Archives for September 2003

‘”The Case of the Vanishing Buffalo.” After the first two weeks, Bills fans were clearing their calendars for a trip to the Super Bowl. But after the last two weeks, they just want to go hide. Between Miami and Philadelphia, the Bills went eight quarters without scoring before mounting a mini-rally in the final minutes against the Eagles. One obvious clue — RB Travis Henry is missing and Joe Burns is not the answer.’

‘”It felt like we were fighting an uphill battle an awful lot,” Bledsoe said. “We just didn’t make enough plays. That’s the bottom line.”‘

‘McNabb led the Eagles to a textbook opening touchdown drive today in extremely hostile territory and the Philadelphia Eagles breathed a sigh of relief when the final gun sounded in their 23-13 victory over the often-bumbling Buffalo Bills (2-2).’

‘When the Bills tried to stack the line of scrimmage and play man defense, McNabb floated perfect touch passes behind the secondary. When the pass protection broke down, McNabb used his legs to pick up 47 yards rushing.’

‘The next possession, a 16-play drive that inhaled 8:36 of the first quarter, was pure McNabb. Three times he converted on third down, finding enough time and space in the pocket to hit James Thrash for 16 yards, and Pinkston for 11 and 5. After a 26-yard David Akers field goal, the Eagles had already matched their offensive output on the season.’

‘”He just set the tone for all of us,” Eagles tight end Chad Lewis said. “I don’t know if it was the week off or if it was any inward thinking that he did, but he came today with a will and it was Donovan’s will. He asserted that on the first drive. He really took all of us on his back and said, ‘Let’s go!’ You could just feel that he was our leader from snap one.”‘

‘For the first time this season, McNabb actually looked like he was enjoying himself out there.’

‘"We knew that they had struggled a little bit running the ball," defensive tackle Corey Simon said. "We knew their best running back was out, so we just had to go out there and not have a letdown. Last year, when we went into the Indianapolis game, and we figure OK, we can just go out and play the pass, and James Mungro had a huge game. So, we knew Joe Burns can run the ball. He’s a tough runner. We had to go out there, focus and bear down and get after it."’

‘Drew Bledsoe’s offense was ineffective for much of the game, but he still finished with 296 yards and a TD on 27-of-43 passing for Buffalo (2-2), which was coming off a 17-7 loss in Miami last Sunday night. Bledsoe also rushed for a score.’

‘The Bills failed to put points on the board until the fourth quarter when quarterback Drew Bledsoe passed for a touchdown and ran for a score to pull Buffalo within three points. But, Eagles running back Brian Westbrook killed any chance of a come back with a late 62 yard score.’

‘On the Bills’ Running Game: "We have got to execute a lot better there. You can’t be one-dimensional and we were one-dimensional today."’

‘On the Lack of a Rushing Game Putting Too Much Pressure On the Passing Game: "The areas that I think we need to address are two areas. Number one, too many negative plays on early downs. We have a penalty on first down or we have a sack on first down, or we have a negative play on first down makes it hard to stay patient with the running game. Number two is our third conversions, partly because of that problem, but overall our third down conversion percentage has not been strong enough. When you don’t convert your third downs then you don’t get a chance to be patient with the running game. Those two areas are really making it hard for us to stay patient with the running game and on top of that we just haven’t been very effective with it the last couple of weeks."’

‘On the Inability To Run the Ball: "It’s not a lack of running game. It’s doing what you have to do on the field. We have to be able to stay on the field. We have to convert third downs and our defense needs to stop third downs. That’s how you win ball games."’

‘On Whether There’s a Lack of Commitment to Running Game: "I’m not the one to make that decision. I just go and execute the play that is called to the best of my ability. I just have to go out and do what they tell me to do."’

‘On the Penalties: "On third downs we couldn’t get off the field, which kept us on the field a long time. Offense didn’t convert on third downs, which hurt us. We just have to go and get back next week."’