Two Bills Drive

‘It will be interesting to see if there is another dinner date this weekend with Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe and some of his former Pats teammates. Bledsoe hosted Ted Johnson, Mike Vrabel, Larry Izzo and Damon Huard in Buffalo the night before the Pats’ big win on Nov. 3. The date drew some negative publicity, but it was not a finable offense for the Pats players.’

‘The Bills were pretty lucky Sunday.’

‘Bledsoe is gone, and he’s not coming back. He’s not our story anymore, one way or the other. He’s just another team’s quarterback. It’s probably about time we started dealing with that.’

‘They have the luxury of playing three of their final four games at Gillette Stadium, all against AFC East rivals. If the Patriots win three of four (they also have a Monday night game at Tennessee Dec. 16) they’ll finish 10-6, which should be good enough for the postseason. A wild card is tougher this year with realignment.’

‘With Buffalo out of timeouts, Wannstedt reasoned it was safe to pass. ”If we throw an incomplete pass, they have 48 seconds on the clock and no timeouts,” he said. “They weren’t going to move the ball down the field and score on us.”’

‘Coach Dave Wannstedt said Monday the Dolphins used their usual defensive formations against the Bills. “We always have somebody deep to help,” Wannstedt said. “We had that situation [Sunday] with every one of the touchdowns. We just didn’t make the plays.”‘

‘Wannstedt finally said Lucas made the biggest error by holding on to the ball too long. The play had been called for a quick-hitch pattern by both outside receivers, but Lucas had been instructed to throw the ball away if there was nothing there.’

‘In Sunday’s loss to the Bills, Bledsoe and Moulds beat Madison for two more big plays. One was a 57-yard touchdown pass, the other a 47-yard completion that put Buffalo at the Miami 3-yard line and led to another score.’

Lucas was 6-for-11 for 40 yards and one touchdown against the Bills, and Fiedler went 5-for-9 for 15 yards and one interception. The Dolphins are 2-4 in games Lucas has started after beginning the season 5-1 under Fiedler, who broke his right thumb against Denver on Oct. 13.

Bledsoe was chiefly responsible for the Bills staying in the AFC East title hunt. Bledsoe connected with his favorite targets — Eric Moulds and Peerless Price — for a trio of touchdowns in Buffalo’s victory over Miami. He was 15-for-27 passing for 306 yards and also had a scoring run.

"Travis Henry was no Ricky in the snow, but he was damn good, and against a much tougher run defense. Miami’s run D was rated third in the league entering the game in Buffalo, and what Henry did was nearly Tomlinsonesque: 35 carries, 151 yards. Funny. All anyone was talking about after the game was Williams’ big day and Drew Bledsoe passing up a storm in the storm. Hellooooo! Ball possession was vital in this game, and Henry, by being such a big horse, allowed the Bills to keep it for almost 33 minutes. "

‘The defense was sloppy in a lot of different areas, but probably nothing was as frustrating as watching the Dolphins drop interception after interception. The culprits included Zach Thomas, Jamar Fletcher, Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison, who not only botched the pick but wound up tipping the ball to Buffalo wide receiver Eric Moulds, who strolled into the end zone for a 57-yard touchdown that made it 31-21 late in the third quarter.’

‘“Any good offense has a strength to it, and the focal point of our offense has been the throwing game,” Bills offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. “But when people begin to play that, then you have to be able to successfully go after them in another way. And our other dimension is Travis. He’s the one who gives the physicality to our offense.”’

‘The Bills game against the Miami Dolphins at Ralph Wilson Stadium Dec. 1 posted a rating of 44.8 and a share of 68 in the Buffalo market. Those numbers tied the audience levels for Super Bowl XXXVI as the most-watched TV program in the Buffalo market, the nation’s 44th largest, since meters were first used in 2000.’

‘Bledsoe and company grabbed control of the game, after three Sundays worth of taking what opposing defenses were willing to give them, seizing what they wanted. And once the lake-effect bands started wandering over Orchard Park, obliterating the yard markers and putting the Dolphins into a deep freeze, Buffalo’s defense kept Miami from doing much of anything at all.’