Bills play another sour note in Nashville

Robert Holcombe plunges in for a touchdown with Bills tackle Pat Williams hanging on against the Buffalo Bills a Tennessee 28-26 victory over the Bills.

[Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images]

Any hopes the Buffalo Bills had of making the playoffs were destroyed at the hands of a backup quarterback Sunday in Nashville. The Bills, making their first return to the Music City since that Music City Miracle or "Home run throwback" wildcard playoff game in 1999, didn't extract any revenge as they lost to the Titans 28-26. It was a game that came right down to the final few seconds before it was decided. And yes, it was another controversial play that went the Titans way.

All season it has been the Bills offense that hasn't shown up, while the defense has played spectacular. This time it was the Bills defense that didn't pull its weight. The defense came into the game as the second best D in the NFL. When it was announced that Steve McNair was being replaced by their second string quarterback Billy Volek, the Bills thought they would have an easy time shutting down the Titans offense. At game's end, Volek not only came out victorious by had his way with the Bills defense.

Volek had a masterful game against the Bills highly vaulted defense, completing 26 of 41 for 295 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored a touchdown himself on a quarterback sneak.

Meanwhile, the Bills highly-paid, but under-achieving quarterback, Drew Bledsoe didn't get on track until very late in the game when he engineered a 81-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Mark Campbell, who made a diving catch in the right corner of the endzone. With the Bills down by 2, they went for the two point conversion.

Bledsoe, who is as stationary a passer as the NFL has ever seen, rolled out to his right and threw a very low pass that Bobby Shaw dove for. He cradled it and rolled over, bringing the ball up with his hand to show the ref that he indeed came up with it. Only problem was the ball left his hand as soon as it went towards high noon. The referee Tom White ruled the pass to be incomplete as Shaw didn't have possession long enough. Shaw was adamant about the ruling.

"I caught the ball," Shaw insisted. "The only time the ball came out was when I raised my hand to show that I had it, and it came out as I showed it. The whole time I was sliding, I had the ball all the way on the ground down here, and he calls it incomplete when I'm up here with it. I was trying to take that judgment out of his hands. As far as I'm concerned, it was a very bad call, very bad."

Shaw, who is noted for showboating after a mere completion, appeared as if he were doing the same after this play. He should have cradled the ball at least another second before doing the Statue of Liberty.

"You try to do the right thing by showing them you have it," said Shaw. "I was trying to take the ruling out of it for him in terms of it being a low ball and me sliding with it like that because I barely got my hand underneath it in the first place. But that's when it came out."

Two QB fumbles lead to scores

Both Bledsoe and Volek had the ball striped from their hands, leading to touchdowns by both teams. First it was Volek who had the ball ripped from his grasp by Jeff Posey and Pat Williams waddled 28 yards for the touchdown.

It appeared as if the Bills had the game well in control when they forced the Titans to punt on their next possession. However, they were pinned deep in their own territory and then Bledsoe committed one of his errors that has become much too prevalent this season. He held onto the ball too long. Keith Bulluck came in from the blind side and knocked the ball loose from Bledsoe. Not only that, but he recovered the ball for the Titans on the Bills 18. It took only three plays for Volek to get the Titans into the endzone, when he connected with Erron Kinney for the score.

The Bledsoe fumble was the turning point of the game. Volek led the Titans to a another score at the start of the fourth quarter. His favorite target all day was Derrick Mason, and he went deep for a 32-yard completion to Mason, putting the ball on the Buffalo 2. The original ruling was that Mason was out, but the far referee over ruled the ref who was closest to the action. The replay was inconclusive, so it was ruled a reception at the Buffalo 2 yard line.

"We're playing at Tennessee, so I guess that's the way it goes," said Bills cornerback Antoine Winfield. He felt that Mason had pushed off on him, along with the controversial ruling.

"It's very frustrating, but I put the blame on myself," admitted Winfield. "I should have been over the top of the receiver so he couldn't make the catch. You don't want to put the game in the referee's hands."

From there, Volek hit Justin McCareins for the TD and the Titans took the lead 21-17. The Bills came back and made it a 1-point game with a field goal.

When the Titans got the ball again, they weren't satisfied with running out the clock. They attacked the Bills secondary again and drove it down the Bills throats, thus scoring another touchdown on Volek's quarterback sneak, taking a 28-20 lead.

Bledsoe finally was able to get the Bills into the endzone, but it was a little too late. Even if he had completed the two point conversion, the writing was already written on the wall. The playoffs were out of reach and had been realistically for a couple weeks.

Bills Talk

Travis Henry, who had run for well over 100 yards the past few weeks, was held to 88 yards by the top run defense in the league. Henry was not a happy camper about the Bills missing the playoffs.

"It's a nasty taste, it's a tough pill to swallow," admitted Henry. "I still can't believe it. I like this team. We just didn't get it done.

"We have two more games. We have to go out and play hard and finish well and try to win these last two ball games."

Henry also felt he should have been on the field when the Bills went for two.

"I would like to be on the field in situations like that," said Henry. "In this case I wasn't. It's frustrating. The game was tight. I feel like if I'm in the game I can be a threat. It's frustrating not being on the field on a play like that."

Bills linebacker London Fletcher was also disappointed with the way the game went.

"It's tough to take because we got enough from our offense today," Fletcher said. "We didn't make enough plays defensively to win the game. You can say what you want, we didn't live up to our defensive standard. It was a 21-20 ballgame and they got a score against us. That hasn't been typical of us."

Ruben Brown, who played in the first Music City spectacle, doesn't like coming to Nashville.

"It's like we're reliving a bad dream," Brown said. "Each time, it seems like we've got them lined up and ready to knock them out, and someway, somehow they get off the ropes and find a way to swing the momentum in their favor. It's kind of heartbreaking."

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