Bledsoe falls flat on Frozen Tundra

The Packers' Vonnie Holliday sacks Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe and forces a fumble in fourth quarter action. Holliday had 5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles on Bledsoe.

[AP Photo]

By Rick Anderson

Drew Bledsoe had the Green Bay Packers right where he wanted them. Having the ball in the red zone twice gave the Bills a glorious opportunity to break the ice in Green Bay. Unfortunately for Bledsoe and his Bills, he failed miserably both times to get the Bills any points and as a result, the Packers shutout the Bills 10-0 in a cold, windy day in the land of the Cheese Heads.

Bledsoe's play has deteriorated ever since the first New England game and Bill Belichick devised a scheme to throw his game off. Ever since, the book on Bledsoe has been available for all the other NFL coaches to copy.

The Bills started off the game with a huge opportunity to take an early lead. With Green Bay taking the opening kickoff, Brett Favre was intercepted on the Packers third play from scrimmage when Kevin Thomas picked it off at the Packers 40 and ran it back 31 yards to the 9. That perfect setup was ruined when Bledsoe had a pass into the endzone picked off by Darren Sharper, who ran it back to the 14.

The wind, however, wasn't an excuse on Bledsoe's first interception, a killer that came after rookie Kevin Thomas had intercepted a Favre pass and returned it 31 yards to the Green Bay 9.

Bledsoe was aiming for Price on a crossing pattern but appeared to pull the trigger a tad late. Antuan Edwards had Price fully covered and tipped the ball into the hands of Darren Sharper in the end zone.

"He (Peerless Price) was coming over the middle," recalled Bledsoe. "He was open. The throw was a little high, and he wasn't able to come down with it."

The other time the Bills got into the redzone, Bledsoe got sacked for a 10 yard loss that brought up a 4th down field goal attempt from the 33. Mike Hollis' kick was blown off course by the swirling winds and went wide left and that was the closest the Bills came to scoring on the 12-3 Packers.

Packer linebacker Vonnie Holliday set a Packers record by sacking Bledsoe 5 times and force the Bills harassed quarterback to fumble 3 times (2 which were turnovers). Bledsoe fumbled another time that the Packers converted.

Holliday was fighting off an emotional loss during the game. Less than a day earlier, he was told that his 16-year-old cousin died of a congenital heart defect during a high school basketball game. He dedicated the game to his cousin and played the game of his life and Bledsoe was the victim.

"I know I have another angel looking down on me,'' said Holliday. "I know today his presence was there and he gave me that extra push, that extra passion.''

Meanwhile, Bledsoe has a lot of explaining to do after another dreadful performance. While he completed half of his passes, 18 out of 36, most of his completions were of the very short variety as the 179 yards and 4.97 average per completion indicate. On top of those low figures, the 6 sacks, 4 fumbles and 2 interceptions equates into a appalling performance, gusty winds or not.

It was a tough day for both quarterbacks as Favre completed only 15 out of 33 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown. He also threw 2 interceptions, and was sacked twice.

"Today was a tough, tough day," admitted Bledsoe. "Today was a tough day for me or for Brett to throw the ball. It was windy and cold, and it was a struggle."

Favre had to agree with his counterpart. While his record went to 35-0 when the temps in Green Bay are 34 degrees and colder, it was one of the worst conditions he ever experienced.

"That's the worst as far as wind and cold I've been associated with," Favre said. "Both teams have good passing attacks, and we were mediocre at best today. I threw several balls as hard as I've ever thrown them before, and they still didn't get there."

The Pack defense also stuffed Travis Henry, allowing the Bills leading rusher only 46 yards on 20 carries.

Pack scores when it counts

The Packers, while being contained by the Bills defense, did what it took to win this game. They got on the scoreboard first when Ryan Longwell kicked a 33-yard fieldgoal in the second period. That was the same distance that Hollis missed by.

Bills corner Antoine Winfield delivers a helmet jarring hit on Packers wideout Terry Glenn in Bills 10-0 loss in Green Bay.

[AP Photo]

The play of the game should probably be called the official ruling of the game. The refs apparently made a huge gaffe when they ruled that Ahman Green didn't have possession of a pass from Favre in the fourth quarter. But replays seem to indicate that Green took two steps after catching the ball and then it came loose. Nate Clements scooped it up and was off to the races, but the officials blew it dead to the dismay of Clements and Bills coach Gregg Williams.

"To be quite honest, to us it's a fumble," fumed Williams. "You can't challenge it once it's ruled an incomplete pass. What I did talk to the official about was they're supposed to err on the other side. Mike Sherman is supposed to have that challenge, not me. That's what instant replay is for, for that play to be ruled a fumble."

As it was, the Packers took advantage of the huge break when Favre threw to an open Donald Driver from 11 yards out to clinch the game. It was a 14-point swing that still has the Bills and fans aggravated over the controversial call.

Bills Talk

This was a season when the offensive and defensive units rarely got it together for the same game. Early in the season, it was the offense that was carrying the load. The last month or so, it has been the defense that has keeping the Bills in the games.

"We didn't play well enough on offense to win the football game," said Williams. "You've got to score points and protect the football. We've done a very good job all year of protecting the football and today we didn't."

The defense was proud of their effort, even if it didn't prevent a Packers win.

"We've taken all the thinking out of the game, and now we're just playing," announced free safety Pierson Prioleau. "Everybody knows their responsibility, and we're just letting it loose.

"We're having fun out there on defense, and it's about time. It's too bad that we've only got one regular-season game left because you would like an opportunity to keep this going."

Bills lineman Pat Williams also made a number of good plays.

"We did some good things today, but we have to keep doing good things," Williams said. "We can't be satisfied with this. We have one more game to go and we have to keep moving forward if we want to be a great defense one day."

"We're able to hang in there with the best teams," added defensive end Chidi Ahanotu. "It's just that we've got to get over that hump and turn the almosts into wins."

"When you play against a quarterback like Brett Favre you have to go out there and make plays," Antoine Winfield said. "But we had to put him away early because if you let him stay in the game he'll find a way to beat you eventually. And that's what he did today."

The Bills offense took the blame for the loss.

"We played well enough to win defensively," said Eric Moulds, who caught 5 passes for 45 yards. "Offensively, we didn't make enough plays to win. We didn't execute like we should have. I think they did a few things defensively that mixed it up on us, and we didn't readjust our focus and take advantage."

Kevin Thomas played in place of Chris Watson and took advantage of the promotion.

"I liked the fact that Kevin stepped up and made some plays,"lauded Williams. "It was good to see him do that. He's worked hard all year long."

"It hasn't hit me yet," admitted Thomas about picking off Favre's pass. "But I just wish we could have come away with a win. It would have made it a lot better."

Williams tried to put his most objective face on when talking about Bledsoe's poor game.

"He had a lot of pressure today," Williams said, "and it wasn't only Drew. There's a lot of pressure in his face. He made some good throws, and he had some throws I'm sure he wished he had back."

Copyright © 2002 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.