Olean Times Herald

‘Incredibly, Cleveland has yet to win a home game. After being blistered by Tennessee, 43-13, in the opener, the Browns dropped more respectable decisions to the Rams (20-13) and Seahawks (32-28) on the First Energy turf.’

‘The 6-1, 287-pound defensive tackle, taken with the ninth overall pick, has been pretty much invisible even as coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier have touted his “disruptive” presence and how well he gets along with his teammates. The numbers contradict his alleged impact.’

‘The Bills won the last of a three-game homestand because, 1. They unleashed rookie running back Devin Singletary and 2. They figured how to slow the Redskins running attack to a walk.’

‘However, the reality remains that the opposition Buffalo has beaten at the halfway pole is a collective 9-41. That’s a .220 winning percentage if you check the arithmetic.’

‘The win improved Buffalo’s record to 6-2 at the season’s halfway point, the best start since the 1993 team opened 7-1.’

‘“There’s lessons out there all the time that we can learn from, and so, as it relates to football, there’s teams every year that go through adversity that are able to keep their eyes on the target and fight through it. That’s what I expect we’ll continue to do. There’s going to be more adversity, that’s what comes with losses. There’s going to be more challenges some smaller, some bigger, (but) I expect us to continue to grow through those.”’

‘“We’ve got to stand up, we have to get it fixed and improve in that area and get to the point where they can’t be balanced on offense. That’s the goal. We’ll work towards that because teams will look at that and say, that’s what we need to do as well.”’

‘Most of McDermott’s three-year tenure and that of general manager Brandon Beane, who arrived four months later, has been spent trying to divest the Bills of the players Whaley drafted.’

‘“You can’t allow one game to dictate the rest of the season,” he said. “I don’t think that’ll happen to us … I think we’ll make the corrections and be better going forward.” Bills fans can only hope so.’

‘The Eagles (4-4) finished with 218 yards rushing, the most the Bills, now 5-2, have surrendered all season, by nearly 90 yards. Philadelphia’s workhorse back Jordan Howard finished with 96 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown. Miles Sanders, the rookie from Penn State, finished with 74 yards including a 65-yard TD sprint, the longest rush against Buffalo in six seasons.’

‘For the second time in two games, the Bills’ defense surrendered over 370 yards and gave up a staggering 218 yards on the ground en route to a 31-13 thrashing by the injury-ravaged Eagles Sunday afternoon at New Era Field.’

‘It was the longest run against the Bills since Bobby Rainey of Tampa Bay went 80 yards in the 2013 season.’

‘And today, one of the most interesting matchups will be Philly’s run defense against the Bills’ rushing attack. Buffalo averages 137 yards per game on the ground, seventh in the league, while the Eagles’ rushing ‘D’ is surrendering 89 yards per game, sixth-best in the NFL.’

‘“We feel good about what we’ve done but we don’t feel complacent or good enough (as far as) what we want to be and where we want to go. Each week we get to learn and grow and it’s going to be no different this week. We’re trying to take it one game at a time. We’re a team that’s going to play for 60 minutes. We’re tough, we’re gritty, we’re Buffalo.”’

‘“They’re more than capable of scoring a lot of points and moving the football. They have a tight end who’s as good as there is in his league, so we’ll have to be right (defensively) come Sunday.”’