Buffalo's Sunday-afternoon romp through the Meadowlands provided that rarest of challenges for a writer chronicling the Bills of the 21st century: So many contributed so much, you hardly know where to start.
There was Willis McGahee, ripping off the longest run of his National Football League career to open the scoring, a 57-yard sprint that sickened both the host New York Jets and himself. After a break best left undescribed and a ham sandwich, McGahee returned after halftime to finish a 125-yard performance that keyed Buffalo's highest point total of the year.
McGahee's running helped open things up for J.P. Losman, who arched a 77-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans late in the first half to give Buffalo a lead it never lost.
"I've been telling you," said Tim, BillStuff's senior wing analyst and noted Losman basher, watching the air strike from a table at Jaco's on Buffalo Avenue. "He's going to keep getting better."
With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Losman flipped a 6-yarder to Robert Royal to effectively finish off the Jets.
"He's the best young quarterback in football," said Tim, who made it through the day making only one Keanu Reeves reference.
In between Losman's scoring throws, Nate Clements turned in his biggest play of the season, returning a tipped Chad Pennington pass 58 yards for his first touchdown in two years.
Aaron Schobel scorched Jets rookie offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and stripped Pennington, setting up Losman's flip to Royal.
And London Fletcher-Baker, the only healthy linebacker remaining from the trio that started a week earlier against San Diego, shared the team lead in tackles with Schobel at nine, broke up two passes and preserved the final score at 31-13 by intercepting Pennington with 6:23 remaining.
The names listed above are the stars on this Bills roster. Their accomplishments against New York are what fans expect of them, or, in the case of McGahee and Clements, what they've been waiting for.
What made Buffalo's domination so impressive was the number of unlikely contributors. After Takeo Spikes was knocked out with a bum ankle, the defense was without four starters from the week before.
Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell plugged Coy Wire into Spikes' spot, completing a gum-and-string lineup that included, at various times, linebackers Keith Ellison, Mario Haggan and Mike Schneck, cornerbacks Kiwaukee Thomas and Ashton Youboty (who opened the game listed as the starting weakside linebacker) and safety Jim Leonhard.
The emergency fill-ins weren't just taking up space, either. Ellison was in on eight tackles, while Leonhard and Thomas each made six stops in place of Donte Whitner and Terrence McGee, respectively.
After some shaky early moments, particularly New York's remarkably easy-looking six-play, 51-yard drive that ended with Pennington's 10-yard touchdown pass to Laveranues Coles, the shuffled defense congealed quickly. That would be New York's only touchdown march of the day. The Jets managed only 277 yards of total offense while committing three turnovers, all by Pennington, and coming up with only one takeaway, a second-quarter fumble by Anthony Thomas.
Of course, it helped that the Jets behaved as if they hadn't seen the injury report. Rather than cramming it to a Bills defense that gave up 197 yards per game over the previous three weeks, New York opened with Pennington spraying short passes all over the field.
He threw 23 times in the first half. Factor in three scrambles and a sack and the Jets called 27 pass plays, compared to 14 running plays, against one of the leakiest ground defenses this side of the Maginot Line. It wasn't so much how often Pennington threw, but when. Midway through a scoreless first quarter, after Cedrick Houston ripped off a 9-yard run, the Jets faced a third-and-1 from their own 38.
Too smart to call for the obvious, the Jets tried to throw deep. Ryan Denney sacked Pennington, New York punted and the day's tone was set.
Meanwhile, Buffalo's properly maligned offensive line made all the big plays by Losman and McGahee possible, providing solid pass protection for most of the afternoon and navigable running lanes throughout. The Bills, who had managed only 205 rushing yards over the three previous weeks, finished with 174.
With McGee sidelined by an ankle injury, there were no big plays in the kicking game, but no major problems, either. Brian Moorman dropped three punts inside the Jets' 20-yard line, helping maintain a field-position edge. It was almost a perfect day for the Bills. Had the favored Indianapolis Colts won in Jacksonville, Buffalo would be one game out of the final AFC playoff spot with three to play, holding the tiebreaker advantage on the Jaguars by virtue of the 27-24 win on Nov. 26.
But Jacksonville overwhelmed the squeezably soft Colts, running for 375 yards and a 44-17 win.
So Buffalo is left facing long-shot postseason scenarios too convoluted to consider seriously.
But this much is clear:
The Bills have won four of their six games since the bye week, including two on the road and two against teams ahead of them in the playoff race.
The first team built by Marv Levy and coached by Dick Jauron has exceeded the victory total of the last Tom Donahoe-Mike Mularkey edition with three games remaining. While the glaring deficiency of the run defense remains, progress at quarterback and on the offensive line gives Levy's organization a clear offseason priority. And until the defensive front can be addressed, the Bills have found ways to overcome that weakness with big plays against all but the best of opponents.
Miami comes to Orchard Park next week with a matching 6-7 record and equally far-fetched playoff possibilities. But given the strides the Bills have taken over the past six weeks, as well as a shot at the franchise's second winning record since 1999, this renewal of the long-running rivalry will be far from meaningless.
BILLS MVP: BS has expressed reservations about McGahee's desire on several occasions, but we'll never again doubt his, um, guts.
Losman also deserves mention for the two touchdown passes and zero turnovers.
THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: Coles was New York's best weapon, but Pennington couldn't get him the ball enough.
WHAT'S WITH CHAD? Through the Jets' 7-5 start, Pennington was held up as proof that a smart quarterback doesn't need a rocket arm or great athleticism to succeed.
Against Buffalo, though, his repeatedly injured shoulder seemed to disintegrate with each throw. Some passes, like Clements' interception, missed their targets badly. Even many of the completions forced his receivers to stop and turn or come back to the ball, contributing to a crummy 5.2 yards-per-attempt average.
He did fare better than rookie Kellen Clemens, who came in for mop-up duty at the end. Clemens went back to throw three times, but never actually released the ball, getting sacked twice by Schobel and scrambling once.
NON-FOOTBALL SPORTING DIVERSION: Unbeaten boxer Nick Casal of Niagara Falls is scheduled to face the toughest test of his professional career on Jan. 5, when he faces another undefeated prospect, Jose Antonio Izquierdo, in Las Vegas.
Casal and Izquierdo, a Cuban native fighting out of Mexico, have identical 15-0-1 records. Izquierdo has 13 knockouts to his credit, while Casal has 12.
The bout is scheduled to be shown on Showtime on the undercard of a super middleweight title fight between Anthony Hanshaw and Jean Paul Mendy.
WING REPORT: The BS coverage team indulged in a full-blown feast, featuring a traditional pizza, one topped with chicken, bacon, cheddar and mozzarella and a bucket of wings, split between mediums and honey-barbecues.
The wings were nicely crisp and very flavorful, earning the Jaco's spread a solid A.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: This goes to Tim, for demonstrating the front-running ability that sets the true fan apart from the pack.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 12 2006 |