Bills bungle in Philly

End season on sour note

The Buffalo Bills ended their season much the way they played the majority of it...they couldn't finish the job. The Bills lost 17-9 to the Philadelphia Eagles, and the main reason was because they couldn't score once they reached the red zone.

The Bills rookie quarterback Trent Edwards once again proved that he may not have that gunslinger moxie to finish off drives like the great quarterbacks can. Take away two games (Miami and the Giants), and Edwards threw just one TD pass all season. He had 4 against the Dolphins and started the game off against the Giants with two straight touchdown passes. Then the really bad weather set in and Edwards hasn't hit paydirt since.

Giants out-weather beleaguered Bills

They trudged through wind, rain, sleet and snow. Nothing could deter the Giants from their mission. For the second week in a row, the Buffalo Bills, who were once known as the best bad weather team in the business, fell flat on their faces when Mother Nature dished out miserable conditions. The Giants overcame an early 14-0 deficit and weathered the storm, blasting the Bills 38-21.

The Bills head coach Dick Jauron has a lot of explaining to do about holding practices in the heated indoor practice facility outside of Ralph Wilson Stadium the past two weeks. In the Bills glory years, they toughened up by practicing outdoors. Not these Bills. They much prefer the creature comforts of the practice facility and it has showed during the past two games in which they came up empty handed.

Browns shutout Bills in blinding snowstorm

The Buffalo fans who traveled to Cleveland to witness the embarrassing 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Browns were better equipped to handle the blizzard-like conditions than the Bills players were. When the Bills took the field, they reacted and played like this was their first snow game ever.

The Bills offense couldn't produce any drives until late in the game when the snow had stopped. Even then, the Bills looked offbalance and more like a dome team than one that hails from Buffalo, the snow capital of the country.

Bills unleash high octane offense against the Dolphins

Bills whip Miami 38-17

The Miami Dolphins are one step closer to becoming the first NFL team to go 0-16 thanks to the Bills 38-17 thrashing of the Fish Sunday afternoon in a snowy Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills roared out to a 31-7 lead in the first half, scoring 24 of those in the first quarter.

Bills rookie quarterback Trent Edwards had a career day, throwing 4 touchdowns while completing 11 of 23 passes for 165 yards. Edwards wasn't sacked and didn't throw a pick as his offensive line its best game of the season, proving him great protection and opening holes for the running game. Two of his touchdown tosses went to tight end Robert Royal. The other two were caught by the fleet Lee Evans, one a bomb for 70 yards.

"It worked out perfectly," said Edwards about the Bills going for the bomb right when they needed a boost of energy in the second half. "It was the right coverage, it was the right call and it was just a matter of getting the ball up and letting him go and make a play."

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Bills ride Lindell’s leg to win over Skins

For once, the Bills won a game on a last second kick.

Rookie quarterback Trent Edwards couldn't get the Bills into the endzone, so it was up to Rian Lindell to do all the scoring for the offense. The Bills D racked up 2 points itself with a safety as Buffalo beat the Redskins 17-16 on a kick with 8 seconds left.

Lindell was originally faced with a 51-yarder and kicked his first attempt through the uprights. However, the Skins coach Joe Gibbs had called a timeout just before the snap to ice Lindell. He called one again when the Bills were set to line up again, but this time Bills coach Dick Jauron cited the officials the NFL rule that two timeouts can't be called in succession. Thus, the Redskins were penaltized with unsportsmanlike conduct and Lindell was 15 yards closer when the attempted the kick again. Once again, the kick split the uprights as it did the 4 previous times and the Bills for once were a winner in a last second kick.

Losman's bad performance against Jaguars may be his last with Bills

The Bills were humbled by the Jacksonville Jaguars 36-14 and for the second game in a row, it was a total team letdown. The Bills defense gave up huge plays in the game that were embarrassing. Case in point was the 50-yard gallop by Fred Taylor for a TD right after the Bills gave the ball back to the Jags after being caught with 12 men on the field during a punt. Add to that the 59-yard TD hookup between Jaguars QB David Garrard with Reggie Williams along with a 17-yard scoring jaunt by Maurice Jones-Drew with under two minutes to play sealed the Bills fate, and the Bills D didn't finish the job or even come close to it.

"To give up two crucial big plays, that was key to the game," reasoned Bills safety George Wilson. "That's what this game is about: making big plays and stopping big plays. They made more plays than we did today and they got the win."

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56-10: Most humiliating Bills loss ever

The domination by the Patriots gets worse. By beating the Bills in front of a prime time audience 56-10, the Pats rubbed more salt into the wounds.

Let's make this wrapup of the Bills horrific performance quick, say as long as the Bills were in contention Sunday. Maybe 3 minutes will be enough!

Everyone expected a blowout, but one would expect the defense to at least put up some sort of effort. Hey, forcing the Pats to punt once in a while would show that they are only human. These androids are dominating the NFL and only an injury to someone like Tom Brady will show that they are still humanoid.

Bills squeak one out in Miami

The Buffalo Bills did it the hard way. They didn't score their first points until in the second half, and it wasn't the offense. The defense had to produce a safety to wipe out the shutout bid by the Dolphins. Finally, late in the 4th quarter, the Bills offense did get on the board and at the end got into range for the winning field goal. Winning 13-10, the Bills escaped Miami and continued the Fish winless season.

The Bills win certainly wasn't a thing of beauty. But then again, the Broncos and Cowboys last second wins over Buffalo were no Rembrandts either. Those count in the win column as much as 31-0 blowouts do. The Bills will run to the bank with those victories with no qualms.

Losman pounds home a big point

Quarterback's play helps Bills thwart Bengals 33-21

JP Losman must have thought he was playing in an opposing stadium. The past few weeks, almost all the Bills fans and media have been aboard the Trent Edwards bandwagon. With all the noise and heckling, Losman was up against a hostile crowd. He was definitely up for the challenge.

Losman had a career day. Lee Evans had a breakout game. But it was Marshawn Lynch who gets the game ball with two big plays that resulted in the Bills beating the Cincinnati Bengals 33-21.

J.P. is back and so is the QB controversy!

All it took was one play! J.P. Losman heaved a bomb down field and Lee Evans was able to rip it out of the defender's hands and then proceed untouched for the winning touchdown. JP was back and so was the quarterback controversy.

Losman came off the bench when Trent Edwards sprained his wrist and led the Bills to a 13-3 victory. Losman threw deep to his favorite target Evans and Lee turned it into magic, an 85-yard touchdown and a Bills victory.

"It was a straight go route," described Evans about the touchdown pass. "We were going with the wind. Quarterbacks always love to go with the wind, so he just kind of threw it up. He had his choice because Roscoe (Parrish) beat his guy deep on the other side. It seemed like it hung in the air forever, and I just tried to go up and make a play on it. It was just a matter of who wanted to make the play more."

Will this one play be enough to win Losman his job back?

Bills win ugly against Ravens

History tends to repeat itself. This is especially true with the Buffalo Bills this year.

The Bills looked like they were going to blow another game right at the end, just like they did their last game against the Cowboys and the opening game against the Broncos. The Ravens had the ball and were down only 5 points with over a minute to go. Could this be yet another last second meltdown for the Bills?

Bills find yet another way to lose

Gallant defensive effort is wasted by coaching blunders

Let’s count the ways the Buffalo Bills can lose a football game. It happened once again before a national audience for Buffalo’s first Monday Night Football appearance in 13 years. It was an unlucky 13 as the Bills blew a big lead on the unbeaten Dallas Cowboys and lost 25-24 when Nick Folk kicked a 53-yard field goal with just a second left on the clock. It was his fourth field goal of the night. It came just after he got the ball back for the Cowboys with an onside kick that was perfectly placed and recovered by Dallas.

The Bills led the game the entire game until the fateful kick. It was a flashback of the opening game when the Denver Broncos also kicked a last second field goal to snatch the victory away from the Bills. Both heartbreaks happened at home in front of a packed house at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Bills break into the win column

Trent Edwards impressive in first start

What a difference a week makes! After last week's 38-7 loss in New England, there didn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. With all the injuries, especially with J.P. Losman and linebacker Paul Posluszny out, things looked definitely bleak for the Bills.

Sunday, the sun was bright and the temps were in the high 70s before a packed house at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills came home after 2 losses on the road and played a pretty solid game, both offensively and defensively to beat the Jets 17-14. It went down the final seconds as the Jets were closing in on field goal territory when Terrence McGee picked off a Pennington pass to seal it with under 10 seconds left. The Jets would have been close enough for a field goal attempt if that pass hadn't been intercepted.

Pats blow past Bills 38-7 as two more Bills injured

The Bills were hoping to at least put forth a respectable effort in Gillette Stadium, their current house of horrors. Instead, they not only were embarrassed by the New England Patriots 38-7, but they also lost two more starters. J.P. Losman was taken out in the first play from scrimmage when he was given a shot in the knee with a late hit by Vince Wilfork. Losman was in definite pain and was hobbling around with an injured knee. However, Losman stayed in and the next time he went back to pass, was blindsided by Ellis Hobbs, and Losman not only got hurt worse, but fumbled the ball to the Pats, which turned into a Patriot field goal.

Bills have meltdown in Steeltown

It has been one horrible week for the Buffalo Bills. First they lost their season opener by a mere point when the Broncos somehow were able to kick a last second field goal. Then the horrific new about Kevin Everett sent shockwaves throughout the Bills locker room and the football community.

The Bills themselves were shaken by the severity of Everett’s spinal chord injury and played like they were still in shock Sunday in Pittsburgh. Losing 26-3 highlighted the fact that the Bills were not ready to play this one. The "not ready for prime time" label fit Bills quarterback JP Losman to a tee. In fact, after an interview last Wednesday, the young quarterback appeared distraught over the nature of Everett’s injury after visiting him in the hospital. Losman was God awful Sunday, completing 15 of 25 for 154 yards and was held out of the endzone. On top of that, he was sacked 4 times. While Losman can’t be blamed entirely for the loss, he definitely isn’t making good on this "make or break" year. And he seems to be losing his cool in the locker room also.

The Buffalo Bills lost more than a football game on Sunday when the Denver Broncos beat them 15-14 with a last second field goal by Jason Elam. The Bills lost 4 players to serious injuries, one which could be devastating.

Tight end Kevin Everett, playing on the special teams to open the second half, made a big hit on Domenik Hixon who was returning the kickoff for the Broncos. Everett got the worst of the collision as he did not get up. An ambulance had to be brought in and Everett was taken to a hospital where it was deemed that he had a cervical spine injury. That description covers a broad range of injuries that range from a slight crack in the spine to an injury that could result in paralysis.

The Bills, who were already short on D with defensive end Ryan Denney (broken foot) and Keith Ellison ( high ankle sprain), along with the offseason departures of Nate Clements, Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher, lost 3 more starters. The Bills lost free safety Ko Simpson early with a fractured left ankle. Then linebacker Coy Wire went down with a knee injury, followed by Jason Webster who fractured a forearm. Even with all those injuries on defense, the Bills somehow only allowed one touchdown. Elam kicked two field goals in the first half and the Broncos failed to convert on a two point conversion attempt after Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler hit Brandon Marshall in the left corner late in the third quarter.

The Thurmanator

"Think about it, 300 carries a season. Yes, a great ball carrier on first downs, but superior on third-and-long yardage situations as well. Show me another back that did the dirty work like picking up the blitz from ugly 250-pound linebackers any better. You can't. I just tell you, you can't."

Thurman Thomas was one of the best all-purpose backs ever in the NFL.

The speaker was Marv Levy, the newly enshrined NFL Hall of Fame coach. The running back he was talking about is a legend in Buffalo sports history and it would be a travesty if he didn't join Levy in Canton.

There may have been flashier running backs in the Buffalo Bills storied history. Surely there was one who had the best season ever for the team. But there was no runner who was better all-round than Thurman Thomas.

The great ESPN commentator, Chris Behrman, called him the "Thurmanator" and would always add colorful nouns and verbiage to describe the explosive running style of Thomas. Behrman was one of the first people to call the Bills resilient, and Thomas, along with Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, was the most resilient of the crew.

Thomas epitomized the heart and soul of the Buffalo Bills during their glory years in the early 90s. His heart bled the red, white and blue colors of the Bills throughout his smashing career in Buffalo. O. J. Simpson set all the marks for running backs in Buffalo. He ran for 2,003 yards back in 1973. However, Thomas chipped away at Simpson's total career yardage in Buffalo and finally surpassed it. He also had one other component that Simpson didn't even come close to and that was his total commitment to the team.

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