‘“Even with that, that’s still the one that – I’m very open with you here – I still think about,” McDermott said. “Maybe I should have gone for it there. Fourth-and-3, I felt like if we could get it to fourth-and-2, fourth-and-1, I know for sure we would have went for it. So, maybe third down, sticking a run in there, getting that one or two yards (rather than Allen throwing incomplete for Stefon Diggs), we would have felt a little more comfortable going for it there. So, score came into play a little bit there.”’
Archives for January 27, 2021
Five takeaways from Sean McDermott’s season-ending news conference
‘“There’s always people that want to look at your team and maybe pull people off of your team, off your staff,” McDermott said. “That’s to be expected. I think both of those two (Frazier and Dorsey) are highly qualified and I have a lot of confidence in both of those two men. We’ll see what the future holds for both of them and we’ll go from there.”’
Bills receiver Stefon Diggs weighs in on painful AFC championship loss to Chiefs
‘”We were getting ready to close the locker room doors. I was getting ready to address the team and I got word that Josh Norman and Stef were still out there, so I wanted to go out there and bring them in,” head coach Sean McDermott said Tuesday during his end-of-season video news conference. “When I got to both of them, Stef was the first one that I got to, and he was emotional. He was visibly upset. So, listen, I can understand why he wanted to stay out there and watch that. I’ve been around this game, and those games enough, including the Super Bowl, where, I can tell you I don’t want to watch it anymore, because I know how hard it is to watch it. But you learn from it, and that’s part of what he needed to do to get closure and also learn from it. … I just wanted to be there for him as a teammate – nothing really more than that. Love him and care for him, whether it was Stef Diggs or the last man on our roster, I would have done the same thing.”‘
Bills’ Harrison Phillips named finalist for NFLPA community service award
‘He is joined by Geno Atkins (Cincinnati Bengals), Kevin Byard (Tennessee Titans), Hayden Hurst (Atlanta Falcons) and Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs). The finalists were selected from the weekly NFLPA Community MVP honorees.’
Bills sign 13 from practice squad to reserve/future contracts
‘A reserve/future contract guarantees a player a spot on a team’s roster, which expands from 53 to 90 players with the start of the league’s new year in March (it also prevents them from signing with another team before then). It contains all the regular rules as it pertains to minimum salaries for veterans, but does not take effect until the start of the league year, which for the 2021 season comes March 17.’
Jim Kubiak: Chiefs compressed the pocket to make Josh Allen uncomfortable in AFC title game
‘As time wore on and the Bills fell behind, the offensive patience necessary to get back into the game wore off. The Chiefs’ coverage and an evenly distributed pass rush compressed Allen in the pocket and shrunk the space his receivers had to work in down the field. The Chiefs utilized a steam-drum pressure mentality, minimizing workable areas in the pocket and across the field. At times, the Chiefs’ blitzed while also pressing the Bills’ receivers at the line of scrimmage. At other times, Kansas City played Cover 1 or Cover 2 man with press on the receivers and four-man rushes.’
Erik Brady: Even in heartbreak, our unbreakable bond with Buffalo Bills goes on
‘“Sometimes I question why I expend so much time, emotion, and money on something as menial (and disappointing) as my @buffalobills,” Bart wrote. “But when I look back on this year — a year as tough and unexpected as we could ever imagine — there were the @buffalobills to provide a weekly (and daily) distraction to it all.”’
Bills coach Sean McDermott knows the climb is difficult, but vows to grow and rebuild
‘“It’s probably premature to get into it too deep right now but generally speaking, we’ve got to improve,” McDermott said Tuesday during a 45-minute season-ending Zoom call with reporters. “I’ve got to improve, our teams’ got to improve, our staff has to improve. Here’s what I know from experience: If you sit here and say, ‘All we need to do is do this much more to make it to the Super Bowl’ you’re wrong. You’ve got to start over.”’
5 things Bills’ Sean McDermott said in season-ending press conference
‘“(The Chiefs are) in year 8 and we’re in year 4,” McDermott said. “That’s a little bit of a feel for how long they’ve been building their program and where we are. There’s a lot that we’ve improved in in terms of what’s gotten us to where we are, but … there is still a gap in terms of where they are and where we are. It’s not just one answer that solves that problem. … They have a good roster and they played better than we did. They coached better than we did. But this is a learning experience for us. A lot of our players had never been in a game of that magnitude on that stage. ”’
Bills sign Jake Kumerow, Antonio Williams to reserve/futures contract (Tracker)
‘These contracts are generally given to younger players, but teams can technically sign any player who was not on an active roster at the conclusion of the season. These contracts do not go into effect until the first day of the new league year.’
Bills will get two third round picks if Texans hire Leslie Frazier. Here’s why
‘The employer-club of a minority employee who has been hired by another club as its Head Coach or Primary Football Executive (General Manager) shall receive Draft choice compensation in the form of a compensatory Draft pick in the third round in each of the next two Drafts for an employee hired as either a Head Coach or Primary Football Executive, or for the next three Drafts if it has two employees hired for both positions. The reference to the hiring of employees into “both positions” could be by the same club or different clubs.’
Bills players put cap on ‘20 season, look ahead to ‘bright future’
‘“Plain and simple to get to where we want to be, that’s going to be the team that we are going to have to go over to beat. We have to find a way to beat them,” said White. “The pieces that they have, how dynamic their offense is, how great their defense is at taking the ball away. That’s the team that if we want to get to where we want to go, that’s the team, that’s the standard there.”’
Bills Sign 13 To Reserve-Future Deals, Including WR Kumerow
‘Kumerow, who played with Bills starting quarterback Josh Allen at Wyoming, spent his first two NFL seasons in Green Bay before being signed to Buffalo’s practice squad in September.’
Sean McDermott says ‘there is still a gap’ between Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs
‘”There is still a gap in terms of where we are and where they are. It’s not just one answer that solves that problem,” McDermott said. “We all have to, starting with me, we all have to continue asking ourselves the hard questions of the what-ifs and the whys and the hows. We as a staff have to get better and improve, we have to improve our roster, we have to improve our operation and what we do.”‘
Josh Allen says 2020 season proved the Bills ‘didn’t make a mistake by drafting me’
‘What Allen accomplished in 2020 was MVP-caliber, even if he won’t take home the league’s highest individual honor. Allen set the Bills’ franchise record for passing yards in a season (4,544) and passing touchdowns (37), finishing with a 107.2 passer rating. He finished fourth in the league in completion percentage (69.2), fifth in passing yards, fifth in passing touchdowns, and fourth in passer rating — while also rushing for 421 yards and eight touchdowns.’