Two Bills Drive

‘Flutie is 17-9 as starting QB for Buffalo and Johnson is 7-7 over that span. The Flutie-Johnson debate seems pretty simple to me: Short-term gain vs. long-term potential. Flutie is the more experienced, charismatic and entertaining player. At this stage of their careers, he might win a game or two more per season than Johnson. It is understandable that the majority of fans would prefer to go with the proven commodity at QB. Johnson has the physical talent to win in the NFL but still has lots to learn. He’s not going to develop sitting on the bench. The Bills are a relatively young team and figure to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender in a year or two — assuming they don’t lose Eric Moulds to free agency and can shore up the offensive line. Quarterback is the most important position, and from an organizational standpoint it is logical to have him play now to grow with the rest of the team.’

‘"We just made some mental errors," second-year linebacker Keith Newman said on Monday. "We didn’t close things out in the fourth quarter. We didn’t put the stamp on the victory."’

‘Since the seemingly unsinkable Flutie Flakes were introduced in 1998, 1,945,500 boxes of the frosted cereal have been snapped up. The original red box remains the best seller, with 1,152,000 boxes sold. Fans have also snapped up 680,000 Flutie Flakes chocolate bars, which are made by Buffalo’s Fowlers candy company; 86,512 boxes of Flutie Fruitie Snacks; 9,811 Flutie T-shirts; 570 baseball caps; and 362 mini-footballs.’

‘All week, the Vikings talked about starting strong and playing 60 minutes of football. It didn’t happen for the Vikings, but they didn’t need it to win against the Bills.’

‘If anybody had told the Bills’ coaching staff that its offense would go into Minneapolis, score 27 points, roll up over 400 yards, commit only one turnover and enjoy an 11-minute-plus edge in time of possession, a victory would have been assumed. But, alas, the Bills didn’t win their second straight game. They didn’t steal back the victory they let slip away to Indianapolis three weeks ago. Instead, Buffalo saw its record slip to 3-4 and its playoff odds grow even longer with barely half a season to go. And the reason is, for the second straight week, the Bills were betrayed by their defense.’

‘The calls to talk-radio stations will be overwhelmingly in favor of keeping Flutie as the starter, even after Johnson returns in two or three weeks. They’ll rave about Flutie’s poise, his command of the offense and his ability to avoid a sack. And, to be honest, they’ll have a point. Flutie demonstrated all of those in a rather remarkable performance. But it says here that if Coach Wade Phillips, who isn’t afraid to make the tough decision (remember he benched Flutie last year before the Tennessee playoff game), will stick to his convictions and return Johnson to the starting position. He has to. Why? Because this team is not attempting to make one last run toward the Super Bowl, as it was two years ago.’

‘The Buffalo Bills had an opportunity to knock off the last of the National Football League’s undefeated teams Sunday, but failed.’

‘The Buffalo Bills almost played a great game Sunday. A couple more of these "almost" games and their playoff hopes are going to be history.’

‘The numbers might say otherwise, but the Bills’ secondary actually held its own with Moss and Carter for most of the game. The defensive backs jammed them at the line of scrimmage to knock them off their pass routes and effectively took away the slant routes, one of the Vikings’ pet plays. Moss and Carter had just one catch between them before each made a 28-yard grab to set up a field goal at the end of the first half. Then came the second half.’

‘At an average of $5 million per season, Flutie is probably the highest-paid backup quarterback in the NFL. Against the Vikings he played like it. He deserved the victory.’

‘Morris rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 39 yards and another score. Bryson, looking more and more comfortable in the backfield, ripped off 72 yards on 11 carries. He added 17 yards on two receptions.’

‘This one falls into the "nice try" category. If Peerless Price hadn’t fumbled after catching a first-down pass with 2:46 left in the game, who knows what would have happened? As it is, the Bills fell to 3-4, deep in the AFC East, and the Vikings are a shaky 7-0.’

‘"I told a lot of the offensive guys that we let them down today," Jones said after the once impregnable Buffalo defense surrendered 18 fourth-quarter points, allowing Minnesota to escape the annoyingly noisy Metrodome with a 31-27 victory, leaving the Vikings (7-0) as the lone unbeaten team in the National Football League. "Early in the season (when the offense was struggling) I kept telling those guys to keep your head up, there’s going to be a time when we’re going to need you, and this was one of those times against an explosive offense like this. "If we had held them to one less touchdown we would have won it, but we didn’t."’

‘If you’ve lost count, that’s two consecutive games of allowing not one, but two receivers to gain 100 yards.’

‘”I don’t think it has to do with winning on the road, it has to do with little nuances of the game,” said Flutie, who started in place of an injured Rob Johnson. “Little, subtle adjustments, little things that come over time with experience. Our young guys played exceptionally well. I don’t think that was a factor, but they will get better as the year goes along.”‘