There is no way to sugar-coat the Bills season-opening 31-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Wade Phillips has his work cut out for him to get this team in regular season mode as the team was out of synch in most areas during the game. Doug Flutie was outplayed by his counterpart, Peyton Manning as Manning completed 21 of 33 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Flutie attempted 42 passes, completing 22 of them for 300 yards and one score. Both quarterbacks had two intercepted.
 |
|
Doug Flutie doesn't realize what's lurking behind him as a Colt is attmepting to strip the ball from his grasp |
The Bills did not appear ready to play. In fact, they looked better in their first exhibition game this summer. A lot of the blame has to go to the coaching staff, who didn't make any adjustments to counter Manning and the constant pressure the Colts defense put on Flutie. Also, the running attack was nonexistent, just like in the preseason. The Bills only got 47 yards on the ground and 24 of them were the result of fancy footwork by Flutie. Antowain Smith is still experiencing serious problems getting into daylight as he rushed for only 7 yards on 6 carries.
"I'm exhausted. We had to throw the ball too much," said Flutie. "You can't make a living in this league throwing the ball on every down. We moved the ball well at times, but penalties and a couple of sacks get you out of distance and then you have to start heaving the ball. It's not good football."
Jonathan Linton had this to say about the Bills performance: "We shot ourselves in the foot so many times today, and you're never going to win a game like that. We had too many penalties and too many mistakes that we made that we shouldn't have made."
The Colts were in a much more upbeat tone after the game.
The fourth overall pick in last spring's draft, Edgerrin James had an impressive first outing by rushing for 112 yards on 26 carries to go along with his 4 receptions for 14 yards.
With his mother up in the stands rooting for him, James won the game ball for his efforts. If he had his way, he would have jumped into the stands and awarded her the ball.
"I wanted to run up there and give it to her," he said, "but they wouldn't let me." However, he put the football in his locker for the time being.
"There really weren't too many surprises. I just went out and played football," James said after the game. "The thing I liked most was I knew what I was doing. I wasn't confused at any time. You're just trying to look for a seam, to hit it big. They pursue pretty hard. That's when you have to slow it down and get a feel for things."
Manning used his height (6'-5") to his advantage as he had plenty of time to scope out the field and spot his open receivers.
"Last year, I was kind of like Edgerrin, feeling my way," said the sophomore quarterback. "Certainly it's a better feeling as a quarterback when you have that confidence. The protection was solid. ... When you have protection and have time to see downfield you can get the ball downfield."
"I didn't do much in the first half," James chipped in. "But I told the guys at halftime that I was real close to popping a big run. They stayed with me and we got the win. This is what I expected to do. You have to expect it. They have to guard our receivers and it opens up the running game. I just have to be patient and know that a big run is coming."
"He was asking me before the game if it is faster out there during the regular season," Manning revealed. "You could tell he was still feeling out the waters a little bit. In the second half, he saw the holes a little better and was hitting them harder."
Marvin Harrison had a hay day for the Colts, having eight receptions for 121 yards, while E.G. Green had five receptions for 124 yards.
It was like a preseason game for the Bills as they made mistakes galore in the first half and those mistakes continued throughout the game. On Buffalo's first play from scrimmage, disaster struck for their future Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas. Flutie threw a pass off to Thomas and as he jumped up to catch the ball, Tyrone Poole slammed into his rib section breaking up the play. It took Thomas several minutes to get up off the field and he went into the locker room for X-Rays that came up negative. It was revealed today that Thomas may miss six weeks because of a bruised kidney and liver.
The Bills looked sluggish on their first series and had to punt. When they got the ball again, the Bills were forced to punt again. Starting on the Indianapolis 49 yard line, Petyon Manning spotted two wide open receivers way down field and threw a perfect long ball to E.G. Green. Green was able to get down to the Bills 1 yard line before being taken down. Two straight runs got nowhere as the Bills defense stuffed the run, but James bulled over for the first score of the day.
"It was a long wait for a day like this," E.G. Green said afterwards. "My injury last year kind of slowed down things, but I think in the long run, I'm going to look back on it and say I'm glad that it happened to me. I was able to see the NFL from a bird's eye view instead of actually being in the fire."
Flutie, who had been inefficient in the previous two possession, finally got the Bills moving as he drove the team down the field 47 yards on ten plays. However, with the lack of strong running game, the drive came to a complete halt and Steve Christie came on to kick a 36-yard field goal to narrow the score to 7-3.
The Bills got rolling again as Flutie passed seven yards to Andre Reed. Then Molds caught a 21-yard pass to get to the Colts 37-yard line. On third and three, Flutie connected with Antowain Smith for 9 yards down to the Indy 21-yard line. But former Buffalo Bills linebacker Cornelius Bennett stuffed Johnathan Linton in the backfield for a 2 yard loss, and on the next play, Flutie threw a bad pass that another former Bill, Jeff Burris picked off.
The Colts used that interception as a momentum builder. James clipped off 12 yards and then Manning found Green on a 27-yard pass play, giving the Colts a first and goal. On third down, Manning connected with Harrison for a touchdown, putting the Colts up 14-3.
Starting on his own 20, Flutie connected with Reed for short yardage, and then threw another short toss to Eric Molds and Molds was able to fake out a defender and gallop for 24 yards. Peerless Price was the next target for Flutie, as he caught a pass and got down to the Indianapolis 29. The Bills picked up 11 more yards and a holding call on the Colts had the Bills in great position at the Indy 13. A holding penalty against the Bills put the ball back to the 23 and the Bills had to settle for Christie's 29-yard field goal. That was the final scoring of the half with the Colts leading 14-6.
To open the second half, the Colts drove all the way down to the Bills 28-yard line, but the Bills were able to hold so Mike Vanderjagt attempted a field goal, but the holder Steve Wash fumbled the snap and the kick was blocked. Thomas Smith recovered the ball and got down to the Colts 45. It was another glorious opportunity that the Bills could not capitalized on.
The next time the Colts got the ball, they rammed it down the Bills throats. Marvin Harrison caught a perfect 24-yard pass from Manning to put the Colts up 21-6.
 |
|
Andre Reed makes diving catch for the Bills only touchdown against the Colts |
Manning hooked up with Marvin Harrison on a 42-yard pass get into Buffalo territory again, but the Bills defense was able to hold, so Vanderjagt kicked a 35-yard field making it 24-14 Colts.
Ken Irvin was covering Harrison on his 42-yard reception. Irvin said, "They made a good throw and catch. That's a play that I should have made, and I have to overcome it and go on." With the clock running down, Flutie had to get the Bills down the field in a hurry. Flutie flipped a short pass to Linton, but before it reached him, Tony Blevin stepped right in front of Linton and picked it off. He stumbled after he caught the ball, but got back up and rambled down the field for 74 yards and the touchdown.
"They were hitching up all game," said Blevins after picking off his first NFL pass. "When they finally went my way, I broke on the ball and was lucky enough to come up with a pick."
Not only did Blevins score the clinching TD, but he led the Colts with 7 tackles on the day.
This was not the way to start the regular season. The Bills, who lost their first three games last year, hope for a rebound next week against the Jets. But they will have to do a 180 degree turnaround to even compete with the Jets next week, even with Vinny Testaverde out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
The Bills made more mistakes in this than is acceptable. There were 12 penalties for 90 yards against Buffalo. There were also 3 turnovers, 2 resulting in Colt touchdowns. The offensive line, missing veteran Joe Panos, looked like Swiss cheese. Flutie was sacked 5 times and would have been hauled down a lot more if he hadn't been able to scramble away from would-be tacklers.
The running game is the area for most concern. With Thurman Thomas going out on the first play from scrimmage (and now out for at least six weeks), it left the Bills with only 3 running backs. Antowain Smith seems as if the groin problem is really plaguing his running ability, so that leave just two runners who are healthy - fullbacks Sam Gash and Linton. This situation makes one wonder even more why the Bills cut Anthony Gray and Lennox Gordon. Gray was the leading Bills rusher during preseason. With the running game hurting as it is, it would seem plausible that Gray could inject some life into the dying rushing game.
Next week the New York Jets come to town for a Sunday night matchup. Wade Phillips has a lot of tinkering to do to get this team turned around and headed in the right direction.
Copyright © 1999 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.
BILLS HISTORY |
BILLS MESSAGE BOARD |
BILLS LINKS |
Email Bills Thunder
1999 Season Review |
WILD BILLS' Prognostications |
Articles on Two Bills Drive