Two Bills Drive

‘How does Belichick know when to push and when to pull back? “I think one thing I would gauge it on is that if I’m feeling (tired),” he said, “then everyone else is probably feeling worse.”‘

Hidden Indicator Player: The Bills are cover-your-eyes awful now, but this time last season they were 7-4 and pounding Tampa on the road. Then the above-cited Sam Cowart, who some purists felt was having the best season of any NFL defender last year, including Ray Lewis, went down for the count with a knee. Buffalo honked its lead in Tampa and spiraled toward the water for the remainder of 2000. In this season’s opener, Buffalo was pounding New Orleans, holding the Saints to one first down in the first half. Then Cowart was lost for the season to another injury; the Bills again honked and spiraled toward the water. Since Cowart joined Buffalo, the team is 28-17 when he plays, 3-14 when he does not.

We’re All Professionals Here: Warming up on the sidelines, Buffalo punter Brian Moorman missed the kick-catch net.

‘We viewed them as underachievers the last couple of seasons. This year we view them as overachievers.’

‘"It’s about where we finish, not where we are in the middle of December," said Belichick. "Right now it’s about Buffalo (on Sunday in Buffalo). That’s all we can do anything about."’

“Getting rest and making sure I am getting enough sleep is something Drew (Bledsoe) had told me seven weeks ago,” Brady said. “He said, ‘Hey, Tom, make sure you really get your rest and eat well and take care of your body because you can wear down pretty easily.’ I’ve noticed that.”

Both starting QBs for New England and Buffalo have been injury-injured. For New England, virtually unknown Tom Brady’s 8-3 mark as a starter has him in the starting role likely for the rest of New England’s season. Van Pelt recorded his first win as a starter since 1997 Sunday, he has performed very well and kept Buffalo’s offense moving well in three of their last four games.

Bills tackle Jonas Jennings and safety Keion Carpenter will host the winners of the 2001 Rush for Reading Challenge at the Paul Maguire Club at Ralph Wilson Stadium from 6:00 – 7:00 PM on Wednesday, December 12th.

Ven Pelt has joined Frank Reich and Todd Collins in the record book. The 18-point deficit overcome marked the fourth largest regular season comeback in team history and the largest since coming back from a 26-0 deficit vs. Indy on 9/21/97 by Todd Collins.

With the help of Galyan’s and the Buffalo Bills, local children affiliated with the Salvation Army were given the opportunity to ‘Shop with a Jock’ Tuesday evening. The event benefited 42 children and ran early Tuesday evening at the Walden Galleria Galyan’s sporting goods store.

‘"I do have confidence in my line, knowing they’re going to come off hard and hit their blocks, which allows me just to think about running in there hard."’

‘The Pats are plus-2 in turnover ratio. The Bills are minus-16.’

‘Since 1986, the starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl have been first-round picks 20 times. Nine other times they were drafted in the second and third round. With only a couple of exceptions, most prominently Brett Favre, the starting quarterback was still playing with the team that originally drafted him.’

RJ and Cowart in free agency, TD on trading down, plus McKinnie, Butler & Cottrell rumors.

Buffalo-Carolina meeting Sunday will impact draft

Buchsbaum: The Buffalo Bills’ first pick in the draft next year will either be an offensive left tackle or a quarterback. The only quarterback Buffalo would consider with that first-round pick is Fresno State’s David Carr.

The draft pecking order could be affected by next week’s Buffalo-Carolina game. Both teams have one win going in, and the loser could actually end up being the winner.

‘After losing the AFC Championship game to Cincinnati in 1989 and an AFC Divisional playoff game to Cleveland in 1990, head coach Marv Levy made it clear that he wanted to rebuild his team around younger players. Joe Devlin and Art Still had been already told there was no longer a place for them on the team. Fred Smerlas was put on the list of unprotected free agents, meaning any team could now bid for his contract.’