Archives for December 2004

‘Buffalo managed one touchdown and four field goals in five trips to the red zone. It tallied 212 net yards – a season low for the Bengals defense – and had only one offensive play go for more than 16 yards.’

‘Peters ran through a gap between long snapper Brad St. Louis and the right guard. Larson said he keeps his head down and did not see what happened. St. Louis said the Bills had six players "in the box" at the line of scrimmage and that the Bengals should have been able to double-team some rushers. "We just didn’t execute," Lewis said. "I saw what happened, a lack of focus and not finishing the play off and getting the guy blocked."’

‘”It was one of those crazy games,” Kitna said. “Everything seemed to go their way. On the interception to Takeo, he tackles our running back and picks it off. You don’t think that’s going to happen, and you think when it does happen, (the refs) would make a call. They didn’t.”‘

‘”I tell you though, it couldn’t have happened any better way. It reminded me of 2001 when I got an interception (and a 66-yard touchdown return) against the Ravens here. I remember looking on the JumboTron screen to see if somebody was running up behind me. This time I thought the same thing. I said, ‘Man, I hope Chad’s (Johnson) not behind me.’ I didn’t want somebody fast back there, but really I didn’t care. They might have caught me, but nobody was taking me down.”‘

‘”He’s a game changer. That’s the thing we need,” Anderson said . “We need game changers.”‘

Wait ’til next year (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Spikes gets TKO (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Kitna’s play puts Palmer’s in perspective (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Is Bengals’ progress on ice? (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Couldn’t get hands on enough turnovers (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Blocked punt painful, not special (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Photo Gallery (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Playoff hopes dashed (Cincinnati Post)

Spikes’ return a dream come true (Cincinnati Post)

Big chill on Sunday played into Bills’ hands (Cincinnati Post)

Rudi would rather have wins (Cincinnati Post)

Offense (Cincinnati Post)

Defense (Cincinnati Post)

Special teams (Cincinnati Post)

Coaching (Cincinnati Post)

Key player (Cincinnati Post)

Key play (Cincinnati Post)

Key stat (Cincinnati Post)

They said it (Cincinnati Post)

Red-hot Bills put big chill on Bengals’ playoff hopes (Dayton Daily News)

Takeo finally plays for playoffs (Dayton Daily News)

Johnson & Johnson share in disappointment (Dayton Daily News)

Mistakes make for miserable day (Dayton Daily News)

Bengals go pfffffft! (Columbus Dispatch)

Bills bide time, wait for mistakes (Columbus Dispatch)

Promising season turning out to be mirage for Bengals (Columbus Dispatch)

Booing doesn’t distract Spikes from his game (Columbus Dispatch)

Blocked punt ends run with thud (Bengals.com)

Bengals can’t get off treadmill (Bengals.com)

Freeze-dried frustration (Bengals.com)

Bills TKO Bengals’ play-off bid (Bengals.com)

Postgame quotes (Bengals.com)

Photo gallery (Bengals.com)

‘"We started off bad, but we’re finishing strong and that’s what you want to do. God willing we can continue to push forward and we have things happen that we need to have happen and maybe we can get in the tournament."’

‘”A lot of the Cincinnati fans were calling me a traitor, but I was thinking that they just love me and don’t know how to act,” Spikes said with a devilish grin. “Like a bad relationship, they see you with somebody else and they don’t like it for a minute, but then they learn to love you.”‘

‘Came to play: Bills LB Takeo Spikes: So who wrote this movie script, Walt Disney? In the feel-good performance of the day, the ex-Bengals linebacker returned an interception 62 yards for a touchdown and recovered a Rudi Johnson fumble forced by Nate Clements that led to a field goal.’

‘With his team 8-2 since a 0-4 start, Mike Mularkey deserves some coach of the year votes.’

‘”We notice it,” said Spikes when asked if the Bills have started scoreboard watching. “We said ‘Okay, that happened, let’s go take care of what we need to.’ “‘

‘If there was ever a doubt as to why Takeo Spikes wanted to leave Cincinnati, it was played out in front of him yesterday. As the Bengals were guaranteeing a 14th consecutive season without a playoff berth, one of their old warriors played a big part in making it happen.’

‘Team of destiny, you say? Hard to believe that this is the same bunch that started winless in four. Can that really be the same Drew Bledsoe the Buffaloons were trying to run out of town, or worse, a few weeks ago?’

‘He is about the most unlikely-looking special teams player in the NFL, a 6-feet-4 and 328-pound behemoth who caught the attention of league scouts at the annual combine workouts, clocking an eye-opening 40-yard time of under five seconds.’

The blueprint was to use a ball control style of offense to win games. During the Bills feverish rise in the standings they have found other ways to win. The 33-17 win over Cincinnati was similar to last week’s win against Cleveland. The offense didn’t do that much, but they didn’t have to. All three units scored touchdowns while the Bills forced four turnovers and made a couple of big plays on offense to pull off their fifth straight win, seventh in their last eight, and eighth in their last 10 after an 0-4 start.