Archives for December 2004

‘The Bills have tied the NFL record with five returns for touchdowns in a season.’

‘The touchdown return was McGee’s third of the season, putting him in an elite group in NFL history, as just 10 players have returned three-plus kickoffs for touchdowns in a season. The last player to accomplish this feat was Derrick Vaughn of Atlanta in 2000.’

‘The Bills’ second-half success has them at .500 for the first time this season and has suddenly made them a playoff contender, though reaching the postseason at this point remains very unlikely. But if Mularkey and Co. are searching for silver linings, they have certainly found one in the emergence of Evans.’

‘Buffalo’s an easy place to become a cynic. It’s where winter lasts five months and the sports teams, as a rule, break your heart, from the Sabres’ ”No Goal,” to the Bills’ ”Wide Right” and ”The Music City Miracle.” It’s very possible this year’s Bills will fall short and, perhaps, come up with a new way to lose. But for now, the Bills have a chance, far more than anyone gave them as recently as last month.’

‘Coach Frank Payne of Iroquois Central High School has been named the winner of the eighth annual Buffalo Bills “Coach of the Year” Award for the 2004 season.’

‘But after an 0-4 start – How big does that season-opening, last-play 17-16 loss to the Jaguars at “The Ralph” look now? – to still be playing meaningful games in December speaks eloquently of the Bills’ turnaround.’

‘But all this could leave the Bills with a quandary for next season. What do they do with J.P. Losman?’

‘With Sunday’s victory, the Bills won two straight road games for the first time since Oct. 13 and 20, 2002, when they defeated Houston and Miami. Buffalo last won three straight road games was back in 1993, the season of their last Super Bowl appearance.’

‘"We still have work to do," Mularkey said. "We’re not quite at that point we’ve been talking about since March. We’re still going to keep preaching the same things. Hopefully, we keep getting better and better as this thing goes on. We’re going to focus on the Cleveland Browns and . . . the Cleveland Browns."’

‘"This isn’t the first time I’ve smelled the playoffs," Spikes said. "But I tell you what, this is the first time I’ve experienced it this late in the season – where I’ve actually had something vital to play for. This is the first time it’s been like that. I think we’ve got something really good going right now."’

‘In keeping with his low-key image, Clements has declined to campaign publicly for the job. But associates say he would love to have it.’

‘In the season’s first four games when the Bills lost three times by margins of 3, 3 and 2 points, the Bills scored a total of 51 points. In their three-game win streak, they’ve scored 117, tying a club record for a three-game block first accomplished in Games 5-7 in 1964.’

‘I still think the dreamers are going to have their hearts broken when it’s all said and done, but for the first time since before opening day, I now think they do have a chance – still a small chance – to make it to the postseason.’

‘Bledsoe has quieted the critics for now. “He’s taken more heat than anybody,” linebacker Takeo Spikes told The Buffalo News after Sunday’s victory. “So I think it shows his character as a person. He’s fought through it.”‘

‘”There’s a level of appreciation here,” said former Bills special teams ace Steve Tasker, now a CBS analyst who lives in Buffalo. “The people who fill the stadium aren’t corporate types; they’re the ones who appreciate that when you pick up a paycheck you’ve earn it. They appreciate guys who in the face of adversity and long odds continue to show up and do their jobs.”‘