Tom Brady Reaction
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 4:39 PM ET
BRADY REACTION: A couple of Bills players and head coach Dick Jauron were asked how the season-ending injury to Tom Brady affects the state of the AFC East. Here were their responses.
Dick Jauron
"It's unfortunate. He is a great football player, and if they've lost him then it's a big loss. But they've lost a big star at that position once before and that's where Tom Brady came from. I'm sure that they'll keep playing because they are very good around him. He's been a very special player and hopefully it's not as serious as they're talking about. You never want that to happen."
Trent Edwards
"You never want to see that happen to a guy. I'm obviously one of the biggest Tom Brady fans. I'd say Tom Brady and Brett Favre are my two favorite quarterbacks and any time you have a chance to watch them live play or play against them, you want to do that. And unfortunately, it's looking like, I don't know what the reports are saying, that we're not going to be playing against him this year. I would rather have him in there, honestly. I'd rather beat a team when they have all of their best players on the field at all times and I know the Patriots style, that they're good at coming back from injury and I'm sure they're still going to make a run at it, so I'm not sure it shifts it at all."
Jabari Greer
"I think it always has been wide-open. I think that we've taken that approach that no matter who's playing as we have an opportunity to win."
Brown's Best Week 1
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 4:30 PM ET
BROWN'S BEST WEEK 1: Back for another season is Brown's Best where we recognize some of the less remembered efforts from the game that was. So let's get right to it.
BEST TONE SETTERS: Bills 'D' – Coming out and sending the Seahawks offense three-and-out on three of their first four possessions and four-and-out on the other was instrumental in keeping the game a stalemate early when Buffalo's offense was still trying to find it's rhythm.
BEST INSTANT SACK: Kawika Mitchell – The linebacker timed his blitz perfectly slipping through a gap in the Seattle protection to take down Matt Hasselbeck before he took more than one step away from center.
BEST OPEN FIELD TACKLE: Ashton Youboty – On a 3rd-and-13 at the Bills 37, the cornerback, who wound up the team's leading tackler in the game, stopped Seattle FB Leonard Weaver for just a five-yard gain on a run play wide left. It not only brought up fourth down, but kept Seattle out of field goal range to force a punt.
BEST CROWD PLEASER: Roscoe Parrish – I think we all know why.
BEST BLOCK SERIES ON ONE PLAY: John DiGiorgio, Jon Corto, Jabari Greer – All three punt return unit members delivered key blocks to help Parrish complete one of the more unlikely returns for a touchdown.
BEST UNNOTICED SPECIALIST: Rian Lindell – With such a big day for special teams the Bills kicker went virtually unrecognized. Not only did Lindell put 10 points on the board, he made a quality tackle of Seattle return man Josh Wilson to hold him to a 39-yard return instead of what could have been much worse and recovered the fumble on the Seattle kick return that led to Buffalo's final game-clinching touchdown.
BEST PLAY CALL OFFENSE: 3rd-and-11 at Seattle 21 – Sure the decision to go for the throat on the touchdown pass to Robert Royal after the kick return turnover was impressive and aggressive, but Turk Schonert's run call on 3rd-and-11 caught Seattle off guard with the Bills already in field goal range. Marshawn Lynch got a good hole and rumbled for a touchdown.
BEST DOWNFIELD BLOCK: Lee Evans – His block downfield on Kelly Jennings was impressive. He held that block for the better part of four or five seconds which kept the Seattle cornerback from even making an attempt at a tackle on Lynch's touchdown run.
BEST COVERAGE/PRESSURE COMBO: Bills 'D' – Buffalo's defense forced three incompletions in a row by Matt Hasselbeck due to pressure and solid coverage with under a minute to play in the first half. Seattle's possession lasted all of 15 seconds giving the ball back to Buffalo with just enough time to get in field goal range and increase their lead to 13 before the half.
BEST SHOESTRING TAKEDOWN: Marcus Stroud – The Bills DT stretched out while going to the ground and got enough of Hasselbeck's shoe to take him down behind the line of scrimmage for a sack.
BEST PANCAKE: Marcus Stroud – On a 2nd-and-27 from the Buffalo 47, Stroud drove Seattle guard Rob Sims backward as if he was on roller skates and pancaked him to the turf en route to making a tackle for loss on Julius Jones four yards behind the line of scrimmage with an assist from Mitchell.
BEST HIT: Jabari Greer – The cornerback came up and put a big lick on Seattle receiver Logan Payne forcing a fumble, though Buffalo was unable to recover the ball before it rolled over the sideline.
BEST SET UP MEN: Trent Edwards - Lee Evans – Though they did not account for any scoring plays they were very effective table setters on Sunday. Edwards hit Evans for a 32-yard gain down the left sideline to get Buffalo in the red zone late in the first quarter. Three plays later Lynch was in the end zone for a touchdown.
Late in the second quarter on a 3rd-and-2 at the Seattle 39, Edwards connected with Evans over the middle for a 19-yard gain setting up a 38-yard field goal by Rian Lindell before the half expired.
And in the third quarter Edwards hit Evans for their biggest gain of the day on a 2nd-and-6 play from the Bills 37 down the left sideline for a 41-yard pickup. It again put Buffalo deep in Seattle territory and ultimately led to the fake field goal touchdown pass from Brian Moorman to Ryan Denney.
BEST GOTCHA PLAY: Bobby April – His play to have Brian Moorman toss a 19-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Denney was called at just the right time by Dick Jauron and effectively put the game away for Buffalo.
BEST COVERAGE: John Wendling – Showing why he was so instrumental in Buffalo's number one punt coverage ranking last season, Wendling covered Brian Moorman's longest punt of the day (59 yards) and quickly closed the space between himself and Seneca Wallace in the open field and dropped him for no gain at the Seattle 31.
BEST PINNER: Brian Moorman – His touchdown pass not withstanding Moorman effectively pinned Seattle deep in the early going to maintain a field position advantage for Buffalo during the first quarter stalemate and forced the Seahawks to start three drives inside their own 20-yard line. Those punts extended his NFL long streak of 22 games with at least one kick inside the 20.
BEST COVERAGE SHOT: Jon Corto – The linebacker's forced fumble on the kick return by Seattle following the fake field goal touchdown helped put the final nail in the coffin. Buffalo recovered the fumble and put another touchdown on the board one play later.
BEST REDEMPTION: Robert Royal – After playing through a knee injury for much of the second half of the 2007 season, Royal tasted sweet redemption with a career-high six catches including a 30-yard TD catch in his first game back from offseason knee surgery.
Fine, Murphy unlikely to go in week 2
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 4:28 PM ET
FINE, MURPHY UNLIKELY TO GO IN WEEK 2: Bills head coach Dick Jauron stated that the likelihood of TE Derek Fine or OL/TE Matt Murphy being able to suit up for the Jacksonville game is not good.
"I would say the odds are not good at this point," said Jauron. "I wouldn't be optimistic."
Jags O-line a shambles
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 4:06 PM ET
JAGS O-LINE A SHAMBLES: Already without starting center Brad Meester for as much as the first month of the season with a biceps injury suffered in the preseason and backup tackle Richard Collier, who was shot last week, Jacksonville will now also be missing starting guards Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams for this Sunday's game against Buffalo.
Manuwai suffered a torn ACL in the opener against Tennessee and is done for the season. Williams is out at least a month with a ruptured biceps. So Jacksonville will be fielding a backup center and two backup guards on Sunday.
Jacksonville is scrambling to work out interior linemen today and tomorrow.
It's a good week to be Marcus Stroud.
Peters interview video up
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 2:50 PM ET
PETERS INTERVIEW VIDEO UP: If you want to see Jason Peters' interview in its entirety from earlier today it's right here.
Bills have until Saturday on Peters
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 2:31 PM ET
BILLS HAVE UNTIL SATURDAY ON PETERS: Dick Jauron and his coaching staff have until Saturday at 4pm to decide whether or not to activate Jason Peters for this Sunday's game at Jacksonville. That's the league deadline each week for activating a player for a Sunday game.
Jauron confirmed that Peters is in excellent physical shape, but is not yet in football shape due to his absence from practice the past 43 or so days.
That being said I'd tend to think that as soon as they feel he's remotely close to executing protections and calls correctly he's going to dress.
In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he dresses on Sunday, but doesn't start. That way in the event of an injury you have the best possible sub on the planet at tackle.
Jauron said they would consider Peters for part-time duty Sunday.
"We'll probably consider everything as we move down the road," said Jauron. "But as you're well aware the numbers on Sunday are so hard to deal with. It's not a lot of guys so you have to be real careful because you end up short changing yourself somewhere and unfortunately it usually comes from special teams and that's not a good thing."
Jauron says its wait and see on Peters
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 1:34 PM ET
JAURON: ITS WAIT AND SEE ON PETERS: Bills head coach Dick Jauron said they will see how Jason Peters comes through the week before deciding whether or not he will play on Sunday at Jacksonville. We'll have more details on the home page shortly.
Peters plans to play
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 1:05 PM ET
PETERS PLANS TO PLAY SUNDAY: Jason Peters addressing the media for the first time said he plans to play this Sunday. We'll see if Dick Jauron confirms that when he speaks shortly.
