Archives for October 14, 2002

‘But after allowing 258 net yards in the first half, Buffalo’s defense held the NFL’s lowest-ranked offense to 80 yards the rest of the day.’

‘A big reality check comes next week when the Bills travel to play their most hated rival, Miami. A win down there against one of the league’s top teams and then you can start taking the Bills seriously as a potential playoff team.’

The folks at Roswell Park Cancer Institute will be paying extra attention to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoons this season. They will be listening for key phrases from the play-by-play announcers. Phrases like, "it's up and it's good" or "the punt sails inside the 20."

‘”I think that probably was the best overall half of football we’ve played,” said linebacker London Fletcher, who led a unit that limited Houston to 80 yards net in the second half including just 18 passing by Carr.’

‘A victory over Buffalo wouldn’t have been an upset in the Texans’ minds.’

‘During the first half Watson looked like he couldn’t have covered a wall, even if he was wallpaper.’

‘A nice if not ugly win for Gregg Williams. The Bills fought, overcoming a season-high 13 penalties for a critical win to get back to .500. A commitment to run by Kevin Gilbride paid dividends and Jerry Gray’s defensive tinkering at halftime paid off as well.’

‘Lost in the defeat was the Texans’ best offensive performance of the year. The Texans established season-highs for points (24), total yards (338), first downs (18), passing yards (197) and rushing yards (141).’

‘"Shoot, he still looks good to me. He looks real good," Coleman said. "He came out playing with a lot of fire and getting the ball to his receivers and giving them a chance to make plays. He looks as good as I’ve ever seen him."’

‘"The Texans came in and decided `Hey, we’re not gonna let you guys beat us with your two receivers,’ " Bledsoe said. "They did a very good job of taking away some of our passing game. But if teams are going to commit that many guys to our passing game, we’ve got to be able to run the ball. Travis did an outstanding job for us today."’

‘The Texans had 258 yards total offense, more than their season average, in the first half compared with the Bills’ 181.’

‘Drew Bledsoe he wasn’t, certainly not in the end. Bledsoe trumped him in most of the individual statistical categories and, more importantly, on the scoreboard, picking the Texans’ defense to pieces in the Bills’ 21-point second half. But D.C. was pretty good, spending much of his work day outperforming a fellow who started in a Super Bowl before he graduated from high school.’

‘"We were thinking, `Go down and score and go to overtime,’ " receiver Corey Bradford said. "From the beginning, we were prepared to go to overtime." A fourth-quarter charge by the Bills made sure that wouldn’t happen.’

‘"Me and Jay had been talking all game," Price said. "I had a corner route, and he and Aaron did a great job breaking it up. Then he ran over me and bumped me out. He was in my face and kept yapping. I reacted, but the referee got him. That is what coach (Gregg) Williams tells us to do. Let the other guys do all the yip-yapping. "It was big. Jay had two big penalties on that sequence, and I know they’re probably getting on him now, because it allowed us to tie the game up."’

‘"To win an NFL game, you have got to out-execute your opponent for 60 minutes and we didn’t do that," said Texans coach Dom Capers. "The most frustrating thing with today’s performance was the penalties. They really hurt us. It’s an emotional game. But you can’t do that, because the whole team suffers."’