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SPORTSThursday 22 October 2015

Bills practice in London with plenty of injury worries 

CHRIS LEHOURITES                 his outlook,” Ryan said of
 AP Sports Writer
WATFORD, England (AP) —          Taylor, who started the first
No matter how far the Buf-
falo Bills run, they just can’t  five games of the season
hide from their injury prob-
lems.                            but sprained a ligament
The banged-up Bills (3-3)
flew across the pond and         in his left knee in the 14-
arrived in London early this
week after losing at home        13 win over Tennessee on
to the Cincinnati Bengals,
a game in which backup           Oct. 11. “Obviously he’s
quarterback EJ Manuel
started and was inconsis-        going through treatments
tent in the place of the in-
jured Tyrod Taylor and the       and we’ll see how he pro-
defense stumbled in the
second half.                     gresses through the week.”
“We got to flush the toilet,
so to speak, on one game,”       Taylor said he was making
Bills coach Rex Ryan said
Wednesday. “There’s no           progress and shared the
question about it. We got
to get better.”                  reps with Manuel during
The Bills will face the Jack-
sonville Jaguars (1-5) on        Wednesday’s practice. He
Sunday at Wembley Stadi-
um in the second of three        didn’t say if he was going
regular-season NFL games
in London this year. The         to start on Sunday, howev-
Jaguars are 0-2 at Wem-
bley, while the Bills will be    er, but that he was getting
making their first appear-
ance in Britain.                 himself prepared to play.
Ryan, however, still doesn’t
know who will be taking          “It feels good. It’s getting
the snaps on Sunday.
“It’s too early to tell about    better,” Taylor said of his

         Brady                   knee. “We’re in good con-

 Continued from page 17          versation as far as how I

I love playing this  sport. I    feel. At the end of the day,
love making a commit-
ment to my teammates             it’s up to the coaches to
and my coaches, and
hopefully I can do it for a      make the decision.”
long time.”
The 38-year-old Brady has        Besides the questions sur-
shown no signs of slowing
down. He’s tied for sec-         rounding Taylor, the Bills will
ond in the league with 14
touchdown passes while           also be without defensive
throwing just one intercep-
tion. His 1,699 yards pass-      tackle Kyle Williams, who
ing rank him fifth in the NFL,
and he is completing 70.6        is out indefinitely with what
percent of his passes.
“It’s a great mark, there’s      Ryan called “a significant”      Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (5) is brought down in the first half of an NFL football game
no doubt about it,” he           injury to his left knee. Wil-    against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. 
said. “To complete 70 per-       liams was carted off after
cent is hard to do, but I                                                                                                                                                              Associated Press
would say it may reflect
                                 being hurt late in the fourth
on the quarterback, but to
me, it really reflects on the    quarter of the 34-21 loss to sonal issue,” without elabo- has so far failed to play up formidable against the run
entire offense because it’s
just, you’ve got to spread       the Bengals on Sunday.           rating further.               to its high-priced expecta- and pressuring opposing
it around to different peo-
ple.”                            And receiver Percy Harvin The injury to Williams is a big tions. Williams is a 10-year passers.

                                 is absent because of what problem for a defense that veteran and respected The Bills are already miss-

                                 the coach called “a per- has been struggling and team leader who has been ing starting safety Aaron

                                                                                                                                                                       Williams, who is out until at

                                                                                                                                                                       least December because

                                                                                                                                                                       of a neck injury.

                                                                                                                                                                       Cornerback Leodis McK-

                                                                                                                                                                       elvin returned to practice

                                                                                                                                                                       but remains on the reserve/

                                                                                                                                                                       non-football injury list. McK-

                                                                                                                                                                       elvin missed the remainder

                                                                                                                                                                       of last season after break-

                                                                                                                                                                       ing his right ankle in No-

                                                                                                                                                                       vember.

                                                                                                                                                                       He aggravated the injury

                                                                                                                                                                       in July and had a follow-up

                                                                                                                                                                       operation before the start

                                                                                                                                                                       of training camp.

                                                                                                                                                                       “We’ve had a ton of inju-

                                                                                                                                                                       ries, just a bunch of them,

                                                                                                                                                                       that’s kind of offset us a

                                                                                                                                                                       little bit,” Ryan said. “Right

                                                                                                                                                                       now we got to make do

                                                                                                                                                                       with where we’re at.

                                                                                                                                                                       “Did we want to have a

                                                                                                                                                                       better record? Absolutely

                                 New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady smiles as he answers a question prior to an NFL foot- we did. But we’ve earned

                                 ball practice in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. The Patriots face the Indianapolis                                      the 3-3 record.”
                                 Colts on Sunday.                                                                                                                      Buffalo has missed the
                                                                                                                                                                       playoffs for 15 consecu-
                                                                                                                                                     Associated Press

                                 Brady’s Patriots (5-0) take      boasts the No. 1 overall de-  ry that you look at,” Brady                                            tive seasons — the NFL’s
                                 on the AFC East-rival Jets       fense.                        said. “So it’s a big chal-                                             longest active playoff
                                 (4-1) on Sunday at MetLife       “They’re loaded with play-    lenge, and hopefully we                                                drought. And over that
                                 Stadium. New England has         ers and that’s, I think, why  can nail things down by                                                stretch, they’ve had just
                                 the second-ranked over-          they’re tops in the league    the time the game kicks off                                            two winning seasons, 9-7
                                 all offense, while New York      in basically every catego-    Sunday.”q                                                              finishes in 2004 and 2014.q
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