Archives for October 2001

‘Although the Bills are 0-3 and facing the possibility of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, they sounded off in near unison that they had no business losing to these Steelers. "There are a couple of teams already that we’ve played and felt we had a good chance of beating," tight end Jay Riemersma said, referring also to the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Bills, 24-6, in their opener. "But having a chance and going out there and kicking somebody’s butt are two different things."’

‘Jerome Bettis is accustomed to feasting in the Buffalo area. As a kid, he used to visit his relatives and never missed going to the Anchor Bar and Restaurant, the original home of Buffalo wings.’

‘"That was their chance," said safety Brent Alexander. "They got down there close to put points on the board."’

‘The Bills provided a little extra incentive with their pregame "crap," to quote Flowers. "Some of their kicks were almost hitting our guys. There’s no place for that kind of stuff in this league. If you want to do that to us, you had better know we’re going to lay the wood on you."’

‘For the most part, their 21 days away from NFL competition was barely noticeable as they did what they had to do to dispatch the injury-ravaged and subsequently hapless Buffalo Bills.’

‘The Bills, depleted by injuries coming into the game, lost six more players, including LT Kris Farris for the season and four others are likely to miss more playing time. Owner Ralph Wilson and GM Tom Donahoe had a brief chat about the situation after the game. "Mr. Wilson just told me he’s never seen anything like it in his 41 years in this league and going back to the old AFL," Donahoe said. "But it’s part of the game, and we’ve got to overcome it. We played a good team today, and you’ve got to take your hats off to the Steelers. They deserved to win."’

‘Beating the beat-up Bills, who barely pass for an NFL team, is nothing to brag about.’

‘"The catches I did get were key," said Ward, who averaged 13.3 yards per catch in his first three seasons with the Steelers but averaged 8.8 yards yesterday. "They kept the chains going."’

‘"Us being off for 21 days had something to do with it, but they added gas to the fire," Flowers said. "We came out to stretch, and they were still doing their kicking drills. That was total disrespect. And there were things said in the paper (by the Bills) about, ‘The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming in, we should win this game.’ We were just (ticked) off, man. We played very physical, we played very mad. "I think (defensive backs coach) Willie Robinson said it best, ‘Play (ticked) off the whole game.’ That’s what we did."’

‘TURNING POINT: Steelers coach Bill Cowher gambles and allows Kris Brown to attempt a 52-yard field goal with 8:55 left in the game and the Steelers nursing a 10-3 lead. A miss would have given the Bills the football only 58 yards from the tying touchdown. When Brown was successful, though, it ended all Buffalo hope. At that point, the Bills’ anemic offense needed two scores.’

‘He was taught, he told us, that when he has nothing good to say about something, he says nothing at all.’

‘They sounded much more resigned than encouraged, which isn’t a good sign. "Hopefully, we’ll get better," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said of a passing game that netted all of 100 yards in a 20-3 victory over the Bills on Sunday.’

‘The Bills lost offensive left tackle Kris Farris, a former Steelers player, to a gruesome broken leg in the first quarter. The injury occurred when running back Travis Henry fell into Farris, who had his back turned and his leg planted on the artificial turf while he was blocking Bell. Farris, whose leg crumpled from the impact, had season-ending surgery last night in which doctors inserted a rod to stablize the limb. He also missed his entire rookie season with the Steelers in 1999 with a foot injury.’