Archives for October 2003

‘Running back: Travis Henry, gutting out the game with sore ribs, shook off two fumbles and a dropped pass to spark Buffalo’s big second half. He scored on a 9-yard screen pass and added the game-winning TD in overtime on a powerful 2-yard run, finishing with 85 yards on 25 carries. Fullback Sam Gash made three catches. A.’

‘Is there reason to panic over the Bills’ 2-2 record? Not really, or, at least not to the extent we’ve heard and read about this past week. Perhaps this is the result of not having a contending team for the past several seasons and simply forgetting how high and low emotions can ride, but it’s been humorous to witness the reaction in Bills’ country over the back-to-back losses.’

‘”This is a game we needed to win,” Bledsoe said. “It was almost a desperation situation for us.”‘

‘”He’s my hero, he’s a warrior,” Bills guard Jonas Jennings said. “To go out and play in pain like that, we all noticed.”‘

‘After missing the previous game, a loss to the Eagles, with sore ribs, Henry turned in a solid effort, scoring both Bills TDs. It wasn’t known until yesterday morning whether he would play. "Throughout the first quarter it was all right, but when we got deep in the game it started hurting bad, but I got through it," said the diminutive back, who finished with 85 yards on 25 carries and two receptions for 14 yards.’

‘"I don’t have any words for it," James said. "I had many chances to make stops and get us off the field. I didn’t make ’em. It hurts. When it was crunch time, (Moulds) made the plays that it took to win the game."’

‘"It was a special day, but it was real funny," he said. "From day one coming in as rookie, the guys that you see are like your brothers. You go out and work and sweat with them, and then there’s the adversity that we were going through in my five years there. There is a special bond between all of us. What we had was bigger than a game. . . . But it was a weird feeling now . . . wanting to take their heads off."’

‘"I tried to get a big shot at (Gash) and the next thing I know I was in here (the locker room)," Burris said. "I was unconscious for a while. The last thing I remember was holding up my thumb, coming off the field."’

‘The offense sputtered most of this game until Bledsoe stopped having drops by his receivers and throwing bad balls. The running game was also pretty bad, but got going once Buffalo tried using it a lot. When it was all said and done, Bledsoe was 19 of 35 for 211 yards, but was sacked four times. Eric Moulds had a key early drop, but came on with 9 catches for 99 yards.’

‘No doubt playing with a certain frenzy from their new defensive line coach, Krumrie’s unit controlled scrimmage. Led by tackle Pat Williams, the Bills stuffed Cincinnati on minus six rushing yards in the first quarter, and forced a turnover early in the second quarter even as Adams exited.’

‘The Bills are almost as spanking new as the Bengals after their off-season makeover, but they learned something in those nine minutes. Lewis (“We learned a valuable lesson today”) hopes they get it during the bye week. It was the Bills’ NFL-leading 17th overtime victory. The Bengals failed to get their 15th in 23 tries.’

‘On having some former Bengal staff members on the Bills staff to help game plan for Cincinnati:

“They do a few similar things to the things they did last year, but it is a new staff and new defense and I think we had a pretty good handle on it anyway. We did talk to them a little bit about some of their personnel, but even that has changed, so we didn’t pick their brain too much.”‘

‘"Week-in and week-out there is never an easy game in this league. I was proud of the guys fighting through a lot of things today and staying together, staying tough and staying tight. We had to run the ball in order to win it today. To give us some type of continuity in the second half, we came out and ran the ball better. We established a little bit of rhythm offensively that way. The Bengals played hard, they did. They played well. They lost to Oakland by three and Pittsburgh by seven. It took us sixty-plus minutes to get a win out of them today. We did enough things to win. Obviously there are some things to clean up but we’ll take the win. No matter how hard it is, we’ll take the win."’

‘Is that the play on which you were injured?

"Yeah, that was the play I injured my groin on. It had been bothering me a little the whole game but on that play when I tried to stop and stiff-arm the guy, he did a great job tackling. I couldn’t get my feet together and that’s when it happened."’

‘On the kick at the end of regulation (against wind):

"I just had to hit it straight. That’s usually the case out there; if you hit it straight then you’re all right. It’s the ones that barely deviate off your target line that get tossed away. I got a good snap and hold, from Moorman and Teague."’