Archives for November 2016

'Almost no one saw this coming. I know I didn’t. The Bills and Seahawks playing a thrilling, high-scoring shootout was about the last thing I expected in Buffalo’s lone appearance on Monday Night Football this season.'

'Yes, the Bills lost, but how could I possibly fault that effort? The defense was horrendous in the first half, but it was mostly tremendous in the second half as the Seahawks really did nothing, gaining a mere 40 yards while scoring three points. Meanwhile, the offense put up 25 points, 30 first downs and 425 yards against one of the NFL’s premier defenses, right in its raucous backyard. It’s not often I say in a Bills loss that they deserved better, but they really did in this one.'

'"Well, he is mean-mugging like he's doing," Rex Ryan said. "Whatever, but the guy is a great player. I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought he roughed our kicker. It was a ridiculous play. Then he is over on the sideline basically taunting us, so I had some words. I think I said that you're too good of a player to act like an ass. I think that's what I said."'

'"I went straight for the ball. I didn't go for the kicker." Sherman then added, "He should have not kicked it. Maybe he wanted to. You know? I went for the ball. That's where I went. So when the ball gets tipped on a play, the rule is that if it's tipped there's no flag."'

'The officials were in the process of shutting the play down. Sherman jumped offside and he was unimpeded to the kicker so we shut that down. The referee didn't think that the contact was severe enough. He felt that players were coming together and he just didn't think it was a foul. We looked at it and it is a foul. It is no different than a defender coming offside and hitting a quarterback after the whistle blew, so it should have been unnecessary roughness.'

'"It's definitely tough to see him go down," quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "Like you said, he definitely means a lot to our offense as far as getting protections and even in the running game. It's just a tough loss. We have to use this bye week wisely as far as getting Groy ready to play for the rest of the season. But it's definitely tough. We have to keep him in prayer and hope he comes back healthy."'

'White's presence actually helped settle the secondary down. In the second half, the Bills didn't allow a single touchdown. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. Wilson finished the game 20-of-26 passing for 282 yards and two touchdowns. He completed all 14 of the passes he threw to Jimmy Graham and Doug Baldwin for a total of 192 yards and two touchdowns.'

'I told our team to empty the tank and they did. We prepared well all week. We gave everything we had and we came up short. We have a week off, we gotta regroup. Hopefully we can get some guys healthy.'

'Bills safety Corey Graham: "Yeah, I really don't even know what happened. I know it was crazy, and I know everything that seemed to happen went against us. It didn't go in our favor, so I guess Sherman jumped the snap and knocked out our kicker. I guess it's just offsides. I guess you can just be unabated. You hit the kicker like that, I guess it's just an offsides penalty. I don't know how it goes, I don't know the rules. It just doesn't seem right."'

'Meanwhile, the Bills will be without defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, defensive tackle Corbin Bryant and wide receiver Brandon Tate, who are among the inactives. Quarterback Cardale Jones, center Patrick Lewis, offensive tackle and Seantrel Henderson and tight end Gerald Christian are also inactive.'

'“They don’t reset the clock. From an officiating point, that was poor,” Ryan said. “I thought he roughed our kicker. It was a ridiculous play."'

'Despite the outcome, the Bills' coaching staff deserves credit for having the team prepared for a tough game on the road. CenturyLink Field is one of the most difficult stadiums to play in, so for the Bills to have that kind of performance against the Seahawks shows that this time has what it takes to make the playoffs.'

'Buffalo had its chances to pull off the upset and nearly stunned the CenturyLink Stadium crowd into silence. However, the Bills came up 15 yards short against the Seahawks and lost 31-25 on Monday night.'

'Percy Harvin's return to Seattle was rather uneventful. The former Seahawk didn't catch a pass Monday night.'

'“Everybody thought it was tension — why I wanted to do that. But everybody came out with nothing but love. We were happy to see each other.”'