‘They come into tonight 3-5, one of those losses to the Bills on the road in the season opener. But after an 0-2 start, the Jets won three straight and could easily have doubled that streak. They were absolutely shafted when the NFL’s reviewers in New York nullified an obvious Jets’ TD late in a 24-17 loss to New England. It’s the consensus worst call of the year.’
Archives for November 2, 2017
Prime time has not been kind to the Buffalo Bills
‘Their prime-time winning percentage of .227 is significantly worse than even their overall percentage over the drought, which is .419, including this year’s 5-2 mark. Splitting prime-time games by home and road doesn’t make much of a difference – they’re 2-6 at home and 3-11 on the road.’
Jerry Sullivan: Bills need a typical Shady Show on Thursday
‘He’ll need to be at his Thursday best at MetLife Stadium, where the Jets look to avenge a 21-12 loss in the opener at New Era Field. The Bills rushed for 190 yards that day. McCoy had 110 on 22 carries, looking like the man who ran for 1,267 yards and a league-leading 5.4 per carry in 2016.’
Jay Skurski’s Bills-Jets Scouting Report: Injury report favors Buffalo on a short week
‘Bills 28, Jets 16.’
Mark Gaughan’s Xs and Os: Jerry Hughes is setting the edge with force
‘The Bills face a pedestrian New York Jets offense Thursday at Met Life Stadium. New York ranks 23rd in yards and 21st in points per game. Aside from making turnovers, letting the Jets get the running game rolling is the one way the Bills can screw up the game.’
Mark Gaughan’s Matchup Watch: Look for Jets’ Jamal Adams on the blitz
‘In the opener, Bowles blitzed Tyrod Taylor on 12 of 34 drop-backs, according to News figures. Taylor was 5 of 9 with one TD, one INT and one sack against blitzes.’
Mark Gaughan’s Big-Play Breakdown: Cover 3 criss-cross to Jermaine Kearse
‘Kearse (10) and Jeremy Kerley (11) criss-crossed deep downfield. Pats cornerback Malcolm Butler (21), responsible for his deep third of the field, had to follow Kerley. That left Kearse wide open down the sideline. The other element that made the play work was the Pats’ four-man pass rush gave McCown (15) all day to throw.’
Defense’s philosophy of ‘takeaways, takeaways, takeaways’ producing big results for Bills
‘“It’s as much a mindset as anything,” defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. “It becomes a part of you at a certain point. A guy’s got the running back wrapped up, receiver locked up, you see the next guy coming in knocking at the ball. You see guys picking the ball up, taking it down field. At some point, when you harp on it so much, you practice it so much, it becomes second nature.”’
Vic Carucci’s Take Five: Prime time is no time for Bills to do any toe-stubbing
‘Josh McCown has shown he is capable of performing better than he did in the opener, when he threw for 187 yards and had two interceptions. The Bills can’t let him do a Fitzmagic on them.’
Bills Notebook: Kelvin Benjamin passes physical, has a chance to play Thursday vs. Jets
‘Benjamin left the Panthers’ Week Six loss to Philadelphia after the bursa sac on his surgically repaired knee started to swell. The following week, The Charlotte Observer reported that he left practice because he was frustrated by the condition of his knee. He played in Week Seven against Chicago.’
Marcell Dareus’ open letter to Buffalo: ‘I want to thank the amazing Buffalo fans’
‘When I got drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2011, and coming from the state of Alabama, I knew very little about Western New York. As the years progressed, I not only learned about the area, but I learned about you, a community whose heart and soul is built on its devotion to the Bills and its’ players.’
Voice of the Fan: Feelings of new love are intoxicating
‘Pete Rosen is a screenwriter in Los Angeles, lifetime Buffalo fan, and may be found blathering daily at twobillsdrive.com.’
A Football Life: Jim Kelly’s roller-coaster story gets epic NFL Network treatment
‘Regarding Hunter’s death, Kelly says in the film: “Very simple: She seeked the Lord, and I ran from the Lord.”‘
By being himself, Bills’ McDermott gets his players to ‘trust the process’
‘ “The thing with Sean is that he has coached a lot of football, coordinated some talented defenses, gone to Super Bowls,’’ said defensive tackle Kyle Williams, the most tenured Bill at 12 years. “He’s prepared for this opportunity. He has a philosophy and a process and he sticks to that. Now he’s got us adhering to it and so far, so good.’’’
Beat the Jets and tie the Patriots for first in AFC East; a good first half for Bills
‘“It’s a great opportunity,” said quarterback Tyrod Taylor. “Night games give you just a different feeling. Of course, when you know everyone’s watching you, you look forward to those moments. Even with the short week, guys are preparing hard and looking forward to this opportunity to show the other team what we can do, but as well as show the people that are going to be watching — everyone’s going to be tuned into Thursday Night Football — to show that this team is real.”’