Archives for September 23, 2002

‘"We wanted to force Bledsoe to throw the ball," said linebacker John Mobley, who got his first sack of the season. "We got burned a couple of times, but hey, you win some, you lose some."’

‘"Going into the game we knew that if we hit (Henry) hard enough, he would fumble the ball at some point," Reagor said.’

‘With this irresistible force and immovable object anchoring the middle of the Denver defensive line, nobody ever has any offense against the Broncos.’

‘"It wasn’t pretty," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.’

‘Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel had one of four sacks on Griese in the game and forced Salaam into a couple of false starts and a holding penalty. But the play he won’t soon forget was an end-around by Broncos wideout Scottie Montgomery that went for 28 yards and led to Denver’s touchdown in the third quarter. "I thought the pass rush was all right, but I got beat on a reverse for the third week in a row," Schobel said.’

‘Drew Bledsoe, even when he gets sacked four times as he did on Sunday, never loses his confidence. And after his offense abandoned the run he kept Buffalo in the game with big plays.’

‘As a second-round pick out of Miami, Portis looked good in the preseason, except for a three-fumble game at Arizona. In the first two games of the season, he only had 45 yards on nine carries. He doubled that and didn’t put the ball on the ground once.’

‘To be fair, Sunday’s game was one the Broncos would have lost a year ago. Instead of a game-clinching touchdown drive, they would have turned the ball over to Drew Bledsoe and allowed him to take the Bills to a game-winning touchdown.’

‘Former Colorado defensive tackle Justin Bannan returned to Invesco Field for the first time since his Big 12 championship team’s victory over Colorado State a little over a year ago. Bannan, who was shaken up twice battling Nalen and Co. in the trenches, was not credited with a tackle.’

‘After Smith’s clutch catch on fourth down, Griese rewarded him two plays later with a 26-yard touchdown pass to give the Broncos a 28-16 cushion with 2:39 remaining.’

‘That is why depth is so important – and it is something the Denver Broncos have in abundance.’

‘The Broncos forced Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe to beat them through the air – and he couldn’t. That is because Denver’s ‘D’ was flying around all day making plays. It was pressuring Bledsoe constantly and sacked him four times.’

‘”When they’ve got an offense like that, we’ve got to find a way to stay on the field,” Smith said of the Bills (1-2), who had scored 76 points in their first two games.’

BRIAN MOORMAN

His 70-yard punt in the first quarter was a career long. It was the 10th punt of 70 yards or longer in Bills history and the longest since Chris Mohr's club record 80-yarder on 10/13/96 at Minnesota…had two punts downed inside the 20 (3 & 15 yard lines) in the first quarter and another one at the five in the fourth quarter.

‘Buffalo (1-2) entered the game leading the league in scoring and passing, but struggled against the Broncos’ physical defense.’