The Buffalo Bills suffered a heartbreaking loss in their season opener, but made sure it wouldn't affect the rest of their season negatively.
The Bills bounce back in their home opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium, taking down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-20. Fred Jackson was the offensive star of the day, contributing 163 rushing yards and collecting 6 receptions for 25 yards. Jackson was just a constant presence throughout, extending many drives with second efforts on carries.
Trent Edwards also had another game to build upon. After being limited to just five passes completed to his wide receivers against New England, Edwards found his wideouts early and often on Sunday. He finished the day completing 21-of-31 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
The aforementioned receivers made their presence felt on Sunday. Both Lee Evans and Terrell Owens brought in a touchdown a piece, helping to catapult Buffalo to their first victory of the season. Evans ended up with the one big touchdown catch for 32 yards, meanwhile Owens had 3 receptions for 52 yards.
Defensively, the Bills did something that was lacking throughout the 2008 season, and that was forcing turnovers. Both Donte Whitner and Bryan Scott had an interception in the first half, with Whitner's being brought back all the way for the score. The pick was just Whitner's third in his career.
The defensive tackles wreaked havoc all day. Both Marcus Stroud and Kyle Williams got countless pushes up the middle of the Buccaneers offensive line throughout the game, putting a stop to many plays in the backfield. Stroud had a sack on the afternoon.
The Bills jumped out to an early 17-0 lead, but saw that advantage dwindle to just a 20-14 margin. The defense turned it up in the second half, calling timely blitzes to disrupt Tampa Bay quarterback Byron Leftwich's rhythm, and allowed just six points the rest of the way. Leftwich finished the day completing 26-of-49 passes for 296 yards, three touchdowns and the two interceptions to Scott and Whitner.
Injuries were quite prevalent for the Bills. Leodis McKelvin, Brad Butler, Shawn Nelson and Derek Schouman all had their game cut short due to injury. McKelvin left with an injury to his ankle. Both Butler and Schouman departed with knee injuries, and Nelson suffered a shoulder injury.
With the win the Bills are now 1-1 on the season, and they'll take on the New Orleans Saints next Sunday, September 27, and kicks off at 4 o clock. Buffalo trails the 2-0 New York Jets in the division by one game.
The win is the first time the Bills have beaten Tampa Bay since 1991.
HOOOOOOOOOO take it for what it is and that is a win. great to see the entire receiving corp. for the bills showing up from TO to Reed to Schouman. Now lets just try to contain the saints to >40!!!
09/20/2009 7:46PM
so New Orleans next week
.... yeah...
09/20/2009 7:55PM
they got lucky
tampa more lost this game than the bills won it. if tampa had any kind of qb it would have been a rout in favor of tampa. in spite of the qb play the bills had no answer for winslow and the bucs pass rush. sure the bucs had 1 sack but trent was hit plenty. plus the reffing was a bit one sided. what was the ref watching on that scott non-interception. it was cleear as cam ve. owens clearly pushed off on his toichdown. how many times did leftwich get hit late. i guess they must have ,oney om the game. but o giess a win is a win no matter how tainted.
09/20/2009 8:00PM
They Got Lucky hahahahha
Are you kidding me. This game should have been a blowout. To should have caught that deep ball. Jackson shouldn't have fumbled and this game would have been at least a 20 point game. "they got lucky" don't make me laugh too hard.
09/20/2009 8:09PM
RE:lucky
if Tampa "had a QB????" If the Bills had Peyton Mannning we'd have a Super Bowl...
maybe too much thinking on that post. Perhaps a re-read and some changes will help. We can wait.
09/20/2009 8:21PM
hardly lucky
but they may need some next week.
09/20/2009 9:15PM
Put The Trent Edwards Song To Rest
Who ever wrote that song ought to put that song to rest and write up the same song and write up one for Regier. Idea: Thow it long can be replaced with make a trade! Hear me Jeremy and the rest of you morons on WGR? The Bills won, but yous will find a way to wreck it for everyone. I expect it, especially on TO's miss on that long pass. STOW IT JERKS!
09/20/2009 9:18PM
We Won!
Quit your crap! Haven't you got any positives many of the above posters?
IDIOTS!
09/20/2009 9:48PM
re:we won
all except one post is positive... The Manning thing (which I wrote) was a reference to him in his prime not now, and making the point that your team is your team and you can't go around saying things like "If they had a QB" blah blah blah... They do by the way, and he's won games before.
I'm fine with Edwards ALWAYS have been. Don't let one guy, or attempts at satire ruin the game. Trent can throw long, he just doesn't feel it necessary to do so every down and waste a series.
Go figure he likes a shot at a first down.
09/20/2009 9:50PM
Re:they got lucky
LMFAO. What game were you watching? The offensive line game Trent plenty of time, the only sack was mainly cause Trent held the ball too long. If anyone was getting hit it was leftwich. Owens pushing off? give me a break. the reffing? please. howdo you explain Fred jackson getting 165 yards? One pice of advice. You might want to work on your spelling.
09/20/2009 10:19PM
Everyone...
Amazing...I am a long time Buffalo sports fan, Bills and Sabres. I know not to get too excited until the games are absolutely over and so on. This was a solid win, lets take it for that. Still need some work to try and keep it close and keep NO to under 40 pts. The "they got lucky post"....that person must have had a few too many Genny Cream Ale's???!!! TE had a solid game, if he keeps this up we'll be ok. Fred Jackson is a MONSTER....plain and simple!!! D looked ok, still need work covering te's. The TE song by the WGR guys I think is pretty damn funny and catchy. We now need a "Hey There Sabres" song. Knowing Hose I think he will be pretty happy! So...lets not over analyze too much after week 2! Lets keep up the winning ways. Oh yeah...hate to say it but the Bills should be 2-0 and Pats should be 0-2...oh well. I love me some Bills!
09/21/2009 10:02AM
Golly gee wiz Shazam!
One bad team beat another, WOW, superbowl! Oh wait we lose by 30 next week! Back to reality!!! Suckas! Have another 40
ESPN Overnights
12am-6am
Alexander Ovechkin was suspended for two games for his hit on Brian Campbell. Your thoughts?
To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 1 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 2 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; tournament; WGR; Jeremy White; Golf; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 3 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 4 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 5 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 6 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 7 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 8 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala;
E-Mail Story
Print Story
