Archives for December 17, 2002

‘The Chargers find themselves back in the playoff pack after letting a winnable game slip away in upstate New York, where on late Sunday and early Monday morning 7 inches of snow fell to go with 21-degree weather. Buffalo fans take the weather in stride. More than 61,000 hearty souls stood in the misty rain to watch the Bills sneak past the Chargers on Sunday. Doug Flutie is right when he says, "They love their Bills." I can’t imagine 61,000 Chargers fans coming out to Qualcomm Stadium if the weather was the least bit nasty.’

Buffalobills.com visitors selected Bills running back Travis Henry as the Tops Game Ball of the Week winner for his performance against the San Diego Charges on Sunday, December 15.

All players will attend the annual Bills Holiday Party for Kids at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Eighty children from the Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo, Salvation Army and Courage House at Gateway-Longview sent in their holiday wishes. They will be granted on Tuesday night when the kids and the players celebrate together.

‘It was a 47 yard punt, into a stiff wind in a light rain, with no return because Tim Dwight had to fair catch it. Unbelievable.’

‘Obviously, winning the final two games to finish with three straight victories would work wonders for his immediate future. Losing the last two could place him in jeopardy.’

‘The Bills have advanced past the stage of regaining respectability. They should be seething that a playoff spot appears destined to elude them when it was there waiting to be grasped.’

‘With losses in four of the past five games heading into the Chargers game, there was growing speculation that Williams’ job was in jeopardy. But Wilson quieted the talk with his strong comments in support of his 44-year-old coach, who enters the final year of his contract next season.’

‘Yeah he fumbles, but those 1,300 yards and 13 TDs have made up for it.’

‘WHAT does Gregg Williams’ future hold? A job in Buffalo, that’s what. Only in Buffalo can a head coach’s job be considered in jeopardy even though he has more than doubled the win total from the previous year.’

‘Favre is 22-2 in home games in December for his Hall of Fame career, with 47 touchdown passes and only 16 interceptions. The Packers are 20-1 in their last 21 December home games.’

‘Bledsoe says he does not believe Henry’s statistics, lofty as they are, accurately reflect his ability. “If we did not have to play from behind in a few games,” Bledsoe said of the 7-7 Bills, “he would be right up there at the very top.”‘

Mike Doser and Lary Bump should be there.

The crowd greeted Flutie with cheers and boos. The people who were booing were probably just nervous that the QB would come back and haunt his old team the way he did in San Diego last season, running for the game-winning score with one minute, 10 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately, Flutie couldn’t rally his team this time. Of course, next week it’s back to the bench; fun while it lasted.

"Let’s set the record straight," Flutie said. "Drew is the starter of this team and he is the guy."

It’s important because it gives Buffalo a chance to finish the season by winning two of its last three games, which would be a nice bounce going into next season.

It’s important because the defense, the anchor which was pulling back the entire team for most of the season, had a large part in this victory. There may be hope for some of these guys, yet.

It’s important since it gives Gregg Williams some breathing room in his quest to stay a head coach for at least another year.

‘Except for offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and defensive coordinator Jerry Gray, who each have at least a year left on their respective contracts, the contracts of the remaining position coaches are up at the end of the season. That includes defensive line coach John Levra, who already has announced he is retiring at the end of the year.’