Two Bills Drive

‘The Bills could finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs but still be on the upgrade. If that happens, dumping a young head coach who is growing with his team probably would be a mistake and a big step backward.’

‘”We had good (offensive) rhythm early,” said coach Gregg Williams. “(Bledsoe) was into it and the ball was coming out of his hand very fast."’

‘Playing into the third quarter to the delight of the crowd of 62,286, Bledsoe looked mid-season sharp while directing touchdown drives on his team’s first two possessions. “We showed what we are capable of if we don’t make mistakes,” said Bledsoe, who completed 22 of 29 attempts for 231 yards. “When we don’t make mistakes, we’re efficient. I know we can do a great job offensively.”‘

‘Actually, with the Buffalo corners frequently playing 10 yards off the Rams receivers, Warner didn’t have much opportunity to look downfield. And when he tried, he frequently got hammered by the Buffalo pass rush.’

‘Fletcher was his usual active self, tackling Marshall Faulk in the backfield for a 3-yard loss early in the second quarter. Later in the quarter, Fletcher chased Faulk out of bounds after a 7-yard pass completion. As they headed back to the huddle, Fletcher and Faulk patted each other on the helmet and exchanged small talk.’

‘The Bills got the performance they was looking for from Bledsoe. Bledsoe finished 22-of-29 for 231 yards and two touchdowns, an 8-yarder to Bobby Shaw and an 18-yarder to Eric Moulds.’

‘The last Buffalo Bill in the lunchroom, Jon Dorenbos packs up his cards and coins, and makes his thick-bodied walk toward his room. He believes his NFL career is about to take flight, but whatever happens, he says his heart and mind and will be powered as they’ve long been, by the memory and spirit of his mother. He will make her proud. He will keep living the same way, "waking up every day and feeling the breeze and smelling the air and trying to put smiles on people’s faces." Dorenbos knows he will succeed, because you can’t go backward and you can’t give in, and because love has a magic all its own. "I know I will never be alone," Jon Dorenbos says.’

‘After squandering a 14-0 lead, the Bills second- and third-stringers pulled out the victory on Joe Burns’ 13-yard touchdown run with 2:03 remaining.’

‘Jennings did not return, and the Bills did not disclose the extent of the injury.’

‘St. Louis Rams safety Kim Herring will miss up to eight weeks after breaking a bone in his left forearm covering the opening kickoff against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night.’

‘Joe Burns, a second-year-player from Georgia Tech, scored on a 13-yard run with 2:03 remaining to lift the Buffalo Bills to a come-from-behind 28-24 victory over the St. Louis Rams. Burns is the fifth back in the Bills backfield behind Travis Henry, Olandis Gary, Sammy Morris and Sam Gash. First-round pick Willis McGahee is expected to start the regular season on the physically-unable-to-perform list.’

‘"We got off to a good start. I think that we came out and we were efficient, hit some short passes, early on we executed very well offensively at the start of the game. We were able to take those first two drives down for scores. I think we showed what we are capable of when we don’t make mistakes is what I took out of that game. If we play clean football, and we don’t have the penalties, eliminate some of the turnovers, I think we can be a very good football team. We still made to many mistakes. The bone-headed interception by me in the third possession where I had a guy fall down and I just threw it back into the middle and didn’t see the linebacker. Those kinds of things we can’t do, but if we are efficient and if we execute like we did tonight I think that we are going to be a very good offense."’

‘"Travis Henry has a foot sprain. He could have played. But we only had him slated to play in the first quarter. In fact, if we could have gotten the ball back one more time in the first quarter, we would have finished the first quarter. But that’s all we had him up for going into the game."’

‘”I thought it went well,” Warner said. “We hurt ourselves with some penalties and some things early on, but I thought we moved the ball well and did a lot of good things. I think that was the best thing about this game, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. We had to see things and react quickly.”‘

‘Defensive line/LB: The defense did absolutely nothing but watch the Bills go up 14-0 the first two drives. There was no pass rush AT ALL, so Drew Bledsoe got all day to throw and picked apart the Rams’ young secondary.’