Archives for December 2015

'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."'

'"Are we going to have insurgents around? How old are we around here?" Williams said. "I don't know. I guess there's a bunch of younger people I didn't realize in that building. I don't see how that happened. I don't go off of no-names. That's not adults, so I'm not worried about that."'

'“I never mentioned him after the game,” Ryan said. “He has been fighting, he had like a groin injury I think that is safe to say that is going to be a pretty severe one….there is a possibility this could end his season.”'

'The Bills just didn’t show up for a game when their season was on the line, as grim as their playoff hopes were. They started slow and got slower through the first half, letting the Redskins cruise to a 28-3 lead. Whether it was penalties, sacks, missed tackles, or even a dropped punt attempt, they started the game playing like a team ready to end its season rather than one that wanted to keep it going. That was disappointing to see.'

'McCoy exited after taking a helmet to the knee on the Bills opening drive of the third quarter.'