Broncos stampede Buffalo

Broncos receiver Rod Smith makes a touchdown grab with Troy Vincent of the Bills all over him. The Broncos beat the Bills 28-17.

[Getty Images / Rick Stewart]

With the Buffalo Sabres rocking and rolling a few miles down the road at HSBC Arena, winning their 14th game in 16 tries before a packed house of 18,640, the Bills were blundering their way to yet another home loss. Last week the Pats handed the Bills their heads. Saturday night in front of a prime time ESPN audience, the Denver Broncos had their way with the Bills, beating the downtroddened Bills 28-17.

As has happened much of this season, the Bills came out and scored a touchdown on their first possession. Driving down the field 56 yards, Willis McGahee plowed into the endzone from one yard out to put Buffalo in the early lead. But like most other outings, this lead was very short-lived.

J.P. Losman sat out this game with various injuries suffered in the defeat the previous week, so Kelly Holcomb came in and did a respectable job. Holcomb hit 22 of 35 attempts for 202 yards and one touchdown.

Eric Moulds, suspended the week before because of a confrontation with his receivers coach, hauled in nine passes for 110 yards. This was certainly a statement game for Moulds. Moulds decided to let his performance do all the talking. And what a performance it was! Moulds was the top offensive weapon the Bills had in yet another inept performance by his teammates.

Moulds wishes he could have scored on a couple of his receptions, however he did what he said he would and that was to play to the best of his abilities and put the past suspension behind him.

This was most likely Moulds last game at home in a Bills uniform. If the rift between him and head coach Mike Mularkey wasn't enough to get his released by the Bills at season's end, his huge salary for next season is the straw that could break the Bills salary cap.

The Broncos were able to get back into the game after the Bills quick score and take command of it in the second half. Jake Plummer was an efficient engineer as he hit 20of 37 attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Anderson was the other half of the offensive machine as he rushed for 97 yards on 21 attempts and scored 2 touchdowns.

VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS

It appears as if some Bills fans are not going to revolt and boycott Bills tickets next year. That's a shame, because it is because them that Ralph Wilson doesn't make major moves to improve the team, stating with a quality GM and head coach. Instead, the fans keep plucking up the season tickets and game tickets to boost Wilson's fortunes and with the money flowing in, he is unlikely to make the moves necessary to make the Bills competitive again.

On the Prime Time ESPN broadcast Saturday night, one of the ESPN commentators showered Bills coach Mularkey and GM Tom Donahoe with overwhelming accolades. He went out of his way to assert what a fine, outstanding job Mularkey has done and that it would be a remorse if the Bills let him go. With so many plaudits sent his way, one would believe that Mularkey was the coach of the Patriots who have won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls, instead of being the coach of a 4-10 team. The ESPN announcers also said that Donahoe was an excellent GM and the Bills fans would have to realize that if both Mularkey and Donahoe were let go, it would be at least 3-4 years before the team became competitive again. And the Bills are competitive now??

My final words after this travesty is that heads better roll after the season, starting with Donahoe and Mularkey. The fans are not going to buy tickets next season if Ralph Wilson continues with the same old same old.

Copyright © 2005 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.