Two Bills Drive

‘Chuck Knox hired Hawkins for the Bills staff in 1982, and Hawkins was one of the assistants who went with Knox to Seattle.’

‘After four straight seasons out of the playoffs, there’s a little bit of restlessness in the seating bowl of Ralph Wilson Stadium. Scoring one TD in a game against a team that finished 5-11 last season isn’t going to cut it. There’s not a lot of patience around Western New York for nice tries or coming close. The Bills have to figure out how to win – and soon.’

‘"We lived and breathed football," Kelly said. "Nowadays, kids have Nintendo games and so many distractions. We didn’t have that. We played tackle football and it didn’t matter where."’

‘It’s a play that will keep cornerback Nate Clements up at night.’

‘COACHING: D-plus — Mike Mularkey’s regular-season debut was marred by the turnovers and penalties that plagued his team in the preseason. Some questionable passing calls by coordinator Tom Clements, twice passing on third-and-one unsuccessfully to stir memories of Kevin Gilbride of a year ago. Bills never tested Jaguars’ deep cover 2 zones with the speed of Evans. Meanwhile, Jacksonville scored winning TD throwing into triple coverage. Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray needed to find way to get to quarterback Byron Leftwich on final drive.’

‘The loss dropped Buffalo to 3-8 in its last 11 regular-season openers and snapped a three-game win streak against Jacksonville.’

‘Head coach Jim Kuhn of West Seneca West High School has been named the Buffalo Bills’ high school football “Coach of the Week” for the second weekend of the 2004 season (Sept. 10-11). Kuhn led the Indians to an impressive 28-0 victory over Class AA rival Jamestown HS, a traditional powerhouse in WNY high school football.’

‘"Steve Tasker kind of just stepped up and made a huge play," says Williams. "It was a situation where we had game-planned their punt team. I remember where a couple punts before, their up-back hit me pretty hard a couple times because I was going to be one of the guys that was going to be freed to try to block it. So coach (Bruce) DeHaven decided to go from the opposite side and he switched Steve and I. Steve made a move and blocked the punt. I was there to recover it and 38 yards later, we took the lead and never looked back."’

‘”I’m going to find a positive in this and I hope they will too. Right now, I know everybody is down in the dumps. But when we put that tape on and they see what they’re capable of doing, it should help us."’

The Bills executed their gameplan well but when things got tight at the end of the game, it looked like the same old Bills from 2003. The Defense dominated most of the game but tired after the Offense could produce only 10 points. The team didn’t show any toughness at the end and collapsed on the final play for a devastating loss. Here are our position by position grades:

Losing on opening day is tough enough, but losing on the final play of the game is too much to take. Take in the fact that the Bills have to beat the Jackonvilles of the league at home to be considered a post season contender and what you get appears to be similar to the Bills of 2003.

‘This is going to be a good football team. They just need to correct a few of their mistakes and eliminate their turnovers. They have a strong running game and a great defense and that’s what wins games in the NFL. They have a chance to do a lot better than we did last year and finish with a better record.’

‘"I don’t feel like we lost the game on the last play of the game," coach Mike Mularkey said. "I felt like there were opportunities, many of them, that one of them could have been the difference in the game."’

‘Since the start of the 2001 season, Lindell is the only NFL kicker who has coverted fewer than half his kicks from 40-49 yards.’

‘"It’s one round in a 16-round fight," Vincent continued. "It’s a great teaching tool, unfortunately. That one counts, it’s in the loss column and it’s a tough one to swallow, but we’ll look at it, we’ll correct the mistakes we made and we’ll move on. We played extremely well and there’s things we can take from the game and build on."’