Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Indianapolis is two overtime losses away from being on a seven-game winning streak, and those losses came to first-place teams, Baltimore and Tennessee, so there’s no doubt this is a good team coming to town to challenge the AFC East-leading Bills.’

‘“I sensed an intensity and an energy from him,” coach Sean McDermott said when asked what Brown’s return meant. “He’s a young player, let’s not put him in the Hall of Fame yet, OK. Please, help me with that. He’s a young player that has to continue to learn what it takes to play in this league and he knows that and that humble and hungry approach is real and we need to carry that forward next week.”’

‘The Buffalo defense made Jets QB Mike White look like the career practice squad player he had been until a month ago, intercepting him four times, and the offense – after a little stumbling in the second quarter – lit up a terrible New York defense both on the ground and through the air.’

‘“We needed a win,” said safety Micah Hyde. “It doesn’t matter how we get it. We want to win, and our backs were against the wall, I guess, after last week. It was a tough loss, and we wanted to go out there and get a win today. Whether it was a 9-6 game, us winning, or the final outcome of today. We wanted to get a win and help get the ball rolling.”’

‘The Bills needed to regain some mojo. The loss to Jacksonville was simply absurd, and a lesser team would have let it creep into this week, but that was clearly not the case. McDermott was stern during the week in his dealings with the media, and you know the message was even clearer to his players. He demanded performance, and he got it.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 27, New York Jets 16.’

‘As we expected given that he has a hamstring injury, LB Tremaine Edmunds won’t play in New York, McDermott confirmed Friday morning.’

‘So again, a little down from a year ago, nothing too alarming, but that doesn’t change the fact that it just feels like Diggs isn’t the same weapon he was a year ago.’

‘When Allen hands off to Devin Singletary or Zack Moss, the results have generally been less than inspiring. The Bills have 22 runs of at least 10 yards this season, and Singletary and Moss have just nine combined, while Allen has 12 and Mitchell Trubisky one.’

‘“Look, a loss is never easy,” coach Sean McDermott said. “We have to learn from it. It’s important that we handle it the right way. There’s a lot of things we could have done differently in that game. And I think you’ll learn a lot from those situations if handled the right way. And that’s the only piece of that that we can control at this point.”‘

‘I think the time has come to proclaim that Cody Ford is a bust. The Bills used a second-round pick on him in 2019 – traded up in that round, in fact, to make sure they could get him – and he’s been nothing but a disappointment for two-plus years running.’

‘Don’t do any of the following things unless you want to cast serious doubt on your legitimacy as a championship contender.’

‘These losses weren’t necessarily the most one-sided, nor were they the saddest like the Super Bowls. Instead, these qualified because they were gut-wrenching, they were mind-blowing, and they were how-could-that-have-possibly-happened losses.’

‘Instead, we watched that debacle, a game that could prove to be devastating later in the season when it comes time to decide homefield advantage in the playoffs.’

‘Here’s where I’m coming from. Yes, there have been countless one-sided defeats; there have been heartbreaking failures including some on the biggest stages; and there have been endless strings of losses during the worst Bills seasons in history. But unless my mind is failing me – which is entirely possible – I can’t ever recall one quite like this.’