Archives for February 2, 2009

‘Lots of Bills talk at my buddy Scott’s Super Bowl party, and most of it centered around wanting Trent Edwards to succeed next year. Now that Roethlisberger has two rings, how many blase quarterbacks have won a title since the Bills last danced? Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer, and they were backed by two of the most advantageous and skilled defenses in their era. It’s Aikman, Young, Elway, Favre, Peyton Manning, Warner and Brady. You don’t need first names for that group.-

‘”We had a house full of Steeler fans here,” said Van Pelt by phone from his home. “We were loud, there were about 20 of us and there was a lot of yelling and screaming. We had the Terrible Towels going. It was good.”‘

‘My most vivid memory of Smith? It involves a small vanilla ice cream cone.’

‘Then came that first season — when Smith had registered 6.5 sacks — and it seemed as if there wasn’t anything particularly special about the kid who, at 300 pounds, seemed too heavy to be a consistently dominant NFL defensive end. Hank Bullough, Buffalo’s coach at the time, didn’t think so and the two quickly formed an unhappy relationship on the way to Buffalo’s second consecutive 2-14 season. A year later, however, Jim Kelly became the Bills’ quarterback and nine games into the season, Marv Levy became their coach. And even though the Bills only won two more games, Smith’s sack count soared to 15, which quickly washed away any thoughts that he might become a "bust."’

‘On the other hand, the Bills should note that the naughtier team lost. The Cardinals lost over three times as much ground to penalties than they gained on the ground, as they were set back 106 yards by fouls compared to the meager 33 for which they rushed. Particularly, left tackle and former Bill Mike Gandy, who had three flags thrown at him for holding, proved unworthy of wearing a Super Bowl patch, something Buffalo could have told anyone by mid-2005.’

‘The Buffalo Bills had better results among Hall of Fame voters than they did on the field this season.’