Archives for September 2003

‘The Jags, for example, sold out to stop the Bills running game, and it cost them dearly because they simply couldn’t put enough pressure on Drew Bledsoe even in 3rd and long situations. But near the goal line, they had to play both the run and pass equally, or honestly in other words, and the Bills o-line gave the hard running Henry just enough room.’

‘Bledsoe believes the team’s improved defense also helps the offense perform better. “Last year, you’re like, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to stop these guys, so we’ve got to put up as many points as we can,”’ he said. “This year, we’re able to utilize the whole playbook, and because of that teams have to play us more honestly.”’

”’There is definitely going to be some motivation,” Rogers said. ”I’m friends with a lot of the guys and coaches with the Bills, but they didn’t offer me a contract I would have liked to have had. I’m going to try to make them pay for that.”’

”’I’ve been fired up ever since I heard those guys felt that they were better than us,” Moulds said referring to offseason talk. ”And we feel like we’ve worked hard this offseason to get to a certain point. We’ll see what happens Sunday. I’m going to do my talking there and then we’ll see what happens.”’

‘”I’m still feeling it today,” Campbell said following practice on Wednesday. “If you’re going to get hit, you might as well catch it.”‘

‘”We are blessed here to have several good corners that actually play physical. Nate Clements is very physical as a corner. Terrance McGee, Kevin Thomas all those guys are stepping up and playing very physical. I think that’s a credit to the coaching staff on how they want our guys to play. But again, corners have got to want to make those hits too. Those guys know the pride of the defense. I think Antoine has set the stage for that, set the bar, and all those corners are scrambling to be like him on that respect of how physical they are.”‘

‘The Bills certainly have the edge and have control of their destiny now, having a lead in the division like this. But can a young team with a handful of potential and potential question marks keep up its strong play over the entire season? I’m not so sure about that, especially in this league of parity, when you simply never know what might happen any given week.’

‘Buffalo’s coaches justified the pick by saying that McGahee was the best athlete available. Henry said he understood. But he didn’t. Still doesn’t. So as he sits at Friday’s nibbling on fish and chips, he knows this might be his last season as a Bill. “I’m a franchise back,” Henry says. “I don’t see myself giving my carries to Willis. Na-uh. We can’t both be here. Something’s gotta happen. Either they trade me or trade him.” And what kills Henry is that inside, he knows it’ll probably be him.’

‘"I see it both as the fact that we went to four straight and it was very cool and it was very unique and historic. But I also feel like we never got done what we really wanted to get done," Tasker said. "That was the ultimate goal. We never really got that achieved although in trying to get there, we went four times in a row and all of a sudden that was kind of special too."’

‘"You know what the guy did," Marion said. "I’m not going to cheap shot him because of it. I’m going to play football straight up. . . . The fact of the matter is, what he did, you can’t respect anybody like that."’

‘"One thing I’ve learned is that you need a short memory in this league," Reed said. "Stuff like that is going to happen. The guy that stands apart from the rest is the guy who bounces back the next week. You’re not going to be on top of your game every time. You can’t let things like that bring you down."’

‘Last season, cornerback Patrick Surtain said Moulds spit in his face, and that led to a costly personal foul against Surtain in the Dolphins’ 38-21 loss. ”I lost all respect for him,” Dolphins safety Brock Marion said of Moulds. “What more can I say? If I spit on you, aren’t you going to lose all respect for me? He’s still a good player, but that’s not called for in this game.”’

‘You can argue that the Dolphins should actively try to score on every possession, considering the nutsy, modern NFL, and maybe they should. You can use the phrase “lacking killer instinct” interchangeably with “conservative” if you must. But this team’s missing killer instinct manifests itself more in execution — on offense and defense — and in attitude more than conservative play-calling, at least if Sunday is a guide.’

‘Yet the Dolphins have allowed 10 passing plays of 20 yards or more and given up 632 total passing yards.’

‘At least the Bills are acknowledging their weaknesses. Many teams would start complaining that they deserve more respect after winning two one-sided games to start the season. The Bills instead are choosing to point out what they’ve done wrong. “The thing that we’re focused on is that we’re still making a number of little mistakes,” Bledsoe said. “We’re not going to have games like these first two games all year. We’re going to have a battle on our hands this week. We’re proud of the points we’ve put up, but we have high hopes and we can’t keep making those little mistakes.”‘