Archives for October 2016

'"The Jets game, we stunk up the joint, especially defensively, and that wasn't what this team looked like," Ryan said. "That wasn't what this defense looked like all training camp. That was disheartening, but it wasn't for a lack of confidences. I knew we could get the ship righted and right now, it looks like we're going in the right direction."'

'Buffalo hosts the 49ers Sunday, then plays in Miami in Week 7. Both of these teams are awful, the Bills should be favored to win both, and if they get it done, they’ll be 5-2 heading into a meat grinder that includes three games in succession against the Patriots and Tom Brady at home, at Seattle, and following their bye, at Cincinnati.'

'"Yeah, I know he was heavily criticized from some reason," Ryan said Monday. "I hope he gets criticized this week for a win, another win. I get the numbers weren't great. But I think our passer rating, one of our goals every week is to have a higher passer rating because I think that is a team thing. It is not just a quarterback it is an overall team deal. But we had a higher quarterback passer rating, so that was a good thing for us. There were four drops that were substantial yards that we left out there. And I think that, you just put the four completion on there I think his day looks much better.'

'"I had no idea that he was still the same player," Ryan said. "He might be a better player. How it happens, I'm not sure. Obviously I know one thing. It's hard work, and his dedication and all that. He's an outstanding teammate, too. You guys have no idea. He deserves all the credit."'

'"Well, I can honestly tell you this," Ryan said. "I might be the only guy in America that hasn't seen the video, hasn't seen debates or anything else. All my thing is, I'm under a rock. I'm focused on whoever we're playing and that's it. I don't know a whole lot about politics or anything, but right now, I'm strictly a football coach and that's all I am."'

'Henderson will give the Bills some much needed depth at offensive tackle behind starters Cordy Glenn and Jordan Mills.'

'The cornerback was given a 95.0 grade from Pro Football Focus for his effort in Buffalo's win over the Rams.'

'"It feels great," Ryan said, sweating through his sweater vest. "You know me. I'm just an average coach and I've very rarely won three straight games, so it feels great. We've just got to go for four now and that's where the focus is."'

'After rushing for 150 yards on 18 carries, McCoy was recognized by Peter King as one of his offensive players of the week. King wrote that Sunday's performance was the latest in McCoy's career renaissance.'

'It's safe to say not much was expected of Alexander. He entered the season with nine career sacks. He was a good special teams player, but a pass rusher? That wasn't too high on his resume.'

'"Lorenzo deserves all the credit. This is somebody that came in here and accepted a different role that we had for him," Ryan said. "He came in here and just outplayed everybody. He earned that job."'

'In making the move Monday, the Bills placed safety Colt Anderson on injured reserve a day after he hurt his arm in a 30-19 win at Los Angeles.'

'"Absolutely, we knew what we were getting," Ryan said with a smile. "We thought we were getting a great pass rusher. It's just his name might not have been Lorenzo Alexander (a reference to drafting Lawson). We're hoping that young kid comes in and provides what we thought he would when we drafted him. But Lorenzo, you just can't say enough about him. You talk about a great pro that you wish every one of your players would emulate."'

'The biggest issue, though, is the man pulling the trigger. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor is maddeningly inconsistent, he still lacks accuracy on too many of the simple throws that every NFL quarterback has to make, and at some point it's going to be a big problem for the Bills. Somewhere along the way, a defense is going to shut down running back LeSean McCoy and make Taylor beat them, and you have to wonder if Taylor will be up to it.'

'There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the Bills passing game moving forward. Tyrod Taylor missed open receivers and there's no doubt he's really missing Sammy Watkins. It's reasonable to expect that they'll have to get more production out of their passing game when they get into games against teams that can really throw it.'