable offense has been at its bruising best when Incognito is pulling out in front of LeSean McCoy. So in crunching the numbers, Buffalo must make another calculated decision: How many years does the 32-year-old with 116 career games have left in his prime? He has arguably never played better and gives this offense an assertive, intimidating identity it has sorely lacked seasons past. Incognito has also stated he loves it in Western New York, sounding like a player who wants to stick with the team that took a chance on him.'

'He had 13 sacks in 2013, but was also part of a defense that was bad against the run and allowed 24.25 points a game, which is actually more than this year’s D has allowed (24.0) under Ryan. Last year, Williams had 14.5 sacks for the league’s fourth-ranked defense.'

'A day after being beat up, sometimes literally, by the Washington Redskins, a grim Rex Ryan ran down his team's lengthy injury report.'

'But I’m not sure it would have mattered since Johnston seemed to be answering a different question about Washington whenever Albert tried to get him to talk about the Bills. A few times, Albert and Johnston seemed to have the same problem as the Bills defense – a failure to communicate.'

'Dennis Thurman: It would be easy, and deserving, to put Rex Ryan here again, but we've been down that road plenty this season. Instead, some of the blame can go to Thurman, the Bills' defensive coordinator. A week after calling the officiating in the NFL "a disgrace," that same adjective described Thurman's defense Sunday. Once again, the Bills had to waste timeouts on defense because players either weren't line up properly or were late getting the play call. Ryan rightfully gets most of the blame for the Bills' failures on defense, but it's worth wondering what exactly Thurman is doing to make things better. On the surface, it doesn't seem like much.'

'Factor in the inexperience of quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who makes the wow plays but too often isn't capable of making the easy ones, plus several big injuries (it's not an excuse, because they were real and they certainly depleted the Bills, especially early) that the Bills couldn't fight through, and it's not easy to see a 6-8 team going nowhere.'

'In an attempt to diffuse the pain, we're introducing you to the other fan bases that know a thing or two about playoff allergies. But first, western New York's pride and joy, the Bills, whose seasons are always regular…'.

'Then a funny thing happened. The Bills got worse. Ryan resembled the coach who failed to reach the postseason in his final four years with the Jets, not the coach who took them to two AFC title games in his first two seasons. He took a defense that ranked No. 4 in the league in 2014 and transformed it into one of the most undisciplined and unproductive units in the entire league. After another humiliating loss in Washington Sunday, the Bills are 6-8 and eliminated from postseason contention.'

'McCoy, who fought through a hamstring injury earlier this season, snapped his streak of seven consecutive games of over 100 yards from scrimmage because of the injury. Despite the torn ligament, Schefter is reporting that the Bills don't plan to shut McCoy down for the season. He's likely to miss the team's Week 16 game against the Dallas Cowboys but could play against the New York Jets in the season finale.'

'"The thing that I respected the most was here's a young man who would come in, try to get the game plan done and things that he was missing, he tried to make up during the week," Ryan said. "That's really where we're at. So I admire the fact that he came back and he toughed it out. I think maybe somebody else made up that part about questioning or whatever because I don't believe there's one person in this building that would ever question the fact that he wasn't legitimately sick. Because I know for a fact he was."'

'"I had conversations with guys about how tough I thought going against Rex's defenses were and I read the comments but it didn't show up throughout the week if that makes sense," Wood said. "For me to make a point about it, I face that defense in practice each day. I don't necessarily go against the starters anymore but I see them in team periods and they go hard and get after it and they completely shut down our scout team and in that regard, it appears like they're buying in and nothing necessarily needs to be said from within. But obviously moving forward and hearing especially Mario's comments postgame yesterday, something needs to be said."'

'The Bills' defense now ranks 29th in the league in Football Outsiders' DVOA metric, which measures a team's efficiency. Buffalo, by most measures, has one of the worst defenses in the NFL. The fact that Cousins lit them up only further highlights that fact.'

'Tyrod Taylor has showed signs of hope, but I’m tired of hope and I want the real deal. Even if this next guy comes in and sits behind Taylor, so be it. Make Taylor earn it again next year. If he is the answer, he should have no problem beating out a rookie.'

'Running back LeSean McCoy is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right knee to determine his status, Ryan said. McCoy left in the third quarter of Sunday's game and did not return.'

'"We feel like we had the team this year to end the drought. We came up short as a defense and as a team. We've got to be better; we didn't find a way to get it done and we put it on our shoulders. We sucked out there and when you play as bad as we did, we're not going to win games."'