Archives for January 2, 2017

'Never in my life have I seen a worse play than the one Mike Gillislee made in the fourth quarter, when he failed to jump on a kickoff and allowed the Jets to recover for a touchdown. That play alone ruined any chance of a passing grade. Brandon Tate had another strong game, averaging 12 yards on two punt returns and 33.5 yards on a pair of kickoff returns. None of Colton Schmidt’s six punts were downed inside the 20-yard line.'

'But at least the announcing trio made the game about as entertaining as could be expected considering it was between two teams going nowhere in 2016 and facing uncertain futures in 2017.'

'For the record, the only shows to air longer than the not-ready-to-postseason Bills are "The Simpsons," "Law & Order," "Gunsmoke" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."'

'Bills fans finally got their wish and saw Jones play in a regular-season game for the first time. Jones, who has admitted he's not ready for NFL action, showed it against the Jets, looking uncertain and inaccurate on a lot of throws — looking like Manuel, in other words.'

'I’m sure many Bills supporters wanted to ring in the New Year while bidding good riddance to the last one. The Bills teased their fans yet again during a four-game winning streak and again with back-to-back victories after the bye only to crumble down the stretch as they had many times in the past.'

'But keeping Taylor for the 2017 and 2018 under his current contract is not an exorbitant price. His cap hit for 2017 would be 20th among NFL QBs. Granted, the Bills would be stuck with him for 2018, too. His cap hit would be too great ($17.6 million) if they wanted to bail on him after 2017. But they could easily move on from Taylor after 2018. (At that point, they could spread a $10 million cap hit over two years.)'

'If the Bills needed a reason to keep Tyrod Taylor at quarterback, they got it Sunday. Manuel’s performance made Taylor look like Steve Young by comparison.'

'Since the clock never started on the kickoff, the touchdown gave the Jets two scoring plays in a span of zero seconds, which either tied or set the NFL record for fastest scoring plays gained and allowed.'

'Speaking of blown chances, the third quarter was all Manuel would see. He had a few nice throws but missed too many receivers badly Sunday while going 9 of 20 for 86 yards. The Bills scored three points in his three quarters before Cardale Jones saw his first action of the season.'

'The Bills had to settle for a field goal, but at least got on the board before halftime. Their first four drives all resulted in punts after gaining one first down.'

'The Bills may have a different coach, but they picked up where they left off in 2016 during the first quarter of Sunday’s game, giving up chunks of yardage and struggling to put the proper number of players on the field.'

'Also inactive for the Bills are: LT Cordy Glenn (back), WR Dez Lewis, CB Stephon Gilmore (concussion), TE Logan Thomas, TE Gerald Christian and DT Adolphus Washington.'

'The latest go like this: Anthony Lynn is the overwhelming favorite to stay on as the team's permanent head coach after the season finale against the New York Jets, according to CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora.'

'A season that began with two gruesome losses for the Buffalo Bills, ended with perfectly book-ended gruesome losses, and now we enter into another tumultuous off-season for a franchise that is well-versed in those.'

'When Doug Whaley sits down in front of what will surely be a ravenous group of reporters Monday afternoon, he’s got some big-time explaining to do.'