Two Bills Drive

‘”Absolutely he’ll play,” Jason Rosenhaus said. “It’s a nine-month injury and if anything we’ve had to slow him down. His doctors say the knee is healed. It’s just strengthening everything around it. He can start practicing later this year and we believe he’ll play.”‘

‘On Sunday night, however, it was Miami which got the best of its showdown with Moulds, picking off two passes intended for him. The Dolphins also shut down another Dolphin killer — running back Travis Henry, who had 7 yards on five carries before leaving the game with an apparent rib injury in the second half.’

‘Run Ricky run. And run and run and run and run.’

‘The Dolphins have scored a first-quarter touchdown in four of the last five games against the Bills, while Buffalo has scored a touchdown in the opening period just once in the last 17 games against Miami, including the playoffs. Sunday’s game was scoreless after the first quarter.’

‘The Dolphins won, 17-7, to raise their record to 2-1 and pull even with Buffalo and New England atop the division – but only because the Bills played more like the Bengals, only because Drew Bledsoe suffered through his worst outing since his rookie season.’

‘”They played an excellent game,” said Moulds.’

‘As Ricky goes, the Dolphins will go. But they might consider incorporating the word “decoy” in the playbook. Or remembering there are other skill players on the payroll. Or making sure Dave Wannstedt doesn’t have Williams in his fantasy league.’

‘The Dolphins were trying to avoid something that hadn’t happened in 14 seasons. It’s been that long since they lost two homes games in September. Miami had won 13 of its past 17 games in September. The problem, as any Dolphins fan can attest, has been the December streaks.’

‘The loss was the Bills’ first of the season after two victories, but it was their eighth in the last 10 games here. At least their rejuvenated defense, with four new starters, stood out. The Bills extended a streak of holding opponents to 17 or fewer points to six games.’

‘It wasn’t pretty, but this is Wannstedt football.’

‘”Tough, hard-nosed football,” said Miami safety Brock Marion. “We just went out and played.”‘

‘As the Buffalo Bills learned the hard way Sunday night, it won’t be easy. In fact, if you run into the kind of defense the ’03 Dolphins can play, it can become impossible.’

‘”We knew if we kept Drew off-balance that we could get him out of his rhythm,” said Marion. “The guys up front helped to do that.”‘

‘The Bills’ first four possessions produced two turnovers and no first downs, and they wasted two scoring chances inside the Miami 20 in the second quarter. One threat ended when a trick play backfired, with Henry’s underthrown pass being intercepted by Surtain at the 1.’

”’The stats speak for themselves,” Dolphins safety Sammy Knight said. ”Eric Moulds is a great player, but we got the best of him today.”’