Inside The Bills

Remembering Kent Hull

Tuesday was a difficult day for the Bills family with the passing of Wall of Famer Kent Hull. Wednesday morning some of his former teammates will be remembering him in their own words on the radio.

Mark Kelso will appear on Morning Bull at 7:45 am and will be followed by Wall of Famer Steve Tasker at 8:10. (listen online)

Steve Tasker will be on at 8:10 am.

Stevie update

Stevie Johnson has been dealing with a groin injury since Week 1. Going into the Giants game was as good as he felt in a while as he pegged himself at 90 percent. Heading into the bye week he’s hoping to improve his ailing groin even further.

“I think I can get back to 100-percent,” he said. ”But you just never know with that type of injury.  I came back and felt like I was 100-percent and then it came back in Week One.  I guess just to be safe I’ll say I’m (still) 90-percent. I’ll be ready for Washington.”

Barnett thankful for bye

Bills ILB Nick Barnett has been fighting through an ankle injury the past few weeks, so he’s grateful that the team has a bye this week to give his ankle time to heal up.

“It definitely needs a week (to rest) right now,” Barnett said of his ankle. ”I’m going into two weeks of this ankle injury, so being able to go into this bye week and rest it up and getting the treatment that I need going into Washington.  If it feels five-percent better than it felt…  I’m excited about that. It is a much needed bye week to heal up.”

For Fitz, fix is simple

A lot has been said about the two interceptions thrown by Ryan Fitzpatrick in last Sunday’s loss to the Giants outside the walls at One Bills Drive. After the game Fitz admitted the passes were underthrown. When asked what he can do to avoid those kinds of throws the Bills quarterback had a straightforward answer.

“Make the throw,” he said. ”Part of it was throwing it off my back foot and just not stepping into it getting out there.  I can make that throw off my back foot as well though.  It’s just not making the throw.  Unfortunately it happened twice and it’s something that I have to address, fix and not (let) happen again.”

Head coach Chan Gailey reiterated his faith in Fitzpatrick’s ability to make that kind of pass, and showed no reservations in calling such a play again if the circumstances are right over the last 10 games this season.

“Fitz will make that throw,” said Gailey. ”There’s no question in my mind that Fitz will make that throw 20 more times this season.”

BDC 10/18: 20+ points in 6 straight

DAILY REPORT
– The Buffalo Bills announced yesterday that their game against the New York Jets scheduled for Sunday, November 6, 2011 at Ralph Wilson Stadium is sold out.

Tickets remain available for the Bills games vs. the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, December 4, Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 18, and Denver Broncos on Saturday, December 24.  In addition, a limited number of premium seats remain available for all the Bills home games including the game against the Jets on Sunday, November 6.

The Bills also announced that they are accepting deposits for new season tickets for the 2012 season. $75 per seat gives fans priority status, and those that take advantage of this opportunity will be contacted first with new available locations after the conclusion of the 2011 season.

For more information or to purchase tickets, fans may go online at buffalobills.com, visit the Ralph Wilson Stadium ticket office, or call 1-877-BB-TICKS (228-4257).

THIS WEEK’S PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, October 18
No Media Availability

Wednesday, October 19
Practice: 2:00 PM / Open to Media (Stretch & Individual only)

Thursday, October 20-Sunday, October 23
No Media Availability

DAILY LINKS
BuffaloBills.com – With Hairston out Bills banking on Bell

BuffaloBills.com – Shep closing in on starting role

BuffaloBills.com – Merriman: I’ll be ready after the bye week

Buffalo News – Tuesday morning QB: After Jackson’s big run, Giants adjusted

Buffalo News – Bills’ hopes for future up to defense

Buffalo News – Spiller to fill receiver vacancy – for now

Rochester D&C – Buffalo Bills Replay: Sizing up Bills at bye week

Rochester D&C – Buffalo Bills would do well to finish 8-8

Associated Press – Bills enter bye needing to regroup and recuperate

Toronto Sun – Rob Longley takes an early look at how the crowd will impact the Bills-Redskins game on at Rogers Centre

Olean Times Herald – Local Notes: Fitzpatrick shoulders the blame for loss

Shutdown Corner (Yahoo Sports) – Weather Channel picks Buffalo at the worst weather city in the NFL

Audio/Video/Photo Clips
NY Times – Columnist William Rhoden opines on calling Ryan Fitzpatrick an underdog; says since he went to Harvard he shouldn’t be called an underdog

WGR 550 – Stevie Johnson talks with Schopp and Bulldog

Fan 590 – Terrence McGee talks to Eric Smith about his game against the NY Giants

BuffaloBills.com – Chan Gailey Monday Press Conference

WGRZ
Bills Report Card: Week 6
Bills Frustrated Entering Bye Week
Bills Look to Heal during Bye

WIVB – Bills Hairston Out 2-4 weeks

WHAM – Spiller to Continue at Wide Receiver

YNN
Roosevelt makes the most of playing time
Bills staying positive but not satisfied with 4-2 start

Additional Clips
Inside the Bills Blog
Dareus, 2 guards earn praise, No official update on Kyle, Shep grateful for vets support, Bills-Jets sold out, Merriman to be back Wk 8, Fred gets Peter King praise

Pro Football Focus – Site is high on the o-line and Marcell Dareus’ performance against NY Giants

SI.com – Peter King praises Fred Jackson and Terrence McGee in his MMQB column

National Football Post – Jack Bechta looks at the challenge of NFL GMs building for the future and winning today;  Cites Buddy Nix’s philosophy of drafting production over potential, being patient in development, creating stability on roster and coaching staff

Weather.com – Selects Buffalo as the worst weather city in the NFL

Sports Xchange (CBSsports.com)
Bills’ pass rush has been non-existent
Strategy And Personnel
Giving Spiller a shot at receiver

Bills Beat Blog – Bills’ Spiller Stays Put at WR For Now

Pro Football Talk – C.J. Spiller is now a wide receiver

NOTES OF THE DAY
– Buffalo has scored 20 or more points in each of the first six games in 2011 – marking the third time in team history the Bills have reached 20 points in each of Games 1-6 (1964, 2002, 2011)

– The Bills are 4-2 and above .500 after six games for the second time in the past 10 seasons.  The Bills were 5-1 in 2008.

THIS DAY IN BILLS HISTORY
October 18, 1998 — FLUTIE LEADS COMEBACK IN FIRST BILLS START
QB Doug Flutie made his first NFL start in nine years, and his 1-yard TD run with 13 seconds remaining capped a Bills comeback and gave Buffalo a 17-16 victory over Jacksonville.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
Head Coach Chan Gailey
On being down a lot of players to injury:
They’re some spots that we’re OK on. They’re some spots that we’re struggling with; offensive line and defensive line that’s notable.  We’ll hopefully get some of those guys back here in the next two weeks.  We’ll have a full compliment to be able to play against Washington.  There will be somebody out, so somebody will have to step up.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

RB Fred Jackson broke loose for a career-long 80-yard touchdown run in the first quarter on Sunday.

Troup still not right

Bills DT Torell Troup played in Sunday’s game against the Giants. It was just his second appearance of the season and with Kyle Williams out did not even start.

Kellen Heard got the nod, in part because Troup’s lower back still is not right. Troup could manage all of about 10-12 plays last Sunday.

“He’s not 100-percent or anywhere close right now,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”He’s functional but not at top form.”

Knowing how hard Troup worked in the offseason to make himself a better player has the second-year player frustrated by this persistent back problem. It’s unclear if the bye week will do much to improve his condition, which unfortunately puts him in a similar position as Kyle Williams, whose nagging foot problem is unlikely to go away the rest of this season either.

It leaves the Bills precariously thin at nose tackle for the final 10 games of the season.

Dareus, 2 guards earn praise

Bills DL Marcell Dareus and guards Andy Levitre and Kraig Urbik earned high marks from the film reviewers and stat crunchers at Pro Football Focus for their performances against the Giants last Sunday.

In their words Marcell Dareus was dominant, which explains why he saw so many double teams come the second half of the game. Here’s what they wrote about Dareus’ game Sunday.

When you pick someone with the 3^rd selection of the draft you don’t just want them to play solid football, you expect them to eventually take over games, and for the first time that is what Marcel Dareus (+5.1) did in this game. He’s put together “half” performances in the past; getting pressure but doing little as a run defender, but here he was the full package. He registered five hurries (of which one was nullified by a penalty) but importantly also gave Kevin Boothe more than he could handle in the running game.

PFF also had high praise for both Urbik and Levitre.

No official update on Kyle

Kyle Williams did not play against the Giants this past week due to a nagging foot injury that’s plagued him since training camp. Heading into the bye week head coach Chan Gailey didn’t have any definitive update on his status.

“Don’t know,” Gailey said when asked about Williams. ”Let me get some more information back. He’s getting a bunch of tests and they’re looking at it to see where this thing might go.”

Shep grateful for vets support

Bills rookie LB Kelvin Sheppard, who is closing in on landing a starting role at ILB, even now can’t believe his good fortune being surrounded by veteran linebackers that aren’t afraid to take the time to share their knowledge of the game with him.

Andra Davis and Nick Barnett have been instrumental in tutoring the inexperienced but sharp LSU product. From the very beginning they valued him as a future contributor and now that the day for that to happen is coming quickly, Sheppard is glad he’s seen as more than a wide-eyed rookie.

“It’s good,” Sheppard told Buffalobills.com. ”It just feels good to be in a locker room where I’m not just viewed as a rookie. I’m viewed as a guy that is having an impact on my team.”

Bills-Jets sold out

The Buffalo Bills announced Monday that their game against the New York Jets scheduled for Sunday, November 6, 2011 at Ralph Wilson Stadium is sold out.

Tickets remain available for the Bills games vs. the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, December 4, Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 18, and Denver Broncos on Saturday, December 24.  In addition, a limited number of premium seats remain available for all the Bills home games including the game against the Jets on Sunday, November 6.

Merriman to be back Wk 8

Bills OLB Shawne Merriman, who missed Sunday’s game with Achilles inflammation said he plans to return very soon.

Merriman said he intends to be back in the lineup in Week 8 against Washington after Buffalo’s bye week this week. More on Buffalobills.com.

Fred gets Peter King praise

For Bills RB Fred Jackson it was just another productive day on Sunday when he rolled up 168 yards from scrimmage agains the Giants. The national media is finally starting to take notice.

SI.com’s Peter King had this line in his Monday Morning QB Column about Jackson.

BDC 10/17: Sunday’s notes and quotes

DAILY REPORT
– STILL KEEPING THE SCOREBORD OPERATOR BUSY – With their 24-point output today, the Bills increased their season total to 188 … the figure ranks 4th in team history over the first six games of a season:

BILLS RECORD BOOK
MOST POINTS THROUGH FIRST SIX GAMES
200 – 1964 (34, 30, 30, 23, 48, 35)
194 – 2002 (37, 45, 23, 33, 31, 31)
192 – 1975 (42, 30, 38, 38, 14, 30)
188 – 2011 (41, 38, 34, 20, 31, 24)
168 – 1991 (35, 52, 23, 17, 35, 6)
166 – 1992 (40, 34, 38, 41, 10, 3)

– A DAY OF LONG TOUCHDOWNS – The Bills scored two TDs on plays of 50+ yds. (80-yd. rush by Fred Jackson, 60-yd. pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Naaman Roosevelt) … today was just the 4th time in franchise history that a game featured a TD rush and pass each covering 50+ yds.; all have occurred in road games (others: 11/8/64 at N.Y.J. – Cookie Gilchrist 67-yd. rush and Glenn Bass 80-yd. rec. from Daryle Lamonica; 12/5/65 at Hou. – Wray Carlton 80-yd. rush and Bo Roberson 74-yd. rec. from Lamonica; 12/10/06 at N.Y.J. – Willis McGahee 57-yd. rush and Lee Evans 77-yd. pass from J.P. Losman).

DAILY LINKS
BuffaloBills.com – McGee’s big return

BuffaloBills.com – Giants outlast Bills 27-24

Buffalo News – Fitz, Bills feel sting of coming up just short

Buffalo News – Florence: ‘I take the blame’ for loss

Buffalo News – Four team flaws brought to harsh light

Buffalo News – Roosevelt runs a blue streak for first TD

Buffalo News – Quarterly report: After some flow, game ebbs away

Buffalo News – Bills-Giants Report Card

Rochester D&C – Pair of picks prove costly for Buffalo Bills

Rochester D&C – Bye week comes at perfect time for Buffalo Bills

Rochester D&C – Sal’s Six Points: Answered

Rochester D&C – Buffalo Bills: Report Card

Associated Press – Bradshaw, Tynes lift Giants past Bills 27-24

Wellsville Daily – Late FG gives Giants win over Bills

Canandaigua Messenger – Bills fall to Giants, week six team report card

Toronto Sun – Bills gamble and lose

New York Post – Buffalo QB ticked after two pickoffs

Bergen Record – Bills’ Ryan Fitzpatrick takes loss to Giants hard

Wall Street Journal – Buffalo Defense Expected Turnovers, Got Penalties.

AFC East Blog (ESPN.com) – Bills’ defense not holding up its end

AFC East Blog (ESPN.com) – Rapid Reaction: Giants 27, Bills 24

Audio/Video/Photo Clips
BuffaloBills.com
Week 6: Giants 27, Bills 24 – PHOTOS
Bills Roundup: Bills fall to Giants 27-24
Steve Johnson Postgame Press Conference
Chan Gailey Postgame Press Conference
Ryan Fitzpatrick Postgame Press Conference
Bills vs. Giants highlights

97 Rock – Murph and Kelso on Norton in the Morning

Yahoo Sports – Photo Gallery: Bills vs. Giants

WGR
Giants Down Bills 27-24
Reaction: Giants 27 – Bills 24
HAMILTON: The good Giants team showed up

WGRZ
Bills Loss to Giants No Cause for Alarm
Take 2: Good, Bad, and Ugly

WIVB – Giants edge Bills 27-24

WKBW – Bills lose to the Giants, head to bye week at 4-and-2

WROC – Fitzpatrick fizzles vs. Giants

WHAM – That’s What We Said – Giants 27 Bills 24

Additional Clips
Inside the Bills Blog
Bills far from happy with 4-2 mark, Hairston to be re-evaluated Mon, McGee getting full workload

NickMendola.com – Immediate Reactions: New York Giants 27, Bills 24

THIS DAY IN BILLS HISTORY
October 17, 1988 — BACK ON MONDAY NIGHT
The Bills made their first appearance on Monday Night Football in four years a success, ripping the N.Y. Jets 37-14 at the Meadowlands. QB Jim Kelly threw for 261 yards and three TDs in the first half. He finished the game with 302 yards passing.

NOTES FROM THE GAME
Fred Jackson
Led team with 121 rushing yds. and tied for team lead with 5 rec. … Has topped 100-yd. rushing yds. in 4 of 6 games this season (also 112 at K.C., 117 vs. Oak., 111 vs. Phi.) … 11th career 100-yd. rushing game; now alone in 6th place on Bills all-time list; broke tie with Cookie Gilchrist (10) … still trails Thurman Thomas-46, O.J. Simpson-41, Willis McGahee-14, Joe Cribbs-13, and Travis Henry-13 … 4 100-yd. rushing games this season are most by Bill in a season since Willis McGahee (5) in 2005 … 2nd time this season (also in games 1-2) with back-to-back 100-yd. games … streak is 3rd of career (first occurred in games 9-10, 2010) … first Bill with two separate streaks in one season since Willis McGahee in 2004 (games 7-8 and 10-11) … Bills are 9-2 when Jackson has 100-yd. rushing game

Naaman Roosevelt
Scored first NFL TD on 60-yd. rec. in 1st qtr. … longest TD rec. by Bill since 65-yd. hookup from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Fred Jackson, 11/28/10 vs. Pit. … longest TD by Bills WR since Terrell Owens’ 51-yd. rec. vs. Mia., 11/29/09 … Along with 80-yd. TD rush by Fred Jackson, became part of just 4th Bills combo to have TDs of 50+ yds. via rush and rec. in same game (for more details, see “a day of long touchdowns” note above)

Stevie Johnson
Scored on 9-yd. TD rec. in 4th qtr. to tie score at 24-24 … 4th TD of season, 16th of career … Johnson has caught 14 of his TDs from QB Ryan Fitzpatick … the Fitzpatrick-Johnson combo is one of 14 in Bills history with 14+ TDs … 5 rec. raised season total to team-high 33

Ryan Fitzpatrick
70.0% completion rate today was 2nd straight game with 70% or better rate (77.8%, 21 of 27, last week vs. Phi.) … 3rd game of career with 70% or better … 26th game in NFL career with 60% comp. rate (min. 20 att.) … Fitzpatrick’s teams are 13-12-1 when completing 60% or better … Has had 60% or better completion rate in 5 of 6 games this season … Had 2 TD passes today, including 60-yd. connection with Naaman Roosevelt in 1st qtr. … 4th completion of NFL career to cover 60+ yds. (others: 79 yds. to Cedric Benson, with Cin. vs. Was., 12/14/08; 98-yd. TD to Terrell Owens, at Jax. 11/22/09; 65-yd. TD to Fred Jackson, 11/28/10 vs Pit.) … 4th straight game with 40+ yd. completion (had 48-yd. connection with Donald Jones 9/25 vs. N.E., a 44-yd. hookup with Steve Johnson 10/2 at Cin., and a 49-yd. connection with Fred Jackson last week vs. Phi.) … 40+ yd. comp. in 4 straight games matches career long (also had 4-game streak in games 8-11, 2010) … Has thrown TD pass in 5 of 6 games this season and has TD in 24 of 29 games played as Bill … 44 career TDs with Bills remains 6th on club all-time chart … needs 3 to tie #5 Doug Flutie (47)

David Nelson
62 rec. yds. were team-high … has had 60+ rec. yds. in 4 of 6 games this season (66 at K.C. 9/11, 83 vs. Oak. 9/18, 84 vs. N.E. 9/25) … 32-yd. rec. in 4th qtr. was 2nd longest of season (had 35-yd. catch at K.C. 9/11) … Has rec. in 16 of 21 career games … 34 of 58 career rec. (incl. all 4 today) have resulted in first downs … 15 of 27 rec. this season have moved the chains

C.J. Spiller
62 rec. yds. were team-high … has had 60+ rec. yds. in 4 of 6 games this season (66 at K.C. 9/11, 83 vs. Oak. 9/18, 84 vs. N.E. 9/25) …  32-yd. rec. in 4th qtr. was 2nd longest of season (had 35-yd. catch at K.C. 9/11) … Has rec. in 16 of 21 career games … 34 of 58 career rec. (incl. all 4 today) have resulted in first downs … 15 of 27 rec. this season have moved the chains

Brad Smith
4 rush att. were matched season high (also had 4 last week vs. Phi.) … 26 rush yds. were most in game since 60 for N.Y.J. vs. Buf., 1/2/11  … Has rush att. in 19 of last 20 games (only game in that span without rush: 10/9 at Cin.)

Terrence McGee
Returned to action after missing 4 straight games .. Credited with team-high 11 total tackles … 6th career 10+ tackle game, 1st since 12/21/08 at Den. (10) … Most tackles in game since 11 at N.E., 9/10/06

George Wilson
Credited with 10 total tackles … 7th career 10+ tackle game, 4th of season (also had 10 vs. N.E. 9/25, 12 at Cin. 10/2, and 11 vs. Phi. last week) … 4-game streak with 10+ tackles is longest of career (had 2-game streak in 2009 – 10 at Car., 10/25; 15 vs. Hou., 11/1)

Alex Carrington
Blocked 50-yd. FG att. in 4th qtr. … First blocked FG by Bill since Spencer Johnson, 12/27/09 at Atl.

Rian Lindell
1-1 on FG today (successful from 49 yds.) … became 2nd kicker in Bills history with 200+ FGs … 200 FGs in Bills career remains 2nd on club all-time (see list, left)… needs 34 to tie club record-holder Steve Christie (234) … 200-241 (82.99%) on FGs in Bills career, best rate on club all-time (min. 50 att.; 2nd: Steve Christie – 78.26%)

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Chan Gailey
On the passing game
They got to us rushing the passer, and we didn’t get to them. We had the chance to hit Steve (Johnson) on a couple and missed them. He won, but we’ve just got to get the ball down the field to him. They made their long passes and we didn’t make our long passes.

On defensive effort
We gave up too many big plays at that, whether it was clutch situations or whether it was just down the field big plays and you can’t do that. And we had some penalties that hurt us on some of those drives and you can’t do that, either. We had chances to win the ballgame and we didn’t do that. And we had been doing that, but we didn’t do that today.

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
Your reaction and what did you think was the difference?
It sucks. This is one of the hardest parts about playing quarterback, when you don’t get the job done and today I didn’t get the job done. You know the two interceptions I threw, you couldn’t ask for a better coverage, couldn’t ask for a better play, couldn’t ask for a better route. They were both the exact same thing with basically Stevie on a go route. I want to give credit to Corey Webster. He made plays on both of them. That being said, I feel Stevie beat him and I underthrew both of them. You know, it’s hard, we got two chances to win and Stevie’s on a go on both chances I would have said we’ll win 100 percent of the time. And it didn’t happen today and it’s something I’ll have to live with and work on and all that, but it’s tough to look all the other guys in the face but that’s what you have to do as a quarterback and a leader and you have to be able to move on from that.

RB Fred Jackson
Can you describe the play on that 80-yard run?
The offensive line did a great job. They did a great job sorting things out, we renamed the linebackers so they did a great job getting a hat on a hat and letting me go one-on-one with a safety and making him miss. And it was pay dirt from there.

Your reaction now , did you think you were going to win there?
Yeah, definitely. We feel like we can move the ball against anybody. We had that opportunity, we just didn’t  finish it.  You know, give them credit. They made a play when they had to and they got the victory today.

Did they do anything different after halftime? They seemed to shut down the run?
You know, not really. It was just we didn’t execute the way we wanted to. That’s all of us, myself included. That’s something we have to figure out how to do, is finish. You know we have two losses now, two games we didn’t finish. And that’s not to take anything away from them, that’s a good football team, but we feel like we left one out there.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

WR Naaman Roosevelt scored his first NFL touchdown yesterday on a 60-yard catch and run.

Bills far from happy with 4-2 mark

Entering the bye week several players were asked for their assessment of where the team sits and if they’re happy with a 4-2 record. Most were far from satisfied.

“4-2 is not bad, but we want those wins,” said Terrence McGee. ”To me it’s still early in the season. We’ve still got 10 games left so there’s nothing about 4-2 to get too happy about.”

“I can’t say I’m happy being 4-2 because we had a game today we could’ve won and been 5-1,” said Nick Barnett. ”It’s not the worst record you can have for right now at 4-2. We still have a lot of games ahead of us and a lot of opportunities to win games, 10 of them. So to let this get us out of our groove or our momentum we’re not going to do that. We’ve got some good people in this locker room and we’ll grow from this. Is 4-2 a good place to be going into the bye week? Yeah, but we feel like we could’ve been 5-1.”

Hairston to be re-evaluated Mon.

Bills rookie left tackle Chris Hairston left with an ankle injury in the second half of Sunday’s game, but the severity of that injury won’t be known until Monday afternoon.

“Don’t know yet,” said head coach Chan Gailey when asked how bad Hairston’s injury was. ”I went in there (to the training room) and basically he wasn’t in a (immobilizer) boot when I walked in there so that was a positive.”

Hairston will be re-evaluated Monday by the athletic training staff. Buffalo has the benefit of a bye week to get some injured players healthy. They don’t play again until Oct. 30th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto against Washington.

McGee getting full workload

Bills CB Terrence McGee has been out for five weeks, but he’s got a full workload today against the Giants.

McGee is starting at his familiar LCB spot. Heading into today’s game it wasn’t clear if McGee would only play in nickel packages in the slot, but he’s going to play on the boundary on the left side when the Giants only go two receivers (pro set), but in 3 wide and more McGee will move into the slot and McKelvin will come on and play in McGee’s outside LCB spot.

Giants inactives

Here are the inactives for the Giants today.

RB Brandon Jacobs
DE Justin Tuck
RG Chris Snee
FB Henry Hynoski
T James Brewer
DT Dwayne Hendricks
CB Prince Amukamara

Kyle Williams inactive

Bills DT Kyle Williams will not suit up today against the Giants due to his foot injury. Kellen Heard will start in his place, which could be an indication that Torell Troup might only be fit for a rotational role after missing all but one game this season. Here are the rest of Buffalo’s inactives for today’s game.

Donald Jones
Aaron Williams
Terrence Wheatley
Shawne Merriman
Demetrius Bell
Chris Kelsay
Kyle Williams

Pair of top 5 4th quarter QBs

Today’s game between the Giants and Bills features a pair of quarterbacks that get the job done in the fourth quarter.

Ryan Fitzpatrick ranks fifth in the league in fourth-quarter passing completing better than 70 percent of his passes (70.3%) with a pair of TD passes and a passer rating of 114.1.

Eli Manning has been even better than that ranking third in the league in fourth-quarter passing completing more than 71 percent of his passes (71.4%) with five TDs, a pair of INTs and a passer rating of 120.3.

If this one is close come the fourth quarter it’s likely to be an entertaining finish.

G-men don’t lose 2 straight at home

The Giants had an uncharacteristic loss to a less than imposing Seahawks team last week. They have a second straight home game against the Bills today, but dropping two in a row at home under Tom Coughlin does not happen often for the Giants.

New York has not lost back-to-back home games under Tom Coughlin since December 2006, when the Giants lost to Philadelphia and New Orleans. In fact since Coughlin was named head coach in 2004, New York has lost back-to-back home games just twice over seven-plus seasons.

Let’s hope the G-men are overdue for another back-to-back pair of L’s.