Archives for November 2016

'"It was clear what happened," Ryan said. "The guy roughed our kicker. He jumps offsides and roughs our kicker. And because we had to go out and attend to him and it wasn't called roughing the kicker, we had to spike the ball so we can come back in and kick. He needed a little time there. We saw him go down and our trainers ran out. That's what we had to do. They have to put the K-ball out there and they don't reset the clock. I think from an officiating stand point I think they can do a little better than that."'

'"As a matter of fact I do coach my own guys and I'm proud of the team that I coach," Ryan responded on a conference call on Tuesday. "We haven't had the results that we shoot for every time but I'm proud of this group and yeah, I have no problem.'

'The opening kickoff was a touchback. But after that the Bills allowed the Seahawks far too generous of field position because of poor kick and punt coverage and then having to adjust to shorter kicks to not let that happen. Tyler Lockett had a 42 yard kick return and a 20 yard punt return that luckily was challenged by Rex Ryan after he was credited for about 20 yards more. Here are the drive starts for the Seahawks after the opening kickoff following kicks and punts in the first half: own 42, own 35, own 27, Bills 40, own 32. That’s an average start of just shy of their own 40-yard line.'

'Buffalo is 1-4 in AFC action this season and all seven of their final games are against AFC opponents.'

'Look, I realize the officials have a very difficult job and they work hard at what they do. And they are going to make mistakes, just like players, coaches, sportscasters and sportswriters. But this sequence of events was embarrassing and contributes to the crazy conspiracy theories out there that the league only cares about the so-called elite franchises.'

'“I’m going to get surgery (Wednesday) morning here in Buffalo,” said Wood. “Then start the road to recovery. They’re putting a (metal) plate on the fibula where it broke. It’s supposed to speed it up and ensure it gets a proper heal.”'

'“It was definitely more than 40 seconds and there was a conversation on the field between a couple of officials and the umpire was actually over the ball,” said Blandino. “Any time the play clock goes down under 20 seconds we want to reset it if we are still over the football. It looked like the play clock had run down probably to five or six seconds so we want to reset the play clock there when the officials are actually conversing and delaying the snap. I think that’s what happened there.”'

'So a post-season berth would be a heavy lift … as in going 6-1 the rest of the way with no guarantee that 10-6 would make the playoffs.'

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'It also was another prime time when the Bills' secondary let them down. Badly. Similar to their Thursday night loss against the New York Jets in Week Two, the Bills' biggest problem was their secondary. Specifically, it was their secondary's inability to deal with Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham, who made a pair of amazing, one-handed grabs in the back of the end zone.'

'"I felt comfortable out there," he said. "Relaxed. Confident, able to play my game and the ball kept finding me. Just playing my game, playing comfortable."'

'The answer seems to be that because quarterback Tyrod Taylor had scrambled outside of the pocket on the play, he became a runner, which gives defenders privileges to hit receivers as if they are blocking for a runner.'

'Because a trainer came out to check on Carpenter after the hit, he had to leave the game for one play. The Bills spiked the ball to count as the play Carpenter would miss, but referees were late resetting the ball after Carpenter got back on the field, which resulted in a delay of game penalty being assessed after Carpenter had hit the kick. With the kick moved back to a 54-yard attempt, Carpenter missed wide right, keeping the score 28-17 Seahawks at halftime.'

'How could anyone complain about boring football if the Bills were a regular nightly feature? Their pass defense is a perfect antidote for dull games. They turn every night game into a shootout, every quarterback into a superstar.'

'They were supposed to be the cornerstones of this defense, but have become liabilities. The defense wasted what was a valiant effort by quarterback Tyrod Taylor, wide receiver Robert Woods and the rest of the offense.'