Archives for November 2003

‘Jones, a product of Southwest High School who went on to play for North Carolina and later spent six seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recently retired from the ranks of the professional level after being waived by the Buffalo Bills in September. Jones was placed on injured reserve while rehabilitating a knee injury after being signed by the Bills.’

‘Unfortunately for the Bills, the race is already over, the battle already lost. With a 4-6 record and a schedule that includes teams who are a combined 37-23, it would take a minor miracle for the Bills to make the playoffs. In fact, the team leaders have just about given up hope on that goal.’

‘Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride continues to drag the entire staff down.’

‘CB Nate Clements had a miserable game against Houston. He was one of three Bills who missed a tackle on Andre Johnson’s 46-yard catch-and-run TD, he missed an open-field tackle on a quick screen to Johnson that resulted in a 42-yard gain that set up a Houston field goal, and he had a personal foul penalty that kept alive another Houston field goal drive. Add it up and Clements was involved in every point Houston scored.’

‘Truth is though, part of his anger should be directed at the guy in the mirror, because among the finalists he considered for the Bills top coaching spot three years ago are two of the current NFL coach of the year candidates, John Fox at Carolina and Marvin Lewis at Cincinnati.’

‘We have no idea whether our team will score again. But we can promise that Peyton Manning and the Colts will score touchdowns this week, and it’s very likely that the Jets and Miami will score some points in the other two home games. We know you are football fans, so keep supporting us, even though we may never score again.’

‘The Colts have won four of the past five meetings. Prior to that, Buffalo had taken seven of the past eight contests.’

Veteran Tony Banks will get his second start of the season Sunday against New England. Carr was injured late in the first quarter of Sunday’s 12-10 victory at Buffalo when Bills linebacker Jeff Posey came free for a sack, driving Carr’s throwing shoulder into the turf. Center Todd Washington prevented a touchdown by sweeping the ball out of bounds for a safety after Carr fumbled.

‘Buffalo has gone 190 minutes and 24 seconds of game time since last reaching the end zone on Travis Henry’s 14-yard run in the fourth quarter of a 24-7 win over Washington on Oct. 19.’

‘“All I remember is the yellow sign and the embankment. And the next thing I know is I’m talking to a lady,” said Williams of an unidentified passer-by.’

‘To coach Tony Dungy, the Colts are using a formula that seems custom-made for winning: play hard, take advantage of opportunities, and find different ways and different people to finish the job.’

‘”Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way and it happened a lot in that ballgame. When we talk about just the points in the ballgame we had a touchdown pass that dropped and we had a great hit, a safety, that hopefully you get recovered for a touchdown. We’re still a fraction, a heal click away from a return and you miss a couple of fields. We had some points in all areas of our football team that weren’t scored yesterday because of an uneven bounce going your way. You just have to keep fighting and hopefully one of those things will start and confidence will be right back where it was.”‘

‘Head coach Jason Kolb of Burgard High School has been named the Buffalo Bills’ high school football “Coach of the Week” for the eleventh (and final) weekend of the 2003 season (Nov. 14-15). Kolb led Burgard (8-1) to a 12-0 victory over rival Riverside HS (5-4) in the City of Buffalo’s “Harvard Cup League” regular season finale last Saturday.’

‘In case you found a more pleasantly entertaining way to spend Sunday afternoon, like eating all the light bulbs in your home, or removing your toenails with a pair of pliers, you missed the Buffalo Bills hitting bottom. The Houston Texans’ wheezing, stumbling 12-10 survival at Ralph Wilson Stadium wasn’t just the low point of this season, or even Gregg Williams’ crashing bore of a coaching tenure. Losing in such execrable fashion, at home, to a second-year expansion team operating with its second-string quarterback while failing to score an offensive touchdown for the third full game stands as the most pathetic moment in the franchise’s 44-year history. Yes, plenty of Bills teams have lost in heinous fashion to opponents who were supposedly even worse. But nobody expected anything of the teams that won one game in 1968 and 1971, or the two-time winners Buffalo fielded in 1976, ’84 and ’85. Even during the worst moments of Williams’ 3-13 rookie campaign two years ago, there were some signs of improvement, a few reasons to hope things would get better.’

‘Steve Tasker was, without question, one of the great special-teams players in National Football League history. His teeth-cracking hits on return men electrified crowds at Rich Stadium and often provided the Buffalo Bills with crucial field position before, during and after the franchise’s Super Bowl era. His blocked punt on a Sunday night against the Los Angeles Raiders in 1990 triggered his team’s run to the first of four straight AFC titles. He also provided a spark on kick returns, like his game-turning runback of a squib kick against the Raiders in the 1993 postseason, and as a receiver on the rare occasions he was asked to do so. Without question, Tasker deserves to be enshrined. On the Bills’ Wall of Fame. But the Hall of Fame in Canton? Nah. Before sending a nasty e-mail questioning my football knowledge, parentage, patriotism or sexual preference, hear me out.’