Archives for September 27, 2016

'Buffalo prevailed without three key starters – wide receiver Sammy Watkins, offensive tackle Cordy Glenn and cornerback Ronald Darby – and with quarterback Tyrod Taylor enduring a second struggling passing effort in three games.'

'“I wanted the opponent to think we weren’t going to pressure, either, for that reason,” Ryan said Monday. “We thought we had those guys dialed in. We had done it in the past, been very effective against the Jets running a four-man rush. We knew what we were getting, we just didn’t really execute quite honestly. But yeah, this opponent was a lot different.'

'The defensive performance really lightened the burden on Lynn, playing so well against the high-powered Cardinals that the Bills offense essentially only needed to avoid an all-time terrible game to earn the victory. Lynn's offense passed that bar with ease.'

'“I want everybody to understand that the responsibility is the same regardless of who the play-caller is,” Ryan said. “My input is going to be all over that. So I don’t want all of a sudden the criticism to be, oh it's Dennis Thurman. No it’s not. It’s my defense, it has always been my defense, and that is the way it’ll be.”'

'No. No, we have used that thing before. I don’t think we have ever used the four safeties though. We usually, we have used different combinations. That was something I thought would give us a better opportunity to free someone up, maybe change the count up a little bit. So it worked out pretty good. A lot of pressure on the back end to learn those spots and quite honestly we were going to have Colt Anderson back up a bunch of things but then he couldn’t go later in the week.'

'Zach Brown — The Bills' inside linebacker is making the absence of Reggie Ragland much easier for the defense to deal with. Brown led Buffalo with a dozen tackles Sunday, doing so in just 49 defensive snaps as the team used a specialty package with seven defensive backs for part of the game.'

'You notice a lot more things watching the game on television than in person but the experience had one thing in common. Fans in the stands were concerned the Bills would blow the game even with a 17-point fourth-quarter lead. Johnston was suggesting it was possible, too, even with about three minutes left. Perhaps that was because he is a Western New York native and knows the team’s history as well as any network announcer.'

'There was no doubt that the Bills were embarrassed by what happened against the Jets, and you have to give credit to Ryan and defensive staff for constructing a game plan that had Carson Palmer scratching his head.'

'There's nothing inherently wrong with how Taylor and the Bills won against the Titans in 2015 or the Cardinals on Sunday. The combination of an outstanding running game and dominant defense will win plenty of games. At some point, though, Taylor has to show he can win games with his arm, too.'

'Thurman did a nice job of keeping the Cardinals off-balance and his play-calling resulted in five sacks and four Carson Palmer interceptions. While Thurman deserves his fair share of praise, Rob Ryan may also deserve some credit for slowing down the Cardinals.'

'"Brady's probably the best player in the league, so it's hard to replace players like that, but they're a team," Ryan said. "They've always been built as a team anyway. It has been impressive."'

'"Our guys did a really good job mentally in preparing for that system … If you thought the Fitz thing was bad, imagine what it would have looked like with Carson Palmer. So we weren't going to live that nightmare again."'

'"It was fun out there for the defense," said cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who had two of Buffalo's four interceptions. "We were flying around. We had a great week of practice. We did our thing."'

'"I know how difficult it is to defend against a running quarterback," Ryan said. "That's what we have to be ready [for] in case Edelman quarterbacks, right? I have a funny feeling he isn't going to be Brady back there."'

'This comes on the heels of Ryan sitting in on offensive meetings last week with new coordinator Anthony Lynn and his staff, something Rex had not done under former coordinator Greg Roman before he was fired. Ryan took that a step further Sunday, listening – and even helping – on the headsets when Lynn and the offense had the ball.'