Bold decisions spark Bills win over Seahawks
Monday, September 8, 2008 11:24 AM PDT
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| David Duprey | Associated press photo
Buffalo Bills’ Roscoe Parrish returns a punt for a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half of an NFL football game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday. Buffalo defeated the Seahawks 34-10. |
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — With the game’s momentum hanging in the balance, Dick Jauron made a bold decision.
Rather than settling for a field goal, the Buffalo Bills coach called for the fake. And wonder of wonders, this previously snake-bitten team — which had so much go against it a year ago with injuries and last-second losses — delivered.
Veteran punter Brian Moorman took the snap, casually got up from his crouch, and floated a pass that hit wide-open defensive end Ryan Denney, who sauntered into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown reception that caught the Seahawks by complete surprise. Two plays later, after Seattle’s Josh Wilson lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Bills quarterback Trent Edwards delivered the decisive blow by hitting Robert Royal for a 30-yard touchdown.
In a matter of 20 seconds on the third-quarter game clock, Buffalo went from being up by 10 to securing what proved to be a dominating 34-10 season-opening victory on Sunday.
‘‘There is no doubt that at that time, it was a huge play. It had to be a big letdown for them,’’ Jauron said, describing the fake field goal. ‘‘We knew we were going to use it. It was just the right situation that happened to hit us at the right time.’’
The Bills opened with a win for only the fourth time in 12 years, defeated the four-time defending NFC West champions and sent an early message that Buffalo might not be the pushover it’s been in missing the playoffs for the past eight years.
‘‘How about that?’’ Moorman said. ‘‘It’s nice to come out of the gate with a decisive win. Hopefully, we made a statement today.’’
The play capped a stellar special teams performance after Roscoe Parrish returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. The Trent Edwards-led offense was efficient in producing two touchdowns and 338 yards, this after failing to break the 300 mark 11 times last season. And the defense did the rest, with an aggressive pass rush that produced five sacks and forced the Seahawks to punt 11 times.
So much for Mike Holmgren opening his final season as the Seahawks coach on a positive note.
‘‘We got kicked around pretty good today,’’ Holmgren said. ‘‘It’s one of those games we’re going to learn a painful lesson. But we’ll be better next week.’’
They couldn’t have played much worse.
Matt Hasselbeck was rusty after missing most of the preseason with a back injury. He completed only one of his first eight attempts and finished 17-of-41 for 190 yards, with a 20-yard touchdown to Nate Burleson and an interception.
‘‘It was tough,’’ Hasselbeck said. ‘‘We just had too many three-and-outs, two many incompletions, too many third-and-forevers.”
That still doesn’t explain how Bills defensive tackle Marcus Stroud set up shop in the Seahawks defensive backfield — he finished with six tackles, one for a loss, deflected two passes, registered half a sack and knocked Hasselbeck down once.
