Archives for September 22, 2003

‘As Ricky goes, the Dolphins will go. But they might consider incorporating the word “decoy” in the playbook. Or remembering there are other skill players on the payroll. Or making sure Dave Wannstedt doesn’t have Williams in his fantasy league.’

‘The Dolphins were trying to avoid something that hadn’t happened in 14 seasons. It’s been that long since they lost two homes games in September. Miami had won 13 of its past 17 games in September. The problem, as any Dolphins fan can attest, has been the December streaks.’

‘The loss was the Bills’ first of the season after two victories, but it was their eighth in the last 10 games here. At least their rejuvenated defense, with four new starters, stood out. The Bills extended a streak of holding opponents to 17 or fewer points to six games.’

‘It wasn’t pretty, but this is Wannstedt football.’

‘”Tough, hard-nosed football,” said Miami safety Brock Marion. “We just went out and played.”‘

‘As the Buffalo Bills learned the hard way Sunday night, it won’t be easy. In fact, if you run into the kind of defense the ’03 Dolphins can play, it can become impossible.’

‘”We knew if we kept Drew off-balance that we could get him out of his rhythm,” said Marion. “The guys up front helped to do that.”‘

‘The Bills’ first four possessions produced two turnovers and no first downs, and they wasted two scoring chances inside the Miami 20 in the second quarter. One threat ended when a trick play backfired, with Henry’s underthrown pass being intercepted by Surtain at the 1.’

”’The stats speak for themselves,” Dolphins safety Sammy Knight said. ”Eric Moulds is a great player, but we got the best of him today.”’

‘Bills coach Gregg Williams said Henry’s ribs were “very sore” but not broken. He said Henry would be re-evaluated Monday.’

‘”I certainly didn’t think that we would come out and play the way we did,” Bledsoe said. “I thought we would play better than we did. They had a good plan for us and they changed some things up on us which they haven’t done in three or four years.”‘

‘”The way Miami controlled the line of scrimmage, especially against our offense, made it a long night for our defense,” said Bills head coach Gregg Williams. “They were able to play on the short field most of the night and Ricky was able to pop a few runs late in the game and they were able to put the game away.”‘

‘Henry was hurt in the first half of the 17-7 loss and did not return. He will be further evaluated on Monday.’

‘With two interceptions tonight, Bills CB Nate Clements now has six interceptions over his last three games against the Dolphins, including two for touchdowns. In addition to his 54-yard return for a score tonight, he brought one back 29 yards on October 20 of last year at Pro Player Stadium when he picked off a Ray Lucas pass.’

‘”We got real physical with these guys and the defensive line did a terrific job up front and really got after the quarterback. When everything comes together like it did tonight you’re going to have a great defensive game and we did.”‘