Tag: bills

Report: Bills could be playing 49ers in Arizona in Week 13

The Buffalo Bills might be playing the Arizona 49ers on Monday Night Football next week.
Santa Clara County where the 49ers play has new COVID-19 restrictions, banning all contact sports.
The Bills enter the game at 8-3 on the season looking to maintain a lead on the AFC East

The Buffalo Bills might be playing the Arizona 49ers on Monday Night Football next week.
Santa Clara County where the 49ers play has new COVID-19 restrictions, banning all contact sports.
The Bills enter the game at 8-3 on the season looking to maintain a lead on the AFC East

Report: Bills could be playing 49ers in Arizona in Week 13

The Buffalo Bills might be playing the Arizona 49ers on Monday Night Football next week.
Santa Clara County where the 49ers play has new COVID-19 restrictions, banning all contact sports.
The Bills enter the game at 8-3 on the season looking to maintain a lead on the AFC East

The Buffalo Bills might be playing the Arizona 49ers on Monday Night Football next week.
Santa Clara County where the 49ers play has new COVID-19 restrictions, banning all contact sports.
The Bills enter the game at 8-3 on the season looking to maintain a lead on the AFC East

Bills’ Sean McDermott post-Chargers: ‘That’s the defense I expect’

Sean McDermott: ‘that’s the defense I expect. I expect that every week.’

Following the Bills’ 27-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Buffalo improved to 8-3, but this win was unlike others we have seen in 2020.

For most of the year, the Bills offense has carried the team, (or special teams if you count the Week 7 Jets game,) but in Week 12, Buffalo’s defense showed up when they were needed most.

Entering halftime, the Bills held a 17-6 lead, and from there, the offense only managed to add 10 more points, while also turning the ball over three times. The Bills had two fumbles lost and an interception.

The defense, while not perfect, held the Chargers’ fourth-ranked offense to only 17 points and forced rookie quarterback Justin Herbert to have one of the worst games of his young career. While perhaps a surprising effort to observers of the team, their coach said he saw what he is accustomed to seeing from this defense against the Bolts.

“That’s the defense I expect. I expect that every week,” Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott said via video conference following the game. “I think that it just goes back to… fundamentals, technique, spending time in the film room together. All those things is a big part of earning the right to win and they did that.”

The Bills managed to takeaway the ball just once, on a Tre’Davious White interception, but Buffalo pressured Herbert and cause him to miss throws that he doesn’t usually miss.

Essentially McDermott thought it was a full defensive effort from his team. He also hopes that it’s potentially momentum building one.

“I thought that was very impressive… I thought [defensive coordinator] Leslie (Frazier) and his staff did a great job during the week taking a good game-plan with good communication and the players embraced it.” McDermott said. “They spent a lot of time this week, that’s a good offense… they’ve been hot with weapons all over… and then to get that group back was a big jolt for them, in a good way and our guys rose to the challenge, so that’s what we’ve got to do every week.”

While there is still work to be done on both sides of the ball, having your defense show up in crucial moments, especially when your offense and quarterback are struggling, is imperative.

Leading that clutch defense for the Bills was another good effort from AJ Klein. His 14 tackles, three for loss and 1.5 sacks all led Buffalo, the linebacker still knows that it was a full unit effort by the Bills as well.

“Playing four downs of football and trying to create negative plays and I think we did that. We got a big turnover by Tre, we got pressure in Herbert’s face, so overall I thought we played really well,” Klein said via video conference. “It was good to see us respond.”

In the end, the win was not the prettiest, however, you don’t get style points in the NFL. 8-3 is 8-3 regardless of how you get there.

“It’s hard to win this league… it’s good to be 8-3,” McDermott added. “We came off the bye and got a win.”

As we come down the final stretch and head towards the playoffs, the Bills will hope to see more of this defense and not the defense that too often left us scratching our heads during the first half of the season.

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Bills players lament final play in heartbreaking loss

With 34-seconds left in today’s games, the Bills took a 30-26 lead over the Arizona Cardinals and looked to be heading to an 8-2 record.

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With 34 seconds left in Buffalo’s Week 10 game om Sunday, the Bills took a 30-26 lead over the Arizona Cardinals and they looked to be heading to an 8-2 record… but the football Gods had other plans.

With 11 seconds remaining, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray threw a prayer to the end zone, and somehow, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins managed to catch it for the miraculous touchdown with three Bills defenders around him. The catch gave the Cardinals the win and sent the Bills into their bye week stunned.

It goes without saying, players in Buffalo’s locker room was much like your living room. Guys were at a loss for words when describing whawt happened.

“It’s gonna be the only thing on our mind for the next two weeks,” quarterback Josh Allen told reporters.

But as the leader of the team, Allen attempted to find optimism at the moment.

“But I think it’s also a good thing. It makes us hungry. You’re not gonna win every game, but to lose this one the way we did… it hurts. But it’s fuel for the fire,” Allen said.

Bills safety Jordan Poyer, who was one of three defenders surrounding Hopkins on the final play, was more matter of fact with his assessment.

“Frustrating. Extremely disappointed,” Poyer said via video conference. “Somehow, someway, we gotta get that ball out of D-Hop’s hands… I thought we guarded it pretty well, we had three people around him. Just gotta find a way to make a play.”

Safety Micah Hyde, also in on the play, said that no one in the Bills locker room felt good after what went down.

“My reaction? Pissed,” Hyde said. “It felt like the ball was in the air for 10 minutes on the last play… he just beat us in the air, he timed it perfectly. That one hurts.”

The fact the Bills had just driven down the field to get the–what at the time appeared to be winning touchdown themselves– made this ending even tougher to swallow. Especially for the defense.

“It’s like a huge gut punch that took the wind out of you,” Bills defensive end, Jerry Hughes said after the game. “Certainly have been on the other side of things, but it sucks. It’s a huge gut punch because our offense executed a great drive in that situation.”

While this one hurts, the Bills are still 7-3 at the bye and remain in first place in the AFC East. Left tackle Dion Dawkins tried to keep the positives in mind.

“It was a Mike Tyson haymaker. It hurt,” Dawkins said. “But the good thing is, I know what it feels like and my teammates do too. I guarantee with the guys we have here, we’ll never have this feeling again.”

Head Coach Sean McDermott wrapped up things in a way most Bills fans can surely relate to.

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts bad… but that game should not have come down to that play,” McDermott said. “At the end of the day, give them the credit… they made a special play.”

While not the way Buffalo wanted to enter their week off, the Bills now get some much needed time to rest and recover before kicking off the final stretch of six games.

No one wants to lose, but it’s how you respond to the losses that define who you are as a team. After a loss like this, we will certainly see what the Bills are made of.

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Bills Wire’s Week 10 Player of the Game: WR Cole Beasley

Despite the inconsistencies on defense, and at quarterback, Beasley produced.

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It was an awful way to lose, but no one did more to help put the Bills in a position to win than our Bills Wire Player of the Game against the Cardinals: wide receiver Cole Beasley.

Despite the inconsistencies on defense, and at quarterback, Beasley produced for the Bills in this one, extending drives to keep the Bills’ victory hopes alive. He hauled in 11 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. He put Buffalo in scoring range on some of the most important plays. Beasley’s most-impressive grab was actually only for four yards, but the one-handed effort of his way awfully impressive, double that considering it was on third down. 

The Bills will need their bye to recoup after this 32-30 loss, but the optimism still remains high as they make their final push for the AFC East crown and the playoffs.

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2020 Saints free agents: Midseason updates on key departures

The New Orleans Saints lost 2020 free agents like Teddy Bridgewater, Vonn Bell, A.J. Klein, and Eli Apple. How have they done at midseason?

The hard part of NFL free agency is that you can’t re-sign everyone. That’s something the New Orleans Saints experienced this offseason when veteran players like Teddy Bridgewater, A.J. Klein, and Vonn Bell left for fresh starts in other cities around the league.

But how have those departures performed at the midway point in 2020? Some of them have earned captain status with their new teams, while others are already on the job hunt again. Here’s a quick checkup on the biggest names that left New Orleans:

In the wake of grandmother’s passing, Josh Allen leads the Bills to win

While the mourning the sudden loss of his grandmother, Allen lead the Bills to 7-2.

Often times when watching professional athletes it is easy for us to lose sight of the fact that they are actual people, with feelings just like the rest of us. there are certain occasions that cause us to take a step back and remember.

Following the Bills’ 44-34 win in Week 9 over the Seattle Seahawks (6-2) Sean McDermott shared that quarterback, Josh Allen’s grandmother, Patricia, had passed away last night, unexpectedly, at the age of 80.

“I called Josh [last night] and asked where he was on it,” McDermott said to reporters after the game via Zoom. “He said he wanted to play and we just felt like he was going to have to compartmentalize for the better part of 24 hours and that’s what he did. Not an easy thing to play through.”

McDermott added, as one would expect, that Allen was rather emotional after the game and was, “mentally tough” for putting together the performance he did, despite all that was going on in his personal life. There have been many well documented moments in sports history where athletes use a loss, such as this, to motivate themselves to play and play well in a game to honor someone.

It appears Allen did just that.

The Bills QB finished the day 31-for-38 passing for 415 yds & three touchdowns in the air, while adding another rushing TD to his stat line.

“We took care of business today,” Allen said after the game. “We played complementary football. It was a complete, total win today.”

While winning a football game doesn’t equate to the pain one feels when losing a loved one, hopefully Allen can take comfort in knowing that he gave it his all today.

One would think his grandmother is looking down proud of what her grandson was able to accomplish, even while mourning her loss.

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NFC West Week 9 roundup: Seahawks fall in shootout with Bills

The Seattle Seahawks had some of their flaws exposed by the Buffalo Bills in a Week 9 loss that weakened their stranglehold on the NFC West.

The Seattle Seahawks’ stranglehold on the NFC West loosened some in Week 9 when they fell 44-34 to the Bills in Buffalo.

While the 49ers’ chances of taking the NFC West dwindled greatly with their Week 8 loss to Seattle, it remains one of the most intriguing division races in the NFL.

Seattle sits at 6-2 after their loss to Buffalo. The idle Rams are 5-3 at their Bye week, and the 5-2 Cardinals are facing the Dolphins at home in Week 9.

The Seahawks do look like the best team in the division, but some of their flaws were exposed against Buffalo. They allowed 282 passing yards and three touchdowns to Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the first half and 415 passing yards for the game.

Buffalo actually poses a more immediate threat for San Francisco. They looked outstanding Sunday. The 49ers host Buffalo on Monday Night Football in Week 13. If San Francisco can stay in the playoff race, that game could wind up being monumentally important for them.

Here are some highlights from the contest:

 

Bills Wire’s Week 9 Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen

QB Josh Allen is Bills Wire Player of the Game.

What a day for our three-time Bills Wire Player of the Game, quarterback Josh Allen. The third-year QB helped lead the Bills to play their best game yet, against a Super Bowl contender in the Seattle Seahawks.

While anything and everything clicked for the Bills as a unit in Week 9, with the Bills defense making light work of the current MVP front-runner, the fact that Allen out-dueled his counterpart in Russell Wilson. It was a statement win for Allen, a statement win for the defense, and well… a statement win for the Bills to put a little respect when others speak their name.

Allen finished with one of his better stat lines, completing 31 of his 38 passes on the day, with 415 yards by air and three passing touchdowns. He also added a touchdown run as well.

While this is an excellent win that the Bills can build off of, they now gear up to play another feisty NFC West team that has also one – upped the Seahawks recently, in the Arizona Cardinals.

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Saints can be the first division rival to sweep Tom Brady in his NFL career

If Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lose in Week 9, the New Orleans Saints will become the first division rival to ever sweep him.

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If the New Orleans Saints can upset the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night, they will become the first NFL team to sweep Tom Brady in his decades-long career as a starting quarterback.

Brady has started 19 full seasons, having thrown just three passes in one game way back in 2000 and exiting with a season-ending injury in 2008’s Week 1 opener. And he feasted on a series of bumbling opponents in the AFC East during that time, outplaying nominal rivals like the Buffalo Bills (Brady’s record against them: 32-3), Miami Dolphins (23-12), and New York Jets (29-7).

None of those squads swept Brady with back-to-back victories during all of those years. His New England Patriots won the division title every season he was the starter, except for 2002 (Jets) and 2008 (Dolphins, after he was injured). But things are a little different in 2020.

He’s now facing stronger competition in the NFC South, and the Saints are in position to be first team to hand him two losses in the same season. Of course that’s easier said than done, but a win would give the Saints a tie-breaking hold on the top spot in the division. They certainly won’t be lacking for motivation at kickoff.

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