Archives for November 13, 2017

‘”They killed us in every single stat, at everything you can talk about,” Brown said.’

‘“Luckily I got some two-minute reps in practice with our development guys at the end of practice this week, so that was helpful,” he said. “Coach has done a great job of giving all the young guys development reps at the end of practice. Which I think has helped, and then just going against our defense every day on scout team I think helps to see how they move, what kind of coverages they’re trying to disguise. It helps to have that kind of feel.”’

‘Lasco made a nice play to bring down Brandon Tate on a kickoff return with nine minutes left in the second quarter. He stayed down after the play and teammates immediately called for trainers. The Saints were ahead 14-3.’

‘But these last two games have a familiar, ominous feel about them. It’s the creeping sense of calamity and dread that has often settled in during the 17-year drought, of a team in free fall.’

‘The question before the Saints waltzed into New Era Field and delivered a 47-10 beatdown on the Bills was whether Taylor would guide Buffalo into the playoffs for the first time in 18 years. Now, you wonder if he’ll be in the starting lineup long enough to lead the Bills to another victory.’

‘Instead, the Bills played as uninspired as almost any previous team, and if you feather a few stats together you could argue it was the limpest performance in franchise history.’

‘The Bills are a shell-shocked team. They seem to have lost whatever confidence and belief they had that the new “culture” built by Sean McDermott had taken hold and replaced the mess that Rex Ryan left behind. If anything, the Bills of the past two weeks have played worse than at any time that Ryan was in charge.’

‘Dennison hasn’t had the team ready at the start of games – the Bills have just nine points in the first quarter this season – or on the first drive coming out of halftime. Dennison doesn’t seem to have any answers at the moment.’

‘Benjamin wasn’t targeted again until Nathan Peterman replaced Taylor late in the fourth quarter.’

‘To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, “What the ‘heck’ is going on out here?” Just an utter embarrassment up front for the Bills. The defensive tackles, all of them, got it handed to them. So did the linebackers, defensive ends and secondary, for that matter. “They killed us in every single stat. Everything you could talk about,” linebacker Preston Brown said. In a word – yep.’

‘”He definitely read it,” Coleman said of Poyer. “It’s just one of them things about playing football. In the games, you’ve got to adjust on the go. He came in and cut the route. I had to get in the second window. Drew was able to find me. … It’s about having some football awareness. Just move to the next spot in the zone that’s open. We’ve done that in practice.”‘

‘The Bills showed once again that when they need the passing game to jump-start the offense they can’t get the offense going. The Saints defense played a lot more coverage than rush, even though their identity is to blitz. New Orleans led the NFL last season in blitzing, rushing five or more at the quarterback on 40 percent of pass plays. They mostly dropped back against the Bills, forcing Taylor to execute a possession passing game.’

‘The Saints were also the 10th opponent in Bills history to get through a game without having to punt. That was first accomplished by the 1962 Houston Oilers and most recently by the 2010 Jaguars.’

‘The Saints’ third touchdown drive was the ultimate insult to Sean McDermott’s defense, running down the Bills’ throats on 10 consecutive plays to go from their own 6-yard line all the way into the end zone. The beatdown was steady: The gains on the drive, in chronological order, went for 11, 10, 9, 9, 15, 11, 11, 5 and 6 yards before Drew Brees completed the drive on a 7-yard scramble for the Saints’ fifth rushing touchdown of the day.’