Two Bills Drive

‘The Bills certainly have the edge and have control of their destiny now, having a lead in the division like this. But can a young team with a handful of potential and potential question marks keep up its strong play over the entire season? I’m not so sure about that, especially in this league of parity, when you simply never know what might happen any given week.’

‘Buffalo’s coaches justified the pick by saying that McGahee was the best athlete available. Henry said he understood. But he didn’t. Still doesn’t. So as he sits at Friday’s nibbling on fish and chips, he knows this might be his last season as a Bill. “I’m a franchise back,” Henry says. “I don’t see myself giving my carries to Willis. Na-uh. We can’t both be here. Something’s gotta happen. Either they trade me or trade him.” And what kills Henry is that inside, he knows it’ll probably be him.’

‘"I see it both as the fact that we went to four straight and it was very cool and it was very unique and historic. But I also feel like we never got done what we really wanted to get done," Tasker said. "That was the ultimate goal. We never really got that achieved although in trying to get there, we went four times in a row and all of a sudden that was kind of special too."’

‘"You know what the guy did," Marion said. "I’m not going to cheap shot him because of it. I’m going to play football straight up. . . . The fact of the matter is, what he did, you can’t respect anybody like that."’

‘"One thing I’ve learned is that you need a short memory in this league," Reed said. "Stuff like that is going to happen. The guy that stands apart from the rest is the guy who bounces back the next week. You’re not going to be on top of your game every time. You can’t let things like that bring you down."’

‘Last season, cornerback Patrick Surtain said Moulds spit in his face, and that led to a costly personal foul against Surtain in the Dolphins’ 38-21 loss. ”I lost all respect for him,” Dolphins safety Brock Marion said of Moulds. “What more can I say? If I spit on you, aren’t you going to lose all respect for me? He’s still a good player, but that’s not called for in this game.”’

‘You can argue that the Dolphins should actively try to score on every possession, considering the nutsy, modern NFL, and maybe they should. You can use the phrase “lacking killer instinct” interchangeably with “conservative” if you must. But this team’s missing killer instinct manifests itself more in execution — on offense and defense — and in attitude more than conservative play-calling, at least if Sunday is a guide.’

‘Yet the Dolphins have allowed 10 passing plays of 20 yards or more and given up 632 total passing yards.’

‘At least the Bills are acknowledging their weaknesses. Many teams would start complaining that they deserve more respect after winning two one-sided games to start the season. The Bills instead are choosing to point out what they’ve done wrong. “The thing that we’re focused on is that we’re still making a number of little mistakes,” Bledsoe said. “We’re not going to have games like these first two games all year. We’re going to have a battle on our hands this week. We’re proud of the points we’ve put up, but we have high hopes and we can’t keep making those little mistakes.”‘

‘Sam Aiken, Antonio Brown, Angelo Crowell, Jon Dorenbos, Mario Haggan, Chris Kelsay, Willis McGahee, Jerel Myers, Lauvale Sape, and Ben Sobieski joined 100 4th graders from M.L.K. Multicultural Institute (School #39) for the field trip, sponsored by Tops Friendly Markets.’

‘In January, Wright pleaded no contest to hit and run charges in Fresno, after an accident that left two people hurt.’

Beating Jacksonville so handily further validates the opening-day pounding of the Pats, but the Bills will need to show offensive balance sooner rather than later.

‘The Miami Dolphins have announced plans to hold a tribute to salsa legend Celia Cruz during halftime of Sunday night’s game against Buffalo.’

‘”We kind of set the tone at the outset of both games … that’s the thing I’m most proud of,” Gilbride said. “To take (the first possession) down and drive it in, gives your team … the entire team, an overwhelming sense of confidence. It also alters the whole complexion of their game … what their team is going to do defensively now changes and what their team is going to do on offense changes.”‘

‘Yes, Jacksonville scored—but who cares? The Bills had 38 points. The failed fake punt was of no consequence to the outcome of the game. This has to be a horrible time for talk radio. What do you talk about when a team has played as well as the Bills the first two games, and there’s nothing negative to drone on about? The answer– they have to focus on an play that meant absolutely nothing.’