EAGLE WRAP

Bills avoid embarrassment against Eagles

By soundly trouncing the Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills avoided what would have truly been an embarrassment. There was always that chance of playing down to the level of the competition and the Bills could have been ripe for the picking.

"We had to guard against ourselves today," Andre Reed said. "I mean, it was only 9-0 going into the second quarter, and anything could have happened. You're supposed to win the games you're supposed to win, and that's what we did today . . . Believe me, if we would have lost that game, we would have all been sick about it."

There were those two touchdowns that the Eagles scored that were wiped out by offsides. One could argue that the Bills knew that the plays were going to be disallowed, but you never can tell. There were two other times the Eagles managed to get into Bills territory, but the defense held. With a little luck (or bad luck in the Bills case), things may have gone differently for the Eagles.

"We could have gone into this one lackadaisical," Ted Washington said after the game. "But we didn't."

"Philadelphia is not, right now, a good football team, " added Doug Flutie. "The thing is, we went out with a workmanlike effort and beat them soundly. It's great to go out and put those kind of teams away and move on. But this week is going to be a big challenge for us."

The Bills defense had another strong effort yesterday, as they shut down the Eagle running game to only 22 yards and limited them to only 147 yards in the air. Two sacks (Gabe Northern and Bruce Smith) were so jarring that they resulted in fumbles which Phil Hansen recovered. And the shutout was the first since they did it back on September 20, 1992 when they hammered the Colts 38-0.

"That's pretty big for our defense," Hansen said about the shutout. "It's a nice accomplishment. It's very hard to do in this league."

"Indy was quite a wake-up call for us," Hansen continued. "It's kind of a cliche-type word. But we've played much better since then."

Washington agreed about the Indianapolis game by saying, "We're going to make up for what happened in the first game the rest of the season. We know we're a better team than the Indianapolis Colts ... We know how good we are. We've just got to go out and dominate people and get our respect, because people don't have us nowhere near the top in our division. They want to put us in the middle or below. We're just going to show 'em."

The defense will have its hands full as they tangle with the Miami Dolphins and Dan Marino on prime time next Monday. The Bills have been able to handle Marino in the past by putting a constant rush on him, but it may be harder next week as the Bills Sack Attack has not been putting up big numbers in the first three games.

BILLS INJURY REPORT

The Bills had four injuries yesterday, but none are considered serious. Rubin Brown sustained a hamstring injury while chasing down Al Harris after the Eagle cornerback intercepted a Flutie pass and returned it all the way for a touchdown. The play was called back because the Eagles were offsides on the play.

"It's a Grade One pull, which is pretty mild," said Brown. "They told me they don't want me to push off it for three days, and after that we'll see how it is."

Brown said if he can play at 95% next Monday that he'll start.

In the first half, the Bills had a third down at the Eagle two yard line and Flutie went back to pass. No one was open, so he took off towards the goal line. As he was about to score, Eagle safety Tim Hauck slammed into the diminutive quarterback, wacking his knee.

" I took a pretty good shot, but no, it didn't shake me up, " Flutie said of the hit. "Bobby (Collins) was coming out and releasing, and I kind of pointed to the linebacker. . . . I was thinking just get a piece of him, I'll get in the end zone. But Bobby went out for a pass rather than the block, and I got handcuffed."

"I was maybe a little nervous for a minute or two, but it felt fine the rest of the day," a relieved Flutie said.

The other injury that may be of concern is Rob Johnson's. He sustained a "slight concussion" after hitting his head on the hard astroturf while being sacked. The number of concussions Johnson has received since becoming a Bill is starting to cause concern in some circles.

The fourth Bill to sustain a reported injury is Phil Hansen, who suffered bruised ribs. He stated that he should be ready to play Monday.

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