Archives for September 12, 2005

‘Marking his first visit to “The Ralph” in his new job as an officials’ supervisor for the NFL was former referee Johnny Grier. Grier’s final game as a ref was last October when the Bills hosted the Patriots. In that game he suffered an ankle injury that ended his officiating career. It took until March for doctors to correctly diagnose the problem, at which point he had a ligament from a cadaver stitched into his ankle. “I’m done (as an official),” he said, “now I’m a supervisor and, since this is my first game, I’ll let you know how it turns out. All I know is, they sent me back to the scene of the crime as my first assignment.”‘

‘”We weren’t going to sit back (and wait) to try to get him more involved in the game,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. “I think they were expecting us to run the ball, and we were not going to hold back. We were going to bring out the offense, try to keep them off balance. A lot of that was getting him out of the pocket. . . . A lot of that is trusting that he could do it, and he did it.”‘

‘”It’s a change, but a good change,” he said. “I’m trying to learn everything there is to know about playing free safety because I’m committed to being the best free safety that I can be and bring the most value to this football team.”‘

‘”Duke stepped right in with Chris out and we thought that may be a situation that comes up,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. “I think Duke was prepared for it. It was obvious. I didn’t hear his name on the headset very often, so he must have done pretty well.”‘

‘No, the loss wasn’t entirely Carr’s fault and there was a tug of war among everyone in the Houston locker room over who deserves the most blame for the embarrassing 22-7 loss. A lot of it had to do with the unruly Buffalo defense, which didn’t give Carr time to think, much less complete passes while forcing five turnovers.’

‘”He surprised everybody today,” said free safety Troy Vincent, who led an inspired defensive effort with two interceptions. “Maybe not so much a surprise. I think that was the performance everyone hoped that he would have – that he needed to have for us to be successful.”‘

‘”Maybe the best deal is, what I’ve done in the past is, you get everything ready up until game time and then stay away from him,” Wyche said. “Because there’s really not a lot you can add to their performance. All you can do is make them a little nervous.”‘

‘The Bills didn’t bring in a player to offer a serious challenge to Lindell in training camp, which should tell you how they feel about him.’

‘Hats off to the Kid from Tulane. Losman led the Bills to scoring drives on their first five possessions – four field goals by Rian Lindell and a touchdown pass to Jason Peters – while completing 17 of 28 passes for 170 yards in his first NFL start. Losman, who showed good poise in the pocket, was sacked just once and didn’t throw an interception.’

‘Congrats to Sam Wyche for getting J.P. ready for Opening Day. Play-calling on offense and defense was on the money.’

‘The Texans’ problem is they have only one WR threat. Carr didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball. He was off target, too.’

Box score and stats.

‘You know he has it in him, but you don’t know what you’re going to get (from a guy making his first NFL start),” said Milloy, the veteran strong safety. “Knowing that you have a young quarterback, we wanted to play a near perfect game on defense to give him as much time as possible to jell, not only as an individual but with his offensive unit. So our focus was to go out there and play our best ball and give this guy as many opportunities as possible to get it right.”‘

‘There will be days when his ears will be filled with jeers rather than cheers. But this was a start. A damn good one. “It was unbelievable how he played in his first big game,” marveled Bills owner Ralph Wilson. “He was very composed. He’s got everything in front of him.”‘

‘He needs to be more consistent on the long ones, and he needs to make a pressure-packed kick to gain full acceptance. But for now, making five field goals and playing such a central role in a victory is a step in the right direction. “It was a good start, but it’s over,” he said. “The uprights don’t get wider next week.”‘