Archives for November 28, 2016

'“You have to give Jacksonville (which has now lost six games by a touchdown or less) credit … we know it’s a dangerous team. They have a lot of good players and they certainly played well … Blake especially. He’s a good athlete, but today I guess he thought he would take advantage of his athleticism … it kind of caught us off guard.”'

'The Bills had a mere 63 yards of offense at the break. The Jaguars’ defense, flimsy at times amid a luckless 2-8 start, did the job.'

'Five games remain and he has hardly established himself as Buffalo’s “franchise quarterback.”'

'Buffalo running back LeSean McCoy had totaled five yards on eight carries in the first half — and that included his 7-yard touchdown run. Five of those carries were for negative yardage. Then, on the first snap after intermission, McCoy went 75 yards for a score, the longest run of his career, eclipsing a 66-yarder as a rookie with Philadelphia. He also had a 70-yard receiving TD with the Eagles.'

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'The Bills' defense was missing some big dogs of its own for those final two possessions. Cornerback Ronald Darby also exited the game in the first quarter with a concussion, prompting all sorts of shuffling in an already thin secondary. Defensive lineman Marcell Dareus — who finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits — left the game just before the first of Jacksonville's last two drives with what Rex Ryan called an "abdominal issue."'

'Watkins didn't let them down. He eased back into the flow, playing on a shade under 50 percent of the offensive snaps. But he made a big difference. He reminded Bills fans how much the team had missed him and no doubt stirred renewed regrets about what might have been this season if he had been healthy all along.'

'With respect to backup Mike Gillislee, sidelined by a bum hamstring, without McCoy the Bills probably don't win. In the second half, he ran for 98 yards and made a monumental 25-yard catch on Buffalo's winning touchdown drive.'

'For the better part of the game Sunday, considering the gruesome display from both offenses, it looked more like a horror show. It was worse than watching the U.S. presidential election. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the only two people from major parties who could have possibly lost to the other.'

'Hunter’s fourth receiving touchdown of the season provided the winning points in Buffalo’s 28-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at New Era Field. For the season, he’s got seven catches for 87 yards, with those four touchdown receptions covering 55 yards.'

'“He kept telling the medical staff, ‘I can play,’ but it’s like, we’re not going to put a guy out there that is clearly having some issues,” Ryan said. “We’ll see. Hopefully it’s something he can get over.”'

'"Percy, he was trying like heck," coach Rex Ryan said. "He has that illness and it is migraine. He kept coming to meetings, he would get sick. He’s trying everything. But it was unfortunate he couldn’t go today."'

'Given the heavy amount of zone the Jaguars play in their secondary, the Bills' tight ends figured to have plenty of opportunities to catch passes. For the most part, they did, but Taylor just didn't consistently find them.'

'Taylor has two big advantages over Bortles. No. 1: He doesn’t make turnovers. Taylor has 10 interceptions the past two years. Bortles has 31 the past two years and 48 the past three years. No. 2: Taylor is a better deep thrower then Bortles. Taylor’s 62-yard completion to Sammy Watkins was perfect, dropped directly over the receiver’s outside shoulder. Bortles has a big height edge over Taylor. But he also has a bigger windup, dropping the ball down before he delivers the ball.'

'On the Jags’ final drive, Robey-Coleman raced from the far side of the field to break up what would have been a 26-yard pass to Jags tight end Neal Sterling at the Buffalo 40. A lot happened before the snap. The Bills were in a three-deep zone, but then the Jags changed the formation with pre-snap motion. Robey-Coleman switched to a combination coverage with a safety. Then he saw the tight end go deep, and he had to react fast and take off. There was some contact on the sideline.'