Archives for November 14, 2004

‘In fact, Buffalo’s defense has not allowed a running back to rush for over 100 yards all season, the only team in the league to have accomplished that feat. And, as Belichick says, “You can’t keep calling running plays that don’t gain yardage.”‘

‘The Bills only have defeated a defending Super Bowl champion on the road twice in their history (1975 at Pittsburgh, 1993 at Dallas). So a win over the AFC East’s colossus would make their season, even if it doesn’t catapult them to a great stretch run.’

‘Run and stop the run. It’s a simple game. That’s the game the Bills wanted to play when Mularkey became the coach. They’ve begun to establish their identity over the last month. But the true character of a team is revealed away from home. Tonight, the football world will be looking to see if that identity is genuine, or just a mask.’

‘"He’s definitely a study," left tackle Jonas Jennings said with a laugh. "I mean, he’s a damn brainiac. He knows every guy on the film, his name, where’s he from, even in the preseason when it’s a fourth-string guy."’

‘The Bills have lost their last three Sunday night ESPN games, all on the road, by a combined 90-12 score at San Francisco, Miami and Kansas City.’

‘Very few people in western New York know who Jon Dorenbos is because he has rarely muffed a snap since joining the Bills in 2003.’

‘"I’ve watched wrestling since I was 5 or 6 years old. Even when I was in Buffalo, when people talked to me, my conversation to warm up was to talk pro wrestling. When I was asked if I could meet anybody in the world who would it be, I’d say Ric Flair. As a child, I didn’t have football posters and football cards, I had pro wrestlers on my wall."’

‘Bledsoe performed well for the last two games (both at home) so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and move him up a few spots. Tonight in New England will be a moment of truth for all of the improving Bills, but particularly for Bledsoe.’

‘Best team – New England. The Patriots were missing several key players, including RB Corey Dillon, when host Pittsburgh ended their NFL-record 21-game winning streak, but they rebounded impressively by humiliating the Rams in St. Louis last week.’

‘”The most disappointing part of what we’ve done to this point is that in the games that we lost, we had opportunities to win all of them,” Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe said this week. “In none of the five losses did we come away saying, ‘man we just got beat up today.”

‘Watch that game film of New England-St. Louis last week? See what Mike Martz did? Don’t do that.’

‘The entire team seems to be adapting to the styles and demands of new coach Mike Mularkey and his staff.’

‘“Lawyer is a big part of our defense, and when we lost him, we lost four Pro Bowls, the experience of playing time and we lost a lot of the stuff that you could do with him that you can’t do with Coy Wire or Pierson Prioleau,” Gray said. “We can give teams different looks and disguise coverages a lot more. Every team has to account for Lawyer. Is he blitzing or not? Is he covering or not? With Coy and Pierson, they have to earn that reputation. Lawyer is a guy who already has it.”’

‘“I think the (offensive linemen) have a lot of confidence because he breaks a lot of tackles,” Bills receiver Eric Moulds said of McGahee, apparently subscribing to the latter theory. “We’ve been in a situation where it’s third-and-2 or third-and-4, and he gets the first down. That gives them a lot of confidence (to say), `Let’s run it down their throats, let’s pound ’em.’ ”’

‘Pats by 3.’