Archives for October 2002

‘The Raiders piled up 495 yards. They had 10 plays of 20 yards or more. Five of their touchdown drives took 2:12 or less. Those weren’t drives. They were Olympic sprint relays.’

‘The Raiders are hurting, all right. They’re hurting every opponent that gets in their way.’

‘"It’s always tough to swallow when you lose," Price added. "When you feel you’ve played well enough to win, it’s even tougher."’

‘The teams combined for 974 yards and 80 points. They combined for 73 points after the first quarter. They had 512 yards before halftime. The over-under of 53 points was obliterated by the third quarter.’

‘As for history, the Raiders have never started 5-0 — but get that chance Sunday at shockingly winless St. Louis.’

‘Playing most of the time as the slot receiver against Bills safeties Pierson Prioleau and Coy Wire, a rookie, the deceptively strong, 6-foot-2 Porter surpassed his career highs for receptions (six) and yardage (62), set Sept. 15 against Pittsburgh.’

‘"They wanted to do a little roughhouse out there," Rice said. "I was taking shots from behind and to the head. I wanted to let them know I wasn’t going to take it."’

‘"It wasn’t easy out there," Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon said. "It comes down to a couple of plays. That’s how it is in a game like that."’

‘"That’s Drew Bledsoe," Buchanon said. "He’s going to try to put it in tight places where people don’t expect him to put it."’

‘The Bills built their defensive game plan around stopping receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, which seems reasonable enough. Unfortunately for them, that left Garner and Jerry Porter unchaperoned, and they combined for 294 total yards as the Raiders (after San Diego’s loss to Denver) became the league’s only unbeaten team.’

‘Hall of Famer and former Bills coach Marv Levy watched the game from the press box. He also coached at Cal.’

‘So the Bills finished with 479 yards. It will trash the Raiders’ defensive ranking. But it was all part of the plan.’

‘It was Porter’s career day. But it was Rice’s worst day in a while. He had four catches — and four drops. Although he finished with 77 yards and a touchdown, he left about 100 yards and a score or two on Ralph Wilson Stadium’s turf.’

‘“They just came out with a bunch of different formations and personnel,” said Bills linebacker London Fletcher. “The things you can’t have in a game are the big plays.” But the Raiders had them.’

‘It’s a victory the defense will gladly take. Buchanon knows the Raiders got away with one. “It was a long day for us,” he said. “There were a lot of missed tackles, a lot of missed assignments. We haven’t had our best game yet. That’s kind of scary.”‘