Silver Lining: Edwards Remains a Good Guy
Marshawn Lynch
Amid the anguished finger-pointing, plaintive wailing and resigned head-shaking sweeping the region following the Buffalo Bills’ third straight defeat, Season Ticket would like to apportion a minute sliver of credit.
Quarterback Trent Edwards, by most quantitative and qualitative standards, failed miserably at New England on Sunday (not coincidentally, this was also his third consecutive regressive outing).
He did not throw accurately or effectively, throwing two grotesque interceptions and failing to complete a pass that produced a gain longer than 15 yards. Though sacked only twice, he seemed perpetually rushed and never quite certain about the nature of the of defensive contraption Patriots arch-villain Bill Belichick had conjured to stymie Buffalo’s offense. And he could not get the Bills into the end zone at Gillette Stadium until long after it had ceased to matter.
Edwards did, however, nail the post-game press scrum at his locker.
Unlike some of his predecessors at the position over the past decade, Edwards did not subtly shift blame toward his coaches, blockers, receivers, or running backs—though there was clearly plenty to go around, given the painful deficiencies in every phase of the game and on the sideline during New England’s 20-10 win. Nor did he sniff haughtily in the direction of his interrogators, clumsily try to deflect criticism with non-sequiturs or stare blankly as if posing for a Hall-of-Fame bust (not to bring back bad memories of Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson, J.P. Losman or Drew Bledsoe, respectively, or anything).
Instead, he acknowledged both that criticism comes with the job and that he needs to get better at his.
“I think a little bit of everything, honestly,” Edwards said when asked where he needs to improve. “Underneath throws, deep throws, footwork, pocket presence, turnovers—everything. I think all that needs to be looked into and I need to fix it soon.”
Contrast that with the words of Jamal Lewis, running back of Cleveland, Buffalo’s next opponent, following the Browns’ collapse against Denver last Thursday.
“This is the NFL, you can’t call it quits until the game is over,” Lewis said after the Browns blew a third-quarter lead and lost 34-30 at home against the Broncos. “But it looks to me like some people called it quits before that.”
In case none of his teammates had been adequately insulted, Lewis continued.
“This is a man’s game,” Lewis noted. “The way we went out and played two weeks in a row, finishing the same kind of way, it’s just not there. Some men around here need to check themselves. Straight up.”
Certainly, Lewis possesses an unofficial master’s degree in how biological males behave in a group setting, having spent four months in a Florida prison camp after pleading guilty to using his cell phone in an effort to set up a cocaine deal. And what he said about his teammates’ tenacity may well be true, given that the Browns have surrendered leads of at least 13 points in each of their last two games while being outscored by a combined 38-7 in the fourth quarter of those contests.
Few people of any gender or profession like to be called out so publicly, though. Such dissension is clear evidence of a team in an even worse situation than Buffalo, which has now been beaten four times in five outings, the last three losses coming against divisional foes.
At least the Bills waited until late October to start letting their fans down. The Browns disappointed right out of the gate. Projected to build on last year’s 10-6 finish, Cleveland instead opened 0-3, won three of four, and gave away the last two.
As dismally as Buffalo performed Sunday—and the two Sundays before, for that matter—Cleveland offers a wounded, in-fighting foil for what should be a rather hostile Monday-night crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
A win would set the Bills up for a chance at redemption in December, when they face the Patriots, Jets and Dolphins again, since their foes for the rest of this month are the hapless Kansas City Chiefs and the slightly less pitiful San Francisco 49ers.
A loss, however, would drop the Bills to 5-5, effectively wiping out any lingering good feelings about starting 4-0 and 5-1. Then the blame game truly begins.
Straight up.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game will appear in the November 13 issue of Artvoice.
October 28, 2008
Who Let the —- Out?
From high in the silver-lined clouds whereon he lives, Dave Staba reports on Sunday’s loss by the Buffalo Bills to the Miami Dolphins:
The fourth quarter of Buffalo’s annual visit to South Florida on Sunday could, in theory, have gone worse for the Bills.
The cart used to wheel the injured off the field could have slipped into gear and careened, driver-less, down Buffalo’s sideline, dissembling the knees of Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch, Lee Evans, Brian Moorman, Donte Whitner, and Kawika Mitchell.
The National Football League could have lifted its Michael Vick-induced ban on the playing of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” on stadium public-address systems every time the home team registers the mildest of achievements, which, given Buffalo’s self-immolation over the final 15 minutes of a 25-16 deflation, would have led to near-constant loop and countless royalties for the Baha Men.
(If you don’t think this would be so catastrophic, that’s because you weren’t at a football stadium in the fall of 2000, particularly Dolphins Stadium for Miami’s 22-13 win over Buffalo that October. Whoever was running the audio portion of the game presentation hit the button after each of Miami’s five scores, all six sacks of Rob Johnson, and whenever else the mood struck. I was keeping count in the press box and the tally reached 17 before I had to give up and start writing early in the fourth quarter. Go ahead. Try to get it out of your head now. You’re welcome.)
Or they could have been playing a better opponent, in which case the final score could easily have been 40-16.
It started off well enough, with the Bills trailing by but a single point and the ball at Miami’s 47-yard line. If anything, Buffalo seemed poised for the sort of triumphant rally that produced three of their first five wins.
Then Edwards, who had been nearly perfect in the first five fourth quarters in which he had appeared previously this year, dropped back to pass.
And everything fell apart.
Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks hit Edwards’ arm, sending a throw aimed at Evans fluttering instead to Miami’s Will Allen.
Buffalo’s defense held, but a Dan Carpenter field goal made it 20-16.
A long pass to Evans again fostered visions of a Buffalo comeback, but Edwards allowed the ball to be stolen by Miami linebacker Joey Porter.
The next time the Bills got the ball, still facing a deficit of just four points, Porter smoked a surprised-looking Jason Peters and again separated Edwards from the ball. On the bright side, Buffalo center Duke Preston recovered. Since it was in his own end zone, though, Preston’s accomplishment still swelled Miami’s lead by two points.
The Dolphins capitalized on the field position afforded them by the ensuing free kick with another Carpenter field goal that put them ahead by two scores with 3:53 left, effectively ending the competitive portion of the afternoon.
For good measure, the Bills obliged their hosts by fumbling the ball away twice more, providing a fitting end to an aggravating day.
In all, Buffalo supplied four turnovers in the final quarter. Only once in the first six games did the Bills blunder so frequently over an entire afternoon, during their 41-17 shaming by the Arizona Cardinals.
You could be optimistic about all this, especially since the Bills are still 5-2 and still tied for first place in the AFC East as they approach the midway point of their 2008 schedule.
Or you could see some serious fissures beginning to show in the foundation of a young team just as Brett Favre and those guys he plays with roll into town, with a road test against Buffalo’s divisional co-leaders and longtime masters, the New England Patriots, looming a week later.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game will appear in the October 23 issue of Artvoice.
October 21, 2008
Season Ticket: The Brain Trust
Safe in the electrified comfort of his home, AV football correspondent Dave Staba reports on Sunday’s win over the Chargers:
Two pivotal plays in Buffalo’s partially electrified win over San Diego on Sunday showed why anything short of the Bills’ first playoff appearance of the millennium will be a crashing disappointment.
Trailing by four points with a little more than five minutes left in the first half, moments after the first balloon-forced blackout, an efficient drive following an unforced fumble by Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers had Buffalo two yards away from a touchdown.
(The Season Ticket coverage team would like to take this opportunity to categorically deny any involvement in the release of metallic-tailed helium balloons in the vicinity of Ralph Wilson Stadium, which team officials have blamed for the power outages that denied ticket holders their right to high-definition highlights on the stadium’s Jumbotron. Besides causing tremendous embarrassment to NYSEG, the mishap also triggered immeasurable cursing among local television viewers who had spent the morning trying to hook up archaic antennae, thanks to the stunningly dumb standoff between the local cable company and Buffalo’s CBS affiliate, only to lose their hard-won signal for extended periods twice. Like the power company, we’re blaming this one on the kids.)
The call sent in from the sideline was a run to Marshawn Lynch, a pretty safe call considering the second-year running back’s propensity for carrying opposing tacklers into the end zone.
But the recently concussed Trent Edwards displayed the acuity that makes him the fastest-developing quarterback in professional football, spotting Lee Evans in single coverage on the right side.
Edwards changed the play at the line and delivered the ball to Evans high and outside.
The throw itself would have been perfect, had Evans enjoyed the availability of both of his hands. Evans’ left was occupied fending off San Diego cornerback Quentin Jammer’s mauling coverage, leaving only his right with which to haul in the ball.
And his helmet, that is. Evans clutched the ball to his head firmly enough for the officials to rule he had full control of it when he left the playing surface.
A remarkable athletic feat, to be sure, but more impressive was the acumen involved.
Edwards—who would go on to record the most-accurate passing day in team history, completing 25 of 30 throws—read the coverage, adjusted the play call and put the ball where only his receiver could catch it. Evans had the presence of mind to lock in on the ball while engaged in hand-to-hand combat with one of the game’s most physical cornerbacks, secure the reception with one hand and get both feet down inbounds.
The play that iced the Bills’ 23-14 win and secured sole possession of first place in the AFC East was equally cerebral.
After San Diego drove to within nine yards of reclaiming the lead with more than half the fourth quarter gone, Buffalo linebacker Kawika Mitchell anticipated the play perfectly, drifting to his left, just out of Rivers’ field of vision, then cutting off the throw before it reached its intended target, Chargers tight end Antonio Gates.
Having thwarted the other team’s scoring bid, Mitchell set about putting his own offense in better position, following his blockers on a 32-yard return that preceded an Edwards-directed drive to the 44-yard Rian Lindell field goal that closed out the scoring.
Both Edwards’ touchdown throw and Mitchell’s interception resulted from them making the right decision, as well as game-planning that put them in position to do so.
Starting the season 5-1 would be encouraging under any circumstances, particularly for a franchise that has a bleak recent history of starting dismally, then improving just enough to delude itself and its fans into postseason fantasies.
These Bills are beating quality teams—the Chargers were their third vanquished opponent who reached the playoffs a year ago—by out-thinking and out-coaching them, then following thought with action.
The next few months should be something to see, NYSEG and balloon launchers willing.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game will appear in the October 23 issue of Artvoice.
September 30, 2008
Season Ticket: Four and Counting
Wide receiver Lee Evans
Bills historian Dave Staba contextualizes the team’s 4-0 start:
Winning your first four games, an accomplishment Buffalo achieved with Sunday’s 31-14 win in St. Louis, does not guarantee a great season. Over the nearly half-century since the creation of the current Bills, though, it comes pretty close.
Seven previous editions have opened with at least four straight triumphs. Two won a league championship, two others earned a Super Bowl berth, one reached the conference title game and another remains the subject of the franchise’s most tantalizing what-if discussion.
Only once, in 1975, did a Buffalo team win four games before losing one, yet fail to reach the playoffs.
Blame that one on O.J. Simpson, since it’s easy and fun and he’s otherwise occupied with all that Las-Vegas-hotel-room unpleasantness. As in his 2,003-yard season two years before, the future repeat felony defendant set a National Football League record, this time by scoring 23 touchdowns, yet his team—perhaps drained by the force its superstar’s ego —somehow faltered before the postseason.
The other six 4-0 starters account for most of the franchise’s high points.
After four years of slow starts and general mediocrity, the 1964 Bills thrashed their first four opponents by a combined score of 117-53 and didn’t stop slapping people around until they reached 9-0. The freakishly talented Cookie Gilchrist led an offense quarterbacked by Jack Kemp, with occasional assistance from Daryle Lamonica, while a star-laden defense established itself as the most dominant in the sport. Buffalo finished 12-2, winning the American Football League crown—the biggest prize available at the time—with a 20-7 win over San Diego.
Even without Gilchrist, whose equally outsized personality led to his banishment to Denver by coach Lou Saban shortly after the win over the Chargers, the next season started nearly as well and ended in almost exactly the same fashion. A 4-0 beginning turned into a 10-3-1 season capped by a 23-0 defeat of the Chargers.
Those Bills didn’t make it to the Super Bowl because there wasn’t one yet. The ’91 and ’92 teams should have been so fortunate. They opened 5-0 and 4-0, but ended in much less glamorous fashion, getting walloped by Washington and Dallas, respectively, in the sport’s annual apocalyptic finale.
At least they got there, though, which is more than could be said of the 1988 squad, the first of the great Jim Kelly-Bruce Smith-Thurman Thomas-Andre Reed teams. After sweeping the season’s first quarter and entering its final month at 11-1, the Bills lost three of their last four and, along the way, surrendered home-field advantage for the AFC title game to Cincinnati, a pivotal factor in a 21-10 loss to the Bengals.
Which brings us to 1980. In their third year under coach Chuck Knox, the Bills fully emerged from the post-O.J. Dark Ages by beating Miami for the first time in more than a decade, a goalpost-destroying feat that springboarded them to a 5-0 start.
Blending a strong young defense, solid special teams and versatile rookie running back Joe Cribbs with the maturation of long-maligned quarterback Joe Ferguson, Buffalo won its first division title since 1966 with an overtime win against the Los Angeles Rams.
That victory triggered an iconic moment, as half-dressed players led by Fred Smerlas emerged from the locker room for a curtain call, dancing at midfield to the strains of “Talking Proud,” the now-easily-mocked ode to civic pride that somehow failed to stem the exodus of industrial jobs that was only just beginning.
Thanks to the wonder of YouTube, that season and that song can be relived here.
Of course, it has an unhappy ending. Ferguson sprained an ankle in the regular season’s penultimate game and was still hobbling when the Bills visited San Diego for a first-round playoff game three weeks later. Still, he had the Bills ahead by a point with two minutes left, when safety Bill Simpson infamously whiffed on Chargers’ receiver Ron Smith, who scored the winning touchdown in the most shocking of fashions.
The Chargers were upset a week later by the Raiders, who would have had to travel to Buffalo for the AFC title game had Simpson’s grip been more firm. And Oakland went on to win the Super Bowl rather easily against Philadelphia. So if Ferguson had only stayed healthy, well, you know.
With a quarterback quickly emerging as one of the game’s most poised, a young running back who can run and catch and defensive and kicking-game units that produce game-turning plays on a weekly basis, this year’s Bills most closely resemble the 1980 edition to this point in the season.
All they need now is a theme song.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game will appear in the October 2 issue of Artvoice.
September 23, 2008
Bills Save Their Best for Last
Marshawn LynchThrough the coaching tenures of Wade Phillips, Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey, as well as through their first two seasons under Dick Jauron, playing their best often did not always guarantee a win for the Buffalo Bills.
On Sunday, their worst was good enough.
Against Oakland, the Bills committed more turnovers and were found guilty of more penalties than their opponents, gave up two huge plays to a barely known wide receiver who is not related to a local Congressman with the same surname and generally behaved like a team determined to disprove all the nice things said and written about them during the season’s first two weeks.
And still, they won.
Contrast that with last year’s Monday night game against Dallas, when Buffalo returned two interceptions and a kickoff for touchdowns, led by 11 points in the fourth quarter, and still lost.
Or the 2006 season opener, when a general malaise in the second half cost the Bills a 10-point lead and a readily achievable upset of New England, on the road, no less, in Jauron’s debut with Buffalo.
Or the 2005 visit to Miami, when J.P. Losman and Lee Evans hooked up for three touchdowns in the first quarter, then, like their teammates, spent the rest of the afternoon napping on their laurels as the Dolphins stumbled all the way back for a 24-23 win.
We could go on. And on. But then we’d eventually have to revisit the Flutie Bowl, when a special-teams breakdown cost the 2001 Bills a game they had seemingly won behind Rob Johnson. Then there was that playoff game in Tennessee, when, well, you know. And dredging all that up again wouldn’t do anyone any good.
Yes, Sunday’s 24-23 score ended in Buffalo’s favor in large part because the opponent was Oakland, a franchise that would be truly pathetic had it not been the game’s most obnoxious for the past four decades. With the worst record in football over the past five seasons and a doddering owner who has thoroughly undermined his coach, yet seems unable to fire him, the Raiders were supposed to serve as patsies for one of the biggest surprises of the young National Football League season.
That they did. It just took longer than expected.
Even for a team notorious for stupid behavior, the decision by Johnnie Lee Higgins—whose 69-yard return of the opening kickoff set up Oakland’s first score and stunned the home crowd into submission for much of the day—to taunt Bills safety Donte Whitner on the way into the end zone at the end of his 84-yard fourth-quarter journey was a singular demonstration of how bad teams find ways to lose.
Whitner responded by tackling Higgins deep in the end zone, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty but inciting his teammates and the fans who had not already headed for the parking lot.
From that moment, with 6:23 remaining, the Bills commenced wiping out the nine-point deficit Higgins’ touchdown had created, piling up 115 yards while the Raiders managed to move 6 feet backwards.
Fortunately for Higgins, pro football teams fly home after road games, allowing players to sleep in their own beds and not in the same building. Otherwise, something like this might well have happened.
While Al Davis’ poorly concealed scorn for his coach made Lane Kiffin a sympathetic figure coming in to the day, the youngest-looking coach in sports history showed that his creepy boss might just be on to something.
Apparently hoping the Bills would forget to try a game-winning field goal before the clock expired, Kiffin didn’t bother to use either of his two remaining timeouts during Buffalo’s final drive, eschewing any chance at giving his offense one last chance to win it. Then again, Oakland’s offensive coaches spent the entire second half trying to run out the clock, allowing JaMarcus Russell to throw only three passes after half time, even though he completed the first two, with one going to Higgins for what should have been the clinching points.
The Bills did not win only because the Raiders stink, however.
They won because Marshawn Lynch shows the same determination while carrying the ball as when avoiding discussing his driving habits with the authorities.
And because their defense stuffed Oakland’s running game at the most critical moments.
And because their offensive line recovered from a miserable opening three quarters to give Trent Edwards all the time he needed to lead an offense that managed but seven points in the first 52 minutes to 17 in the last eight.
Buffalo won’t be able to coast for 87 percent of the day and expect to win many of the next 13 games. But for the first time since Bruce Smith and the dozens of long-ago teammates on hand to honor him during a halftime ceremony roamed the turf in Orchard Park, these Bills understand that winning doesn’t necessarily mean being the better team all the time.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game will appear in the September 25 issue of Artvoice.
September 16, 2008
Reversal of Fortune
Bills QB Trent Edwards
From his perch high above Elmwood Avenue, Dave Staba writes:
Over the past decade, as the Buffalo Bills endured a parade of quarterbacks and coaches, you could always be sure of this much:
In the most critical of moments against quality opponents, something would go horribly wrong.
In the closing moments, the defense would passively allow the enemy quarterback to work his way methodically downfield, unable to get within swatting distance of him or his receivers until the other guys were celebrating in Buffalo’s end zone.
The Bills’ own attempts at late-game dramatics would end with an interception, sack or fumble. Or, just to shake things up, a sack and a fumble.
And, on those rare occasions when the offense and defense each performed their late-game duties with competence, you could look forward to a special-teams fiasco either mundanely procedural (watching the other team, lacking timeouts, manage to get off a decisive field goal as time expires) or historically surreal (watching the opponent execute a cross-field throw of questionable legality to produce a touchdown as time expires. In a freaking playoff game).
With ultimate failure so inevitable—Buffalo has failed to qualify for the postseason each season since 1999, and both of the franchise’s playoff games since the 1996 campaign have ended in the most demoralizing of defeats—the faithful have become understandably gun-shy. Late Sunday afternoon, the angst was palpable in the banquet room on the third floor of Cole’s, where the Season Ticket coverage team took in the Bills’ visit to Jacksonville.
It was an upper Elmwood Avenue tradition known as Brofest, an annual gathering put together by Mark, our generous-to-a-fault host, as well as the creator of the Council of Trent T-shirts honoring the latest Bills quarterback and bestowed upon the majority of attendees.
Aside from improving Buffalo’s record to 2-0 for the first time in five years, Sunday’s 20-16 win in Jacksonville offered pretty compelling evidence that these might be some very different Bills.
Not that they didn’t create some rather anxious moments.
“Don’t blow it. Don’t blow it,” said one reveler stationed at the bar, imploring Buffalo’s defense to avoid the fate of so many of its predecessors, moments after Edwards gave the Bills a one-point lead with a sweet touchdown toss to elongated rookie receiver James Hardy. “Please don’t blow it.”
They didn’t.
Despite the 90-plus temperature on the field, the Bills pressured Jaguars quarterback David Garrard into a pair of incompletions. That set up third-and-long, where Buffalo historically falls back into the sagging coverage favored by gutless defensive coordinators in such situations.
Instead, Perry Fewell ordered up a blitz that swarmed Garrard before defensive tackle Kyle Williams—part of a four-man rotation at the position that helped Buffalo’s front line control Jacksonville’s battered corps of blockers—hauled him down.
Roscoe Parrish’s 27-yard punt return and a short completion by Edwards put the Bills at Jacksonville’s 19-yard line before a third-down sack again elicited premonitions of disaster.
If Rian Lindell missed his 45-yard field goal attempt, the Jaguars would get the ball a completion or two away from a game-winning kick of their own.
He nailed it, however, and the Jaguars botched their attempt at a final-play throw-around. Not only did Matt Jones’ errant fling wind up in the possession of Buffalo’s Jabari Greer, the play was ruled an illegal forward lateral, an appropriate end to a day on which the Bills seemed to shuck off their dismal recent history.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game, and the scene at Brofest, will appear in the September 18 issue of Artvoice.
September 8, 2008
Season Ticket: They Ain’t Got Him
From his perch in the nosebleeds at the Stadium Formerly Known as Rich, Dave Staba writes:
When Roscoe Parrish fielded a Seattle punt at his own 37-yard line a little more than midway through the second quarter of the Buffalo Bills’ home opener on Sunday, I felt oddly compelled to stand up.
Not simply because, like the rest of my being, my backside was soaked, thanks to the relentless shower that drenched the otherwise jubilant crowd for much of the afternoon. Nor did I experience a sudden urge to use the men’s room conveniently located near my vantage point for the home portion of the Bills’ 2008 schedule, three rows from the upper limits of Ralph Wilson Stadium.
No, I stood up because that’s what you do when Parrish touches the ball, since you don’t want to risk missing what might happen next.
After securing the ball, Parrish made a subtle juke to the left, leaving Seattle’s Logan Payne skidding along the wet turf. He shot through a narrow tunnel comprised of blockers and would-be tacklers, past five more onrushing Seahawks defenders. His speed stunned them into near-paralysis, leaving the highly paid professionals whose job description hinges on wrestling guys like Parrish to the ground unable to do much more than lethargically swipe at the blue, red and white blur.
By this point, most of my fellow residents of the upper deck, along with the rest of the nearly 72,000 people gathered in Orchard Park had risen, as well.
Near Seattle’s 30-yard line, Parrish slowed up enough to tease four more Seahawks into lunging after him.
After pirouetting out of the grasp of John Carlson, a tight end taking part in his first National Football League game, Parrish cut back to his right, leaving Owen Schmitt, another naïve rookie, reaching for nothing at all.
The rapid succession of flailing misses recalled Ron Carey in Young Frankenstein, doggedly trying to lift Gene Wilder’s luggage: “I got it! I got it! I got it! I ain’t got it.”
Having satisfied his appetite for humiliating his pursuers, Parrish dashed for the end zone, easily accelerating past the four Seahawks who had caught up to the play due only to his meanderings.
The highlights package shows Parrish running past, around, or through 12 members of Seattle’s punt-coverage team. This is particularly impressive, since the rules of football allow only 11 players on the field at once.
So at least one of the Seahawks, having already been shamed by the smallest player on either roster, managed to get close enough to the 5-foot-9, 171-pound Parrish to miss him a second time.
Parrish opened 2007 in similar fashion, jetting through the Denver Broncos via a more direct route for Buffalo’s first points of the year.
On that runback, no one touched Parrish. This time, at least a half-dozen Seahawks got at least one hand on him, for what that was worth.
Last year, after Parrish staked them to an early lead, the Bills spent the rest of the afternoon hoping for the clock to run out. They didn’t quite make it, finding a way to let Denver snatch the game away on the final play.
This time, a far more confident-looking group of players continued to pile up highlights, emboldened by a coaching staff that called for well-timed draw plays, fake field goals and deep throws after turnovers.
With the offense, defense and special teams combining for as complete a game as Buffalo has produced in years, the Bills crushed Seattle, a popular pick among the sports cognoscenti to reach the playoffs, by a 34-10 margin – the second most-lopsided game of the NFL’s opening weekend.
Fifteen games remain. Whether the Bills sustain their newfound ferocity or revert to the maddening inconsistency of recent seasons, this much is sure:
When Roscoe Parrish touches the ball, you stand up.
Dave Staba has covered the Bills since 1990. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com. A full report on Sunday’s game, as well as a look at Buffalo’s prospects in a Tom Brady-free world, will appear in the September 11 issue of Artvoice.
