Archives for October 28, 2002

‘After an earlier loss, coach Marty Mornhinweg said the outcome might have been different if you took away only a few plays. Sunday, it might have been three…’

‘Give the Lions credit for one thing: At least they looked better than Buffalo, uniformwise. Even with Drew Bledsoe, the Bills sure looked a lot like Grey Cup contenders.’

‘The Bills’ ability to dominate the passing game was critical. They went after cornerback Todd Lyght often.’

‘But does any of it — any of the apparent improvement, any of the increased competitiveness — matter if you can’t get the last yard?’

‘The obvious problem was that the Lions couldn’t get a first down on two plays on their last possession. But their inability to cover the Bills’ receivers — Eric Moulds and Peerless Price — was their biggest weakness throughout the game.’

‘"London Fletcher made a good play," Stewart said. "He’s already about 5-2. For me to get under his shoulder pads, that’s something that’s hard to do."’

‘"It’s a lot of fun," Moulds said. "However, I think at the end of the game, we were flat. Drew got kind of mad at us, and he really motivated us to finish the game the way we started. I think we need to learn how to close games out. I think that has been a problem for us. We need to finish what we start."’

‘In the fourth quarter, the Lions were called for three penalties on the same play — an offside and two infractions for unnecessary roughness. The Bills accepted one roughing penalty, on linebacker Barrett Green, for 15 yards.’

‘On the fourth-down play that was stopped, the Lions might have gone to the same play once too often.’

‘“The soap opera is going to start (today),” said linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who will face off against his former teammate Sunday when the Patriots travel to Buffalo to face the Bills. “Everyone is going to have their comparisons, Bledsoe and (Tom) Brady. I think if we just realize Buffalo has a good football team with a lot of weapons, we’ll be a lot better off. As hard as it’s going to be, we have to treat it as another football game.”’

Gregg Williams: "We win as a team and we lose as a team. Offensively we did some great things on controlling the clock and it was real nice to see the defense come up with an important stop at the end of the ball game. It was good confidence for the team."

Do you know that you guys have won three in a row?

"It's a lot of fun. However, I think at the end of the game we were flat. Drew got kind of mad at us and he really motivated us to finish the game the way we started. I think we need to learn how to close games out. I think that has been a problem for us. We need to finish what we start."