Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘In a game that could only be described as laughably mistake-prone, the Bills survived at Nissan Stadium and came away with a 14-7 victory over a Tennessee team that had two touchdowns wiped out by penalty, and four field goals missed by its kicker, Cairo Santos.’

‘“It meant a lot,” Williams said following Buffalo’s 14-7 victory over the Titans that sends the Bills into their bye week with a 4-1 record. “It’s a long ride, a lot of people don’t know my journey. All I can do is thank God, my teammates, thank everyone around me, my family, they supported me a lot. I’m overwhelmed, there’s so much emotion going through my mind right now. I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”’

‘“Bills Mafia won this game,” Hyde said. “They continue to impress us. They were excited to get down here, they circled it on the schedule as soon it came out.”’

‘It is interesting that Allen was listed as a limited participant in practice because that would lend some to believe that he didn’t get the full body of first-team reps as he normally would in a normal week.’

‘Titans 17, Bills 13.’

‘“That was just over the top,” Knox said, laughing as he recalled it. “But I think he does a great job with his energy. It’s fun to watch, it made me laugh. They know I don’t like being called Rambo and all that stuff, but I let them take it and run, so it was fun.”’

‘This does not mean Allen won’t play Sunday, but three days shy of the game, to still be in the protocol probably isn’t a good sign for his availability. And quite honestly, it makes all the sense in the world to rest him this week with the bye week on the horizon.’

‘“Nothing’s more important than the safety of our players,’’ said Vrabel, whose Tennessee Titans (2-2) host the Buffalo Bills (3-1) Sunday at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. “That’s critical and we try to learn and try to coach our players what’s the proper way to play within the rules but to also go as aggressively and as fast as possible. That’s no different than Buffalo. They’re a fast, hard-hitting and physical defense and they play the game clean.”‘

‘All coach Sean McDermott would offer before practice was that, “We’ll get them both ready as much as we can. Josh being in the protocol, he’ll do some individual drill work but other than that, all I can say is that he’s in the protocol.”’

‘When practice began, Allen did what McDermott said he would; he participated in the early portion which the media is allowed to watch. He was the first quarterback up in the individual drills, but it is unclear what his role was once the media was escorted off the field and the Bills went into full-team drills.’

‘So, forget about the division. What the Bills need to do over the final three quarters of the season is focus on earning one of the two AFC wild-card berths, and that starts in earnest Sunday afternoon at Tennessee, a game that is so much more important than the one against New England.’

‘When players are placed in the concussion protocol, coaches are not allowed to comment, and the player himself is not made available to reporters, so until the Bills return to practice, we won’t know what Allen’s condition is.’

‘Buffalo’s defense was superb all day against one of the best offenses in the NFL, making Tom Brady finally look like he’s 42 years old. But the special teams gave up a blocked punt for a touchdown, and the offense was so putrid, due mainly to an otherworldly terrible performance by Josh Allen, that the Bills could not pull off the upset.’

‘However, the Buffalo defense made a statement Sunday in holding Brady to 150 passing yards and the Patriots to 224 total yards and 11 first downs. This is an outstanding unit, and if it gets any help from an offense that was — how to put this mildly? — disturbingly bad, the Bills should win enough games to qualify for the playoffs.’

‘In other words, assault carries the same penalty as jaywalking in the NFL. Jones might have turned, but it sounds like the referees turned their heads.’