<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

BILLSTUFF: BUFFALO'S SPECIAL TEAMS REDUCE RAMS TO TEARS

By David Staba

No matter how this Buffalo season turns out -- and despite Sunday's 37-17 thrashing of the St. Louis Rams, we're still a couple road wins away from even thinking it lasting beyond Jan. 2, 2005 -- the Bills can take tremendous satisfaction in one very significant accomplishment.

They made Mike Martz cry.


JUMP TO STORY:
Editorial
Paladino
Hudson
Gallagher
Citycide
Menagerie
Local History
Sports
Billstuff
Letters

Not actual tears. At least not in public. And not the sort of loveable gushing popularized by his predecessor (and superior), Dick Vermeil.

But the least likeable coach in the National Football League did more than his share of bellyaching after his team bumbled away the NFC West lead in rather spectacular fashion.

First came the accusations that the Bills were trying to injure his players.

"Absolutely, they were doing it intentionally," Martz said after three St. Louis cornerbacks were hurt, two leaving with knee injuries. "They are trying to blow somebody's knee out."

That's one way to distract attention from having your pride and joy, the Rams' usually high-flying offense, get thoroughly stuffed for the entire second half.

Even with Martz' offensive genius apparently missing its connection on the trip to Buffalo, St. Louis still might have had a shot if not for the outright disaster it endured, or incurred, on plays when someone kicked the ball.

It was bad enough when Jonathan "Or Is It Freddy" Smith bolted 53 yards on a punt return early in the third quarter to set up Buffalo's go-ahead score. After all, Smith went 70 last week against New England for a touchdown.

But on Buffalo's next punt return, Nate Clements sprinted 86 yards for a touchdown of his own, making it 31-17.

And after that, poor Erik Flowers -- quite possibly the most maligned first-round pick in Buffalo's history -- dropped a pooch kickoff for the Rams' third special-teams disaster in less than three minutes.

Such a meltdown forced Martz to answer the obvious question -- was firing Bobby April, the new Buffalo special teams coach whom Martz scapegoated for many of his failures since taking over for Dick Vermeil in 2000, really such a good idea?

"They just have good people," Martz said. "Maybe that's the secret."

Maybe, Mike. Or maybe you're a pompous windbag who, despite your delusions of genius, was handed a franchise on the brink of dynasty and guided it into the septic tank of mediocrity, making some of the dumbest decisions in recent league history along the way.

But as enjoyable as it was seeing Martz and Company stumble to .500 in such deliciously ironic fashion, don't let that obscure what might just have been Buffalo's finest special teams performance since the days of Steve Tasker and Mark Pike.

April's two-returner setup on punt runbacks has rarely been seen over the past quarter-century or so, but Smith and Clements complement each other perfectly. Clements even threw a key block to spring Fast Jonathan, or Fast Freddie, or whatever you want to call him.

Buffalo's defense had quite a day, too. Marshall Faulk averaged about 17 inches per carry on 13 attempts. The Bills sacked Marc Bulger six times and intercepted his throws on three other occasions.

And if the offense wasn't overwhelming, it didn't need to be. Willis McGahee turned in his fourth 100-yard day in as many starts in Orchard Park, even though his most spectacular run got called back by a holding penalty.

Drew Bledsoe, meanwhile, rebounded from his horrific Sunday night in New England to capitalize on three red-zone chances with short throws to tight end Mark Campbell, who hadn't caught a pass since October.

Things looked headed in a very different direction for most of the first quarter, though.

Despite getting nailed for three penalties on their first drive, the Rams lurched into field goal range and took a 3-0 lead.

Then Bledsoe conjured memories of last week, and the Oct. 24 game in Baltimore, and just about every road game he's played in the last two years, throwing up a third-and-13 prayer that got tipped and intercepted.

(A note here about tipped passes: A defender or receiver altering the ball's path before an interception does not always excuse the quarterback. Sometimes the ball is tipped because it was a lousy throw, as in this case and on each of Bledsoe's tipped picks in Baltimore. But anyway ... )

"Here we go," said one patron at Dell's Arterial Lounge on Niagara Street, where BillStuff hulkered down Sunday afternoon. "Get Losman in there!"

But the rookie quarterback's name scarcely came up again, at least until late in the fourth quarter, when some wondered whether he might get a cameo to wipe out the taste left from J.P.'s disastrous stint against the Patriots.

Bledsoe had his own week-old demons to exorcise, though. He remained in the game to the end, when he took a knee twice to finish things.

In the meantime, the comfortable margin and game's glacial pace -- further slowed by a combined 26 penalties, including 15 enforced against Buffalo -- left plenty of room for discussion among the spectators.

George and I, along with a guy who would probably get in trouble if I mention him here (let's just call him "Ron") talked politics, the state of Niagara Falls and more politics. We even started to talk about the rest of the season, but then thought better of it.

Whether Bledsoe, or the Bills, can take the sort of performance they've apparently mastered when performing at Ralph Wilson Stadium on the road to Seattle next week, well, we'll see.

There's no tangible evidence that they can, considering that they've lost all four away from home this year. The skid is at six straight and 10 of 11 going back to last season, with the only win coming last December against a New York Giants team that had packed it in weeks earlier.

If Bledsoe, and Buffalo, can buck that trend in Seattle next week, it will be time to at least consider playoff scenarios. After all, subsequent road games in Miami, Cincinnati and San Francisco should be winnable, but the Bills first have to prove they can beat anybody away from home.

But if the quarterback and his team revert to form, then the moment will have finally arrived to have a serious discussion about Losman and next year.

BILLS' MVP: In addition to his touchdown return, Clements made six tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pass. He shares the honor with secondary colleague Lawyer Milloy, whose three sacks represented his biggest game since his first as a Bill, waaaay back in the 2003 season opener against New England.

THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: Torry Holt caught eight passes for 90 yards, his 11-yard touchdown grab giving St. Louis its last lead of the day at 17-14. He also scored points with Martz by echoing the coach's whining about "cheap shots."

STAT OF THE DAY: This is also a reality check for next week: Despite a consistent ground game and good protection for Bledsoe, who was sacked but once, the Bills still converted only two of 11 third-down situations.

WING REPORT: The mediums were plump and tangy, with the butter-and-garlics (an Arterial specialty) providing an ideal complement. Both were just about perfectly crisp, and Kevin earned bonus points with terrific thin-crust pizza, another trademark item.

BS FAN OF THE WEEK: After Buffalo took the lead for good early in the third quarter, one guy at the other end of the bar bellowed, "But I'll bet you right now, the Bills won't make the playoffs!"

Now, given that qualifying for the postseason would likely require a six-game winning streak, this wasn't exactly a tantalizing proposition.

It's impossible to know if he thought someone even drunker would take him up on it, or if he thought it would somehow become funnier or more insightful if he kept repeating it. But he did. About a half-dozen times. There's something to be said for persistence.


READ PREVIOUS BILLSTUFF


David Staba is the sports editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Nov. 23 2004