Two Bills Drive

This Sunday marks the ninth time that a quarterback will start against a team for which he threw more than 25,000 passing yards. In those games, the quarterback defeated his former club all eight times.

‘In 2001, the Patriots ran the ball well, stopped the run, played great special teams, played within themselves during their run to the title. This season, the running attack has been sporadic, too often abandoned early in games, and perhaps set back by a revolving door at the interior line positions. The run defense, for the most part, has been miserable.’

Driver, Tony S Hip Questionable

Newman, Keith LB Knee Questionable

Williams, Mike T Hamstring Questionable

Winfield, Antoine CB Knee Questionable

‘With the emergence of Crosby, a second-year pro from Tennessee, fullback has become a position of strength for the Bills.’

Bledsoe's impact also can be measured by the thousands of Western New Yorkers wearing his number 11 jersey. And by the off-the-charts enthusiasm and optimism area residents haven't felt about the Bills since the Kelly-led Super Bowl run of the early and mid-1990s. And by the many yawns and rubbing of eyes among his fellow members of the Bills' offense on Thursday and Friday mornings.

‘”I didn’t think we’d ever be 5-3 with this schedule,” Wilson admitted. “We’ve had a tough schedule and we really got a tougher one coming up the second half. We’ve got a very long ways to go.”‘

”’When he was here, what bothered him was pressure,” Green said Monday, the day after the Patriots applied little to Denver’s Brian Griese in a 24-16 loss, their fourth straight. ”When we game-planned for him, we wanted to get to him with pressure. That always disrupted his game.”’

‘Belichick has tried every approach during the Pats’ four-game losing streak. He’s used the power of positive reinforcement and has cracked the whip. During the bye week he got rough. There were pointed comments in film sessions and fights at practice. It didn’t translate on Sunday.’

‘Bledsoe is 4-5 in nine games against Belichick-coached defenses. Included is a 302-yard passing day against the Cleveland Browns in 1995 and a 340-yard output against the Jets in 1999. Unfortunately for Bledsoe, many of the other numbers aren’t very pretty. Bledsoe threw 16 interceptions (compared to 10 touchdown passes) in those nine games.’

‘”I remember what it was like playing (Buffalo),” he said. “It was like, ‘Boy I’ve got to stick it to these guys.’ That’s how you get up the day of the game. You’re like, ‘God, I want to show them that I’m still worth keeping around.’ Your thing is you want to go out there and make plays to put your team in a situation to win.”‘

But this being today’s NFL, in which teams and careers can be revitalized faster than President Bush’s popularity rating, it shouldn’t be surprising that Bledsoe is playing this well, that the Bills are 5-3 and a half-game out of first place in the AFC East and that he could make the Patriots’ season even more gloomy. Payback indeed can be sweet.

"We definitely want to get the win for him. We know how important it will be for him. But at the same time, we won’t allow that to cause us to alter our approach in a way that might be detrimental."

Stat of the Week No. 5: Bills running back Travis Henry has lost six fumbles in eight games, while Wayne Chrebet fumbled for the first time since 1996. Henry is fumbling once every 29 touches; Chrebet went 323 touches between fumbles.

‘“You’ve got to get pressure on him in the pocket,” Vrabel said. “I think that every long play I’ve seen on the highlights this year he’s been able to step up and deliver the ball downfield. With Moulds and Price, you can’t give him a lot of time to get back, let those guys run downfield, and then let him step up three or four yards and throw the ball as hard as he can throw it.”’

‘”I’m just a little surprised at how fast we’ve jelled. The big thing is this team’s starting to expect to win.”‘