How bad are the Buffalo Bills? Cornerback Vontae Davis retired at halftime on Sunday
https://sports.yahoo.com/bad-bills-cornerback-vontae-davis-retired-halftime-sunday-211324991.html
Vontae Davis didn’t even wait until the end of Sunday’s Buffalo Bills loss to retire. He quit at halftime.
When the story of the 2018 Bills is written, it probably won’t be pretty, and it will include a player retiring at halftime. With the Bills losing 28-6 at halftime against the Los Angeles Chargers, Davis decided he had seen enough, according to Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills cornerback Vontae Davis apparently retired at halftime of Sunday's 31-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers .
"[He] pulled himself out of the game," coach Sean McDermott said. "He communicated to us that he was done."
Davis started Sunday's game but was not seen on the field or on the sideline in the second half. The Bills trailed 28-6 at halftime.
"I don't have nothing to say about Vontae," linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said after the game. "I'm going to give him a little bit more respect than he showed us today, as far as quitting on us in the middle of the game.
"I never have seen that. Pop Warner, high school, pros. Never heard of it. Never seen it. It's just completely disrespectful to his teammates. ... He didn't say nothing to nobody. I found out going into the second half of the game. They said he's not coming out, he retired. That's it."
When asked to confirm that Davis was not hurt and taken out of the game, McDermott said, "That's correct."
"When I get back in here we'll continue to communicate on what exactly is going on there and we'll go from there," McDermott said, referring to how he will address Davis' departure moving forward.
Davis, 30, was a healthy scratch for the Bills' regular-season opener in favor of Phillip Gaines , who started the Bills' 47-3 loss in Week 1 to the Baltimore Ravens . Gaines played nickel cornerback for the Bills on Sunday after an injury to rookie Taron Johnson in the season opener.
The Bills signed Davis to a one-year deal in February that included a $2.25 million base salary and a $1.5 million signing bonus. $2 million of his base salary is fully guaranteed. He also was due roster bonuses of $15,625 per game on the 53-man roster and $46,876 per game on the 46-man game-day roster.
In other defensive developments, McDermott took over play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier in the second half of Sunday's game.
"I just felt like we needed a spark," McDermott said. "That's my background. Coach Frazier does a really good job, as well as the defensive staff. I just felt like we needed to start."
McDermott said he would evaluate the play-calling situation and "a lot of other things" after the loss.
The Bills trailed, 28-6, at halftime after losing, 47-3, in their opener against Baltimore . The Chargers gained 284 yards in the first half, the most the Bills have allowed before halftime since 2013.
Buffalo allowed only three second-half points to the Chargers after McDermott took over play-calling duties.
"I didn't change all that much, honestly," McDermott said. "I thought the defense played with a lot of energy in the second half. I'll give the players credit: they battled. ... It was almost the tale of two halves. I thought we battled and played some Buffalo Bill football at times in the second half, at times. Not enough, still. But in the first half, no way was that good enough."
McDermott hired Frazier as his defensive coordinator upon being hired as Bills coach in 2017. Frazier served as the Minnesota Vikings ' coach from 2010 through 2013.
"Sean has been a defensive coordinator in his career," Alexander said. "He's the head coach and he felt the need that he needs to step in. That's his prerogative as the head coach. He has that freedom to do it. Obviously, Leslie is not a prideful guy. He'll step aside and we'll go back to work next week. I don't think there's going to be any issue there with that, just understanding who Leslie is and what he's all about. He's all about winning. If Sean felt like he needed to do that, he did it."
Evidently Davis thought he should be a starter on such a bad team, and he was on the bench.
He has a 2 million dollar guaranteed contract for this year. I wonder if there is small print about retiring at halftime of the second game of the season?
That is probably the funniest shit we will see all season. The Bills suck so bad that veteran players just say fuck it in the middle of a game.