Archives for September 25, 2017

'The Bills' passing game finally showed signs of life, thanks in no small part to offensive coordinator Rick Dennison incorporating more moving-pocket plays into the offense. That tapped into Tyrod Taylor's strength, which is his mobility. He finished with 20 completions in 26 attempts for 213 yards and two touchdowns, with a passer rating of 126.'

'Still, the Bills did some necessary tweaking to get more production from their offense. They incorporated more crossing routes to take advantage of the man-to-man coverage the Broncos mainly use, they occasionally had Tyrod Taylor operate from the edge with a moving pocket, they worked in quarterback keepers to help slow down the pass rush, and also changed up pass protections. That went a long way toward minimizing the impact of All-World outside linebacker Von Miller, who finished with only one sack and two quarterback hits.'

'Hauschka was good from 49, 55, 53 and 27 yards, all toward the scoreboard end of New Era Field. He became the first kicker in team history to hit two field goals of at least 53 yards in the same game.'

'“It was in response to our president’s comments, calling people who were peacefully protesting ‘SOBs,’ ” Alexander said. “For me, with the background being Charlottesville and calling neo-Nazis and KKK members fine people – making that comparison and drawing a hard line versus NFL players who were doing something peaceful really touched me.”'

'After coming out of the tunnel together as a team, the Bills gathered on the field before the anthem was performed by Abby Anderson. Running back LeSean McCoy alternated between sitting, stretching and kneeling during the anthem. Other players who took a knee included Ryan Davis, Mike Tolbert, Jordan Matthews, Lorenzo Alexander, Shareece Wright, Leonard Johnson, Cedric Thornton, Shaq Lawson, Marcell Dareus, Taiwan Jones and Kaelin Clay. On the other sideline, more than half of the Broncos took a knee. Coach Sean McDermott locked arms with linebacker Matt Milano as the song was played.'

'"Yes. It is," he said. "I mean, it's the closest you can walk up against it without saying it, because the majority of players that are kneeling are African-American. Does it make it personal? I took a knee today. Does that mean I'm an SOB now? Is my mom a B? Everybody that knows my mom knows no."'

'Ryan said on Sunday: “Everyone’s always been united. Yeah, the views are different but lemme tell you: I’m pissed off … I’ll be honest with you. Because I supported Donald Trump. When he asked me to introduce him at a rally in Buffalo, I did that. But I’m reading these comments and it’s appalling to me. Calling our players SOBs and all that kind of stuff, that's not the men that I know — the men in the locker room, I'm proud of and I'm proud to be associated with those people."'

'"We were trying to hide Jordan Matthews and get him to come out the back side," Taylor said. "The corner slow-played it and took it away, and Charles is the last option. Actually my option to run comes before Charles. But he was able to close the end down and as I was approaching the line of scrimmage he popped up."'

'In a battle of play-callers, the Bills' Dennison got the game to go the way he wanted. Denver's McCoy, however, can't feel good about the final statistics sheet. Denver entered the game with the No. 1 rushing attack in the NFL, averaging 159 yards a game. Granted, that total was inflated by the Broncos' blowout, run-out-the-clock win over Dallas last week. But Denver never gave its two quality runners – C.J. Anderson and Jamaal Charles – the chance to get in a groove. Denver called 25 passes and 10 runs in the first half and finished with 46 pass calls and just 23 runs. Trevor Siemian is the kind of QB who needs more help than that. Dennison, meanwhile, was not predictable with his first-down calls, preventing Denver from overplaying the run. Yet he didn't abandon the run, even though the Bills only averaged 2.3 yards a carry.'

'Give Sean McDermott credit for throwing a good challenge flag in the second quarter. The Bills’ coach saw Denver receiver Emmanuel Sanders bobble the ball as he went to the ground, and winning the challenge wiped out a 44-yard gain for the Broncos. McDermott seemed to be a little slow in using his timeouts at the end of the first half, but Hauschka bailed him out by hitting his 55-yarder. Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison called a good game in getting Taylor in position through designed rollouts to find open receivers.'

'The Buffalo Bills have a formula for winning games: Be great on defense and good enough on offense.'

'Tyrod Taylor began by rolling out left and throwing a 31-yard strike to Nick O'Leary, who made a nice catch on the sideline. LeSean McCoy gained 7 yards on a run, and then Taylor followed it up by hitting Jordan Matthews in stride on a deep crossing route for 25 yards. On the fourth play of the drive, Taylor threatened to run but then hit Charles Clay for a touchdown, giving the Bills a 20-16 lead.'

'The Bills had their highest-scoring quarter of the season to date with a 13-point second quarter that saw their touchdown-less streak end at 91 minutes and 6 seconds of game time.'

'The Bills upped their time of possession to 4:19 in the opening 15 minutes Sunday but had only 10 yards of total offense to show for it. The Bills' first two tries went three-and-out, with LeSean McCoy gaining 6 yards on two carries while Mike Tolbert ran twice for 4. Tyrod Taylor completed both of his passes for 9 yards but was sacked twice, losing 9.'

'You know, they’ve done a great job. I mean, they’re playing well. We had a couple plays today that got away from us but they are a resilient bunch. They really are. If it’s not the front getting after the quarterbacks, somebody else is making a big play for us in the back seven. They play as a team, which that’s how you play good defense in football. You play as a team and they did a good job of feeding off of one another and really just doing their job, being 1/11th of the defense.'