Buffalo Bills

Extra Points: Aerial attack ousts Bills in Big Easy

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Drew Brees and New Orleans’ air attack did the Bills in on Sunday as the five touchdowns tossed by Brees accounted for all the scoring from the Saints on Sunday.

Buffalo held a lead for some time during the contest after a Stevie Johnson touchdown and Dan Carpenter field goal but Jimmy Graham scored a pair of touchdowns in the second and third quarters with a 69-yard bomb to Kenny Stills helping to recapture the lead for New Orleans.

Graham’s first score would be all the Saints needed, but his second score was followed by another late bomb to Stills that rolled up the final 14 points for New Orleans. It was a dominating performance by Brees who took control of the game while being sacked four times by the Bills. Continue reading →

Extra Points: Fred and Mario take over

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With their win on Sunday the Bills simultaneously stayed alive in the race for a playoff spot while remaining firmly entrenched in the AFC East race.

Due to New England and Miami’s records entering the week and the victory by the Jets, the Bills didn’t experience any sort of change based on their placement in the standings. That leaves a number of teams to hurdle if the Bills expect to qualify for the playoffs.

Sunday was all about Fred Jackson and Mario Williams. The pair drove the Bills to victory, just about single-handedly. Continue reading →

Extra Point: Bills show fight in OT loss

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It’s amazing what one year can do, isn’t it?

A year ago, when the Bengals went up 24-10 most fans would’ve know what was coming. An inevitable loss due to any number of contributing factors that likely included poor quarterback play, vanilla defense or even uninspired play calling.

Fast forward to a new regime, new quarterback(s) and a new outlook and Sunday’s 27-24 loss stings in a different way than the losses from previous seasons.

Don’t mistake this as a celebration of silver linings in a game that dropped the Bills to 2-4. There are plenty of shortcomings the Bills are enduring and they came out in Sunday’s loss. However, the Bills are playing an exciting, entertaining brand of football that is looking likely to become a trend in coming seasons. Continue reading →

Extra Points: Injury and insult in Cleveland

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In what has recently become a nearly annual blunder bowl for the NFL, the Bills and the Browns managed to put up some points on Thursday night in their primetime showdown.

A game that I joking referred to as the Mistake by The Lake Bowl has been exactly that for the last few meetings. In fact, three of the last five meetings between the two teams (entering Thursday) saw fewer than 20 points scored in the game. That includes the game played in a blinding snowstorm in 2007 and the windswept pillow fight in 2009, two games won by the Browns with a combined 14 points scored.

Thursday night, however was anything but a snoozer. The Bills leapt to an early lead, injured the Browns starting quarterback and had snatched momentum from the home squad. However, a pair of big punt returns, a strong return effort from Brandon Weeden and an injury to EJ Manuel turned the tables on the Bills quickly. Continue reading →

Extra Point: Turnovers help Bills close out defending Super Bowl Champs

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Feel free to insert your own cliché on ugly wins when thinking back on the Bills’ win over the Ravens yesterday. The Bills got the thing to the garage but with the effectiveness of a drunk guy wearing an eye patch.

The offensive shortcomings of the second half that allowed the Ravens start to sneak back into the game amplified a lot of the worry of most Bills fans while also erasing an impressive first half from their collective memories.

Buffalo’s defense rebounded well after allowing over 500 yards of offense to the Jets last week and virtually eliminated Baltimore’s running attack while managing to survive with a patchwork secondary that helped contribute to a five-interception day.

Aaron Williams led the way with a pair of interceptions and an overly impressive day that only saw him beaten badly once on a deep ball to Torrey Smith. While it was yet another bad day for Justin Rogers, the contributions of Williams, Kiko Alonso (2 INTs) and a pass rush that recorded four sacks and 12 hits on Joe Flacco bridged the gap for the struggling corner.

The Bills front seven was stout for the entire game. Marcell Dareus had one of, if not the very best performance of his professional career while the others on the line each brought valuable contributions themselves.

Manny Lawson, in addition to adding his first sack of the season, was stepping to the slot receiver at times to provide coverage. Mario Williams was pushing the pocket at times – and Flacco rolled away from him quite a bit during the afternoon – added a very important red zone sack of Flacco that aided in holding the Ravens to a field goal.

Offensively the Bills did all their talking in the first half. EJ Manuel was efficient and hit on a big play to Robert Woods to help stake the Bills to their second lead of the game. Manuel sputtered in the second half, losing some composure but managing the game well enough for the Bills to get the W. Continue reading →

Trade may be the only remaining solution for Bills and Byrd

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The saga surrounding Jairus Byrd went from a frustrating, stagnant stalemate to a quickly decaying cycle of bad faith that is pointing towards divorce.

When Andy Levitre left for a hefty contract in Tennessee, it was generally assumed that the money saved by not signing Levitre would be allocated towards Byrd’s new long-term deal. However the summer dragged on without any progress made and Byrd eventually sat out all of training camp due to the impasse.

Now there are rumors circulating that Byrd and his agent are attempting to work out a trade for the Pro Bowl safety as it appears his relationship with the Bills organization has become severely damaged. Both sides can take credit for fouling up the entire situation as the Bills likely stood pat on their salary offer which was obviously well below what Byrd and his representation have demanded. Continue reading →

#SupportSally

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You may have seen some posts, Tweets and other correspondence floating around the Buffalo sports blog-o-sphere today regarding #SupportSally.

#SupportSally is a movement that has been taken up by The Scizz and all the other guys at The Deeg in support of their friend, and Buffalo ex-pat, Matt Kabel and his daughter Sally.

Sally is Matt’s 10-month old daughter and was recently diagnosed with leukemia. She has her own website and I’d highly recommend reading through the site to learn a little bit more about this courageous young lady. I’d also urge you to read more about the relationship that Matt and Scizz have developed as Bills fans in NYC.

You can also chip in to support the cause with the #SupportSally t-shirt that is being sold by Store716. All proceeds from the sales of the shirt are going directly to Sally’s fight and Store716 is handling all shipping as well. This is a tremendous cause and I hope to see plenty of #SupportSally shirts at Bills games and around Western New York.

Click here to make your donation to #SupportSally and order your t-shirt.

Washington rout the start of an ugly 48-hour period for the Bills

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It has been a hellacious 48 hours at One Bills Drive. After a definitive drubbing at the hands of Washington on Saturday, the Bills scrambled to reinforce their quarterback depth before losing their top cornerback for what could be eight weeks.

Stephon Gilmore is expected to miss at least 5-6 weeks and upwards of eight after it was reported that he suffered a wrist fracture on Saturday evening and is expected to be on the shelf for some time. Given that Buffalo only trimmed their roster to 76 on Monday, it could possibly leave the door open for Gilmore to be tabbed with the IR-designated to return status to start the year. Continue reading →

Projecting the 53-man roster

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With the deadline to trim the roster to 75 looming (the Bills already dropped to 76), the remaining roster moves will come quickly once this week’s preseason game has passed.

The primary focus of this year’s camp has centered around the quarterback competition as EJ Manuel attempts to earn the role of starter as a rookie. However, both Manuel and Kevin Kolb are all but guaranteed to be in uniform and on the opening day roster when the Bills open against the Pats.

Positions like receiver, defensive line, corner and linebacker will be far different as the Bills 53-man roster shakes out and I’m hopeful that my projected 53-man roster is close to that of Doug Marrone’s. Continue reading →

QB competition closed and then reopened after Friday’s win

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Much like in their first preseason triumph, Buffalo’s second and third stringers controlled the games as the Bills rolled to a 20-16 victory over Minnesota at home on Friday.

It was a victory marred with regret as EJ Manuel was forced to go through a minor procedure on his left knee, knocking the rookie out for at least two weeks. Manuel didn’t show any signs of injury during his time against the Vikings, putting together another nice outing and taking another step towards Buffalo’s starting job.

Manuel’s play, like against the Colts, was less about the tangible results and more about his presence on the field, for me. Racking up yards against second and third teamers doesn’t hold as much water for me as the operating efficiency that Manuel has shown on his two long touchdown drives. He appears to have a strong grasp of the offense and manages the game well. Obviously a 225 yard, two touchdown half would yield numbers that indicate Manuel’s play was beyond impressive; but in these shorter cameo’s the substance is less about the final stat line for me.

Kevin Kolb’s numbers serve as a good example of this. He finished the evening with a couple of quality drives which bolstered his box score a bit. However, his play within the first half left plenty to be desired. Manuel’s knee injury will keep Kolb afloat for now, but it seems like a safe bet that the rookie will lock down the top spot on the depth chart. Continue reading →