Archives for November 2004

Jonas Jennings shoulder popped out during Sunday’s game. He did get back in, but Mularkey says his left tackle may miss a few days of practice this week.’

‘The cheeseburgers are a funny anecdote but they represent something bigger. They demonstrate a coach who is willing to try anything to win. That willingness comes with one other characteristic that is important in all good coaches—They can’t be afraid to fail. It took desperate times, but Mike Mularkey now has his team playing to win instead of playing not to lose. Early in the season the team lacked confidence and tried to avoid losing. Sunday the Bills seized the game from the beginning and never let up.’

‘Reverses, flea-flickers, and now we step things up a notch in Seattle, with an on-side kick to start the second half, and later the fake qb sneak and lateral to Willis McGahee for the 30 yard touchdown that salts away the Seahawks. Players absolutely LOVE that attitude from a head coach. It says “we’re playing to WIN”, and we’re gonna keep a team down and then step on them to make sure.’

‘The AFC has seven teams with at least seven wins. Since six teams make the playoffs, at least 10 or probably 11 wins will be needed to qualify.’

‘It might not be enough for Buffalo (5-6) to creep back into the AFC playoff race, with seven teams that have seven or more wins battling for six postseason berths. But it’s enough to convince Mularkey his team is showing some resilience.’

‘”A lot of things have to happen outside of what we’re doing,” Mularkey said. “All we can control is what we do in our games. We’re still plugging away.”‘

‘Chris Moore, of Youngstown, praised the Bills’ defense, but said the team needed to boost its offensive line. “They have two-thirds of the puzzle,” said Moore, a 43-year-old karate instructor watching the game Sunday with several long-time friends. “They just don’t have the other third.”‘

‘Coach, what has changed about this team from the start of the year? They suddenly are overcoming their mistakes. Drew threw 3 picks against Seattle but we still crushed them. Is this team finally buying into what you preach and are they finally playing football the way you believe they are best off playing with tough physical play?

MM: We not making the same mistakes that we were earlier and if we do make one mistake we can overcome it, which we did not do earlier in the year. That “here we go away” mentality is hopefully gone.’

‘I for one was excited when I heard the Bills took McGahee in the 2003 draft. If you could say one thing to some of the doubters of that pick, what would you say?

TD: Everyone was entitled to their opinion when we selected Willis McGahee in the 2003 Draft. As an organization, we had great faith in Willis and great faith in our medical people. It really came down to whether we were willing to be patient enough to give Willis a chance to rehab and to get healthy. We are starting to see that patience pay off with his performance this year.’

‘Mularkey added the team is conducting further tests on Henry, and should have a more definitive diagnosis when the Bills return to practice on Wednesday.’

‘Starting in place of quarterback Jack Kemp was rookie Daryle Lamonica, who was making his first pro start. The attack was simple-run the ball against the New York Jets’ defense. "Our game plan was to run Cookie and we stuck to it," said Lamonica. "I told him before the game, ‘I’m going to put you to work’."’

‘Willis McGahee: Became only the third player in Bills history to record four rushing touchdowns in a game (Cookie Gilchrist, 5, 12/8/63, and Roland Hooks, 4, 9/9/79).

‘Even if they run the table before Pittsburgh visits on Jan. 2, Buffalo postseason aspirations rely on two pretty good teams among the three atop the wild-card standings — Baltimore, Denver and the New York Jets — completely collapsing. That’s probably not going to happen.’

‘TE Mark Campbell’s three TDs in a November 21 win over the Rams show what a threat he is in the red zone. He is good at finding soft spots in the secondary and has the size (6-6, 255) and hands to make plays in traffic. His receiving skills are too good to be ignored.’

‘Buffalo would need a miracle to make the AFC playoffs. Yet, the Bills dominated Seattle, which has a strong chance to make the postseason even land a home playoff game because the Seahawks play in a conference in which five of the 16 teams have winning records.’