Archives for December 6, 2016

'“It’s easy to sit back and be critical but if you’re playing without five receivers in the game, I have a feeling — regardless if it’s Tom Brady or anybody else — it’s going to affect you, and that unfortunately has been kind of where we are. Hopefully we’ll get some more guys healthy and be more effective in the passing game.”'

'“I hope it starts with me,” Ryan said. “I know I’m mentally tough. If this team and every person in that room was like me, then I promise you we’re mentally tough enough. We’ve just got to find a way. That’s it. The way to do it is to be committed to what you’re doing.”'

'"Well, I can tell you this right now. As much as it doesn’t feel like it, we’re still in the hunt here," Ryan said. "We’re going to do whatever we can to win. We know we have to win these four games. We’ve got a hot Pittsburgh team here that’s loaded. It’s playing well on defense. Their offense is about as good as it gets.'

'Based on his reported salary and bonus structure, Harvin will earn about $870,000 from the Bills this season.'

'"It comes to being inconsistent. That’s been our tale the whole year. I can’t tell you why it’s like that," Alexander said. "We either have a strong first half or a strong second half, and I can’t tell you what mentally is going on with guys or us collectively that’s saying why we can’t put four quarters together.'

'Ryan continued, "I think the communication could have been better throughout, but I’m not going to get into specifics. But for someone to see the birth of a child, I think is obviously a huge day. That’s his first child, so I’m OK with that."'

'Taylor’s days in Buffalo appear to be numbered. The Bills have an escape clause in the five-year and $90 million contract extension he signed during training camp. Terry and Kim Pegula are generous people, but they’re not pushovers. Anyone could examine Taylor’s play, do the math and see he’s not worth the dough.'

'I mean it is the same team, everything else for the first two and half quarters but it just seemed like it snowballed on us. We thought we were playing well, offense, defense, everything. I thought we were playing, having a heck of a game, and then all of a sudden it just took a turn and we couldn’t. We couldn’t right the ship.'

'It’s an absolute treat to watch McCoy run. He averaged more than 7 yards a carry Sunday, piling up 130 yards on just 17 attempts. McCoy is absolutely one of the best running backs in the league, and must feel like he’s all alone at times in trying to carry the Bills’ offense.'

'There are up to a dozen tiebreakers to settle wild-cards with head-to-head result being No. 1. It means if current division-leaders Baltimore and Oakland were to fall into the wild-card picture with 10-6 records, the Bills lose out. If it’s Miami they are in contention with, the Bills lose out on division record. If it’s Denver and Buffalo, the Bills win out on better record against common foes — providing the Broncos lose to the Patriots and Raiders.'

'While the Raiders were scoring 29 unanswered points, in between, the Bills had four possessions consisting of 10 plays, nine net yards, and a Taylor interception. The defense failed, but let’s also remember two of Oakland’s scoring drives began at the Bills 16 (Taylor’s pick) and the Bills 38 (after a 17-yard net punt by Colton Schmidt). This loss is on Taylor every bit, if not more, than the defense.'

'Brown is leading all AFC inside linebackers with 106,464 votes while Alexander is the leading vote-getter for the AFC's special teams player with 68,677 votes.'

'"Well I can tell you this right now, as much as it doesn't feel like it, we're still in the hunt here," Rex Ryan said Monday. "We're going to do whatever we can to win. We know we have to win these four games. We've got a hot Pittsburgh team here that's loaded. It's playing well on defense. Their offense is about as good as it gets. That's a huge challenge in front of us. At no time are we looking at that. We're trying to win these next four games."'

'Harvin, who ended the 2015 season on injured reserve with knee and hip injuries and later retired, played in just two games for the Bills before he began having issues with his migraines and couldn't practice. The Bills officially placed him on the non-football illness list and ended his season Monday afternoon.'

'Not only did the Bills hurt themselves by blowing a second half lead and losing 38-24 to the Raiders. But wins by the Steelers, Chiefs and Broncos made the day a bit of a disaster for Buffalo in the standings.'