Archives for December 31, 2001

‘"We had many opportunities not to come to work this week," Williams said. "A lot of people in Buffalo stayed home this week and didn’t go to work. Not one of these guys missed [practice]. There weren’t any focus problems all week. I think that speaks volumes."’

‘How many of you even knew who Mo Unutoa was before yesterday afternoon?’

‘Hansen, a bridge to Buffalo’s Super Bowl era, will celebrate how the football gods smiled down on him in what could be his final season.’

‘Did you really think that with 13 seconds left to play, with no timeouts at your disposal when you took the snap at the Buffalo 24-yard-line, that the Bills were going to jump the short route and forget about defending the end zone?’

‘Gun shy on some fourth downs and another squib kick nearly backfired but Gregg Williams’ guys beat a much more talented team.’

‘”All I’m going to say is the play came in from the sideline and we executed it the best we could,” he said. “I’m not going to say `what if’ because then it looks like I should be calling the plays and whatever play came in was wrong. You guys can make you own decisions based on what happened.”‘

‘”I think we had this game in the bag and let it slip away,” he said. “We did not stay focused. We didn’t do what we needed to do to win.”‘

‘But with defensive end John Abraham injured, Buffalo, which had the 23rd-ranked rushing offense, ripped large swatches out of the Jets’ defense, rushing for 192 yards. Ted Cottrell, the Jets’ first-year defensive coordinator, shook his head and muttered as he left the locker room. “This was not good,” he said.’

‘In the second quarter, the Jets went into the wind, which prevented them from trying a field goal from Buffalo’s 29-yard line as time expired. Edwards asked Hall if he thought he could make the kick — it would have been about a 47-yard attempt — and Hall said no.’

‘The Jets, once thought to be a playoff shoo-in, imperiled their postseason hopes yesterday with a dreadful 14-9 loss to the lowly Bills — a performance eerily reminiscent of … well, last year’s late-season collapse.’

‘He said he thought the Jets had time to run two plays after they had spiked the ball at the Buffalo 24.’

‘Vinny Testaverde threw a pair of interceptions and had no touchdown passes, but he seemed unwilling to accept at least some of the blame for either one of them in the Jets’ 14-9 loss to the Bills yesterday.’

‘Good teams can make mistakes and win. Not the Same Olds. They began the day with the best turnover record in the NFL. They take it away and they don’t cough it up. Yesterday, they coughed it away three times and every one of them was painful.’

‘The Bills confused the Jets with a “bunch” formation, resulting in a 22-yard TD pass to WR Peerless Price. CB Ray Mickens, responsible for Price in man-to-man coverage, got picked on the play, according to Edwards.’

‘Herman Edwards made several tactical errors. Clearly, the Jets underestimated the Bills.’