Ghosts of Super Bowl past haunt the Bills
Wide right! Those are two of the most dreaded words in Buffalo sports
history. That and "No goal", followed by "Homerun throwback"
and you have in essence the three biggest failures of Buffalo sports teams.
The Buffalo Bills had "Wide right" revisited on Monday Night Football.
This time, it wasn't Scott Norwood hanging his head over blowing a game-winning
field goal. This time, a new actor plays that character in the Bills continuing
tragedy/comedy. The Bills lost 29-27 and are now out of the playoff race. It was
Buffalo's 4th straight loss, after starting the season 4-0 and then going to 5-1
when they beat the Chargers.
Trent Edwards was God-awful in this contest. He had 3 picks in his first 6
attempts, kind of making the Buffalo fans think of Patrick Lalime of the Sabres
allowing 3 goals on 6 shots last week. There must be something in Buffalo's
water supply...or maybe it is all of Lake Erie as the Browns have not been that
good this season either.
Edwards seems to be gun-shy after receiving that concussion in the Arizona game. He just hasn't been the same quarterback as the first 4 games and against the Browns, after his three interceptions, he was very hesitant to throw down field. Instead, he kept on throwing to his safety valve, Marshawn Lynch. Lynch caught a team high 10 receptions for 58 yards and one touchdown. He also had a season high of 119 yards on 23 carries.
This was by far the best game of the season for the offensive line. They made holes for Lynch and Freddie Jackson, who had 60 yards on 12 carries. Edwards had all day to pass, as he wasn't sacked once. Even so, Edwards is going backwards in his performance.
“It’s frustrating right now. I don’t really have any good answers,” said a visibly shaken Edwards in his post game conference.. “I’m frustrated with myself and the way I performed.”
“You start seeing things that you’re not really seeing, and you’re doing things that you’re not normally used to doing, Right now, I don’t really have any good answers.”
With all the mistakes both the Bills and Browns made, it came down to the leg
of each of their kickers. The Browns won the game on a 56-yard field goal by
Phil Dawson and the Bills lost when Rian Lindell's attempt to win at the end, a
47-yarder no less, went wide right.
This is a complete reversal of form from the start of the season. From winning
their first 4 to losing 4 straight, the Bills have abandoned the sinking ship
Copyright © 2008 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.
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