Archives for November 2004

‘WR Jonathan Smith, a rookie from Georgia Tech, provided a bright spot for the Bills with a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown. Smith, a seventh-round pick last April, was one of the ACC’s top return men, averaging 12.2 yards on 39 punt returns for his college career. “We practiced all week that maybe we’d get a short kick, and Nate (Clements) was back there relaying the calls and he told me the ball was mine,” Smith said. “The blocking was great. I saw a seam and I just ran. I didn’t have to make many moves because the blocking was so good.”‘

‘I think Mularkey can coach, and Donahoe can assess talent, and many of the pieces are already in place. The sooner Losman develops, the luckier the Bills will be.’

‘Some of his decisions, including the acquisition of Bledsoe from the Patriots in exchange for a first-round draft choice, and the release of Antowain Smith in 2001, one of his first decisions after joining the Bills, rank among his top 10 disasters.’

‘Willis McGahee, with 100-yard games in each of his first three starts (all Bills’ wins), proved to be a non-factor in his Gillette Stadium debut, going for 36 yards on 11 carries in the first half when it mattered. "We were determined not to let him get 100 yards on us," said safety Rodney Harrison. "It was huge that we stopped him. We got turnovers and sacks and they didn’t score on us."’

‘Bledsoe’s evening was epitomized on the Bills’ opening offensive series in the second half. The Patriots had just scored a field goal to go up 23-0. Bledsoe’s answer? On first down, Bledsoe threw a bad incompletion about five feet in front of Moulds, who was standing still on the line of scrimmage. On second down, Willis McGahee was stuffed at the line of scrimmage for no gain. And then, on third down, another Bledsoe pass hit the ground about 10 feet in front of a running Sam Aiken.’

‘Could you please explain to me how New England’s offensive line, with an undrafted free agent and a couple of low round picks, was able to dominate our defensive line? Also, how could their secondary, with so many injuries, completely shut down our passing game? Is this bad coaching or bad drafting on our part?

TD: New England’s offensive line played well last night and we did not. It is only one game and you have to give them credit. We do like the progress our team has made over the last month and we cannot put aside the good things that we have started to do because of one sub-par performance.’

‘Why was the team so unprepared to play? It has happened over and over again this season. Is it the players or the coaching staff?

MM: It hasn’t happened a lot. That was the first game we were soundly beaten. I feel like we were prepared and so did the players.’

‘“I think it’s still too early. I haven’t wrestled with it yet because I don’t think we’re at that point yet,” Mularkey said. “There’s still seven games left. We’re not out of it. I think Drew has proven in the three wins before this game that he’s a big reason why. And we’ll go and start with Drew this week.”’

‘The head coach says J.P. Losman will get more practice time, but he’s not even ready to be number two ahead of Shane Matthews this week yet. He played against the Patriots just to get a chance to call plays in the huddle and be under center.’

‘It was easy to bash Rob Johnson; he didn’t seem to care about anything. It was easy to bash Doug Flutie he only cared about himself. But, it’s hard to bash Bledsoe, because you take the one hundred most diehard fans in Western New York and they don’t want to win one-tenth as much as Bledsoe does. That’s what makes his demise so tough.’

‘Brian Moorman: Posted a 48.0 average at New England, increasing career average to club-record 42.95…posted a long punt of 58 yds. And registered three kicks of over 50 yds…has recorded a 50+ yd. kick in 44 of 57 career games and eight of nine games this season.’

‘Tellingly, Mularkey noted, “We had some errant throws that got picked off. But they really didn’t do anything we didn’t expect … that’s the disappointing thing. “They basically lined up the way we thought they’d line up. They didn’t do anything exotic … didn’t try to trick us … didn’t do anything that should have thrown us off. There were just better than we were.”‘

‘Talk about not ready for prime time.’

‘Buffalo was completely inept on offense, failing to move the ball more than 18 yards or longer than five plays after its opening drive of the game. The Bills mustered just 125 total yards of offense, gaining eight first downs and converting none of their seven third down attempts.’

‘But, rather than sticking with the run, run and run some more philosophy that brought the Bills into Foxborough on the closest thing they’ve had to a hot streak in more than a year, Mularkey and Clements decided, for reasons known only to them, to put this one in Bledsoe’s hands.’