Drew Bledsoe had more protection than usual. He also rolled out of the pocket once or twice and did the unheard of, took off and ran on one play. One would think that Bledsoe had a productive day, but that certainly was not the case as he threw 4 interceptions and fumbled twice (losing one) as the Bills lost 20-6. The Bills made it to the red zone 4 times and came away with only two field goals. The two other trips came to a screeching halt when Bledsoe threw interceptions.
Neon Deon Sanders is back and he had two of those picks on Bledsoe. One he returned for a touchdown early in the game. It came on a tipped pass and he pranced 48 yards into the endzone and then did his old dance that fans haven’t seen in years. Sanders, who came out of retirement this year and only had one interception prior to this, got his second of the game when he picked one off in the end zone thwarting another Bills trip in the red zone. Sanders also got to run with the ball once, on a reverse, but was tackled for a ten yard loss.
``I was smiling so much I almost forgot the play when I came out of the huddle,'' admitted Sanders about the reverse. ``I was just so happy to be out there.''
Sanders, who had been in retirement for 3 years, looked like he went in a time warp into the past.
"They talked about me before I came. He's too old. He shouldn't be doing this," Neon commented after the game. "I'm a 37-year-old kid out there."
Things certainly do not look good for the Bills nor Bledsoe as they are now 1-5 and the playoffs are a dream for some other team. While Bledsoe gets much of the blame for not being able to get the Bills in the endzone, especially on those 4 marches into the red zone, he certainly had plenty of help in this loss. Once again penalties at key times hurt the Bills, as did dropped passes and missed assignments.
Honeymoon over
The honeymoon has been over for Bills head coach Mike Mularkey for a few weeks now. His team is still making horrendous mistakes and his decisions have been questionable at best. However, the blame for the Bills 1-5 record has to go directly to GM Tom Donahoe. He stuck with QB Drew Bledsoe after last season when he could have let him go without any hit on the salary cap. There were plenty of quarterbacks available that would have been much better than the statue of a quarterback. Take for example Jeff Garcia who went to the Cleveland Browns.
Then there was the hiring of yet another rookie head coach when there were much better ones available. If he wanted to go with a coach with no head coaching experience, he should have waited for Charlie Weis of the Patriots. But no, he went with a Pittsburgh buddy of his and look at the results.
Derailed Project
The Drew Bledsoe Project should be completely scrapped. His four interceptions on Sunday against the Ravens is the final straw in the project that was doomed from the start. Bledsoe should have been let go after last season. Bills GM Tom Donahoe should have washed his hands of the mistake he made in trading a first round draft choice for him and moved to the next chapter. He wouldn't have had to even take a salary cap hit. It was all there for the taking. But Donahoe, as he was with head coach Gregg Williams, didn't want to admit to making a huge mistake, especially not two in a few weeks.
Bledsoe was 20 out of 36 for 203 yards, but he didn’t throw for one TD and was sacked 4 times, fumbling twice. One of those was lost and it is apparent that Bills fans are getting tired of this act week in and week out.
JP Losman is getting healthy after fracturing his leg. Hopefully Losman will start to get some playing time and eventually take over for Bledsoe.
McGahee vs Henry
Travis Henry is still slated as the Bills starter, but after he was averaging only around 2 yards per carry on his first 6, in came Willis McGahee. McGahee showed the strength he had the week before in being able to carry tacklers a couple more yards after he should have been brought down. McGahee rushed 58 yards on 16 carries for a 3.6 average. His longest gain was 15 yards. Henry did beat McGahee in two categories, with his 19 yard gainer and a 3.9 average.
This running back controversy is sure to last the entire season as there are lots of fans clamoring for McGahee to become the starter.
Henry couldn’t hide his disappointment with being taken out early in the game.
"I was surprised, but that's what the coaches decided to do," admitted Henry. "I want to do what I can to help this team win, but it didn't happen today. It's a situation that obviously I'm going to have to deal with this year."
Mularkey defended his move.
"We needed a spark because we weren't getting it done, and Will came in there and did a nice job," Mularkey said.
Bills Talk
The Bills were embarrassed and felt they can do better, but still the losses keep on coming.
"That was embarrassing out there," admitted Eric Moulds.
"As a man, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say 'look, I'm going to do something to turn this around," said Sam Adams. "I think we have those kinds of men in this locker room."
"I have to start using another language to describe it," Adams continued. "You can look out there and see what's happening. There's no finger pointing. We have to come closer together and figure it out and fix it. That's what we're going to do."
"Something has to happen for the better," reflected Lawyer Milloy. "I want to say it's going to happen next week, we thought it would happen this week. When you are trying to climb back out of the cellar, you know you have to keep fighting. We have the organization and a coach that is going to get the guys around here that can win these types of games. Right now we have to believe in each other and keep fighting."
Bledsoe was on the hot seat again after the game, receiving a lot of pointed questions from the media.
"We're trying to do whatever we can against a very fast-pursuing defense to give them some misdirection and create some plays for ourselves," responded Bledsoe to questions in the press conference. "I give them credit. They did a good job of figuring those plays out."
On his interception to Sanders in the end zone, Bledsoe said,
"That was a poor decision. We didn't have anybody open on the play. I should have thrown it out the back of the end zone."
Copyright © 2004 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.
