Archives for October 19, 2008

‘Congratulations, Trent Edwards. You just played a full NFL season! After 16 games of his NFL career, Edwards is 258-of-421 for 2,839 yards, 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, good for a 80.9 quarterback rating and 61 percent completion percentage. For a guy who turns 25 — yes, 25 — on Oct. 30… well, that’s pretty okay.’

‘The Buffalo defense wasn’t altogether outstanding, but it was plenty good when it needed to be. Witness Kawika Mitchell’s interception that drove a stake into the Chargers during a fourth-quarter surge into the red zone. Mitchell also defensed a pass and applied quarterback pressure on that drive, and he ended San Diego’s final drive with a strip-sack. Bear in mind that the Bills’ defense played without starting corner Terrence McGee and former Pro Bowl defensive end Aaron Schobel. Last year, Buffalo learned to play through injuries. It paid off Sunday.’

‘Two consecutive fourth quarter drives by the San Diego Chargers ended in Mitchell making his presence felt leading the Bills to a 23-14 victory. With the Chargers down 20-14, San Diego was in the Buffalo red zone primed to score when Mitchell read quarterback Philip Rivers eyes and stepped in front of a pass intercepting the ball. The Bills proceeded to march it down in range for a 44-yard Rian Lindell field goal extending the Buffalo lead to 23-14.’

‘Edwards was 25-of-30 passing with Lee Evans as the main target, as the wideout snagged eight balls for 89 yards and a score. Marshawn Lynch also found the end zone with 70 yards rushing on 19 carries for the Bills (5-1), who improved to 5-1 for the first time since 1995 with their third straight home win. That was also the last time Buffalo reeled off wins its first three home games.’

‘The stadium lost power about a half-hour before the scheduled 1 p.m. (et) kickoff but power was restored some 15 minutes later. However, the power apparently went out again, leading to a purposeful shut down of power with 12:30 remaining in the first quarter in an effort to rectify the problem indefinitely.’

‘Chambers was injured in a 17-10 setback to the Miami Dolphins in Week 5 and missed the Chargers’ convincing 30-10 thrashing of the New England Patriots this past week. The veteran wideout has now missed six consecutive scheduled practice sessions and two straight games.’

‘Kawika Mitchell made the play of the game midway through the fourth quarter. With Buffalo holding onto a 20-14 lead, Mitchell dropped into coverage and made a leaping interception in his own end zone on an attempted touchdown pass by Philip Rivers returning it out to the Bills 30.’

‘Mitchell’s interception allowed Edwards to engineer a seven-play, 43-yard drive to set up Rian Lindell’s 44-yard field goal for a 23-14 lead with 3:17 remaining. Then Mitchell came through again, when he forced Rivers to fumble on San Diego’s next possession.’

‘The CBS TV feed was out until 2 p.m., or about 5 minutes after the power came back on in the stadium. The game, which had been delayed for 15 minutes in the first quarter, resumed with on-field officials keeping time while shouting out the time left on the play clock.’

‘Bills starting center Melvin Fowler (elbow) and starting cornerback Terrence McGee (left knee sprain) were also inactive. Rookie cornerback Leodis McKelvin started his first game in place of McGee, who missed his second consecutive game.’

‘”We feel like we’ve got a lot of weapons on this team, and each week somebody different steps up,” said Bills running back Fred Jackson. “We know they’re a very powerful and explosive team. But we feel like we are, too.”‘

‘The guys at the garage will have lots to talk about Monday if the Bills win today. The Bills are 4-1, alone atop the AFC East, one of only four NFL teams without two losses on their resume. A win today would make them 5-1 for the first time since 1995, which was the last time they won a playoff game.’

‘Chargers, 24-20.’

‘"We’re off to a good start, but it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things if we lose our next 11 games and go 4-12," quarterback Trent Edwards said.’

‘They definitely are a better team than they’ve been in recent years, but we’ll have a clearer idea if this season is legit or just another tease during these next four games.’