Archives for September 16, 2002

‘"The game was there for the taking," Tice said. "But we made too many mistakes. When you miss one PAT, you don’t usually recover. When you miss two PATs, I don’t think anyone recovers."’

‘Williams ran for 102 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries, a 6.0 yards-per-carry average.’

‘"I’m not going to quit," Brien said. "I never have in my whole life and I’m not going to start today."’

‘Still, Brien’s ineptitude was just the most glaring Vikings weakness on display Sunday. Besides the five points he cost the team, the Vikings gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, allowed the Bills to score on a recovered fumble in the end zone (one of four fumbles for suddenly turnover-prone quarterback Daunte Culpepper) and had a touchdown pass to Randy Moss nullified by a holding penalty on running back Michael Bennett.’

‘”You can’t miss PATs in this league and we missed two PATs,” Tice said.’

‘”I was just telling my offensive line, ‘I’ll go to war with you guys anytime,’ if you can pass that many times and do the job as well as they did,” Bledsoe said. “I am proud to play with those guys. It was a team victory and it took everything we had – defense, offense and special teams. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we can start winning some games.”‘

‘”The guys came together, they stood up as a team. They lose as a team and they win as a team and today we won because everybody contributed.”‘

‘If you’re wondering just how good Drew was at crunch time, he completed 19 of 24 passes for 266 yards and 2 scores in the fourth quarter and overtime.’

‘While the blizzard of offensive statistics — led by Drew Bledsoe’s team-record 463 passing yards — were certainly impressive, this game ultimately came down to the two Minnesota possessions in overtime when the high-powered Vikings failed to make a first down. Six plays, 13 yards, two punts.’

‘Drew Bledsoe’s etched his name in the record books with a 463-yard, 3-TD passing day, but his biggest play may have been falling on Travis Henry’s fumble at the Vikings’ 1-yard-line on a key TD drive in the fourth quarter. The freon was running through his veins at crunch time and completely torched Vikings’ secondary. A+’

‘In any event, that means Brien, who had missed only three PATs in 228 attempts in his eight-plus seasons before this, would leave the team having missed two of his last five.’

‘But this loss was the result of a kicker named Mike Hollis doing his job and winning the game for Buffalo and a kicker named Doug Brien losing the game for the Vikings by missing two extra points.’

‘The Vikings allowed the Bills to gain 260 yards in the fourth quarter and in overtime.’

‘Vikings coach Mike Tice has vowed to throw to Randy Moss on 40 percent of the Vikings’ passes this season. A look at how the plan played out in Game 2…’.

‘Drew Bledsoe, darn that Bill.’