Two Bills Drive

‘In one those pitiful duels the NFL doesn’t publicize, Rob Johnson played down to the level of (gasp!) Kordell Stewart, and lost his seventh straight start. With his line crumbling around him, Johnson threw for 104 yards, produced one field goal and got hurt. Did nothing overly horrible (he did overthrow Eric Moulds at the goal-line), but nothing great, so why not just buy a ticket? Backup Alex Van Pelt threw a bad interception to seal the deal.’

‘"Not disappointed, pissed," Williams said after watching his overmatched team fall to 0-3. "Not discouraged. Pissed."’

‘Fullback Larry Centers didn’t think he was going from bad to worse when he left the Washington Redskins for the Buffalo Bills. But at best, early in this NFL season, it’s a wash.’

‘The opening 30 minutes might, in fact, have been the worst first half of football in recent history.’

‘The Pittsburgh Steelers left the Buffalo Bills physically and emotionally devastated. The Bills not only lost 21-3 yesterday to a rusty Steelers team coming off a 21-day break, but they ran into further injury woes, leaving the rest of their year in question. And it’s only Week 4.’

‘Inspired on one hand by New York Governor George Pataki’s pregame speech and angered on the other by six personal fouls called against them in the first half, the Steelers put their long rest to rest by clubbing the Buffalo Bills, 20-3.’

‘Although the Bills are 0-3 and facing the possibility of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, they sounded off in near unison that they had no business losing to these Steelers. "There are a couple of teams already that we’ve played and felt we had a good chance of beating," tight end Jay Riemersma said, referring also to the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Bills, 24-6, in their opener. "But having a chance and going out there and kicking somebody’s butt are two different things."’

‘Jerome Bettis is accustomed to feasting in the Buffalo area. As a kid, he used to visit his relatives and never missed going to the Anchor Bar and Restaurant, the original home of Buffalo wings.’

‘"That was their chance," said safety Brent Alexander. "They got down there close to put points on the board."’

‘The Bills provided a little extra incentive with their pregame "crap," to quote Flowers. "Some of their kicks were almost hitting our guys. There’s no place for that kind of stuff in this league. If you want to do that to us, you had better know we’re going to lay the wood on you."’

‘For the most part, their 21 days away from NFL competition was barely noticeable as they did what they had to do to dispatch the injury-ravaged and subsequently hapless Buffalo Bills.’

‘The Bills, depleted by injuries coming into the game, lost six more players, including LT Kris Farris for the season and four others are likely to miss more playing time. Owner Ralph Wilson and GM Tom Donahoe had a brief chat about the situation after the game. "Mr. Wilson just told me he’s never seen anything like it in his 41 years in this league and going back to the old AFL," Donahoe said. "But it’s part of the game, and we’ve got to overcome it. We played a good team today, and you’ve got to take your hats off to the Steelers. They deserved to win."’

‘Beating the beat-up Bills, who barely pass for an NFL team, is nothing to brag about.’

‘"The catches I did get were key," said Ward, who averaged 13.3 yards per catch in his first three seasons with the Steelers but averaged 8.8 yards yesterday. "They kept the chains going."’

‘"Us being off for 21 days had something to do with it, but they added gas to the fire," Flowers said. "We came out to stretch, and they were still doing their kicking drills. That was total disrespect. And there were things said in the paper (by the Bills) about, ‘The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming in, we should win this game.’ We were just (ticked) off, man. We played very physical, we played very mad. "I think (defensive backs coach) Willie Robinson said it best, ‘Play (ticked) off the whole game.’ That’s what we did."’