Archives for October 2017

'Left tackle Dion Dawkins has been up and down — as expected — in his rookie season, right guard John Miller proved to be an untrustworthy option at right guard, Jordan Mills has continued to struggle at right tackle, and even Richie Incognito, while still solid, has played below the form we’ve come to expect from him over the last two seasons.'

'“We’ve got to look at everything,” said McDermott. “It’s never just one thing. It’s never just the offensive line. It’s never just the tight ends, the wide receivers and the eight-man box. It’s all of that. It’s everything that we can do better.”'

'“I thought he did a good job,” McDermott said. “The first thing we look at is really the look in his eye and we talked about that. I’ve talked about that with coach [Bob" target="_blank"> Babich, our linebackers coach, and he said he had the right look in his eye on the boundary and I thought he handled himself well. It wasn’t too big for him and now, knowing Matt, he’ll continue to improve. He puts a lot of time into his job and again, another young guy that was out there on the field and did a good job at times for us.”'

'"When you have that bye week, it is a good chance to rest the players and get them refreshed," Levy said. "The players have been going for quite a while now, starting with training camp and the offseason work. The bye week should be a plus to allow you to refresh, to give you more time to prepare and to heal from some bang-ups that guys have."'

'First things first, offensive coordinator Rick Dennison deserves credit for putting his ego aside and not strictly utilizing his patented zone-blocking run plays. He's featured many of the same plays that were extremely effective for the Bills over the past two seasons, which are categorically different from the run-game philosophy he was brought up in as a coach in the NFL under Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak.'

'"Anyone that knows me knows that I love my country, I have great admiration for our men and women in the military. I have traveled to Iraq as part of a USO tour to show my love and support for these brave men and women. I have been an honored and humbled guest on an F16 flight that landed on a Aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Mexico and was completely awed by the service men and women who operate these incredible machines. I was lucky enough to have visited Veterans hospitals and meet more true American hero’s. I have beloved friends and family members that have served or are serving in the military.'

'Thus far on the season, the former first-round pick is PFF's fourth-highest graded Bills defender. Playing in much more of a space-eating role than he did in Jim Schwartz's 4-3 defense in 2014, Dareus only has three quarterback pressures (one sack, two hurries) on 53 pass-rushing snaps.'

'Pretender. No offense, no run game, no pass game. Last years offense we go 12-4.'

'The good news is the Bills have two first-round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft and six picks in the first three rounds. The bad news if those picks might be later in the round than most expected. Here's our latest mock draft with the order calculated by our friends at SB Nation.'

'"I think coach has created an environment where he lets us be ourselves," Taylor said. "I think on the field it shows. We've been through some ups and downs and we've been able to stay in the right frame of mind."'

'Take the Bills two losses — both on the road — to the Panthers and the Bengals, and the commonality between them is a complete inability to get the ball successfully to their wide receivers. It was a little better in Carolina than in Cincinnati — mainly due to having their top receiver on the team available — but still not nearly good enough, and it led to exactly zero touchdowns.'

'This is also a system that craves athleticism and often leaves their linebackers on an island to make a big play for their team in coverage — having to utilize the athleticism that they so covet. Instead, the Bills have a slimmed down Preston Brown as their middle linebacker, Lorenzo Alexander at strongside linebacker, and before the injury, Ramon Humber at weakside linebacker.'

'After a start this strong to the beginning of the season, there has been continued proof that Hughes has been the best player on the Bills roster — and it really hasn’t even been close.'

'In honor of his goal to achieve 10,000 career rushing yards, Bills running back LeSean McCoy is releasing a special line of hoodies and shirts. The merchandise is currently available at the Bills Store, online and in-store. Shady will be making a special appearance at the Bills Store on Friday, Oct. 20, from 5-7 p.m. Be sure to come check out his new line and catch up with Shady.'

'“Tolbert is a bulldozer. Tackling Tolbert is a business decision for defenders… Tolbert can polish off drives with his no-frills style,” Yates said. “Buffalo is a ground-and-pound offense with the requisite ingredients to be so."'