Archives for November 27, 2003

‘The most frustrating part for Amani Toomer was that when he looked at the Buccaneers’ defense, he did not see the same dominant unit that made opposing offenses shudder.’

‘”I don’t want that going on and we don’t need that,” Fassel said he told Mitchell. “I said, ‘The comment you said in the paper? That these things should not be aired in the newspapers? OK, it shouldn’t be aired in the newspapers.'”‘

‘How bad has it gotten for the Giants? Two words have seeped into talk radio chatter: Jesse Palmer. Here is a two-word response: Forget it.’

‘”Winning is a great deodorant,” Fassel said. “I know that when you get into a situation like this, there are things that arise that don’t usually arise and that’s my job to manage those things. That’s the way it is.”‘

‘”In our world, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in wins and losses, but you’ve always got to try to remember what’s really important,” Collins said. “Obviously, being in the position I’m in, I’m able to do these kinds of things and I feel like it’s important to do, especially around the holidays.”‘

‘”These guys are very good professionals,” he said. “They understand that 24 hours after the ballgame you have to spit out the bitter taste and get on to the next opponent; and we are working very hard on getting ready for the Giants.”‘

‘Donahoe doesn’t want to turn this final stretch into a glorified tryout process for 2004 but would like to see the Bills iron out some of their problems so there’s a positive feeling going into the off-season. “We’ll evaluate everything when the season is over,” he said. “We still have five games to play and this team has shown it has a lot of fight. There’s no reason to think that’s going to change.”‘

‘The Giants were a playoff team a year ago but are reeling for a lot of reasons, No. 1 being a sudden inability to protect the football. In Jim Fassel’s first six seasons, the Giants were a plus-23 in turnover differential, but this season they are a minus-8. Consider Buffalo’s minus-11 and this game easily comes down to what team makes the fewest mistakes. The Bills and Giants have a combined 22 lost fumbles. The Bills have been horrendous on the road protecting the football, committing 31 turnovers against only five for their opponents during their 1-8 road record dating back to last season. The Giants are giving up 328 yards per game so Buffalo should be able to move the football, but it absolutely can’t stop itself with mistakes and hope to win. Defensively, the Bills match their No. 4 pass defense against New York’s No. 4 passing offense and can win this battle with pressure on the inconsistent Kerry Collins.’

’17 — Number of runs of 10 yards or more than Travis Henry has had in his last five games.’

‘You can argue that no team plays with passion when it can’t move the ball on offense. Tell that to owner Ralph Wilson. He ripped the players and coaches after a loss to the then-winless New York Jets on Oct. 12, saying his team sleep-walked and showed no emotion or enthusiasm. He went on to say that at least Cincinnati, a team the Bills had beaten one week earlier, was aggressive the way his team used to be. Those are not the words Williams, who is in the final year of his contract, wants to hear. Wilson hasn’t been as outspoken publicly since the loss to the Jets, but his assessment of where this team stands certainly hasn’t improved.’

‘Travis Henry and Eric Moulds are not on the injury report, but were held out of practice. Jeff Posey worked some on the side, Mike Pucillo, Sammy Morris with a knee and Angelo Crowell all didn’t practice. Those four players as well as Clarence Coleman are questionable for the Giants game.’

”’It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that,” Henry said. ”There’s a lot of things that we could’ve been doing early in the season but we weren’t. But it comes to a point, I guess, where you’ve got to point the fingers at somebody.”’