SB Nation User Blog: sireric

Opponent History: Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans

sireric — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:44:31 -0000

Buffalo Bills (3-5) at Tennessee Titans (2-6)
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 1:00 PM ET
LP Field - Nashville, TN

Coming off the bye week, the Buffalo Bills get a good challenge in the Tennessee Titans, who after an 0-6 start have won two in a row and seem to be back on track. This is the fifth-ever regular season meeting between these two long-time rivals. Does that sound weird? Well yeah, because this is the fifth time the Bills have played the Titans and sixth overall, but the forty-second all-time meeting between these two franchises if you count the days of the Houston Oilers. Both teams have traded signature franchise wins versus the other. For the Bills, it was "The Comeback Game," while for the Titans, it was "The Music City Miracle." Recaps of last five regular season games between these two teams are after the jump.

Sunday, December 24, 1995: Oilers 28, Bills 17
Todd Collins started this game for the Bills, but current Bills offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt finished it. Either way, it wasn't pretty for the Bills. A sack of Collins in the end zone and two Al Del Greco field goals led to an early 8-0 lead for the Oilers. After a Steve Christie 44-yard field goal closed the gap, not one but two Rodney Thomas touchdown runs gave the Oilers all the cushion they would need. The late Steve McNair hit Frank Wycheck for another score to put the game away. Van Pelt hit Andre Reed and Justin Armour for late scores to make it look respectable, but it wasn't as close as the final score looks.

Sunday, November 23, 1997: Titans 31, Bills 14
Once again, the Titans/Oilers jumped out to a sizable lead early, this time on a Marcus Robertson fumble return and two McNair touchdown plunges, giving the Titans a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. The big problem for Buffalo in this game was the lack of a run game - and when I say lack, I mean complete and total absence. The Bills had 4 rushing yards on 14 attempts. Antowain Smith was the Bills' leading rusher with 7 yards on 9 attempts. Quinn Early did have a nice game for the Bills with 103 yards on 8 catches and two touchdowns, but when you get only 4 total rushing yards, you can't expect to win very often.

Sunday, September 3, 2000: Bills 16, Titans 13
This was the season opener after the Music City Mugging ended the Bills' season the year before. After Rob Johnson hit Peerless Price to open the scoring, the ageless Del Greco hit two straight field goals to bring the Titans back to within one point. Steve Christie then hit two fields goals of his own to give the Bills their seven-point lead back. Eddie George then knotted the game up at 13 with a two-yard dive into the end zone. The Bills launched a late march, and this time, after Christie hit a 33-yard field goal with 31 seconds left on the clock, the Bills covered the kick return to seal the win.

Sunday, December 14, 2003: Titans 28, Bills 26
After two consecutive Gary Anderson field goals, the Bills rattled off 17 straight points. A Rian Lindell field goal, a six-yard Drew Bledsoe-to-Bobby Shaw touchdown pass, and a Pat Williams 28-yard fumble return for a touchdown that no doubt left him struggling for breath accounted for the scoring. Billy Volek then connected with Erron Kinney and Justin McCareins for two scores. Add in a Robert Holcombe plunge for the two-point conversion, and the Titans suddenlyhad a 21-17 lead. Lindell hit another field goal, and Volek ran in another score to make it 28-20. Bledsoe then hit Mark Campbell for a touchdown, but the two-point try failed, giving the Bills the loss.

Sunday, December 24, 2006: Titans 30, Bills 29
This was a real back and forth game, with 13 different scores and 7 different lead changes. Lindell hit five field goals and Rob Bironas hit three more for the Titans, his last one coming with just over two minutes left to play to give the Titans the win. Travis Henry, playing for the Titans, ran for 135 yards, and Vince Young added another 61 and a score. Lets hope that doesn't happen again.

Bills players respond to Vick talk

sireric — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:38:54 -0000

Bills players respond to Vick talk

Asked if Vick would be a good fit for the Bills, receiver Lee Evans replied, "Probably not. I love him as a player and everything that he's done for the league, but I don't think it'll be anything we'll aggressively go after."

Everything he has done for the league? Like what Lee? get arrested and become a black eye and an embarrassment for the NFL?

Another great one:

Bills safety Donte Whitner didn't conceal his excitement over the possibility. "I believe that Michael Vick would be a good fit, and I would encourage whoever to bring Michael Vick in," Whitner said.

Funny thing is Donte, we say that about just about every safety that becomes available because we see him as an upgrade. Way to support your teammates.

Opponent History: Bills vs Texans

sireric — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:57:29 -0000

Buffalo Bills (3-4) vs Houston Texans (4-3)
Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 1:00 PM ET
Ralph Wilson Stadium - Orchard Park, NY

I get lucky again this week. Last week, the Bills were playing an opponent in the Panthers whom they had only faced four time previously. That is the case again this week, as this will be the fifth-ever meeting between the Bills and the Houston Texans. The Bills have a 3-1 in the series, including victories in each of the last two games.

This weekend's matchup will, however, be the first ever meeting between the Bills and Texans that doesn't include David Carr. Carr had at least played, if not started, in all four previous matchups. This will be a tough game for the Bills, as this is clearly the best Texans team the Bills have faced. The last ~~five~~ four match-ups after the jump.

October 13, 2002: Bills 31, Texans 24
The first meeting between the Bills and Texans took a little help from a former Bill to give Buffalo the win. The Texans jumped out to a 17-3 lead before Travis Henry got the Bills rolling. Two straight rushing touchdowns by Henry helped the Bills tie up the game at 17. The Texans then resorted to some trickery, and RB James Allen hit tight end Billy Miller with a 5-yard scoring throw, and the Texans had the lead late in the fourth quarter. Former Bill Jay Foreman then committed an ill-advised unsportsmanlike penalty to help keep a stalled Bills drive alive, which resulted in an Eric Moulds touchdown pass from Drew Bledsoe to tie it up. Bledsoe then hit Peerless Price for another touchdown to give the Bills the win. Henry finished with 170 total yards and two scores. In true David Carr fashion, the Bills sacked Carr five times, with Justin Bannan, London Fletcher, Grant Irons, Keith Newman, and Chidi Ahanotu doing the honors.

November 16, 2003: Texans 12, Bills 10
Some seriously ugly stats in this one. The Bills got credit for two safeties - one in the first quarter after the ball was fumbled out of the end zone, and one as time expired when Andre Johnson ran out of the back of the end zone while killing the clock. Two Kris Brown field goals and two by Rian Lindell made up the rest of the scoring with the lone exception being a 46-yard Tony Banks-to-Andre Johnson touchdown play, but the Texans botched the conversion attempt. Buffalo again picked up four sacks in this one, with Sam Adams (2.0), Jeff Posey, and Terrance McGee doing the honors.

September 11, 2005: Bills 22, Texans 7
Four straight Rian Lindell field goals give the Bills a 12-0 lead early in this one, but Carr rallied the Texans win a one-yard dive to get them back into the game. J.P. Losman then hit Jason Peters (yes you are reading that correctly) on a short one-yard TD pass to boost the Bills' lead. Lindell then hit another field goal to cap the scoring. The Bills had five more sacks in this game, and three picks. Aaron Schobel (2.0), Jabari Greer, Takeo Spikes and Chris Kelsay picked up the sacks, and Lawyer Milloy (1) and Troy Vincent (2) nabbed the interceptions.

November 19, 2006: Bills 24, Texans 21
This is the game that J.P. Losman hit Lee Evans with two 83-yard touchdown bombs to open the scoring and give the Bills an early 14-0 lead. The Texans came back, of course, with two rushing touchdowns - one by Samkon Gado and one by Wali Lundy - sandwiched a Lindell field goal to narrow the margin to 17-14. Dunta Robinson was then handed a 9-yard pick-six by Losman to give the Texans the lead. Peerless Price then made an amazing catch late in the fourth quarter in the back of the end zone to give the Bills the win. Only two Bills sacks were picked up in this game, with Aaron Schobel and Larry Tripplett getting it done in this one.

What does this stat really mean?

sireric — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:24:50 -0000

In the Roscoe Parrish post that is currently on the front page, csc06258 throws this out there:

Since the AFL-NFL merge, Dick Jauron is the "worst coach" in history (.420% win record), and thats a FACT. That stat includes any coach who has coached over 135 games.

So I have to ask; Does that mean that Dick Jauron is the worst coach in the history of football? what does this stat really mean?

First we have to acknowledge a few things:

1) Dick Jauron is a good enough coach to have coached in at least 135 games, (139 regular season and 1 post season game to be exact).

2) Dick Jauron won NFL coach of the year in 2001 when he lead the Chicago Bears to a 13 - 3 record.

3) A 7 - 9 season, while below average, and not a winning season, isn't terrible. Yes I know that the Bills need to do better, and this team really needs to make the playoffs, but record wise, you could do much worse then 7 - 9, ask the Detroit Lions and their fans last year if they would switch with us.

What does this tell us?

Do we really think that if John Rauch, or Kay Stephenson, to name a few from Bills lore, would have been given 140 NFL games to coach that they would have done better? I don't think so. Jauron has at least a little bit of an idea of what he is doing, and it has worked in the past, at least once. He isn't a moron. He is in fact capable of coaching a winning team, he has done it before. Am I saying that he should stay, that he shouldn't be fired if the Bills fail to win more then 9 games this year? No, I am not. What I am saying is that this notion that Jauron is the worst coach in the history of the NFL are a complete fabrication, made from stats that have been twisted by disgruntled fans.

Lets keep this real here, Dick Jauron isn't a bumbling fool who coaches a team like the Keystone Cops, with the Benny Hill theme playing in his office 24/7. He is trying to make the team better. Just because you don't understand his reasoning on why the team would do something doesn't mean it is the wrong move.

Fourwinds, a Rumbler who I have plenty of respect for makes this statement:

Clearly, if someone is bad at something (e.g. if Jauron is a bad coach), what he thinks is a good move is really a bad one.

This again is a very true statement. If I have no clue at what I am doing and am just throwing guesses out there, the odds that I screw up are high. But Jauron has had success before, for at least one NFL season. For Whatever reason it isn't working out here. I'm not saying that he is a good coach, or that he is even an average head coach, but he must be doing at least a little something right for him to have 140 NFL game under his belt.

Opponent History: Buffalo Bills at Carolina Panthers

sireric — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:46:31 -0000

Buffalo Bills (2-4) at Carolina Panthers (2-3)
Sunday, October 25, 2009, 4:15 PM ET
Bank of America Stadium - Charlotte, NC

Normally in this weekly feature, I go back and review the last five meetings between the Buffalo Bills and their current opponent for the week. The problem this week, however, is that this is the fifth ever meeting between the Bills and the Carolina Panthers, so there are only four games to review. The Bills hold a 3-1 series edge, losing the last meeting (way back in 2005) after winning the first three. The Bills have outscored Carolina 95-60 all time and will look to add to their previous success this week, in yet another four o'clock game for the Bills this year. The last ~~five~~ four meetings after the jump.

September 10, 1995: Bills 31, Panthers 9
Can't kill the Panthers for this one, as this game took place in their first year of existence. After John Kasay hit his third field goal of the game in the third quarter, the Panthers had a 9-0 lead and had shut out the Bills for the first half. The Bills then came roaring back. A 77-yard Jim Kelly-to-Russell Copeland touchdown hook up was quickly followed by rushing touchdowns from Thurman Thomas and Darick Holmes. The Bills then added a fourth score in the third quarter when Kurt Schulz picked off former Bill - and MRW favorite - Frank Reich and brought it back 32 yards for a touchdown. Steve Christie capped the scoring with a fourth-quarter field goal.

October 25, 1998: Bills 30, Panthers 14
Eric Moulds hooked up with Doug Flutie for a 20-yard TD and Steve Christie kicked a 42-yard field goal to give the Bills a 10-0 lead. William Floyd's one-yard TD plunge brought Carolina to within 3 points, but Moulds and Flutie hooked up again, this time for 82 yards. That was all the Bills would need, but they added a Thurman Thomas TD run and two more Steve Christie field goals. Phil Hansen and Shawn Price had a sack apiece, while Ray Jackson and Henry Jones picked off one Steve Beuerlein pass each.

December 9, 2001: Bills 25, Panthers 24
In a game that featured two of the more pathetic teams of 2001, Chris Weinke led the Panthers to a early 24-6 lead just before halftime. The Panthers (who finished 1-15 that year) were poised to record their second win of the season. But the Bills (who finished 3-13 that year) came from behind. Current Bills offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt hit Peerless Price for a 7-yard touchdown pass that was followed up by a Brandon Spoon 44-yard pick-six, and a Travis Henry one-yard TD plunge to give the Bills the win. In hindsight, it might have been better to lose this game. In the upcoming draft the Panthers would select Julius Peppers, while the Bills would select Mike Williams...

November 27, 2005: Panthers 13, Bills 9

There is an old saying; In a game of field goals, the team that scores a touchdown is the winner. Or something like that. John Kasay (still kicking for the Panthers) hit two 25-yard field goals, and Rian Lindell hit three field goals (31, 45, 33) to give the Bills the lead 9-6 late in the fourth quarter. But Jake Delhomme hit future Bill Micheal Gaines with a 4-yard touchdown pass to give the Panthers the win. J.P. Losman had a great day, getting sacked five times and throwing an interception.

Everyones favorite ex-Bills injures knee.

sireric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:31:46 -0000

Everyones favorite ex-Bills injures knee.

Jason Peters hurt his knee during the first quarter of the Eagles loss to the Raiders yesterday. If it turns out to be real bad, it could linger into next year. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Opponent History: Buffalo Bills at New York Jets

sireric — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:24:18 -0000

Buffalo Bills (1-4) at New York Jets (3-2)
Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 4:15 PM ET
Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey

This is all-time meeting No. 98 between two long time rivals, with the Buffalo Bills holding the series edge 53-44 over the New York Jets. These are two franchises heading in two completely opposite directions right now. Even though the Jets have lost their last two games after starting 3-0, they are still a very strong team with lots of promise, and are in first place in the AFC East. The Bills, after two strong performances that led to a 1-1 record have lost their last three contests - and looked rather pathetic in doing so.

My guess is that after this week, the Jets make up some ground on that series record.

The last five meetings between these two teams that have taken place in New Jersey are after the jump.

Sunday October 10, 2004: Jets 16, Bills 14
After three quarters of play, the Jets led the Bills 13-0 on the strength of to Doug Brien field goals and a Chad Pennington-to-Chris Baker touchdown pass. The Drew Bledsoe-led Bills attack then rallied for two touchdown passes, one each to Mark Campbell and Lee Evans, to give the Bills the lead. But Brien hit another field goal with 58 seconds left in the game to give the Jets the win. Both Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel recorded sacks in this game. John Abraham had a hat trick of sacks for the Jets.

Sunday January 1, 2006: Jets 30, Bills 26
This was a real back-and-forth game that saw five lead changes and two separate ties. The most amazing thing about this game: Roscoe Parrish caught four passes for 43 yards, one of which went for a touchdown. Despite Kelly Holcomb throwing four interceptions (three to Ty Law and the other a pick-six by Mark Brown), the Bills had the lead courtesy of a 36-yard Rian Lindell field goal mid-way through the fourth quarter. Justin Miller would then return the ensuing kick-off 95 yards to give the Jets the lead, and eventually the win.

Sunday December 10, 2006: Bills 31, Jets 13
This game was close early, with the Jets holding a 10-7 lead when J.P. Losman hit Lee Evans for a 77-yard touchdown pass. Nate Clements then picked off a Chad Pennington pass and took it to the house to give the Bills a 21-10 lead, and they never looked back. The Bills had 174 rushing yards on the day to control the game. Aaron Schobel (3.0) and Ryan Denney (2.0) had good days rushing the QB.

Sunday October 28, 2007: Bills 13, Jets 3
After three quarters of Trent Edwards producing only six points for the Bills, J.P. Losman entered the game a promptly did this. Angelo Crowell (1.0), Aaron Schobel (1.0), and Kyle Williams (1.0) recorded sacks, and Terrence McGee, and George Wilson each picked off Chad Pennington.

Sunday December 14, 2008: Jets 31, Bills 27
I really didn't want to remember this game. Needless to say, after the Bills manhandled the Jets on the ground all day to the tune of 187 yards rushing - with Marshawn Lynch looking unstoppable - the Bills give the ball to Losman and let him do what J.P. Losman does... this.

Was Wade Phillips really that bad?

sireric — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:50:10 -0000

When I think back to the end of the 2000 season, all I remember is the collective sign of relief from Bills fans after Wade Phillips was fired. I never understood it. I though Wade did an o.k. job. So the question is, would you rather have Wade still here? First lets look at some history:

Quick! Name the winning-est coaches in Bills history. Well first is obviously Marv Levy. With 112 wins over 11.5 seasons, (not counting 11 post season wins) Marv is tops on the Bills coaching wins list. Lou Saban is second with 68 wins over 8.5 seasons, (again not counting his 2 post season victories). Third is Chuck Knox who in 5 years collected 37 wins, (1 post season win again not counted). Right now those three men are the no-contest top three coaches in Bills history. I suppose you could debate the order if you want (Lou had shorter seasons and did win two championships, a case could be made for Saban over Marv), but that isn't the point of this post. Next on the wins list? I'll give you a hint: It's not Kay Stephenson, Jim Ringo, Gregg Williams, or Joe Collier. Thats right Wade Phillips is next on the list with 29 career victories. He also made two post season appearances, yes his post season record for the Bills is 0-2, but he got there twice...in three years. In three years Wade has 29 wins and two playoff appearances...not bad. Want to know how bad the Bills coaching records are? Dick Jauron is currently 5th on the list with 22.

After Wade caught the axe from Ralph, the Bills then brought in Gregg Williams who's 3 year record for the Bills is 17 - 31, with no play-offs. After Double G, it was Mike Mularkey who ran up a record of 14 - 18 in two years. Mularkey did lead the Bills to their last winning season at 9-7 in 2004. After Mularkey it has been Dick Jauron...need I say more?

So the question is was Wade Phillips all that bad? 29 - 19 and two play-off appearances in three years looks pretty good right about now. Sometimes you need to be careful what you ask for Bills fans, sometimes the coach you know is better then the coach you don't know. I'm not saying that Jauron shouldn't be fired if the Bills continue to stink it up, just that there are some worse coaches out there that might just have us pining to have D.J. back once he is gone.

Ralph doesn't really have the greatest history when it comes to making hires. He seems to be more of a "shoot from the hip" kind of guy, who follows his gut feeling more often then not. Sometimes it works, he hired Bill Polian without doing very much research, sometimes not, Hank Bullough, John Rauch...need I go on? If Ralph does in fact clean house, I'm not sure that we can all count on him to hire the right guy, he has a history of under paying his coaches and quite honestly, I'm not sure we will get the big name guy that we are all craving. It may get worse before it gets better....

Opponent History: Buffalo Bills vs Cleveland Browns

sireric — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:39:49 -0000

Buffalo Bills (1-3) vs Cleveland Browns (0-4)
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 1:00 PM ET
Ralph Wilson Stadium - Orchard Park, NY

Random, unexpected pre-post note: Cleveland on Wednesday morning traded WR Braylon Edwards to the Jets in exchange for WR Chansi Stuckey, LB Jason Trusnick, and two undisclosed draft picks. Essentially, Buffalo will be playing against Edwards soon - it's just been delayed a week. Report comes via ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Well, it took last week's "game" to finally bring out the pessimist in me. This Buffalo Bills team is really killing my enthusiasm for football. But the cupcake Cleveland Browns are coming in this week, so they should be pushovers, right? I'm fairly certain that is the sentiment that most of us had the last two seasons when the Bills played the Browns, and look how that turned out. If you forget how that turned out just, skip the rest of my rambling and hit the jump.

The Browns and Bills have met fifteen times during their histories, despite being less then 190 miles from each other, that includes one playoff game. The Browns hold an all-time edge in the series 10-5, including wins in their last two meetings. Hit the jump for the last five meeting in greater detail.

Sunday, November 4, 1990: Bills 42, Browns 0
Ah, the good old days when the Bills could take a weaker team behind the wood shed and beat them senseless. The Bills ran for only 102 yards on the day, but four runs ended in touchdowns. Thurman Thomas had three touchdowns on the day (two rushing and one receiving), while Jamie Mueller and Kenneth Davis punched in the other two offensive scores. Darryl Talley picked off two Mike Pagel passes, taking one of them 60 yards to the house to cap the scoring for the Bills. The Browns had 43 rushing yards on the day and committed 13 penalties for 87 yards to aid the Bills. Marvcus Patton and Hal Garner recorded a half-sack each.

Monday, October 2, 1995: Bills 22, Browns 19
Steve Christie (three field goals) and Matt Stover (four) had very active days for their respective teams. The Bills got two Jim Kelly touchdown passes - one to Justin Armour and the other to Andre Reed - while the Browns got a 69-yard punt return for a score by Derrick Alexander to round out the scoring. Vinny Testaverde hit his favorite target, Andre Rison, to the tune of 6 catches for 126 yards, but it wasn't enough for the Browns. Phil Hansen (1.0), Bruce Smith (1.0), and Bryce Paup (1.0) all recorded sacks for the Bills.

Sunday, December 12, 2004: Bills 37, Browns 7
Ah, the good old days when the Bills could take a weaker team behind the wood shed and beat them senseless... again... but this time with defense. Luke McCown and the uber-popular Jeff Garcia combined to go 9 of 21 passing for 62 yards while getting sacked 8 times for a loss of 108 yards. Add to that the pitiful 29 yards rushing for the Browns, and Buffalo's defense held Cleveland to 17 total yards of offense on the day. Ouch. And you thought the Bills' offense was bad? Willis McGahee ran for 105 yards and two scores to pace the offense. Sam Adams (2.0), Chris Kelsay (1.0), Jeff Posey (1.0), Aaron Schobel (2.0), Lawyer Milloy (1.0), and Troy Vincent (1.0) all recorded sacks, and Vincent and Nate Clements added interceptions.

Sunday, December 16, 2007: Browns 8, Bills 0
This was the "Blizzard Game" from 2007. You remember - the one that started a three-game slide to end the season and eliminated the Bills from playoff contention. Jamal Lewis put the Browns on his back to the tune of 163 yards rushing. The Bills' offense, on the other hand, did almost nothing, with the exception of a single long run by Marshawn Lynch that didn't result in any points. And, of course, on the final play of the game, with the Bills attempting to tie it up... well, you know.

Monday, November 17, 2008: Browns 29, Bills 27
Trent Edwards came out of the gates firing in this one! Three interceptions to the Browns in the first quarter really set the tone for this game. Cleveland capitalized by going up 13-0 on two Phil Dawson field goals and a Josh Cribbs two-yard touchdown run. Two Rian Lindell field goals and a Marshawn Lynch 18-yard touchdown catch sandwiched another Dawson field goal to bring the Bills to within three points at 16-13. Jerome Harrison then broke Buffalo's back by rumbling 72 yards for a touchdown. Yes - that remains the lone career touchdown of his four-year career. Leodis McKelvin then resuscitated Bills fans by taking the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a score to stay three points down. After another Dawson field goal, Edwards plunged into the end zone to give the Bills a 27-26 lead. But that jerk Dawson hit his fifth field goal of the day - and then Lindell missed one wide right as time expired - to give the Browns victory.

Talley Blasts Bills

sireric — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:25:10 -0000

Talley Blasts Bills

Former Bills great Darryl Talley is fed up too.