Archives for December 2001

‘"That’s not our will to do that but unfortunately that’s the way things have been working out," Martin said. "If that’s what we’re going to do then we just have to work on finishing it off at the end, if that’s the team we’re going to be we just have to finish better."’

‘"I’ve played enough years to know it was a screen, especially when Vinny dropped back a second time."’

‘"We were competitive in six of the last seven weeks in close ballgames," said Bills’ coach Gregg Williams. "Today we made enough plays in this ballgame to win a close one … and that’s something this team needed."’

‘Sunday marked the first time this season – in seven such games – that the Jets lost when Martin rushed for 100 yards.’

‘Phil Hansen recorded his first interception since the 1992 AFC Championship game in Miami at a key time, killing a Jet drive to take the lead late in the fourth. Nate Clements also recorded his third interception of the season in the first half, which puts the rookie in the team lead in that category.’

‘Shawn Bryson also followed up last week’s 130-yard performance in Atlanta with his second consecutive 100-yard performance, rushing for 107 yards on 28 carries. With his second solid performance in place of the injured Travis Henry, Bryson becomes the first Bills back since Thurman Thomas in 1995 to rush for back-to-back 100-yard games.’

‘Unless you had some wonderful personal event– maybe a marriage, or a birth– it would be difficult to call 2001 a good year. But it was a year of change and action, both around the globe and around One Bills Drive. CNN will take care of filling you in on those world wide changes, so let’s take a few moments here to talk Buffalo Bills.’

‘"Ever since I’ve been here we’ve never given up," quarterback Alex Van Pelt said. "That’s a trademark of Buffalo."’

‘He is the first Bills running back to rush for 100 yards in back-to-back games since Thurman Thomas did it in 1996.’

‘The Jets’ safeties paid a lot of attention to Bills receivers Eric Moulds and Peerless Price, which opened up the middle of the field.’

‘Unsung Hero: Tight end Jay Riemersma, who dropped two passes and committed two penalties last week, redeemed himself in a big way with a career-high eight receptions for 78 yards. He burned the Jets by getting open down the seam for several key gains.’

‘"I don’t think we treated this game different than any other game. But when we came out, we just hit the quicksand."’

‘"I don’t care about spoiling," quarterback Alex Van Pelt said. "I just want to end the season on a good note. They had to win today and we came in and stole it from them."’

‘Every year, there’s a perfectly plausible excuse for his failures and usually in his mind, it starts with someone else.’

‘If they beat the Raiders in six days while New England (at Carolina) and Miami (home for the Bills) lose, they can still sneak through as the AFC’s No. 2 seed. And they can still miss the postseason completely, if they lose at Oakland and the Seahawks win at home against Kansas City.’

‘"We had many opportunities not to come to work this week," Williams said. "A lot of people in Buffalo stayed home this week and didn’t go to work. Not one of these guys missed [practice]. There weren’t any focus problems all week. I think that speaks volumes."’

‘How many of you even knew who Mo Unutoa was before yesterday afternoon?’

‘Hansen, a bridge to Buffalo’s Super Bowl era, will celebrate how the football gods smiled down on him in what could be his final season.’

‘Did you really think that with 13 seconds left to play, with no timeouts at your disposal when you took the snap at the Buffalo 24-yard-line, that the Bills were going to jump the short route and forget about defending the end zone?’

‘Gun shy on some fourth downs and another squib kick nearly backfired but Gregg Williams’ guys beat a much more talented team.’

‘”All I’m going to say is the play came in from the sideline and we executed it the best we could,” he said. “I’m not going to say `what if’ because then it looks like I should be calling the plays and whatever play came in was wrong. You guys can make you own decisions based on what happened.”‘

‘”I think we had this game in the bag and let it slip away,” he said. “We did not stay focused. We didn’t do what we needed to do to win.”‘

‘But with defensive end John Abraham injured, Buffalo, which had the 23rd-ranked rushing offense, ripped large swatches out of the Jets’ defense, rushing for 192 yards. Ted Cottrell, the Jets’ first-year defensive coordinator, shook his head and muttered as he left the locker room. “This was not good,” he said.’

‘In the second quarter, the Jets went into the wind, which prevented them from trying a field goal from Buffalo’s 29-yard line as time expired. Edwards asked Hall if he thought he could make the kick — it would have been about a 47-yard attempt — and Hall said no.’

‘The Jets, once thought to be a playoff shoo-in, imperiled their postseason hopes yesterday with a dreadful 14-9 loss to the lowly Bills — a performance eerily reminiscent of … well, last year’s late-season collapse.’

‘He said he thought the Jets had time to run two plays after they had spiked the ball at the Buffalo 24.’

‘Vinny Testaverde threw a pair of interceptions and had no touchdown passes, but he seemed unwilling to accept at least some of the blame for either one of them in the Jets’ 14-9 loss to the Bills yesterday.’

‘Good teams can make mistakes and win. Not the Same Olds. They began the day with the best turnover record in the NFL. They take it away and they don’t cough it up. Yesterday, they coughed it away three times and every one of them was painful.’

‘The Bills confused the Jets with a “bunch” formation, resulting in a 22-yard TD pass to WR Peerless Price. CB Ray Mickens, responsible for Price in man-to-man coverage, got picked on the play, according to Edwards.’

‘Herman Edwards made several tactical errors. Clearly, the Jets underestimated the Bills.’

‘”We had an opportunity to do something special today, but we just didn’t get it done . . . I still don’t believe we lost,” linebacker Marvin Jones said.’

‘”We just didn’t have enough time,” Hackett said. “We had 13 seconds and we thought we had two plays [left]. Everybody knows that, but it turned out we only had one.”‘

‘”It would have been easy for us just to give up and go home,” said Van Pelt. “Ever since I’ve been here, that’s not the way we’ve done things, no matter what the odds are.”‘

‘Given the way the Jets played yesterday and their recent history in critical games, a win over Oakland is hardly a given – but the Raiders’ recent performance doesn’t make them world-beaters, either.’

‘All the Jets needed, after showing no absolutely killer instinct and letting the Bills hang around all day and making Alex Van Pelt throw like Jim Kelly and Shawn Bryson run like Thurman Thomas, was the kind of grace under pressure that champions show you with a game, and, quite possibly, a season, on the line. In other words, the moment seized them instead of them seizing the moment.’

‘The Jets didn’t need a good solider yesterday. They needed a renegade. All they had was Testaverde.’

‘The Jets, who entered the game leading the NFL with a plus-23 turnover ratio and with a league-low 15 giveaways, turned the ball over three times, with Vinny Testaverde throwing two INTs and Craig Yeast losing a fumble.’

‘The Bills won for the third time in 15 games; the Jets provided what must have looked like a blooper film from their forgettable December past.’

‘”Theoretically, it shouldn’t be a problem,” beleaguered offensive coordinator Paul Hackett said about getting off two pass plays to the end zone in 13 seconds. “We don’t make that play call if you can’t make two plays.”‘

‘It wasn’t that the Jets allowed Bryson to break off huge chunks of yardage (he averaged just 3.8 on 28 carries), it was that they allowed Buffalo to gain a nine-minute advantage in time of possession.’