Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘In his first season in Buffalo, safety Micah Hyde has been selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his five-year career. He is tied for fifth in the league with five interceptions this season, a career high.’

‘ Tennessee (8-6), Buffalo (8-6), Baltimore (8-6) and the Los Angeles Chargers (7-7) are presently in the wild-card race. Of these teams, the Ravens have the easiest path to a postseason invitation: their final two opponents (Indianapolis and Cincinnati) are a combined 8-20.’

‘I don’t care if he’s going to be 30 years old when training camp opens in July, and I don’t care that he will count $8.95 million against the salary cap. McCoy is the Bills’ best player on offense, maybe on either side of the ball, and Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott would be making a huge mistake to even consider dumping him to save some money.’

‘By beating the Dolphins, Buffalo improved its record to 8-6 and thus maintained its still tenuous position in the AFC wild-card chase, and the additional benefit was that the Bills essentially eliminated the 6-8 Dolphins from contention. That’s a nice payback after Miami ended Buffalo’s 2016 playoff chances in this very venue in the game that turned out to be Rex Ryan’s last as Bills coach.’

‘So, on Sunday, after the Bills beat the Miami Dolphins 24-16 in the home finale, Williams knew exactly what was coming. “I can’t imagine what you’re all gonna ask,” he said as laughter surrounded him in front of his locker, a place where he has offered so much wisdom and insight through the years, too often after mind-numbing losses.’

‘Rick Dennison had quite an up and down day. His play-calling was diverse in the first half and the Bills put together TD drives of 81, 75 and 80 yards. And then in the second half, he reverted to the same stale play-calling we’ve seen for years. The offense went numb, and the Bills were fortunate to hang on thanks to some takeaways from the defense. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier dialed up a few more blitzes which hampered the Dolphins, and the Bills forced Cutler into some mistakes. The stupid Adolphus Washington penalty will need to be addressed because that could have really been costly. Sean McDermott again had some timeout issues, but all in all, he had the Bills ready to play in a game they had to win.’

‘If the Bills are 10-6…They would still need Baltimore or Tennessee to lose once.’

‘Bills 23, Dolphins 20.’

‘“Christmas can be a time of joy for a lot of families, but when you’re financially stuck and you have a sick child, it can be a lot of stress,” said Wood, who will host Operation Big Santa on Monday night at a Buffalo-area Walmart, after previously holding the event at Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Target. “The shopping sprees and the gift cards we hand out for families, just trying to lift their spirits around Christmastime and make it a little easier on them.”’

‘Taylor, who missed last week’s game with a knee injury, took almost all of the first-team reps in practice this week as rookie Nathan Peterman was unable to do so because he was in the NFL’s concussion protocol.’

‘Buffalo can only hope that one of its fifth-round picks in 2017, weakside linebacker Matt Milano, can have a career somewhere close to the magnitude of Williams. I’m glad the Bills have finally decided to give Milano a chance to start showing us whether it’s possible.’

‘Last season, the Dolphins swept the Bills including a December game in the second-to-last week of the season, a 34-31 overtime decision, that eliminated the Bills from the playoff hunt and helped solidify Miami’s spot in the postseason. That happened to be Rex Ryan’s final game as head coach.’

‘“I don’t want to think about it at this point because it could become a distraction for all the things we’ve got going on right now,” Williams said, putting team first, as always. “I’ll worry about that later. I’m not going to make it about me and I’m not going to think about it in those terms. I’m going to go out, it’s our last home game of the season, and we’re going to try and beat the Dolphins.”’

‘“Feeling healthy, leg is progressing,” he said. “Today was a good day, first step in preparation for this weekend.”’

‘The Sunday kickoff forecast, as of now: A relatively balmy 34 degrees and only a slight chance of light rain or snow showers during the game.’