Two Bills Drive

After coaching football for 44-years (7 in high school, 14 in college football, 23 in the pros), Bills' defensive line coach John Levra will coach his final game on Sunday, December 29, when Buffalo entertains the Cincinnati Bengals at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

‘"The way we played most of this year we didn’t deserve to get in anyway," cornerback Antoine Winfield said.’

‘It was the Bills’ best defensive performance of the season, in a game they dearly needed to stay in the playoff hunt.’

‘I suppose you could look on the bright side. The Bills are 7-8 and could finish .500 with a win over the Bengals next week. But watching the offense struggle in recent weeks, it’s been hard to see it as progress. It seems more like an opportunity squandered.’

‘Despite the Bills’ 10-0 loss, Thomas raised eyebrows with a solid performance. In addition to his interception, he broke up another pass and played very good coverage all afternoon.’

‘Ruben Brown, asked if the cold and 25-mph winds were an excuse for the Bills getting shut out: "What? You’ve been to Buffalo. No. There’s no excuses, and it would be a cop-out on my part to make an excuse. We play this game. They play it. They played it better than us today, and we got beat."’

‘For the first time in Green Bay coach Mike Sherman’s memory, Favre struggled in the cold and biting winds that raged through this football-mad outpost Sunday, but the Bills failed to take advantage of that rare occurrence and saw their slim playoff hopes disintegrate with a mistake-filled 10-0 loss.’

‘Bledsoe, the man who stood so tall in the pocket in September and October, has been shaky for two months, his throws off the mark, an easy target to hit, like the Drew whose career went splat! in New England. Worst, he’s still in denial, a team leader unable or unwilling to accept blame.’

‘He’s going to the Pro Bowl, and he became the first Buffalo quarterback in history to surpass 4,000 yards passing in a single season. But there’s no denying Bledsoe has been far below average the last three weeks, and you can make a strong argument that his slump at the end of the year, more than anything else, short-circuited Buffalo’s run to a playoff berth.’

‘QUARTERBACK: Drew Bledsoe found out just how good the Packers’ ball-hungry (league-high 45 takeaways) can be. Completed just half of his throws for 142 net yards, 0 TDs and 2 interceptions on cold, windy day. Also lost two fumbles after being sacked, one that set up Green Bay’s clinching touchdown, and wind had nothing to do with that. Zero points in 12 possessions is pretty hard to defend. D’

‘The Bills threw two interceptions and lost four fumbles…’

‘All of five of Holliday’s sacks came in the second half and four were in the game’s final 10 minutes.’

‘Against the Bills, he gained only 8 yards on three punt returns, including cleanly fielding another bouncing punt and getting hit immediately thereafter. His lone kickoff return yielded 9 yards.’

‘The fifth-year back has gained 1,561 yards from scrimmage this season, an average of almost 112 yards per game. He’s gone over the 100-yard mark nine times in his career.’

‘Mike Hollis missed on a 33-yard field-goal attempt early in the third to spoil a drive of nearly 10 minutes.’