Archives for October 2008

‘This might have been football from the stone age – the Bills sat in a dark locker room before the game and at halftime – except it wasn’t technical difficulties that troubled the Chargers as much as the Bills did. Playing without two defensive starters, they contained running back LaDainian Tomlinson, holding him to 41 yards on 14 rushes. And they bedeviled quarterback Philip Rivers, whose second quarter fumble gave the Bills a short field to drive for a touchdown.’

‘Edwards was not sacked and hardly touched Sunday by San Diego’s Pro Bowl-studded defensive front, propeling the Bills to a 23-14 victory.’

‘Bills receiver wide receiver Josh Reed said he didn’t know why the game was held up about 15 minutes before the decision was made to play without power. “We had a football with air in it and beautiful sunshine and two teams ready to go,” he said. “That’s all you need to play football.”‘

‘It was a typical Edwards game — smart, efficient, effective — and it proved to be extraordinary as his completion percentage of 83.33 broke Jim Kelly’s franchise record of 82.16. He didn’t let anything bother him. Not the first concussion of his 24 years on the planet, which caused him to miss the first of the Bills’ two weeks of practice during their bye. Not the stadium’s intermittent loss of power, which directly resulted in his being flagged for a delay-of-game penalty because the play clock wasn’t working (San Diego’s Philip Rivers also got the same penalty). Not the fact his starting center, Melvin Fowler, was sidelined with an injury.’

‘”(Brandon Manumaleuna) ran a crossing route and I knew to look to #85 (Antonio Gates), the number one receiver… and that’s just the play that we worked on,” Mitchell said. “They didn’t run it all game, and we finally got it, and I was the guy that was supposed to make the play on it so I did.”‘

‘It was another balanced performance from the NFL’s most-balanced club.’

‘"Trent is playing as well or better than any quarterback in this league right now," said safety Donte Whitner, "as far as getting the ball out, not turning the ball over and being efficient with what he’s doing. I’m very confident in Trent. In the past it was tough because you didn’t know exactly what you were going to get from the offense. You didn’t know if you were going to get points, so you almost had to play perfect on the defense side of the ball. And once you try to play perfect, you make mistakes. So with Trent out there I don’t have any worries at all. I sit on the bench, drink a little water, a little Gatorade and I glance over at the scoreboard. We need him out there. I felt like if we had him for the entire game against Arizona we might be sitting here talking about a 6-0 football team instead of 5-1. I really believe that."’

‘The Bills were ready to play after the bye and handled the logisitical problems of the power failure well. Perry Fewell came down from the booth to coach on the sidelines. Bobby April had his coverage units ready for a big game. Still need work on the run blocking. Grade A-: 5-1 is a heck of a start.’

‘Many people figured the Chargers were rolling now and would roll through Buffalo on their way to London for next week’s international game. The Bills wanted to prove that they are for real and they took a big step towards that with another big conference win against a team that is suppose to be one of the AFC’s elite. The tests get bigger from here as they have three straight division games coming up that will show how close the team is to pulling away in the division.’

‘Coach Dick Jauron said he’ll know more about DiGiorgio’s status on Monday, but wasn’t “overly optimistic.”‘

‘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.’