Two Bills Drive

‘”I remember what it was like playing (Buffalo),” he said. “It was like, ‘Boy I’ve got to stick it to these guys.’ That’s how you get up the day of the game. You’re like, ‘God, I want to show them that I’m still worth keeping around.’ Your thing is you want to go out there and make plays to put your team in a situation to win.”‘

But this being today’s NFL, in which teams and careers can be revitalized faster than President Bush’s popularity rating, it shouldn’t be surprising that Bledsoe is playing this well, that the Bills are 5-3 and a half-game out of first place in the AFC East and that he could make the Patriots’ season even more gloomy. Payback indeed can be sweet.

"We definitely want to get the win for him. We know how important it will be for him. But at the same time, we won’t allow that to cause us to alter our approach in a way that might be detrimental."

Stat of the Week No. 5: Bills running back Travis Henry has lost six fumbles in eight games, while Wayne Chrebet fumbled for the first time since 1996. Henry is fumbling once every 29 touches; Chrebet went 323 touches between fumbles.

‘“You’ve got to get pressure on him in the pocket,” Vrabel said. “I think that every long play I’ve seen on the highlights this year he’s been able to step up and deliver the ball downfield. With Moulds and Price, you can’t give him a lot of time to get back, let those guys run downfield, and then let him step up three or four yards and throw the ball as hard as he can throw it.”’

‘”I’m just a little surprised at how fast we’ve jelled. The big thing is this team’s starting to expect to win.”‘

Among Bills In The Community This Week: Linebacker London Fletcher will be visiting kindergarten students at the Broadway Village Elementary Community School (PS 57), located at 231 Sears Street in Buffalo. Fletcher will sign autographs and answer questions.

‘The Patriots are desperate for a win over anybody, no matter who the quarterback happens to be, and the Bills are suddenly starting to think “hey, why NOT us?”.’

‘Belichick privately has told friends over the years that while he admired Bledsoe’s toughness he did not consider Bledsoe his ideal quarterback.’

‘We knew Bledsoe was a wonderful quarterback, but we had no idea he was this great.’

‘Winfield has missed two games due to minor arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage in his knee. Williams has been out two weeks with a strained hamstring.’

‘The Patriots absolutely made the right choice to stick with Brady — they won a Super Bowl with him. That team caught a spark with Brady and Belichick wisely rode the hot hand. What was he supposed to do for 2002, cut the Super Bowl MVP and go back to Bledsoe, a player who was stagnating in his system and eating up $5 million in cap space?’

‘No longer is this going to be a ”Win One for the Drewster” kind of game. The Bills are in the playoff hunt and they need to beat division opponents because it seems that their best route to a postseason berth will be to win the AFC East.’

‘The Bills quarterback is too classy a guy to get into it publicly. But privately he could care less for the Pats coach. He believes Belichick lied to him about giving him a chance to regain his starting job last season after the quarterback returned from a life-threatening chest injury.’

‘To think, this love affair with Ralph Wilson and football might never have happened had Ronnie Harmon not dropped that ball in the 1989 playoff game in Cleveland.’