Archives for September 22, 2003

‘By working Williams overtime, the Dolphins were able to maintain possession for 40:50, leaving Bledsoe only 19:10 to work. The Bills came in averaging 32:30 and 346.5 yards in their first three games and had scored 69 points.’

‘It wasn’t all Surtain. It was Jason Taylor jawing at Moulds as he broke the huddle. It was Marion standing over him on the Bills’ first series of the third quarter, when he couldn’t pull in a pass slightly in front of him. It was any other Dolphin you could think of trying to get a word in. It was a team that acted like one, guys taking up for their teammate.’

‘Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe came off like Nancy Drew, completing 10 of 25 passes for 98 yards and a handle-with-tweezers 18.4 rating (he entered the game with a 112.5 rating). Even that overstates his night. Before its final drive, the Bills had more penalty yardage (84) than total offense (67).’

‘Rogers is familiar with Buffalo special teams coach Danny Smith and much of his personnel. Smith and the Bills also are familiar with Rogers, who had a down year in 2002.’

‘”This isn’t shocking, this is pleasing,” said defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who had two sacks. “Drew is a future Hall of Fame quarterback. But man, we’ve got players all over the locker room, too.”‘

‘”He’s the best back in the league,” Buffalo coach Gregg Williams said. “He was the best back in the league last year, and he’s the best back in the league now.”‘

‘Look at the Buffalo Bills, hottest team in the AFC East. Last week they scored 38 points at Jacksonville, this week at Pro Player Stadium the only touchdown they get is provided by the defense and Miami gives them a 17-7 plunking.’

‘Instead, the Bills quarterback had one of the worst days of his career, completing 10-of-25 passes for 98 yards and two interceptions — numbers actually padded by a four-completion drive good for 40 yards in the final moments of the game.’

‘”If they’re going to double-team J.T., I’ve got to make them pay,” Ogunleye said of the Bills concentrating on Taylor. “We started to jell tonight. We didn’t do anything differently. We know what we’re doing. We didn’t listen to the criticism after the first game.”‘

‘”Absolutely he’ll play,” Jason Rosenhaus said. “It’s a nine-month injury and if anything we’ve had to slow him down. His doctors say the knee is healed. It’s just strengthening everything around it. He can start practicing later this year and we believe he’ll play.”‘

‘On Sunday night, however, it was Miami which got the best of its showdown with Moulds, picking off two passes intended for him. The Dolphins also shut down another Dolphin killer — running back Travis Henry, who had 7 yards on five carries before leaving the game with an apparent rib injury in the second half.’

‘Run Ricky run. And run and run and run and run.’

‘The Dolphins have scored a first-quarter touchdown in four of the last five games against the Bills, while Buffalo has scored a touchdown in the opening period just once in the last 17 games against Miami, including the playoffs. Sunday’s game was scoreless after the first quarter.’

‘The Dolphins won, 17-7, to raise their record to 2-1 and pull even with Buffalo and New England atop the division – but only because the Bills played more like the Bengals, only because Drew Bledsoe suffered through his worst outing since his rookie season.’

‘”They played an excellent game,” said Moulds.’