Two Bills Drive

‘”Every year people underestimate the Bills,” Buffalo guard Ruben Brown said. “It would be no different had (Smith, Price and Reed) been here, (the experts) were going to underestimate us anyway. They will pick a reason, they always do. “But we are all excited about the possibilities of where this team can go. We feel we can go a long way.”‘

‘Johnson, acquired by the Bills three years ago, lost the starting job due to injury six games into the 1998 season, vows he is up for the challenge. “There is always pressure,” Johnson said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself so I don’t worry about the pressure people put on the Bills.” Johnson’s primary task will be to open up the passing game, something Flutie’s failing 37-year-old arm was unable to do last season.’

‘The only undrafted rookie free agent to make the roster last season, Carpenter is now the team’s starting free safety, beating out four-year veteran Daryl Porter and highly-touted second-round draft pick Travares Tillman for the job vacated by Kurt Schulz. "I treated it as a great opportunity," Carpenter said. "Some guys don’t get this opportunity in their whole careers. I was fortunate and blessed to get this chance in just my second year. In this league, you’ve got to make the best of your chances. Up to this point, I have, but I’ve got to step my game up another notch, because it’s for real now."’

‘Buffalo in our opinion and many people’s opinion last year was a team picked to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. A lot of people felt that whoever survived that first game would have a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Then you go in and look at the specifics of what took place in our game against Buffalo. It was literally a dogfight. It was a battle war out there where two teams that couldn’t throw, that exchanged series back and forth and just pounded each other and that whole battle was kind of overtaken by the ending. People failed to realize what took place during the game. There were some great match-ups, great individual battles. Eddie had 29 carries for just nearly 100 yards and neither team had 100 yards passing. It was a very physical game and it’s going to be a physical game. Buffalo is a physical team and that’s what we pride ourselves in. So something has to give here. They probably have not gotten a good night’s sleep since that playoff game and have been pointing toward this game since then. And there’s no question that they’ll be ready to play. So we have to go in there in play our best to have a chance to play with them.’

‘Mark Bocko, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), was in an equal state of shock when he picked up the Jan. 24 edition of the Buffalo News. It said he had "offered proof that the pass at the end of the Bills-Titans AFC playoff game that ended the Bills’ season Jan. 8 was not a lateral pass but an illegal forward pass that should have been called back." The trouble from Bocko’s perspective: he never said the pass was forward.’

‘Jevon Kearse doesn’t want to hear any excuses from the Bills this time. In last season’s Wild Card game against Buffalo, Kearse sacked Bills quarterback Rob Johnson twice and also forced two fumbles, one resulting in a safety when the ball skidded out of the back of the end zone in the Titans’ 22-16 win. In the days following the game, however, Kearse got the impression he didn’t make a big enough impression. He plans to make up for that this Sunday.’

‘"Hey, I’ve been chewed out and cussed out in the city already and I wasn’t even here for the thing," said Bills special teams coach Ronnie Jones, who was hired to replace the fired Bruce DeHaven. "It was a big play that cost this team a chance at a ring. It’s going to be mentioned until we go out and prove that something like that can’t happen again."’

‘A crew from a television network in Norway was at the Bills practice facility yesterday to interview defensive tackle Leif Larsen. Larsen, the Bills’ sixth-round draft choice this past April, is the only native Norwegian in the NFL. Larsen played at Texas-El Paso — he went there on a track scholarship. Current Bills special teams coach Ronnie Jones was at UTEP last season and Wesley Phillips, son of Bills Coach Wade Phillips, is the UTEP quarterback.’

‘9. Bills…A quality group, but the Bills have the league’s most difficult schedule — their opponents were a combined 150-106 (.586) last season. That includes nine games against opponents who finished over. 500. QB Doug Flutie also suffered a severe groin pull in training camp and will be slow in coming back.’

‘Buffalo coach Wade Phillips said Thursday that Flutie might serve as the team’s third quarterback behind starter Rob Johnson and backup Alex Van Pelt, but a final decision may not be made until game time.’

‘"It is different certainly without the Big 3 and they certainly are in our minds and in our hearts,” said coach Wade Phillips, who returns for his third year. "But I hope there’s a Big 6 or Big 8 or Big 10 that show up with this year’s team. We have a lot of good young players. "If they play well, then those are the guys we’ll remember 10 years from now."’

‘The Titans, who fell a yard short of sending the Super Bowl into overtime, might be the league’s best team. The Bills almost always draft well and have stayed respectable even while the stars of the early ’90s fade from the scene. But they’re young. No miracles needed. TITANS, 24-16.

‘It wasn’t his choice to leave Buffalo, but apparently fans there resent his decision to join the Bills’ archrivals in the AFC East. “I’ve gotten nasty mail — `Watch your back when you come to Buffalo,”‘ he said. “I’m thinking they mean maybe a couple of snowballs, but you never know when you get letters like that.” He can’t say former teammate Jim Kelly didn’t warn him. “Jim was the first person I called when I came down here,” Thomas said. “He said, `If you still think you can play, go ahead and do it. But you’re probably going to make a lot of people in Buffalo mad.””

‘But that’s not to say last year’s playoff disappointment didn’t affect Johnson. His performance against the NFL’s premier pass rush, while playing behind an injury-devastated offensive line earned him big points with his teammates. Not only were they impressed that he had rallied them in a road playoff game, but also that he was quick to take the blame for his team’s struggles in the first half. Tennessee’s initial score was a safety when Johnson bobbled a snap from center Jerry Ostroski and was tackled in the end zone by Titans’ All-Pro defensive end Jevon Kearse. Afterward Johnson could have blamed Ostroski, but instead he insisted the mistake was his also. He that he had unwisely called an audible in the din of Adelphia Coliseum and Ostroski couldn’t hear it. In Johnson’s view, that was totally his own fault. But that approach – whether or not it was the truth – was a sharp contrast to his predecessor, Doug Flutie, whom he replaced a week earlier. Flutie took great pains to distance himself from blame for any mistakes, a trait duly noted by his teammates. Johnson’s “my fault” attitude was embraced by the team and he came to be viewed differently after that game. “I think the team sees me differently,” he conceded. “The team believes (I) can do it. But to me, I haven’t changed.”‘

‘Most of the Bills insist they’ve put that loss behind them. They’ll tell you it’s a new season, with a bunch of new players. They’ll tell you they’re not thirsting for revenge in Sunday night’s opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium. And you don’t believe them. Looking into Cowart’s eyes, you can almost see the fire smoldering inside him. It has been nearly eight months since Kevin Dyson raced down the left sideline to steal a victory away. That is hardly enough time to forget. "The players who were in that game know how it felt," he said. "So we’ll be playing with a little more incentive. They’re the only team to beat us in 2000, so we want to pay them back."’