Archives for December 2002

"It was a big game and a big win for us. We had our backs against the wall, we needed to answer and we did. I'm very proud of how the team responded and battled back through some tough times in the ball game and didn't lose confidence in themselves. They came up with a hard fought victory today."

Pardon the Miami Dolphins' defensive backs if that's how they feel today. They thought they had Eric Moulds covered, they were sure they had Peerless Price contained.

They read Moulds' route perfectly well, they collapsed on him– and, uh, left Price open. That's a safety who fled from a danger zone.

They zoned in on Drew Bledsoe's pass. They reached out and touched it– tapping it right into Moulds' outstretched hand. How touching, Moulds must have been thinking. Thanks for the tip, guys.

‘Based on the records of all contenders in the conference, it’s very possible that only one team will come out of the AFC East.’

‘The team has about 13,000 tickets remaining for the Dec. 15 game against the San Diego Chargers and 28,000 for the Dec. 29 season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.’

‘You also put fannies in the seats by winning, and this team is not going to be a consistent winner until it fields a viable defense. And I just think that while Price is a terrific talent, the Bills could plug Josh Reed into his role, find a third receiver just about anywhere — free agency or the draft — and then put Price’s money to good use by bringing in defensive linemen and linebackers who can actually play.’

‘Dating to the end of the 2000 season, Buffalo had lost nine of its last 12 home games. That included a dismal 0-8 record against AFC East opponents by an average losing score of 30-17.’

‘Why did the Dolphins even bother trying to pass? With Williams running as well as he was, it was puzzling that the Dolphins didn’t give him the ball on every play. Naturally that sounds ridiculous, but he was killing the Bills, and the only time Buffalo stopped Miami is when Ray Lucas or Jay Fiedler tried to put the ball in the air. It was another case of coaches out-thinking themselves.’

‘The Patriots have given up 1,520 yards on the ground, 4.6 yards a pop, ranking them 25th in the league.’

‘“Around here, you just never know,” said defensive end Bobby Hamilton. “I know Romeo and coach Belichick are going to have something. Whatever it is, we have to make it work. Whether it be five linebackers, two linebackers, no defensive linemen, 11 cornerbacks, whatever. We just have to go out there and get the job done. But we also know Drew is going to be ready.”’

‘It will be interesting to see if there is another dinner date this weekend with Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe and some of his former Pats teammates. Bledsoe hosted Ted Johnson, Mike Vrabel, Larry Izzo and Damon Huard in Buffalo the night before the Pats’ big win on Nov. 3. The date drew some negative publicity, but it was not a finable offense for the Pats players.’

‘The Bills were pretty lucky Sunday.’

‘Bledsoe is gone, and he’s not coming back. He’s not our story anymore, one way or the other. He’s just another team’s quarterback. It’s probably about time we started dealing with that.’

‘They have the luxury of playing three of their final four games at Gillette Stadium, all against AFC East rivals. If the Patriots win three of four (they also have a Monday night game at Tennessee Dec. 16) they’ll finish 10-6, which should be good enough for the postseason. A wild card is tougher this year with realignment.’

‘With Buffalo out of timeouts, Wannstedt reasoned it was safe to pass. ”If we throw an incomplete pass, they have 48 seconds on the clock and no timeouts,” he said. “They weren’t going to move the ball down the field and score on us.”’

‘Coach Dave Wannstedt said Monday the Dolphins used their usual defensive formations against the Bills. “We always have somebody deep to help,” Wannstedt said. “We had that situation [Sunday] with every one of the touchdowns. We just didn’t make the plays.”‘