Following the team’s 23-20 loss the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Bills coaches -including head coach Rex Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman – were jawing at the game officials as they headed down the tunnel, with one coach shouting “you’re a disgrace to the NFL” at them.
The Eagles move to 6-7, keeping their playoff hopes afloat with the rest of the trash in the NFC East. With the loss, the 6-7 Bills are in danger of going a 16 straight year without a playoff appearance.
Sam Bradford and a tenacious defense ruined LeSean McCoy’s homecoming. Rex Ryan’s squad is fighting for dear life, but LeSean McCoy, the former Eagles running back, is quite excited to show his stuff against the very team that let him go last summer. He had 63 yards rushing in the first half, but finished with only 74 yards on 20 carries.
Earlier in the fourth quarter McCoy’s gritty catch and 10-yard run on third-and-nine from his six-yard line got the Bills out of a bad spot.
“I’ve got nothing to say, excuse me”, a frustrated McCoy told the assembled media members before heading out of the locker room.
As for the game, emotions will be high for the former three-time Pro Bowl Eagles running back, as his 6-6 Bills face the 5-7 Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
Taylor, who hadn’t thrown an interception since Week 2, was picked off by Ed Reynolds to end the game.
We’ll talk about Taylor’s more, but in truth we should focus more on the fact that he has thrown more 20+ yard touchdown passes than any other quarterback this year.
But Bradford tossed a 41-yard pass to Zach Ertz on third-and-3 to set up Philadelphia’s go-ahead field goal. Buffalo started that drive at the Eagles 46 after an unsportsmanlike penalty on Philadelphia’s Riley Cooper on a punt. McCoy will end up getting his 100 yards and probably a touchdown but in the end Kelly will get the last laugh as the Eagles continue to ride the momentum of that big upset in New England by escaping with a late field goal for the win.
On the downside, the Bills have also lost five times – including once with EJ Manuel starting – when failing to score on their final possession in games they trailed by 8 points or less. CBS commentator, Solomon Wilcots, said it best, “Fletcher Cox is the best interior [defensive] lineman not named J.J”.
Even after all the mistakes, the Bills still had one last shot with the football with under two minutes left to play. “When we call bingo, all we have to do is get the ball, get down, get the offense the ball and we win the game”.
“Sam, as a whole, has progressed as the season has gone along”, Kelly said.
Later in the second quarter, Dan Carpenter converted from 38 yards out to make it 14-10. TE Charles Clay left in the first half with a back injury… But the Eagles limited him to 11 yards on eight attempts (1.4 average) after intermission.