Buffalo Bills (5-5) at Kansas City Chiefs (1-9)
Sunday, November 23, 2008, 1PM EST - Arrowhead Stadium

This game is the 40th overall meeting between the Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs/ Dallas Texans Franchise. The Bills hold the edge all time 21-18. This is also the 5th time in the last 6 meetings (counting this one) that the game has been in K.C.

September 14, 1997: Chiefs 22, Bills 16
Todd Collins threw for 297 yards and a TD to Andre Reed, but was just 22 of 43 passing and tossed two picks. Tamarick Vanover returned a kickoff 94 yards for a TD and Elvis Grbac hit Tony Richardson with a 1 yard TD pass late in the fourth to give the Chiefs the win.

November 19, 2000: Bills 21, Chiefs 17
QB Elvis Grbac (341 yards, 2 TDs), WR Derrick Alexander (7-146) and TE Tony Gonzalez (9-76, 2 TDs) all had big days for the Chiefs. Rob Johnson, however, had a bigger day, connecting with Eric Moulds and Jay Riemersma for scores and scrambling for another to give the Bills the win.

November 17, 2002: Chiefs 17, Bills 16
This game was even right down the line. Total yards: Bills 344, Chiefs 320. Rushing Yards: Bills 133, Chiefs 128. Passing Yards: Bills 211, Chiefs 192. The difference? The Bills had 13 penalties for 139 yards to K.C.'s 5 for 39. Despite the penalties the Bills had a 16-10 lead heading into the final quarter, but a 9-yard TD scramble from Trent Green gave the Chiefs the win. If I'm not mistaken, Drew Bledsoe just missed hitting Peerless Price for a long score down the left sideline that would have given the Bills the win.

October 26, 2003: Chiefs 38, Bills 5
The Bills started out well, blocking a punt through the end zone for a safety; it was all down hill from there. Trent Green hit Dante Hall for a 67 yard TD score, and Priest Holmes took over from there with 3 TD runs. Drew Bledsoe was picked off 3 times and Alex Van Pelt added 2 more of his own.  Ugly.

November 13, 2005: Bills 14, Chiefs 3
J.P. Losman, in relief of injured then-starter Kelly Holcomb, hit Lee Evans for 2 TD passes (33 yards & 29 yards). The Bills picked off Trent Green 3 times and sacked him 6 times.  Both Lawrence Tynes and Rian Lindell missed 2 field goals each.

   
Buffalo Bills (5-4)  vs Cleveland Browns (3-6)
Monday, November 17, 2008 8:30PM EST

First, a little history: the Bills have played the Cleveland Browns 14 times in their history, including the playoffs. Nine of them have been in Cleveland, and the Browns have won 9 of the 14 contests. This is also the second time the Bills have played the Browns on Monday Night Football.

Second, a little nostalgia for some of you perhaps: looking over the box scores for some of these game, particularly the '87 game, I couldn't help but see some players' names and be reminded of Tecmo Bowl. Names like Kosar, Reggie Langhorne, Jeff Jeager, and my personal favorite Webster Slaughter. Please don't tell me I'm the only one who fondly remembers that game.

November 15, 1987: Browns 27, Bills 21
After Mark Kelso returned a fumble 56 yards for a score to give the Bills an 7-3 lead, the Browns rattled off 24 straight  points and held on for the win. Bernie Kosar threw for 346 yards and two scores, one each to Langhorne and Slaughter. Jim Kelly connected on two TD passes of his own in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough and the Bills fell in Cleveland.

November 4, 1990: Bills 42, Browns 0
The Bills got revenge on the team that knocked them out of the playoffs the year before by trouncing the Browns in Cleveland. Thurman Thomas scored 3 TDs (2 rushing, and 1 receiving) and Darryl Talley returned an interception 60 yards for a score as the Bills rolled.

October 2, 1995 (MNF): Bills 22, Browns 19
This one turned into a field goal fest, with Steve Christie (3) and Matt Stover (4) taking center stage. The difference is that Jim Kelly threw 2 TD passes, 1 each to Justin Armour and Andre Reed. The Bills offense out-gained the Browns offense 406-294. Sigh.  Remember what an offense looked like?

December 12, 2004: Bills 37, Browns 7
What a day for the defense! This has to be one of, if not the most dominant defensive efforts ever by the Bills. The Bills sacked Luke McCown and Jeff Garcia a total of 8 times, which led to -12 Cleveland passing yards. Add in the whopping 29 rushing yards for the Browns and the Bills allowed 17 yards of offense TOTAL, that's for the game. The Bills, meanwhile, rushed for 215 yards and got 2 rushing touchdowns from Willis McGahee, and 1 from Shaud Williams.

December 16, 2007: Browns 8, Bills 0
The "Blizzard Game" from last year.  You remember, the one that started a 3 game slide to end the season and eliminated the Bills from the playoffs. Jamal Lewis put the Browns on his back to the tune of 163 yards rushing. The Bills' offense, on the other hand, does almost nothing except 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.  We don't miss S F-M for a reason.  Right?  Rumblings recap.

Absurd. Terrible. Horrible. Pathetic.

- I fancy myself an optimist, and when I've seen Dick Jauron torn apart, and other negative opinons on here I stay away mainly because I don't like to jump to conclusions. I like to let things play out a bit, and I don't like to condem players or coaches for a bad game, or even two. But I have now had my fill. After last years performance I thought that the O-Line would be a strength for this team. Even with Jason Peters hold out, after watching the Bills easily handle the Seahawks defense, I was very confident that the O-Line would be dominant and that Marshawn would enter into elite running back status. But now I have to ask a few questions:

- Does this line miss Brad Butler that much?

- I can see that Preston is not an NFL center, but is Fowler any better?

- Is McNally's retirement hurting this team?

- Has Trent now become "gun-shy"?

- Brian stated that the Bills have 3 winnable games coming up, but if this offense continues to play like this, the Bills will be lucky to win 1 of them. Honestly, with the way that the Browns looked on Thursday with Quinn at QB, and the fact that the Chiefs seem to have found something with Tyler Thigpen, can anybody here honestly say that those games are gimmies?

- I'm tired of seeing inept offensive play, and I had honestly thought that those days might just be behind us, I guess I was wrong.

  
Buffalo Bills (5-3) at New England Patriots (5-3)
Sunday, November 9, 1:00 PM EST - Gillette Stadium

I think that we all know that the Buffalo Bills' record against the New England Patriots over the last decade has been brutal. This week I'm going to recap the last five times the Bills have visited Foxboro. If you are a masochist and love to torture yourself, read on. If you don't want get yourself depressed, stop reading now; I won't hold it against any of you if you choose not to relive any of this.

2003: Patriots 31, Bills 0
After beating the Pats 31-0 in Buffalo in the season opener, the Patriots got revenge in the season finale by beating the Bills by the same score. The Bills committed 4 turnovers (2 interceptions and 2 fumbles) and 10 penalties; need I say more? Ugly game, and the Bills packed the season in early in this one.

2004: Patriots 29, Bills 6
Not much good to report here, either. The Patriots out-gained the Bills 428 to 125. That's right: the Bills had 125 yards total for the game.  5 turnovers didn't help the Bills' cause in this one.  On a good note, Johnathan "Freddie" Smith returned a punt 70 yards for a TD; the Bills then failed on a 2-point conversion.

2005: Patriots 21, Bills 16
The Bills were leading 16-3 until almost half way through the fourth quarter in this one. Corey Dillon then promptly scored two touchdowns on one-yard plunges for the Pats, sealing their comeback win. The Bills committed another 12 penalties and 2 more turnovers; unsurprisingly, it equaled another Bills loss.

2006: Patriots 19, Bills 17
This was a close game again this time, and was also the first regular season game the Bills played under current coach Dick Jauron.  The Bills led 17-7 at the half but got shut out the rest of the way.  What's worse?  The game winning score was a Ty Warren sack of J.P. Losman for a safety.

2007: Patriots 38, Bills 7
Vince Wilfork took out J.P. Losman with what he now admits was a dirty hit.  Enter Trent Edwards to make his pro debut. (Makes you wonder, if not for that hit, how different would last year have turned out? Better? Worse?)  Oh yeah, New England piled up 485 yards of total offense, and some jerk named Brady tosses 4 touchdown passes. Rumblings recap.

Here is hoping for some better luck against these guys.  Looking back over the last few meetings it is very obvious that the Bills need to hold onto the ball and limit penalties.  In short, do what Brian said.

    
Buffalo Bills (5-2) vs New York Jets (4-3)
Sunday, October 2, 2008 1PM EST

I'm going to use the same format this week for the New York Jets as I did last week, (last 3 years instead of last 5 games) and we'll hope for better results out of the Bills this week. Let me just say, however, after watching the Jets play the Raiders and Chiefs the past two weeks, I feel much more confident playing at the Ralph this week, than I did last week. Anyway, the history...

October 16, 2005: Bills 27, Jets 17 (in Buffalo)
Starting QBs in this game; Vinny Testaverde for the Jets and Kelly Holcomb for the Bills, (was this only 3 years ago?).  Holcomb wins the match-up finishing the day 18-26 for 172 yards with two scores and two picks, compared to Vinnie's 12-26 for 161 yards, 1TD run and 2 picks. Johnathan "Freddie" Smith caught a TD pass in this one.

January 1, 2006: Jets 30, Bills 26 (in New York/New Jersey)
A game that I attended! Yet another memorable QB match-up; this time it's Holcomb taking on Brooks Bollinger.  Willis McGahee runs for over 100 yards (113) against the Jets yet again.  The Bills take the lead on a 36 yard Rian Lindell field goal, and yours truly (powered by a few over priced beers) begins to talk smack, only to get shut up 15 seconds later as Justin Miller returns the ensuing kick-off 95 yards for the win, and a long walk back to the car.

September 24, 2006: Jets 28, Bills 20 (in Buffalo)
Willis runs for 150 and J.P. throws for 328, tosses 1 TD and runs for another, but the Bills lose 2 fumbles, 1 of which is returned 32 yards by Victor Hobson for a TD, and the Bills fall at home to the Jets.

December 10, 2006: Bills 31, Jets 13 (in Jersey)
J.P. Losman hits Lee Evans for a 77 yard TD score, and for the second time in '06 Willis runs for over 100 yards in a game against the Jets (his only two 100 yard games that year).  This time, however, it's the Bills with the defensive score - Nate Clements' 58-yard pick 6 helps seal the win for the Bills.

September 30, 2007: Bills 17, Jets 14 (in Buffalo)
This was Trent Edwards' first career start, and his first win. A gutsy call on a 4th and 1 ends in Edwards' first career TD pass, a 1 yard toss to Micheal Gains.  The Bills D holds on to get the W. Rumblings recap.

October 28, 2007: Bills 13, Jets 3 (in Jersey)
An ugly, ugly, ugly game. Trent gets hurt late and J.P. steps in and throws one up for grabs that Lee Evans wrestles away from the Jets defenders for a 85 yard pass and catch to seal the win for the Bills. Rumblings recap.

One last side note; One of the fun parts about doing these recaps is to look into the Rumblings archives, and finding some of the better stories in there; if you've got the time check some of it out. Good stuff, like this, and this one, one of the best comment sections ever. I know Krytime will enjoy it.

     
Buffalo Bills (5-1) at Miami Dolphins (2-4)
Sunday, October 26, 2008 1PM EDT

Since the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins have played each other plenty over the years, I decided to revisit the last 3 year as opposed to the last 5 games. Over that span the Bills have won 5 of 6 and 4 in a row.

October 9, 2005: Bills 20, Dolphins 14 (in Buffalo)
The Bills scored 17 unanswered points to start the game and hung on to win. The Dolphins commit 18 penalties for 102 yards in this one, which surely helped Kelly Holcomb pull out the win.

December 4, 2005: Dolphins 24, Bills 23 (in Miami)
Tough loss here.  The Bills jumped out to a 21-point lead on the strength of 3 J.P. Losman-to-Lee Evans touchdowns. The Bills offense then proceeds to go and hide. The Dolphins score 21 fourth quarter points, capped by a Sage Rosenfels-to-Chris Chambers 4-yard TD pass with six seconds on the clock.

September 17, 2006: Bills 16, Dolphins 6 (in Miami)
J.P. threw for a whopping 83 yards, but the Bills played solid defense, sacking Dante Culpepper 7 times and pulling off an early season upset of the heavily favored Dolphins. This game marks the start of the down turn for the Dolphins.

December 17, 2006: Bills 21, Dolphins 0 (in Buffalo)
The Bills finished off the season sweep of the Dolphins with a shut-out. The Bills only gave up 6 points to the Dolphins all year! J.P. Losman tossed 3 TDs, 1 each to Robert Royal, Josh Reed, and Lee Evans.

November 11, 2007: Bills 13, Dolphins 10 (in Miami)
The Bills were losing 10 -2 heading into the fourth quarter, the only points coming on a Chris Kelsay safety. The Bills scored 11 points in the final stanza, including a Rian Lindell FG with :46 left on the clock to pull out the win. Rumblings recap.

December 9, 2007: Bills 38, Dolphins 17 (in Buffalo)
Robert Royal and Lee Evans each caught 2 TD passes from then-rookie Trent Edwards.  John Beck practically handed George Wilson a TD and the Bills roll in an easy victory. Rumblings recap.

I know it's kinda old news by now but, just consider what could have been this past trade deadline: McCargo to the Colts, and Tony Gonzales. Going by some of the reports I've seen, the Gonzales trade would have sent a 3rd rounder "and change" to the Chiefs, I'm not sure what "and change" is, but for arguments sake lets just say that it means a 7th rounder. Add the McCargo deal to that and think of it as one big trade.

Bills give: John McCargo, 3rd & 7th round picks in '09 draft.

Bills get: Tony Gonzalez, and 4th round pick in '09 draft.

Not a bad deal. I can't think of too many people who would complain about that.

     
Buffalo Bills (4-1) vs San Diego Chargers (3-3)
Sunday, October 19, 2008 1PM EDT

Unlike the Bills last two opponents, the Bills have faced the San Diego Chargers plenty of times in their history, 34 times to be exact. Most of those were during the 60's in the old AFL days, of course. The Chargers lead the all time series 21-11-2.

October 15, 2000: Bills 27, Chargers 24 (OT)
Neither team could run the ball very well.  The Bills had 95 rushing yards and the Chargers managed just 59, but both more than made up for it in the passing game. Jim Harbaugh threw for 287 yards and 2 scores, most of that to two guys, Jeff Graham (9-113) and Curtis Conway (7-143). The Bills countered with big days from Rob Johnson (321 yards and a TD) and Eric Moulds (11-170).  Jerry Ostroski even recovered a fumble in the end zone for a TD.  The game went to OT where Steve Christie won it with a 46 yard field goal.

October 28, 2001: Chargers 27, Bills 24
Doug Flutie helped the Chargers get revenge on the Bills by beating them almost exactly a year later by the same score the Bills beat them by. This game was back and forth until a Travis Henry 3 yard TD run put the Bills ahead 24-20 with 1:30 to play, but Flutie magic struck the Bills as 20 seconds later the diminutive one scored on a 13 yard scamper to put the Chargers ahead for good. Peerless Price had a nice day with 8 catches for 151 yards and a TD.

December 15, 2002: Bills 20, Chargers 13
Travis Henry (22 carries, 144 yards, 2 scores) out-dueled LT (28-110-1) showing off just how much talent he wasted. Two former Bills played for San Diego in this game; Doug Flutie replaced a mostly ineffective Drew Brees (13-24-148) but isn't much better himself (3-11-64), and Steve Christie (playing for San Diego) was 2 of 3 on field goals.

November 20, 2005: Chargers 48, Bills 10
Not much good about this one if you're a Bills fan. Drew Brees tossed 3 TD passes and led the Chargers to a 35-10 halftime lead. The Chargers D takes over from there, shutting out the Bills the rest of the way.  Sam Aiken caught a pass for 15 yards, so I guess that was a rare occurrence worth noting.

December 3, 2006: Chargers 24, Bills 21
LT ran wild in this one, to the tune of 178 yards on 28 carries and 2 scores.  The Bills meanwhile didn't muster a whole lot offensively. Willis McGahee managed just 26 yards on 16 carries. J.P. Losman had 26 yards rushing also, but at least it only took J.P. 6 carries.  Losman did throw 2 touchdowns, but also threw 2 picks, adding to the 4 total turnovers that the Bills had on the day.

Greetings Sabres fans. I see several Rumblers in here so, some of you will be familiar with the dribble that I spew out. (Don't worry D.O.)

I just wanted to stop by and talk about the upcoming Rangers/Sabres match-up, and offer a little bit of an inside look at what I've noticed so far from my Rangers, hope you don't mind.

1st - Let me say this; There is no way the Sabres are going to drop 7 on the Rangers they way they did the Islanders. The Rangers D is solid, and with Hank in goal even better. Hank has allowed a paultry 5 goals in 4 games so far. I don't see that trend changing anytime soon, Hank has set the bar high this year, claiming that he wants to be the top goalie in the league.

2nd - As Buffalo fans you will want to keep your eyes on the top line (or Drury line if you will), but if you look away when the top line isn't on the ice, you will miss the Rangers best line. Brandon Dubinsky, Aaron Voros, and Nikolai Zherdev, and playing some sick hockey right now. Dubie and Voros are tied for the team lead with 7 points (3G - 4A each) and it seems like anytime something good happens for the Rangers that line is on the ice.

That is really all I have I check back later to chat, Oh and my prediction: Rangers 4 - Sabres  2. Ranger set the franchise mark by going 6-0.