‘Rob Gronkowski did not play in the Patriots’ Week 7 victory over the Bears. The tight end dealt with back spasms late in the week, but is expected to play against the Bills on Monday Night Football.’
Archives for October 2018
Post-Week 7 power rankings: Buffalo Bills settling in as bottom-five team
‘Derek Anderson’s performance at QB against the Colts was positively Nathan Peterman-esque, with three interceptions and a passer rating of 39.8.’
Trapasso – Allen is playing like your typical rookie quarterback
‘”I think he was playing like your typical or average rookie quarterback who does have the talent and can see why he was picked in the first round. I think the game, the speed of defenses, whether he was playing good defenses or bad defenses, he wasn’t really acclimated to that yet. And there were times where there were some open receivers and open first reads that he wasn’t pulling the trigger on. Then there were times in small little flashes that he was doing that.”‘
Joe B: Buffalo Bills All-22 Review – Week 7 vs. Indianapolis Colts
‘I don’t believe there was a bigger letdown through the entire roster than from the two young linebackers against the Colts. Without question, weakside linebacker Matt Milano had his worst game of the 2018 season for multiple reasons.’
Stats: Ivory eclipses 5K
‘Additionally, Sunday’s game marked the second time that Ivory contributed more than 100 total yards from scrimmage. He previously did it starting in place of LeSean McCoy back in the Week 3 win at Minnesota (126 total yards).’
Bills Today: McDermott: Monday Night Football an ‘American tradition’
‘“There’s a fine line there, a balance,” McDermott said. “We’ve got a young football team on our hands and the biggest thing is that we treat it as another game. With all due respect to the opponent and having it home, it’s great that we’re going to have a home game, number one, and play in front of our fans. But we have to continue to grow and be able to execute in a situation like this. I found that if you get too high, you lose yourself in the moment, and we can’t do that.”’
Bills’ Chris Ivory, Marcus Murphy take center stage with LeSean McCoy sidelined
‘The Bills might be without McCoy again in Week 8. He’s in the NFL’s concussion protocol after being hurt Sunday on the team’s second offensive play. The running back was able to travel back to Buffalo with the team Sunday night, but outside of that, the Bills didn’t have an update on his condition. Recovery time for concussions can vary greatly, meaning the team might be forced to go with Chris Ivory and Marcus Murphy against the Patriots on Monday Night Football.’
Bills Notebook: Josh Allen remains out; Derek Anderson starts Monday
‘“He spent a lot of time here. He’s a professional, he cares about it,” Daboll said. “Obviously, he hasn’t been in a camp, so what we were trying to do was go back through installs that we’ve had and plays he’s felt comfortable with and put together a package that he can go out there and know the verbiage of it, call the play. He can call it, see it in his head, be able to process it quickly. And on top of that, getting to the throws and the catches and the extra reps with the guys that he’s still getting used to a little bit here. It was a long week, lot of time spent. And that’s the type of guy that he is. He’s going to work at it. But obviously, we’ve got a ways to go.”’
What They Said: Bills coaches in aftermath of ugly loss, preparing for Patriots
‘You keep the vision in front of you. You try to continue to communicate that. I know these guys have worked hard. We haven’t always seen the fruits of our labor, or their labor, and you’ve got to stay on it. Stay on the grind, seize the opportunities when they present themselves as we move forward. I’ve appreciated the way they’ve worked to this point.’
Video Review: Matt Milano’s winning streak ended by Colts’ good scheming
‘Credit the Colts with good game-planning. They fooled the Bills with some “window dressing” — misdirection action. They seem to have noticed the Bills might let a late-releasing blocking back go free. They challenged the Bills’ zone coverage discipline by running a lot of middle of the field crossing patterns that the Bills defenders had to pass off properly.’
Upon further review: A QB’s best friend? None of the Bills’ tight ends.
‘It’s been a season-long issue for the Bills’ tight ends. Clay, Jason Croom, Logan Thomas and Khari Lee have combined for 29 catches for 247 yards and one touchdown this season. There are seven tight ends with more receptions than the Bills have as a team and 15 with more yardage. There are 19 tight ends in the league with more touchdowns than the Bills’ team total at the position.’
Jim Kubiak: Derek Anderson sheds unsettling light on Bills’ QB choices
‘Anderson, to his credit, managed the game, checking the football down to his running backs when his reads made it necessary. This was a relief to see, and this intelligent patience helped the Buffalo offense move the ball down to the field on five drives in the first half.’
No surprise: Buffalo Bills hit season-low TV rating for loss to Colts
‘The game had a season-low rating of 32.3 on WIVB-TV (Channel 4), which was eight-tenths of a point lower than the 33.1 rating for the team’s home-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.’
Despite Channel 4’s audio problems, at least CBS’ Dedes, Archuleta sounded good
‘You couldn’t hear any crowd noise or game official Brad Allen for most of the game, leading to a TV mystery: Whose fault was it? CBS? CBS affiliate WIVB (Channel 4)? Spectrum Cable? DirecTV?’
Maiorana: Firing Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott would be ‘ridiculous’
‘For the Bills, if they were completely healthy, you could make the easy argument that at least 15 players could realistically be considered for inactive status because they have no business playing. That’s how lacking in legitimate talent the Bills are.’