Archives for September 20, 2005

‘The Bills defense logged 38:50 minutes on the field in week two against Tampa Bay. It was the longest the defense had been on the field since last season’s week six contest against the Baltimore Ravens (39:08). The defensive front applied pressure on Tampa Bay quarterback Brian Griese who passed for just 136 yards. However, the Buccaneers compiled 191 rushing yards.’

‘What the Bills needed to get their running game on track — to keep the ball longer and give some valuable rest to their defense in the 91-degree heat — was for Losman to hit a few passes and move the chains. He failed miserably at the assignment.’

‘The Bills, who won their last four road games last season, obviously forgot some things. Like how to get off to a fast start and take the home crowd out of it. Like how to run the ball, stop the run, and control the clock. Like how to force turnovers.’

‘The Bills defense, ranked No. 1 in the NFL heading into the game, will see its ranking plummet after yielding 191 yards rushing and 318 yards overall to the Buccaneers.’

‘Last week J.P. Losman was the toast of the town in Buffalo. This week not so much.’

‘The reality is, the Bills aren’t as good a defense as they think…or claim.’

‘PFW: The attitude that you guys take onto the field – how would you describe it and characterize how you approach each game?

Kelsay: “Two words pop into my mind right away – relentless and being hungry. That’s something that we thrive on and that’s getting to the ball, getting everybody around the ball, swarming to the ball, whether it’s run or pass. Just coming, game in, game out. Even week in, week out, we come to practice every day hungry to be the best.”‘

‘You got to see what I’ve been trying to prepare everybody for since training camp opened. There are going to be games J.P. Losman looks bad in. That’s part of the program of starting a youngster at the position. It’s not time to call him a bust or that Tom Donahoe made an error by drafting him. It just means he was bad in one game. Willis McGahee is going to be a great back in this league, but he may have played worse than Losman. Plain and simply it happens.’

‘”Everybody’s down,” said offensive guard Chris Villarrial. “There’s no easy solution to it. It was an embarrassing loss and we’ve just got to find out what’s going on.”‘

‘It’s a bad sign when the head coach takes shots at his running back.’

‘”If you make mistakes any good back in this league, and Cadillac is one of them, will find them,” linebacker Jeff Posey said. “Any time somebody was out of place, he found it and he was good enough to hit it.”‘

‘It’s Sunday, week 2 of the NFL season, and there are 200+ Bills fans shouting for joy inside the Harp, home of the Bills Backers Boston chapter. Josh Reed has just made a nice catch. The place erupts. Passersby on the street are surprised to see a happy mass of buffalo-bedecked fans yelling and clapping, eyes glued to the TV sets and drinks in hand. Surely the spontaneous burst of applause and delight signaled some great feat on the gridiron, but sadly it did not.’

‘The hamstring injury that caused Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick to come out during the final two drives of Sunday’s 21-18 loss to Seattle could keep him out of this weekend’s game at Buffalo.’

‘”In my eight-year career, I’ve never come out of a game based on an injury,” said Fletcher, one of the NFL’s leading run stuffers, who left Sunday’s game late in the second quarter, just as Cadillac’s engine was starting to warm up. “As you can imagine, it hurt. It hurt a lot, especially to see them run the ball on us. I take responsibility in the run-stopping aspect of the game, and not to be able to help out, well, it doesn’t feel good at all.”‘

‘Mularkey and general manager Tom Donahoe like to steal from their beloved Steelers, but copy-catting the Roethlisberger blueprint is living in fantasy land. What we saw on Sunday is more the norm for young QBs in the NFL. Get out your yo-yos.’