Archives for November 30, 2004

‘Part of Drew’s success was due to the play of the offensive line. These guys have done a great job the past few weeks. Drew has time to throw and they’re really clearing out some holes for Willis McGahee to run through. The sacks are also few and far between. Drew seemed to be on the turf a lot at the beginning of the year, but now he’s only going down about once a game. That’s a huge improvement for a unit that struggled early in the year.’

‘Eleven-year veteran quarterback Joe Ferguson had the best performance of his NFL career that afternoon. He set the Bills’ all-time single-game records with 55 pass attempts, 38 completions [which both still stand] and 419 yards. He also tied his own single-game team record with five touchdown passes.’

‘Who would have thought the Buffalo Bills would have had a shot at the playoffs after starting the season with four straight losses?’

‘"These guys are still looking ahead at what we have a chance at, even with that start," Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. "Maybe it’s something in the offseason where you wish you could’ve and would’ve. There’s absolutely nothing we can do about it right now."’

‘I started out writing a temper-your-enthusiasm column, putting the likelihood of the Bills in the playoffs right up there with a Mike Williams hunger strike. But four paragraphs in, while crunching the numbers yet again, I came to the realization that this is no time to write off the Bills, to dismiss their revival as nothing more than a blow to the draft plans of Bill Parcells and Jerry Jones. The race isn’t over. There’s still a hint of magic in the air.’

‘We had pulled together at the most crucial time of that otherwise dispiriting season. We had begun to show the fiber that would hold together that unique group of Bills players as they marched forth into the next decade where they would be confronted with new and exhilarating challenges.’

‘”We’re not as bad as people think we are,” Jennings said recently. He may be right.’

‘Boy, three victories in his last 17 road games and you’re ready to jump on the Bledsoe bandwagon? I was impressed with his play in Seattle because for the first time in a long time he overcame adversity. But he threw three interceptions and it could have been five.’

‘First off, Buffalo’s next four opponents have a combined record of 11-33. If the Bills can run that table, they would be 9-6 heading into the season finale against the powerful Pittsburgh Steelers. All of a sudden, a game that looked like a miserable reason to head out to Ralph Wilson Stadium in January becomes a meaningful contest. If only it weren’t for that 0-4 start that saw the Bills lose two games by three points and one by two points along with a 31-17 loss to New England.’

‘McGahee scored four touchdowns in Sunday’s drubbing of Seattle, one more than he had managed all season. Still, in the past two months, only Kansas City’s Priest Holmes has more rushing touchdowns. With 116 yards, McGahee topped 100 for the fifth time in seven weeks. By no coincidence, Buffalo is 5-0 in those games.’

‘There have been rumors Buffalo is planning on trading one of their running backs next season. With an ailing quarterback who, unlike wine and cheese, just keeps getting exponentially worse with age and whose sole touchdown pass of the game was for fewer yards than McGahee averaged on touchdown runs, it would be foolish for Buffalo to trade away McGahee. While it’s understandable why Mularkey chose Henry as the starting running back (the guy HAD averaged 1,300 rushing yards in the previous two seasons), to get rid of McGahee now would simply be, and I apologize in advance, a load of malarkey.’

‘Mularkey, who is always jotting down plays on napkins and scraps of paper, has no shortage of ideas but they’re only as good as the players executing them. Too often this year, Bledsoe hasn’t demonstrated the ball handling skills or footwork to make a trick play work, or else the line or the running backs had breakdowns. But everything was clicking on Sunday, when the Bills rang up season-highs for yardage (434) and first downs (25). The fake QB sneak left the locker room buzzing.’

‘Mike Mularkey pulled out all the stops to win his first road game, pushing all the right psychological buttons. By giving his team more time off the night before the game, serving the players cheeseburgers and taking them on a stroll of the Seattle waterfront, he put a rested team on the field both mentally and physically.’

‘A key to Buffalo’s defensive success was its offense running 19 more plays and staying on the field. The Bills defense faced just 57 snaps.’