Archives for November 2004

‘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.’

‘As good as Travis Henry has been over the last couple of years, McGahee has been a better option over the past month. He’s bigger (6-foot, 228 pounds to Henry’s 5-9, 215) and has more speed to the outside. Henry is a very good straight-line runner with more power than you’d expect from somebody his size. But McGahee, still not fully recovered from the devastating knee injury he suffered at the University of Miami two years ago, also runs hard and has been very good at bouncing to the outside. With some overly aggressive defenses, that can be a problem, but both Mike Vrabel [news] and Willie McGinest [news] are confident the disciplined Patriots approach to defense will prevent the outside people from losing containment and opening up big plays for McGahee. ‘

‘The Bills can’t afford to put Bledsoe in a position where he has to win the game for them because — even against a raw secondary (the Pats will again be without Tyrone Poole and Ty Law) — the Patriots will collapse the middle of the Bills pocket and force harried throws from Bledsoe that will get picked off. It’s just what happens. So the Bills need to keep their offense balanced by keeping the game tight. They have a defense generally capable of doing that. The Bills front-seven is as potent as any team in the league. Buffalo hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher this season.’

‘The Bills often get good field position thanks to KR Terrence McGee, who returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD in the Oct. 3 game against the Patriots. Drew Bledsoe has not been intercepted or sacked in his last two games, only the second time in 12 seasons he has avoided those problems in back-to-back games. RB Willis McGahee rushed for 137 yards last week against the Jets and has gained more than 100 yards in each of his three NFL starts. Will the 6-foot, 228-pound McGahee, who was on every 2003 draftnik’s Top 10 list until a knee injury in his last college game, have his way with a Patriots defense that has allowed more 100-yard rushers (two) in half a season than it did (one) in all of 2003? If he can’t, the Bills will be forced into obvious passing situations, and the Patriots will tee off on Bledsoe, who is immobile and whose porous O-line doesn’t figure to give him enough time if he holds the ball. If he does have time, he’ll be dangerous, because No.1 pick WR Lee Evans is explosive, a great complement to veteran WR Eric Moulds. With Law and Poole both out for the second straight week, can the Patriots’ patchwork secondary survive and thrive for another week?’

‘Control McGahee.’