Bills crash and burn to the Jets

Drew Bledsoe has a horrendous day as he fumbles after being sacked by Jets defensive tackle Jason Ferguson. Bledsoe was sacked 7 times in this 30-3 loss.

[AP Photo/Bill Kostroun]

Twice the Buffalo Bills faced a team who were winless coming off a bye week. Twice the Bills had their heads handed to them. This time it was the New York Jets who won their first game of the season as they embarrassed the Bills 30-3.

The Bills actually had the lead early as Rian Lindell kicked a 44-yard field goal after the Bills had their most impressive drive of the game. After that, the wheels came off.

The Bills were driving again the next time they had the ball, but went for it on 4th and 1 from the New York 34, and Travis Henry was stopped cold in his tracks and the Jets took over. From there, the Jets drove down to the Bills one on 8 plays and then Vinny Testaverde completed a lob pass to tight end Anthony Becht and the game was basically over.

The Bills on their next possession made the mistake that could cost them the season. The play clock was running down and Drew Bledsoe signaled for a timeout, but center Trey Teague didn't see that and snapped the ball. The ball bounced down towards the Bills goal line and Henry lunged for the ball, but the Jets had it at the Bills 17. The Bills D stopped the Jets and they had to settle for a field goal, but from that point on it was all New York.

Bledsoe feels the heat

For the first part of the game, Bledsoe had all day to pass, but the Jets started putting more and more pressure on him. Once they started to taste blood, it was all over. Bledsoe got sacked 7 times and looked like a 72 year old man with arthritis out there. He threw 40 times and completed 24 for 204 yards and one pick. However, he just hasn't been as effective since the first two games. In fact, his poor command at the controls and faulty passing is one of the main reasons the Bills are going backwards in the standings.

Bledsoe has not been effective since game 2 of the season.

"We've got to convert the third downs," insisted Bledsoe. "When we've got a chance to sustain drives, we've got to make those plays to continue to move the ball. That's one of the areas we have come up short recently. We start to get something going and we don't convert the third down. Then all of a sudden, we're off the field."

Bledsoe didn't have his main weapon, as Eric Moulds was out with a groin injury, but the Jets were without their top defensive rusher Pro Bowl end John Abraham, who was forced to watch the game in street clothes because of a drunken driving arrest last week. Even so they got to Bledsoe 7 times. With Abraham, they may have sacked Bledsoe 14 times.

Running game kills Bills

Run and stop the run. That's the old smash mouth adage. The Bills did the opposite. They couldn't run nor stop the run. Curtis Martin, who had been almost invisible in his first 4 games, came out of hiding against the Bills and ran for 77 yards. Meanwhile, his Bills counterpart, Henry, got only 53 yards on 18 carries, a 2.9 average. Henry had several decent runs, but was stuffed for losses that hurt Bills drives.

Bad weekend against New York teams

Combined with the New York Islanders 6-0 win over the Sabres the night before, the two New York teams really gave slaughtered some Buffalo this weekend. It was one of the worst combined sports weekends ever for Buffalo teams. Both have had trouble scoring and the two games this weekend won't sit well with Buffalo fans. They will be clamoring for the release of the respective head coaches until either team finally wins a game.

Bills coach Gregg Williams, who is on the last year of his contract with Buffalo, knows he's on the hot seat.

``We didn't play well enough in any area, didn't coach well enough, and they were inspired and outplayed us in every phase,'' admitted Williams.

If Williams doesn't get his club turned around fast, he may not even last the season.

Ralph Wilson, the disgusted Bills owner will have to decide sooner or later that Williams has to go. If these embarrassing loses continue, it will be sooner.

"We sleepwalked," Wilson fumed after the game. "We didn't have any emotion. We just haven't shown any enthusiasm, not today, not for the last three weeks. Last week, Cincinnati came out and they were really aggressive - like we used to be. It was the same this week."

Bills Talk

It was a somber Bills dressing room after the game. No one could come up with any legitimate excuses for the horenous loss. Kevin Gilbride, who would be one of the possibilities to take over the Bills at head coach if Williams got axed, was in a daze after the game.

"Right now whatever can go wrong has been going wrong," Gilbride said. "I'm very disappointed. We're not playing very well. There's a lot of reasons you can point to but none of them matter. The only thing that matters is we're not playing well enough to win. That's the bottom line."

With Moulds out, Bobby Shaw was one of the go-to guys for Bledsoe.

"It's tough to replace Eric Moulds," Shaw said . "You try to make up for it in a lot of areas in combining a total effort. Not to make excuses, but you can't make up for a player of Eric's quality. He's a great player and when you take him out of the lineup, it hurts."

"It seemed as though the Jets came out and just wanted it more and we didn't match their intensity," continued Shaw. "It's hard to win in this league when you play a team that has its back against the wall and you don't match their intensity. They came to play today, and we didn't. You can't just show up and win games. But we didn't show the same fight and desire that the Jets showed, and I'm embarrassed about that."

The Bills offensive line, which has been like an open door the past few weeks, has to get better if the Bills are to win any games.

"When you're behind and have to pass every down, it's like target practice because you know they're coming," Bills offensive tackle Jonas Jennings brought up. "But that's when the warrior has to come out and you have to keep fighting."

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