Archives for December 26, 2003

‘The Bills’ bookend visit to Foxboro for the season finale will be the sad final chapter in a season that began on center stage, but is ending in irrelevancy.’

‘"It’s what the team produces and what you do in situations to win or lose the game, that’s what it comes down to," said Belichick. "If one guy has 1,300 yards, or two guys have 1,300 yards . . . the perception is in one case you have got a great running game and the other case that these guys can’t run the ball because they each have half of that . . .I just can’t buy into that."’

‘I think the Bills are going to be smeared like a bug on a windshield.’

‘The Bills need to determine whether they want to pay him $6 million in base salary next season and whether they want to pick up the final three years on his contract. If they decide he’s not worth the money, he can become a free agent. They also could restructure the deal. One way or another, Bledsoe expects to be back next season.’

‘If you’re a loyal Bills fan, you’ll turn down the sound on the boob tube and jack up the volume on the radio broadcast because we will not hear his likes again.’

‘The top song in the country for the second straight week was I’m Sorry by Brenda Lee.’

‘”I think it makes all the sense in the world,” Miller said. “You’d replace one familiar voice with another familiar voice, and I know that Murph will do a fantastic job.”‘

‘”It is bedlam. It is pandemonium. It is fandemonium.”‘

‘How many people are surprised to learn that the Bills aren’t going to the Super Bowl, Tom Donahoe is not the NFL’s version of Red Auerbach, Drew Bledsoe is not a better quarterback than Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick is not an idiot? Come on, now. Honestly.’

‘The Bills said Bledsoe passed all neurological tests, including National Football League baseline testing. “The pros are paid incredible amounts of money to do what they do, and the quarterback is the team leader, but the brain is a bit unique compared to the knees and back,” said Cantu. “There’s just no question you should not be playing with a brain injury.”‘

‘Patriots fans frequently heard how Bledsoe’s problems were the result of a shaky offensive line, or the loss of Curtis Martin, or the decline of Ben Coates, or the play-calling of Perkins/Kennan/Zampese. The excuse-making isn’t nearly as pronounced in Buffalo, where the fans and media are mostly amazed at how long Bledsoe holds on to the ball and how much trouble he has against the blitz.’

‘”He’s a true professional,” head coach Bill Belichick said. Nobody works harder or is more diligent or puts more into it than he does. He throws himself across the tracks and he does everything he possibly can for himself to be a good player.”‘

‘”We all show leadership in one way or another every single day,” Belichick said earlier this week, while getting his 13-2 team ready for the regular-season finale against Buffalo. “You don’t just stand in front of the team and be a leader. The way you go about your job and the way you contribute to the team provides some degree of leadership. I think every single person falls into that category.”‘

‘But with the final game of the regular season and the postseason still ahead, having the NFL’s best record is small comfort unless they can do what the 2001 team did.’