Volume 1, Number 7

Two Teams, Two Different Directions

• Nothing against bringing the game to different places, but there's just something not right about taking away a home game from a team. It happened to the Dolphins last year when they played in London, and now it's the Bills' turn.
  
  
• Don't care what anybody says, this sure didn't look like a home game for the Bills.
  
  
• The Dolphins receive the opening kickoff and we're left to wonder exactly why Brandon London backpedals to field the ball at the 10-yard line when returner Ted Ginn Jr. is right behind him ready to catch it.
  
  
• The first drive goes nowhere for the Dolphins, but Brandon Fields makes something out of it by putting his punt out of bounds at the Buffalo 5-yard line.
  
  
• Buffalo's first drive ends with JP Losman badly overthrowing his wide receiver deep down the sideline, and we see one major reason to be happy he's the one playing quarterback for the Bills and not Trent Edwards.
  
  
• The Dolphins face a third-and-1 on their second drive, which can only mean one thing: It's Lousaka Polite time. Who knew when the Dolphins signed him in October he would become the team's short-yardage specialist.
  
  
• On the play after Polite converts - thanks to a great second effort - Chad Pennington shows his tremendous touch on a nice arching touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano.
  
  
• Buffalo's second possession begins with a 17-yard scramble by Losman. That's the one thing he does much better than Edwards that can give the Dolphins problems.
  
  
• Want to know why the Bills have fallen apart since starting the season 5-1? Here's one snapshot: Losman is lined up in the shotgun, but center Duke Preston makes a normal snap. It obviously winds up on the ground, costing Buffalo 2 yards and a down.
  
  
• The Dolphins keep rotating their guards, with Andy Alleman, Ikechuku Nduwke and Brandon Frye taking turns handling the two spots. Don't mean to question the logic, but don't coaches always talk about the importance of continuity along the offensive line?
  
  
• Rookie Dan Carpenter came into this game having passed pretty much every test he'd faced so far, but we hadn't seen him try a 50-yard field goal. Check. He nailed a 50-yarder against Buffalo. It seemed the perfect way to end a week that saw him earn AFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors along with being announced as the leader in Pro Bowl fan voting among AFC kickers.
  
  
• Everybody always is on Ginn's case for not fighting for the ball more, but give him kudos for breaking up what could have been an interception on a rare Pennington misfire.
  
  
• Do the officials have something against Ricky Williams? For the second consecutive game, he has a touchdown run nullified by a holding penalty. This one is on tight end Anthony Fasano, and it's no more a clear penalty than the one on Ikechuku Ndukwe at St. Louis.
  
  
• Who is Ricky Brown? CBS play-by-play man Kevin Harlan decided a couple of times that's what he was going to call number 23 on the Dolphins.
  
  
• Is it just me or should the Dolphins shelve the Wildcat formation for a while? It would be one thing if they needed help offensively because their quarterback was struggling, but Pennington is playing lights out. Seems counterproductive to take the ball out of the hands of the team's best offensive player.
  
  
• Yes, Pennington is the Dolphins' best offensive player. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are terrific backs, but Pennington is the one making this offense go right now.
  
  
• We've been clamoring for someone other than Joey Porter to get some pressure on the quarterback. Thank you, Charlie Anderson. He beat an offensive lineman around the edge not once, but twice.
  
  
• Porter, though, didn't want to be left out. He got two sacks in the fourth quarter, including the one that forced a fumble and slammed the door.
  
  
• This game was won on a third-quarter Buffalo drive when Losman's poor passing cost the Bills a touchdown. First, Lee Evans found himself wide open behind the secondary after nickel back Nathan Jones fell, but Losman overthrew him by close to 10 yards. Later, on first-and-goal from the 3, Losman tried to hit Evans on a fade pattern, but this time badly underthrew the pass. That allowed Will Allen to make the interception in the end zone.
  
  
• Let's not take anything away from Allen, though. That was a tremendous play on his part. So maybe his hands aren't that bad, after all.
  
  
• Why is it that we have to wait until we come back from commercial to find out that Dick Jauron is challenging Allen's interception? What, he couldn't do that DURING the commercial instead of having viewers come back for five seconds before going to MORE commercials?