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Friday, January 28, 1994
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Bills confident despite three 'Super' losses
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Buffalo Bills have become masters of ignoring certain things, such as results at the end of January. Such as 20-19, 37-24 and 52-17.
They also tend to训出 things the Dallas Cowboys talk about last year's Super Bowl; and this season's meeting with the Bills.
Maybe that's how they will finally win a Super Bowl. Just make believe all those nasty things never happened or don't matter.
"That has no bearing — zero, zip, nothing — on what happens on the field Sunday." Bills linebacker Cornelius Bennett said Tuesday, which was media day at the Georgia Dome.
"We've just got to be better than they are Sunday. I don't even think or talk about the three Super Bowls. It has nothing to do with this."
Nor do the Bills put any stock in their 13-10 victory against Dallas in week two, even though the Cowboys are using it as a motivational tool.
"I don't look at that game at all," Bills linebacker Marvcus Patton said. "Emmitt Smith did not play and he's the key to their offense. I doubt if we'll even watch film on that game."
OK, what about avenging last year's rout, when Dallas just missed setting a Super Bowl scoring record?
“There’s no revenge factor here.”
Bill cornerstone Nate Odews insisted. “They’re the champs last year, we’re trying to be the champs this
year and it won't be on my mind who are the champs when we go on the field."
"There's not any extra incentive because of last year," Bills safety Henry Jones said. "The biggest incentive is to win a world championship, if it's against Dallas or Washington or whomever."
Whomever, of course, is Dallas, a team that never lacks confidence and carries solid credentials into the game. The Cowboys have won three Super Bowls and could tie the record held by Pittsburgh and San Francisco by handing the AFC a 10th successive loss in the title game. Although the Bills can display some records of their own — the only team to reach four straight Super Bowls, for example —
they try to ignore one they are famous for; three consecutive Super flops.
The two boys did something.
"I sort of wish they'd won one, so they wouldn't be so hungry," Cowbills fullback Darrel Johnston said.
How can they know it if they're dismissing the past?
Leon Lett tried to dismiss his past by not talking about it. But he had to discuss it Tuesday. By league order, every player must attend media day
"We know these guys have been here three times and lost three times," Cowboys linebacker Charles Haley added. "They are a good team and they know they can beat us."
— Cowboys All-Pro tackle Erik Williams missed the bus and was fined — and Lett did his part.
So he spoke, reluctantly, about his showboating in last year's Super Bowl. He recalled how he was headed to the end zone after picking up a pumice when Bills wide receiver Don Beebe caught him and knocked away the ball.
"I want to get it over with," he said, then, sweating profusely, Lett responded to queries about his infamous Super Bowl gaffe. And about his even more infamous Thanksgiving muff on a blocked field goal that turned a victory against Miami into a bitter, baffling defeat.
"I thought I had lost my job," Lett said. "But I thanked God when we beat the New York Giants, won the division and the homefield advantage. It meant I didn't hurt the team."
Lett was hurting recalling the blunders. At one point, 11 minutes into the interview, he walked off. An NFL official convinced him to return.
Persevering is something the Bills can lecture on. Of course, first they have to overcome their reluctance to remember.
"I've learned people will take a shot at you whenever they get a chance. You just have to persevere." Lett said.
Bills quarterback Jim Kelly was somewhat willing.
"I know last year's game was not much to watch," he said of the nine-turnover fiasco. "I probably wouldn't have watched. But this year will be a different outcome."
Bills want to play Dallas receivers aggressively
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Nate Odomes, his feet propped on a table, emphasized he wasn't pleased that more people were talking about Dallas' wide receivers Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper than his Buffalo Bills defensive backfield mates.
Finally, someone asked him point blank. "Is there too much made out of their wideouts?"
Odomes, who is tied for the NFL interception lead this season with nine, looked up.
"You all make a hell of a lot out of them," he said. "Henry Jones led the league in intersections last year. I led it this year. We have some capable people as well."
Further discussion about Irvin and Harper is cut off by Odomes. "I'm not the type to talk about how good somebody is if I have to play against them. I don't want to talk about their receivers."
Who can blame him? Irvin and Harper combined for 150 yards and three touchdowns in Dallas' 52-17 victory in last year's Super Bowl.
Making sure that doesn't happen again will be a job left to Odomes, strong safety Jones, cornerback Mickey Washington, free safety Mark Kelso and key reserves
Thomas Smith, Matt Darby and Kurt Schulz.
They know it will be difficult. They also know they can't shy away from the challenge.
"The key is to be aggressive." Kelso said. "If you go out there afraid to make a mistake, you're probably going to make a mistake. The more aggressive you are, the better chance you have of something good happening."
The Bills can't be too aggressive, however, in their base two-deep zone, where safeties Jones and Kelso stay back until the pass is thrown.
"When we're in our zone coverage, when they catch the ball, we're going to have to get people there and make them pay for catching the ball short," Jones said.
Buffalo will mix man-to-man coverage with the zone. When that happens, the pressure will be on Odomes, Washington and Smith.
"When we're in man-to-man, we're going to have to have good coverage on the outside by the corners," Jones said.
Occasionally, the Bills will play a three-deep zone, using backup safety Darby.
"If you get on your knees and we both pray enough, we may see some
of that," Irvin said.
More likely, Irvin said he expected Buffalo to mix up coverage frequently, as it did in the Bills' 13-10 victory against the Cowboys in the second week of the season.
"They did a lot of things," Irvin said. "We just never got in the groove offensively."
With Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, a holdout in the earlier meeting between the teams, Buffalo doubled Irvin and Harper most of the game. That probably won't happen this time.
"With Emmitt in the game, if they do that, there'll be a lot of holes up the middle," Harper said. "Without Emmitt, they could do things in the secondary they don't normally do."
Irvin said while the Bills "have one of the better secondaries in the league, their strength is up front, guys like (Darryl) Talley (Bruce) Smith and (Cornelius) Bennett."
Asked to rate Buffalo's secondary,
Harper gave it a seven out of 10.
Not exactly a rousing endorsement — but better than what Odomes finally said about Irvin and Harper.
"They're good NFL receivers," he said. "That's probably the best I can tell you about that."
Barkley wants to trade hoops for state office
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — There are times when Charles Barkley looks like the perfect politician.
Like Wednesday night, when he walked onto the court at the Omni, shaking hands and signing autographs.
Then there are times when Barkley looks like the worst politician.
Like Wednesday night, when an Atlanta Hawks fan heckled him about his purple shirt. "Yeah, you can get one too for $175," Barkley said sarcastically.
But Sir Charles insists he's serious when he says he wants to be Governor Charles.
"Sooner or later I've got to get a real job," the injured Phoenix Suns for- ward said. "I figure this will be it."
Barkley, a native of Leeds, Ala., wants to play another season or two in the NBA — however long his aching back will allow — then return to his home state to run for governor.
"I don't care if I get it or not, but I'd definitely like to try," he said prior to the Suns game against Atlanta, which was attended by about 60 of his family and friends even though he was in street clothes with an injured knee. "I think I can make a difference."
Barkley even thought he was going
to get to meet the man whose job he wants, Alabama Gov. Jim Folsom.
"I've got to go meet the governor before I take his job," he said.
Alas, Folsom wasn't there.
Barbara Thomas, the governor's press secretary, said yesterday that Folsom was unable to travel to Atlanta because of a busy schedule in Alabama.
"He's a busyman," Barkley said. "I'm not sure I want his job. I don't like to work."
So what would be your platform, Candidate Charles?
"The most important thing is the public schools," he said, returning to his political mode. "A lot of our problems start in the public schools.
"We're creating two different societies," said Barkley. "We're creating two different kinds of people. The upper and lower levels of society are getting two different kinds of education. Everybody can't afford to go to private schools. We've got to get that problem solved or we're always going to have trouble with our inner cities."
Barkley said he would bring a new perspective to the governor's office.
"I've been really, really poor and I've been really, really rich," he said. "I've been on both ends of the scale."
But it's Barkley's personality that could be his biggest asset and his
biggest drawback as a politician.
With his bald head and engaging smile, he has become one of the most recognized athletes in the world. He appears to love every minute of it.
"If you live under a shell, you'll go crazy." Barkley said.
Barkley does worry about his back, which he figures won't hold out for another season without surgery. He hopes to return in about two weeks and lead the Suns to their first NBA title. Then he could retire on top without having an operation.
"My decision would be easy if we win the championship," he said. "I want to leave the game while I'm playing well. That's always been important to me. I've been in a gradual decline the last two or three years, even though I'm still playing well."
But it's still uncertain whether he would make a good politician. For one thing, only one black has ever been elected to statewide office in Alabama, which was a focal point of the civil rights movement only three decades ago.
Rest assured, Barkley will speak his mind whether it's running up and down the court or running for office.
"I just tell the truth," he said. "You can't please everybody. I'm not trying to win friends. I'm just trying to make the world a better place."
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