Archives for October 22, 2017

‘”You don’t know what would have happened,” Schlopy said. “Would I have liked the opportunity? Are you kidding me? I’d kill for that opportunity. But it was Scott’s kick. I wished he would have made it for a lot of reasons – for the City of Buffalo, for the Bills. It’s hard to find a more passionate fan base than fans in Buffalo.”‘

‘Buffalo faces a Tampa Bay team Sunday that is allowing 70.9 percent completions. That’s the third highest rate in the NFL. Bucs starting cornerback Vernon Hargreaves is on the verge of getting benched.’

‘”People are going to say what they want,” Jones said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve heard it, the worst possible things. I don’t want to get into that. Just ugly stuff, man, even from kids. Little kids! I mean, I can’t do anything about it. I can’t control it, so I don’t waste my energy on it anymore.”‘

‘For years, from his 15-by-20-foot universe in the Virginia Home, he has listened to every Bills game on his computer. He keeps up with the daily minutia during the week. His teams in Yahoo! fantasy leagues are loaded with Bills and Sabres. He picks only the Bills and Sabres when playing video games.’

‘The team’s average of 17.8 points per game ranks 27th in the NFL, while the defense is No. 1 in points against, at just 14.8 per game. Despite that discrepancy, coach Sean McDermott said he doesn’t worry about any chemistry issues that could creep up from defensive players growing impatient with their offensive counterparts.’

‘The Bills’ star guard has two tough assignments in a row after going up on occasion two weeks ago against Cincinnati defensive tackle Geno Atkins. Now Incognito faces a player who’s arguably a tad better than Atkins. The top four 3-technique defensive tackles in the league, in one order or another, are the Rams’ Aaron Donald, the Bucs’ McCoy, the Eagles’ Fletcher Cox and Atkins. McCoy, the third overall pick in 2010, has made five straight Pro Bowls and is a three-time, first-team All-Pro. He has a very fast get-off. Watch for him exploding off the snap. McCoy has 35.5 sacks since 2013, tops among NFL defensive tackles.’

‘Who leads all NFL tight ends in touchdown catches since the start of 2016? Rob Gronkowski? Travis Kelce? Antonio Gates? No. It’s Tampa Bay’s Cam Brate, who has 12, including four this season. The third-year Harvard product is 6-foot-5 with a big wingspan.’

‘Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston is good at throwing down the seams to the intermediate and deep parts of the field. He likes to throw to the inside receiver. He has complete faith in star receiver Mike Evans. Sometimes Winston forces it to Evans when he shouldn’t.’

‘Game temperature: 75-78 degrees.’

‘Again, trading any of these players would be a huge long shot. Their value comes from what they’ve done so far this season, and what they can reasonably be projected to do in the future, and that makes them exactly the type of players the Bills should retain.’

‘For that, they “cut me from right below my sternum to below my belly button and kind of pulled all my insides out to go look at the lymph nodes. There were 13 lymph nodes in my back, and half of those were infected.”’

‘The Buffalo Bills are down about three percent from where they were after five games in 2016. However, except for a slight drop in ratings for Thursday Night Football, Buffalo is bucking the national trend with increases in viewership for Sunday night and Monday night games. Ratings for games not involving the Bills on Buffalo’s CBS and Fox affiliates are also up.’