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Bills vs. Bears

Lori

By Lori
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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Lori All Pro

Lori

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REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Chicago leads, 5-4.

PLAYOFF RECORD: none

 

LAST MEETING: September 29, 2002 - Buffalo 33, Chicago 27 (OT)

Travis Henry took a Drew Bledsoe pass 26 yards for the game-winning TD in overtime. The OT touchdown pass was the fourth of Bledsoe's career, setting a new NFL record. The Bills defense stuffed Bears RB Anthony Thomas, holding him to 48 yards on 23 carries.

 

LAST BILLS GAME AT SOLDIER FIELD: August 21, 1998 (preseason) - Rob Johnson completed 10 of 13 passes for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 17-9 Bills win. Todd Collins was released the next day.

 

BILLS O vs. BEARS D: Assuming DEs Adewale Ogunleye and Alex Brown and DT Tommie Harris see significant time, this will be a much stiffer test for the Bills o-line than the previous two games. Now, maybe we'll see what we really have in Mike Gandy and Bennie Anderson - the Bears D-line is fast and aggressive. Expect some more scrambling from J.P., and rushing yardage between the tackles might be hard to come by.

Everybody's heard of MLB Brian Urlacher, and safeties Mike Brown and Mike Green are playmakers (although Brown is still working his way back from a season-ending Achilles tendon injury early last year). Secondary depth is hurting right now, though - projected starting CB Jerry Azumah is still out, and the Bears lost two backup safeties for the season against Indianapolis. Nathan Vasher, who led the team with five INTs last year, should start in Azumah's spot.

 

On the Bills side, the battles for backup RB, #3 WR, and depth on the O-line continue. TE Tim Euhus is out indefinitely, so that means more playing time for Ryan Neufeld, Rod Trafford, and Brad Cieslak. Expect only one of them to make it past the final cuts, with the veteran Neufeld the safe bet at this point.

 

BILLS D vs. BEARS O: Stat of the half-century - the Bears career passing yardage (14,686) and TD (137) records are held by Sid Luckman. If you never saw Luckman play, you're not alone - his career ended in 1950. As Chicago Tribune columnist Don Pierson noted in his Hall of Fame presentation honoring Bennie Friedman, Friedman's 20 touchdown passes in 1929 are more than any Bears QB has thrown in 38 of the last 39 seasons. (Odds are, they make that 39 of 40 this year.)

 

New WR Muhsin Muhammed's 16 TD catches in Carolina last year almost doubled the 9 scored by the entire Bears team. To make a long story short - Chicago's passing attack has not been good in a very long time, and with another severe injury to QB Rex Grossman, that's not likely to change this season. Replacement Chad Hutchinson got off to a rough start last week with three sacks, two INTs, and a lost fumble. He's listed as the starter for now, but expect Jeff Blake - or possibly even rookie Kyle Orton - to take over that job before too long.

 

The rungame should be a different story, though. Even with the worst passing game in the league, former Arizona first-round pick Thomas Jones somehow managed to average 4 yards/carry last season, while also leading the team in receptions. (Memo to Cedric Benson: work out a contract soon, or you might not have that starting job after all.)

John Tait and former Titan Fred Miller give them two veteran tackles, Olin Kreutz is a Pro Bowl center, and da Bearss picked up RG Roberto Garza from the league-leading Falcons rushing attack. If old friend Ruben Brown is fully recovered from the neck injury that landed him on IR last year, the Chicago o-line could actually turn out to be decent... but with the mess at QB, that might not matter much.

 

With the starting lineup pretty much set, the Bills will probably keep doing what they've been doing - the Bears were dead last in sacks allowed in 2004, and the inexperienced Hutchinson is an inviting target for Jerry Gray's blitz-happy scheme.

 

SPECIAL TEAMS: Chicago made some massive changes in the offseason, dumping returner R.W. McQuarters and kicker Paul Edinger and signing Doug Brien. Will he be the same Doug Brien who beat the Bills with a clutch kick early last season, or the one who gagged in OT in the Steelers playoff game? Who knows - he's a kicker. WRs Bobby Wade and Bernard Berrian and CB Nathan Vasher will most likely split returning duties, at least until Azumah comes back. Wade scored on a 54-yard punt return against Indy last week.

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Getting in some practice reps of my own; I plan to do this for each game this season. Let me know what you think.

 

Er, let me rephrase that. Constructive criticism appreciated; unconstructive criticism ignored.... :devil:

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Larry Playfair Rookie

Larry Playfair

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Locve this quote by Big Bennie on Gandy:

 

Gandy's Buffalo teammates are collectively saying, "Nice try, Mike." If Gandy didn't feel the need for some payback against Bears coach Lovie Smith, he wouldn't be human.

 

"He's a bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter man," said Bills new starting left guard, Bennie Anderson, who came over from the Baltimore Ravens. "Yeah he's angry. I thought I was an angry man."

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clayboy54 Veteran

clayboy54

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Great story, Lori! You are much better than most of the full-time beat writers covering the Bills. You are definately better than any of the wannabes on the net. Its nice to see solid and well thought out analysis coupled with good writing skills, and proper grammer.

 

I'll look forward to reading your "column" every week.

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AKC Veteran

AKC

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As has been pointed out it should be pinned but further it deserves a spot as a regular TBD Column with past weeks archived.

 

As always, among the very best contributors to TSW and consequently the reason many of us populate this board.

 

Too bad about that Pennsy thing though ;-)

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Mark Vader Hall of Famer

Mark Vader

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Lori, please keep continuing these columns, I find them to be very insightful and informative.

 

As far as tonight's game goes, I do think that the Bills offense will be getting a good test tonight against a good Bears defense. I read that Mularkey wants his starters to play a full half again, which concerns me, mainly because of injuries. I would be shcocked if Moulds sees much playing time. It will be important to see how the run blocking goes tonight after last week's average performance aginst the Packers.

As far as the back-up TE's go I believe it is only a matter of time until Cieslak & Trafford are cut. There is just too much talent ahead of them.

 

On the Bills defensive side, they will be facing a talented O-Line, which will provide some good insight as well. Still the Bills really should not have that much trouble with the Bears offensive weapons, including Muhammed. I was glad to see that you brought up Sid Luckman, and because of that I ask you and everyone else here. Has the Bears offensive philosophy changed at all since the 50's? I can't even think of a Bears WR in the Hall of Fame. It just seems the Bears still play with a power offense scheme, with sub-par QB's. Just my opinion.

 

Let's just hope the Bills come away with no injuries in this one.

Keep up the good work Lori.

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