Two Bills Drive

‘The hit Sunday knocked him out cold. "All I remember is seeing Sam come out" of the backfield, Burris said. "I was trying to get a shot at him. The last thing I remember was holding up my thumb. The next thing I knew, I was in" the dressing room.’

‘Until it mattered, Drew Bledsoe’s offense ran like a Bl-Edsel. Until they had to have the win, the Buffalo Bills played as if they were afraid to lose, and maybe they were. Because the NFL’s perception of the Bengals hasn’t caught up to reality, even the possibility of losing to the erstwhile Bungles can cause throats to tighten.’

‘The Bengals doubled their season sack total Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, and with three coming in the second half, they helped maintain a field-position edge.’

‘”I don’t care about the elements,” said safety Lawyer Milloy. “I’m not the type of guy who’s going to go to midfield and throw up the grass to see which way the wind was blowing. I attack the ball.”‘

‘”We want the chance to show what we can do with the run,” offensive guard Ruben Brown said. “That’s what we got today, the opportunity, and how fitting that last score was on a run.”‘

‘Had the Bills dropped this one, Gregg Williams and his strategically challenged coaching staff would have felt as if they were sitting on a tailgater’s grill.’

‘Running back: Travis Henry, gutting out the game with sore ribs, shook off two fumbles and a dropped pass to spark Buffalo’s big second half. He scored on a 9-yard screen pass and added the game-winning TD in overtime on a powerful 2-yard run, finishing with 85 yards on 25 carries. Fullback Sam Gash made three catches. A.’

‘Is there reason to panic over the Bills’ 2-2 record? Not really, or, at least not to the extent we’ve heard and read about this past week. Perhaps this is the result of not having a contending team for the past several seasons and simply forgetting how high and low emotions can ride, but it’s been humorous to witness the reaction in Bills’ country over the back-to-back losses.’

‘”This is a game we needed to win,” Bledsoe said. “It was almost a desperation situation for us.”‘

‘”He’s my hero, he’s a warrior,” Bills guard Jonas Jennings said. “To go out and play in pain like that, we all noticed.”‘

‘After missing the previous game, a loss to the Eagles, with sore ribs, Henry turned in a solid effort, scoring both Bills TDs. It wasn’t known until yesterday morning whether he would play. "Throughout the first quarter it was all right, but when we got deep in the game it started hurting bad, but I got through it," said the diminutive back, who finished with 85 yards on 25 carries and two receptions for 14 yards.’

‘"I don’t have any words for it," James said. "I had many chances to make stops and get us off the field. I didn’t make ’em. It hurts. When it was crunch time, (Moulds) made the plays that it took to win the game."’

‘"It was a special day, but it was real funny," he said. "From day one coming in as rookie, the guys that you see are like your brothers. You go out and work and sweat with them, and then there’s the adversity that we were going through in my five years there. There is a special bond between all of us. What we had was bigger than a game. . . . But it was a weird feeling now . . . wanting to take their heads off."’

‘"I tried to get a big shot at (Gash) and the next thing I know I was in here (the locker room)," Burris said. "I was unconscious for a while. The last thing I remember was holding up my thumb, coming off the field."’

‘The offense sputtered most of this game until Bledsoe stopped having drops by his receivers and throwing bad balls. The running game was also pretty bad, but got going once Buffalo tried using it a lot. When it was all said and done, Bledsoe was 19 of 35 for 211 yards, but was sacked four times. Eric Moulds had a key early drop, but came on with 9 catches for 99 yards.’