Archives for August 11, 2002

David Romer, an economist at the University of California-Berkeley, says in a paper NFL that teams ought to punt more for marhematically they will have better results. Marv Levy, Hall of Fame Coach and Special Teams advocate disagrees. Who would you listen to?

While the reserve defensive units struggled to get off the field, the Bills offense couldn’t stay on the field. Travis Brown who played so well in the scrimmage struggled against Cincinnati. The Bills HC was pulling for his 3rd string QB, “I would’ve loved to see him get into more of rhythm. He had a couple of passes knocked down, he had some throws darted in there perfectly and we had drops, but you’d have liked to see him have a bit more rhythm.” Still GW hinted that Brown could see time with the first team next week against Minnesota, “We may move him up a little bit and see him take snaps with some of the older guys too.”

‘"He does things you can’t coach," said Bills coach Gregg Williams. "He’s eager to make plays. I’m anxious to watch the film on him. I think he played pretty soundly, pretty strong overall. There’s a couple things on a few of those third downs that were his mistakes, where he was a little bit hesitant. Each time he goes out we’d hope he’ll make strides."’

‘The alarming part was the Bills’ running game. It was a mirror image, or worse, of 2001, when it ranked 22nd in a 31-team league. Travis Henry, the No. 1 ball carrier, averaged less than 2 yards a carry. On his two carries, Shawn Bryson showed that it might not be such a hot idea to trade him. Henry’s blockers, to be accurate, were not knocking defenders off the line of scrimmage.’

‘That’s why, of Buffalo’s 22 plays during the three series while Bledsoe was on the field Friday night against Cincinnati at Ralph Wilson Stadium, Bledsoe threw 11 times.’

”’We understand if Drew can get some time he’ll have some weapons on the field,” said Donahoe. ”He’s already clicking with some of the receivers and [fullback] Larry Centers and our tight ends. When it all comes together, it’s going to be fun to watch. But we need to be patient and let [coach] Gregg[ Williams] bring the team along. We can’t get too ahead of ourselves. We want to see progress. We have some new players and we have to be patient as they blend in with the rest of our team.”’

‘What Cappeletti did then and what Kelly did almost 30 years later served to remind the sports-loving public something they should already know – battles on the field of sports are meaningless when compared to the battle too many of us are forced to wage simply to continue living.’