There is no way to sugar-coat the Bills season-opening 31-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Wade Phillips has his work cut out for him to get this team in regular season mode as the team was out of synch in most areas during the game. Doug Flutie was outplayed by his counterpart, Peyton Manning as Manning completed 21 of 33 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Flutie attempted 42 passes, completing 22 of them for 300 yards and one score. Both quarterbacks had two intercepted.
"It wasn't any fun, certainly," a dejected Wade Phillips said after the game. "They gave us a lot of trouble with their blitz. It caused some problems early. We started moving the football but didn't come through with the big plays."
After an embarrassing loss in the season opener against the Colts, the Bills needed to make a complete turnaround in their home opener against the Jets. A turnaround is exactly what happened last night in the Bills 17-3 win over New York. To say this was a crucial game so early in the season may be a little premature, but the Bills would not want to switch places with the Jets who are now 0-2 and in the AFC East basement.
"I don't know if there are must-wins in Week Two," Wade Phillips said. "We didn't win in Week Two last year. But I just thought we had to play better. Our guys made up their mind they were going to play well and they did. I think we have a lot of momentum now that we didn't have going into the season."
On a beautiful late September afternoon, the Bills took advantage of both the weather and their opponent's weaknesses for a big 26-0 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. By winning, the Bills take a 2-1 record into Miami for their Monday Night Football showdown with the Dolphins next week.
There was a fear in some corners of a letdown against a vastly inferior Eagle team, but the Bills put that to rest early in the game as they rammed the ball down the Eagles throats on the opening series and continued to do so the rest of the game. The Bills defense came up big in this one, pitching a shutout for the first time since September 20, 1992 against the Colts.
Doug Flutie upped his home record as a starter to 13-1 as he completed 18 out of 26 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown. He had one picked off to halt another Bills drive. Flutie also ran with the ball 5 times for 32 yards, a 6.4 average. He did have problems getting the Bills in from the red zone as the Bills got inside the Philadelphia 10 yard line twice in the first half and to the 11 another time and Steve Christie was forced to kick three field goals when the drives came up short.
By soundly trouncing the Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills avoided what would have truly been an embarrassment. There was always that chance of playing down to the level of the competition and the Bills could have been ripe for the picking.
"We had to guard against ourselves today," Andre Reed said. "I mean, it was only 9-0 going into the second quarter, and anything could have happened. You're supposed to win the games you're supposed to win, and that's what we did today . . . Believe me, if we would have lost that game, we would have all been sick about it."
There were those two touchdowns that the Eagles scored that were wiped out by offsides. One could argue that the Bills knew that the plays were going to be disallowed, but you never can tell. There were two other times the Eagles managed to get into Bills territory, but the defense held. With a little luck (or bad luck in the Bills case), things may have gone differently for the Eagles.
On a warm and muggy Miami night, the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins 23-18 in a game that could have huge consequences in the AFC East. The Bills defense came up big when they had to and was the key element in the victory. John Holecek and Kurt Schulz were the standouts, but there was a solid effort all around as the Bills D stuffed the Fish and Dan Marino.
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Henry Jones brings down Dolphins receiver O.J. McDuffie. |
The game was sweet revenge for Phillips and his troops. There is still a bitter taste in their mouths from the Wild Card game last January when the Dolphins ended the Bills season by beating them 24-17. After that one, Jimmy Johnson, the outspoken Dolphin coach, went berserk in the Dolphin locker room by stomping on a box of Flutie Flakes in celebrating the victory.
In an obvious dig at Johnson, Phillips said that he was exuberant about beating the Dolphins "but I didn't bring any hair spray to stomp on."
The Dolphins locker room was quite a contrast from the wild scene last January.
"It's very simple," a dejected Johnson said. "If you turn the ball over and don't convert on third downs, you're going to have a tough time winning."
Doug Flutie has heard all the criticisms about his throwing arm. "He can't throw the long ball. Rob Johnson has the better arm." In today's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Flutie made a statement and he let his arm do the talking. In leading the Bills to a 24-21 victory over Pittsburgh, Flutie had one of his most productive days passing in his NFL career.
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Phil Hansen sacks Kordell Stewart |
"This was my best day throwing this season," said Flutie. "The ball came out well, and I saw the field better than I have. I just felt like I had all kinds of time out there."
Flutie also scrambled 39 yards on 7 carries, the biggest on coming on 3rd and 20 when he took off right down the middle of the field to pick up 21 yards and the first down.
By beating the Steelers, along with New England's last second loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on a missed field goal by the Patriots kicker, the Bills gain a tie with the Patriots for first in the AFC East. Since their opening day loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Bills have now won four straight.
The Oakland Raiders came into Buffalo with the intention of running the ball on the Bills vaulted running defense. The Raiders backs ran all over the No. 1 defense against the run as they defeated the Bills 20-14 before another sellout at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Tyrone Wheatley ran roughshod over the Bills as he rumbled for 97 yards. The Raiders rushed for a total 195 yards and controlled the clock for 2/3 of the game. Wheatley scored two touchdowns, one in the first quarter and the second was for 11 yards in the third. Napoleon Kaufman had 72 yards on 12 carries. The two of them shredded through the Bills once solid defensive line.
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Zack Crockett gets hauled down by Bruce Smith |
"We put eight men up there and we still couldn't stop the run," said Bills head coach Wade Phillips after the game.
Rich Gannon had a solid game for the Raiders, completing 15 of 22 for 155 yards and had no interceptions. He mixed the passing game with the runs to keep the Bills defense off balance the entire game.
Doug Flutie, coming off his best game of the season, had a poor showing as he threw three interceptions while completing 19 out of 41 attempts for 210 yards. Having gone ten straight quarters without having a pick, Flutie's first pass was intercepted and that set the stage for a long afternoon for the Bills diminutive quarterback. Three of this passes were knocked down at the line of scrimmage and he was sacked once.
The Seattle Seahawks took it to the Bills right from the opening kickoff and handed Buffalo its third loss of the season with a 26-16 shellacking. The first half was brutal for the Bills, especially their defense as Seahawks quarterback Jon Kitna dissected the Bills secondary like a skilled surgeon. Seattle took a 23-0 lead in the second quarter before Steve Christie finally got the Bills on the board right at the end of the first half.
"I think it is probably coaching, and I'm talking me first," Phillips said about the Bills digging themselves a hole early. "We have to get them more prepared. We can't give the ball away, and we can't let them run the kickoff back or score on the first drive every time.
"The secondary was terrible," fumed Phillips. "Coverage was terrible. Crossing routes in zones . . . nobody saw them coming across . . . it was just on and on."
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Sam Adams sacks Doug Flutie |
The Bills dug their hole early and never were able to climb back out. The defense was deplorable especially the secondary, which let Hawk receivers break through and make big grabs all day. Kitna, in his first year as a Seahawk starter, was the game's top player with his laser-perfect passes. He passed 30 times, completing 17 for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kitna threw half his passes in tight and double coverage, threading the needle with amazing accuracy. His receivers must be given a lot of the credit as they made some spectacular receptions. Derrick Mayes caught the two Kitna TD passes, one went for 43 yards. On the day, he was the top receiver catching 6 for 106 yards. Todd Peterson got all the other Seahawks points as he kicked 4 field goals and two extra points.
The Bills pulled out a last minute comeback in the land of Edgar Allen Poe to defeat the Baltimore Ravens 13-10 in a mistake-filled contest. Doug Flutie having one of his worst games as a Bill, struggled for most of the game and was not able to generate a productive drive until the very end.
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Jonathan Linton leaps into the arms of Robert Hicks after catching winning TD. |
"I'm relieved. It's hard to be real happy because we just are struggling offensively and at times it looks ugly," Flutie said in his post game interview. "Two or three interceptions I'd throw again because they were one-on-one routes and I have faith in our guys. All of a sudden a guy sits and squats and breaks on the ball and makes a play. We had a lot of missed assignments, a lot of mistakes all over the place and it was just plain ugly. We've got to tighten that up because we are not going to win a lot of games playing that way."
The Buffalo Bills made a huge statement against the Washington Redskins Sunday as they blew out the Skins 34-17 in a shocker. Both the offensive and defensive units came up big and disproved all the naysayers by beating the highest scoring team in the NFL. Two Bills players also made big statements in this game. The much maligned Doug Flutie, who received negative press from the Buffalo media all week (including from me), played one of his strongest games of the season by passing for 211 yards on 16 completions for two touchdowns and NO interceptions. Antowain Smith, who has been struggling even more than Flutie as of late, got 68 yards on 20 carries and ran for two touchdowns.
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Antowain Smith runs past Marco Coleman for a big gain |
The Bills came up with a game plan that went back to the running game to open it up for the passing game. Bills running backs Smith and Jonathan Linton had impressive outings, with Smith's 68 yards to go along with Linton's 96 yards on 24 carries. It was a particularly impressive game for Smith. The Bills completely controlled the clock, having possession for 41 minutes compared to the Redskins' 19.
The Bills played their most impressive game of the season Sunday as they not only "Squished the Fish", but pulverized them! The Bills came out of the chute with fire in their eyes and got right back into the AFC Eastern Division race as they handed the Dolphins their fins in a 23-3 shellacking.
As Jimmy Johnson said, "They beat the Hell out of us."
Jimmy's Dolphins are now 7-2, with Buffalo being the only team in the league to beat them, and the Bills have now done it twice. Johnson, who made a spectacle of himself last year after his Dolphins beat the Bills in the AFC Wildcard game by stomping on a box of Flutie Flakes, has nothing to celebrate this year after losing to the Bills two times.
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Jimmy Johnson was frustrated all afternoon with his players |
"We obviously weren't ready to play," Johnson fumed. "Buffalo blocked us; we didn't block them. We couldn't tackle them. We had a lot of things going on, talking about how good we were, and quarterback controversies and everything in the world except talking about our opponent, which had beat us pretty good before."
With that, Johnson stormed out of the room, ending his press conference which lasted only 45 seconds.
"We had to establish the running game," Bills head coach Wade Phillips said. "The wind was a factor today. Throwing the ball was tough, which made the running game that much more important."
The Bills controlled this game from start to finish. Using the phrase "complete domination" is an understatement. Buffalo took what they learned in the first matchup with the Dolphins and expounded on it. The Bills scored from in the air, from on the ground and through the uprights. Steve Christie didn't seem to be too affected by the strong gusty winds in Ralph Wilson Stadium as he kicked field goals of 31, 48 and 47. All of them came in the first quarter. The Bills scored one touchdown when Doug Flutie threw a 53-yard bomb to Eric Moulds and the other on the ground when Jonathan Linton scored from 4 yards out.
The big story of the day was the Bills running game. The Bills racked up 334 yards in total offense, and 177 of them were on the ground. Antowain Smith had his best game of the season, running for 126 yards on 29 carries, a 4.3 yard per carry average. His longest run covered 24 yards. Jonathan Linton gained 28 yards on seven carries and scored one touchdown before going out with a sprained knee.
Bills fans are still exuberant over the Bills dominating performance over the Dolphins yesterday. Not only did they allow the Dolphins only 101 total yards (Miami's second worst in franchise history), but Buffalo is the only NFL team to defeat the Fish this season. The sweep over their most hated rivals puts the Bills at 7-3 this year. Surprisingly, Buffalo is still ranked fourth in the division. While the Bills were quite talkative after the game, things got quite testy over on the Dolphins side.
Jimmy Johnson issued the gag order on himself and the rest of his players after the humiliating 23-3 loss to the Bills yesterday. The final sentence he issued before storming out of his post game press conference was:
"The only thing I will say is that this week we're talking about New England. We aren't talking about a bunch of other crap."
There were a couple of players who ignored the gag order and did speak to reporters. One was Trace Armstrong.
"They did a great job of running the football," said Armstrong. "They gave us some problems with movement, and defensively if you allow a team to dictate to you all day, you're going to have a hard time stopping them and that's what happened. They were able to run the ball; they were able to throw the ball. It was just a great day for them, a real bad day for us."
No one can give a better description of what went on the field than the players, and the few Dolphins that did crack the forced silence spoke volumes.
"We know we can play better than that," Tim Bowens said about stopping the run. "Everyone obviously is disappointed in the way we played losing the ball game. We know we can play a lot better."
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Sam rodgers and Marlo Perry sack Dolphins quarterback Damon Huard |
''To me the whole (quarterback) controversy is absurd,'' Huard continued. ''My job is to be the second-string quarterback. Dan is the starter. If he's ready to play, he's the man. Until then, my assignment is to focus on the job I need to do, and I obviously didn't focus enough today.''
Defensive end Jason Taylor said, ''They just took it to us. ''They just came right at us. We didn't get off the blocks and we didn't tackle.''
Bill Parcells has done it again to Doug Flutie and the Bills. He came up with a game plan that put the wraps on Flutie's explosive running and forced him to make three huge blunders that cost the Bills the game. The Jets won their third straight game under the guidance of Ray Lucas by a score of 17-7. Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick came up with a brilliant strategy once again to hand the Bills a humbling defeat.
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Ray Lucas rambles 9 yards for his first NFL touchdown |
Flutie had so many things go wrong on this day, that he must have felt it was a nightmare. He had so many passes batted down, that he may decide to wear elevated platform sneakers next week. One of the most crucial batted down passes was converted into an interception deep in Jets territory while the Bills were trying to catch up late in the game.
"We just tried to keep it tight enough so he couldn't scramble," Parcells said about the Jets continued mastery of Flutie. "We tried to pressure him a lot today."
"Turnovers and inconsistency," Flutie gave as reasons for the loss. "If you make that many mistakes, you will lose."
The Bills had many chances to score touchdowns and they failed miserably all but once. They also missed on their two field goal attempts as Steve Christie was wide from 40 and 45 yards out.
"We certainly blew some opportunities," Wade Phillips said in his post game conference."Giving away a touchdown and missing two field goals is the difference in the ball game. We made mistakes and we didn't make them make mistakes."
The Bills knocked the New England Patriots playoff hopes for a loop Sunday as they smashed the Pats 17-7. The Bills defense played another outstanding game as they sacked Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe 6 times and shut them out until the final couple minutes of the game.
By winning, the Bills became only the second team of the decade to win 100 games. They join the San Francisco 49ers as being the only teams to crack the century mark in the 90s.
Doug Flutie, coming off one of his poorer performances of his Bills career, came back against the Patriots and tossed two touchdown passes. Flutie completed 9 of 16 for 207 yards and didn't have any interceptions. His biggest strike was a 54 yard bomb to Eric Moulds and Sam Gash took a swing pass and turned it into a 31 yard TD play.
"It gives us good separation from New England and keeps us within striking distance of the AFC East title," Flutie said. "We won't lose next week and maybe some other teams will."
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Drew Bledsoe gets tackled by Phil Hansen for one of the Bills 6 sacks |
"I'm pretty down," Bledsoe said. "To lose three in a row and to feel like you're ultimately responsible for that is a very depressing thing. I'm the quarterback of this team. I'm responsible for scoring points and we don't score enough of them."
"It's still a tough, tough division," said Bills head coach Wade Phillips. "This was certainly an important game for us as far as playoff implications. It gets us right in there and we get to sit back for a week."
Phillips' counterpart, Patriots coach head Pete Carroll's coaching position is on the line and losing isn't helping his job security.
"We're not making plays on offense, and we're putting ourselves in tight situations," said Carroll. "We're not playing good enough football."
The Buffalo Bills made crucial mistakes and lost to the New York Giants 19-17 as a result yesterday in a game that seriously damages their playoff hopes. The Bills came into the game rested and seemingly complacent after having a bye week. For some reason they did not take the Giants as seriously as they should and that attitude cost them dearly.
Steve Christie missed field goals of 39 and 48 yards and that along with the perfection of the Giants kicker determined the game.
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Cary Blanchard celebrates after kicking winning field goal |
"When the other kicker misses, it gives you more confidence," said Blanchard. "If you miss, it's a wash."
Explaining his game-winning kick, Blanchard said, "It's all feel. It's like hitting a golf shot. When it left my leg, I knew it was good. This was big, for the Giants and for me. I had to go out there and show I am here for a reason."
The kick of 48 yards was good and sent the Bills and Doug Flutie into desperation mode to try to get into field goal position with less than a minute left. Once again, Flutie could not get the job done and the Bills came up short when it most counted.
Flutie had a dismal game. He passed 32 times and completed 15 for 184 yards. Flutie and one touchdown pass, a screen to Thurman Thomas and had one picked off, a Hail Mary on the last play of the game. The Bills quarterback was intercepted once and sacked three times.
Kerry Collins, on the other hand, had a solid game at quarterback for the second week in a row as he completed 23 out of 44 passes for 240 yards and one touchdown. He had one pass picked off.
"A lot of people thought last week was a one-game deal," Collins said. "But coming up to Buffalo and winning, it legitimizes it. We didn't think it was a fluke. We played tough, came in here against a tough team in a tough place to play and got a win. That has to really help our confidence."
The Bills now fall to 8-5 and have no hope catching the Colts as they are three games out. With the Dolphins losing to the Jets, the Bills still hold on to second place in the AFC East thanks to the tiebreaker. However, the Bills must win all three of their remaining games if they hope to make the playoffs as a wildcard team.
"We can kiss the division goodbye," Antowain Smith said. "I guess we thought they were going to give us the game."
The Buffalo Bills decided to go back to basics and run the football and the result was a stunning 31-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals last night. The win allows the Bills to keep pace with the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild card race.
The Arizona Cardinals spotted the Bills 14 points and then roared back to tie the game when the Bills committed two crucial interference infractions. The Cardinals had no trouble converting those golden opportunities.
"The two pass-interference calls kept them in the game," said Wade Phillips, "but our team stood strong and then I told them at halftime to come out and show them what we're made of."
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Doug Flutie came out gunning in the first half to put Bills up 14-0 |
"We proved tonight that we can still run the ball," said Jonathan Linton, "that we're still the Buffalo Bills."
"We couldn't run it as well the first half," said Phillips about not running that often at the start. "They were using a lot of run blitzes. But we threw it well. That got them off us, and then we got our running game going."
Doug Flutie, coming off one of his worst performances in his NFL career, attempted 32 passes, completing 21 for 239 yards and had two touchdowns. He also had 2 picked off. His strikes were to Eric Moulds and Jay Riemersma.
"It felt good," the Bills signal caller said. "I saw things very well and throwing the ball felt great."
The game was on the line when Rob Moore caught a touchdown pass after the two minute warning to close the gap to 24-21. But an onside kick was fielded by Henry Jones and he broke clear to gallop all the way for a 37 yard touchdown to seal the Cardinals' fate.
In a wild finish, the Buffalo Bills improved their playoffs hopes with a dramatic 13-10 overtime victory over the New England Patriots. Steve Christie's 23 yard field goal with only 1:58 left in the sudden death won it for the Bills. The Bills fate could have been a lot worse as the Patriots had two chances to win the game, once right at the end of regulation time and once in overtime with two makeable field goal tries. Both times the Bills escaped with their playoff lives. They now own a 10-5 and need Miami to lose to clinch a wild card beth.
"In the playoff hunt, it's so meaningful," Doug Flutie said about winning. "If we'd had lost this game, we'd have our backs against the wall, we'd need help next week. With the win, we could potentially lock up a bid this week."
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Adam Vinatieri shows disgust as overtime field goal attempt falls short |
With game time temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and a stiff southwest wind of 23 miles per hour, the conditions were ripe for a defensive struggle. The wind chill of 13 degrees didn't help matters too much either, especially for Flutie who was wearing rubber gloves to protect his hands from the cold. Flutie had a miserable time throwing into the wind for most of the game. However, he completed 12 straight passes when it counted most and the Bills snatched the victory away from the Patriots. He threw 35 times and completing 22 of them for 212 yards.
"I think we are very fortunate to have a win," Flutie said. "They've got to feel sick to their stomachs about the way they lost the game. Very proud of the way we hung in there and kept fighting.
"It kind of makes up for last year, in our minds a little bit because we thought we had the game locked up last year and they pulled one out of the hat."
The Buffalo Bills geared up for the playoffs with one of their most impressive games of the season. Rob Johnson, starting his first game of the season, played an almost flawless game in leading the Bills to a 31-6 blowout of the Indianapolis Colts Sunday.
The Colts came into Buffalo with an 11-game winning streak but the Bills manhandled them on both sides of the ball and determined their playoff seed with the victory. The Bills gained the fifth seed and will play next weekend against the Tennessee Titans. Buffalo finishes the regular season on a three game winning streak and with a 11-5 record.
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Bruce Smith and Marcellus Wiley get called for roughing the passer after taking Peyton Manning down after the pass |
The Colts started off the game with a 72 yard drive on 10 plays that resulted in a 27 yard field goal.
Johnson was on fire from the get-go as he led the Bills down the field on Buffalo's first possession. On the first play from scrimmage, Johnson found Andre Reed on a 63 yard pass completion down to the Colts. 20. Antowain Smith finished the drive off with a 21 yard touchdown run.
"The coaches know I like to throw the ball downfield, and that's what we did," said Johnson.
On the second Bills possession, Johnson had a 42 yard strike to Eric Moulds that got the ball down to the Indianapolis 28. A couple runs by Jonathan Linton got the ball to the 23. On third and five from the 23, Johnson hit Peerless Price and Price got into the endzone in the right corner, running over the pylon. Originally the referee ruled that Price was out of bounds, but Wade Phillips challenged the call and it was reversed. It was a 6-play, 80 yard drive and put the Bills in front 14-3.
Heartbreak city. That's what they call Nashville and the Bills can testify to that afer losing a heartbreaker to the Tennessee Titans Saturday
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Kevin Dyson clutches ball after scoring controversial 70 yard kickoff return
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Losing 15-13, Rob Johnson led the Bills down to field goal range, even playing shoeless on his final pass completion to Peerless Price. Steve Christie kicked a 41 yard field goal to apparently win the game for Buffalo. Instead of kicking a squib ball, Christie kicked it in the air down to the Titans 25. Lorenzo Neal caught it and handed off to Frank Wycheck who ran to his right six steps, stopped and threw it directly to the left sideline to Kevin Dyson. Dyson had clear sailing in front of him and three blockers who took the only Bill between him and the victory. Christie had no chance of even getting close to Dyson.
"This will go down in history," said Bud Adams, the owner of the Titans. "There's never been another one like it, and I've been in this 40 years."
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