Here's the Bills news of note for Nov. 3rd.
**1 - Jaws weighs in on Tyrod Taylor
**There has been a lot of opinions voiced on the performance of Tyrod Taylor this season. ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski made an appearance on the John Murphy Show this week and was asked for his take on Taylor's body of work in the 2016 season.
"I’m a huge Taylor fan. I think he brings a lot to the Buffalo Bills offense," Jaworski said. "The structure that they have within that offense and the freedom that he has with those zone reads and the way they move him outside the pocket (is valuable).
"We also need to remember that he is still a work in progress. This is not a polished NFL product. I still think he needs to work on consistent mechanics. I love the deep ball that he has. He has the deep ball accuracy that is so critical. He can tend to be a little inaccurate with the intermediate throws, but these are the things that you have to live with when you have a quarterback that is developing. I think all in all the body of work for Tyrod Taylor has been really good."
Jaws admitted that the loss of Sammy Watkins has hurt the team's ability to manufacture explosive plays, something that most offenses need to succeed on a consistent basis.
"The Sammy Watkins loss is huge," said Jaworski. "These quarterbacks that are forced to play with one arm behind their back without a game breaking receiver, it is tough to play the position. You need those explosive plays. The teams that generate the most explosive plays are the teams that are winning. It's hard to go 12 plays, 80 yards against these defenses in the NFL today. Somehow, some way, coaches have to design and manufacture big plays. So the Bills have been really handcuffed by that and it's limited Taylor's downfield throwing."
Jaworski sees a formidable challenge for Taylor and Buffalo's offense on Monday night.
"It's going to be severely tested on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks defense that will get in your face very quickly," he said. "They are not complex. They are not sophisticated. They line up and play and they're very physical."
2 - Ragland has minor shoulder surgeryStill on the road to recovery from ACL knee surgery in August, LB Reggie Ragland decided to get another minor physical issue addressed.
The Bills second-round pick posted a photo of himself with his right arm in a sling following shoulder surgery. Ragland had his right shoulder scoped in what is considered a common procedure that many players undergo after the season is over.
Had Ragland not suffered a knee injury, his shoulder was something he could've easily played with week after week during the season, but both the team and Ragland decided to take care of it now while he's unable to play.
The shoulder is expected to be fully functional long before his surgically repaired knee.
**3 - Balancing the bye
**The Bills have a sizable injury list heading into Monday night's game against Seattle. With players who are close to returning there's a difficult decision to be made. Dress and play and gut it out at Seattle even though they might not be 100 percent, or sit out knowing you'll have two straight weeks for rest and recovery.
"It is a big balancing thing. There is no question," said Rex Ryan. "You wish the bye came this week, but it doesn't. So, that'll be it. We're not going to put a player out there that's not ready to go. So I think if we lean on our doctors and our medical staff, and they understand there's a bye coming up also. So we'll lean on the professionals there."* *
Veteran Lorenzo Alexander himself is in such a circumstance. Nursing a hamstring injury, Alexander intends to play.
"I just want to be a bit smarter this time late in the year," he said. "I have a lot more reps, there's a different situation so I'm looking forward to playing this week. We'll have a tape job ready for that. But obviously having the bye week after that is going to help so really I have another two weeks of not really having to do anything on it, and I definitely should be back to close to 100 percent by then."
At the same time he knows for some of his teammates it might be better for others to sit and get completely right for the stretch run following the bye week.
"You need guys that can go out there and make plays. Right now we're a little banged up, so hopefully we start getting guys back with this bye week coming up," he said. "Get back fresh, but that's never an excuse. Whoever we put out there is expected to make plays and we haven't been doing that."
