Archives for December 28, 2004

‘have carried over to the whole team. The Bills are a confident group now, and feel they can stand toe-to-toe with any team in the league. Opposing defenses are putting quite a bit of focus on stopping McGahee, and that just opens up the rest of the Buffalo offense.’

‘Shaud Williams was well-prepared for his first significant action.’

‘Should the Bills and Jets tie in the standings at 10-6, Buffalo wins the tiebreaker because of a better record among common opponents.’

‘In a season once destined for the scrap heap, the Buffalo Bills have patched up enough holes to stand on the brink of one of the National Football League’s most improbable turnarounds.’

‘And then there’s Donahoe, who has run both franchises. His Pittsburgh roots run so deep his grandfather was once mayor. But his 9-6 Bills need a win against the 14-1 Steelers and help from others to make the playoffs. That makes Sunday’s game at Ralph Wilson Stadium something of a playoff game. “That’s nothing new for us,” Donahoe says. “We’ve been playing playoff games for six weeks.”‘

‘I still wonder how Donahoe could have been so right about Mularkey and so wrong about Williams, but the good news for everybody that cares about the present and future of the Bills, is that Mularkey is proving not only that he’s the right guy, but Donahoe is the right guy as well.’

‘their turnaround. The opinions varied, but one common theme was their head coach Mike Mularkey.’

‘The Bills can reach the playoffs by beating Pittsburgh on Sunday, and while I can’t explain what happened, I can point to Mularkey holding fast. He never wavered, especially when critics were dissecting a disappointing offense — Mularkey’s area of expertise.’

‘A no-huddle renaissance? It could happen.’

‘And the Bills thought the Cleveland Browns were bad.’

‘The Bills once lost 12 out of 14 road games under QB Drew Bledsoe. They’ve now won four in a row on the road, longest such streak since 1966.’

‘The Bills have sold out seven of eight games this season and 15 of 16 games over the last two years.’

‘Patience is a virtue, particularly when it comes to young football players. The players need a chance to develop and they do so on all different time frames. The coaches have the advantage of seeing players and working with them every day and as a result, they are in the best position to determine the potential of the player. Some of the best learning that I have had in the National Football League has come through experience and one of the lessons that I learned is that you must be patient and give players a chance to find their niche.’

‘I don’t really know how many exact plays there are in the playbook because there are variations off of plays and formations. The booklet is thick and I’d say about 300 plays. The playbook is condensed for each game, so typically we have 90 plays per game.’

‘The Bills recorded their sixth straight victory, good for the team’s longest winning streak since an 8-game streak in 1990.’