4B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards attempts a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday. Buffalo won 24-23.
Belief in the Bills is back New Buffalo Bills look like they did in their prime
BY JOHN WAWROW ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Ralph Wilson was making his way through the Buffalo Bills locker room after their latest dramatic victory. The team owner was asked if he was reminded of anything.
Sure, Wilson said without hesitation.
"The early '90s when we'd get the ball on the 3-yard-line and
Kelly is going to bring us back and win the game," he said, referring to former star quarterback Jim Kelly.
Hyperbole? Maybe.
This, after all, was the team's homecoming week-
ing Smith.
Not only did they beat the Raiders 24-23, but they did it in a way few Bills teams have done in the franchise's recent and miserable past. They scored 17 points on their final three drives and sealed the victory on Rian Lindell's field goal as time ran out.
end in which the Bills' old guards — Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Marv Levy, Hall of Famers all gathered Sunday to honor defensive end Bruce Smith, whose name was being placed on the Wall of Fame.
They won
"There's definitely reason for excitement,reason for optimism... You know what? We might be good."
There has been only one other time when the Bills won on the final play when trailing; the 1989 opener when Kelly scored on a 2-yard run.
And, yet, there was truth to Wilson's reference. Amid the reminiscing, the new Bills — Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch and Donte Whitner, youngsters all — did something to overshadow the pump and circumstance surround-
BRIAN MOORMAN
Bills punter
Want more?
The Bills, at 3-0, are off to their best start since 1992,
when Kelly was running the show.
Do you Billieve?
The Bills have used that slogan on an off for so many
years that it had nearly lost all relevance.
This is a team that has done far too little for far too long and broken too many hearts.
This is a team that spent the past eight seasons missing the playoffs, the longest drought in franchise history, by stumbling at every promising juncture.
Remember last year, when the Bills lost two games on the final play? In one, they blew an 8-point
lead to Dallas in the final 20 seconds before a national TV audience.
And don't forget the 2004 finale, the closest the Bills came to making the postseason this decade. Needing a win, Buffalo unreveled in a 29-24 loss to Pittsburgh in a game the Steelers had nothing to play for and sat most of their starters.
"You can go back every year and say, 'Well, we should've won this one. And, oh, we should've been 11-5 and in the playoffs,' said punter Brian Moorman, who along with Aaron Schobel has been with the team the longest, since 2001.
So take it from experience when Moorman senses a difference.
"There's definitely reason for excitement, reason for optimism," he said last week. "It's not like all of a sudden we're 2-0. And you know what? We might be good."
There is a rugged resolve to this group, which has overcome fourth-quarter deficits in each of its past two games, including a 20-16 win at Jacksonville.
They're winning behind Edwards, the 2007 third-round pick, who is playing far above expectations and might, in fact, solidify a quarterback spot that's been unsettled since Kelly retired after the 1996 season.
Ask Schobel why he has reason for hope, and the star defensive end will point to one person.
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"My confidence is in the quarterback position," he said. "That's the biggest thing. I have a lot of confidence in what Trent can do. I feel he's a good player who's going to be a great plaver."
The Bills' optimism is personified by a cocksure Whitner, who raised both expectations and eyebrows this offseason when the third-year safety offered his no-caveat guarantee that the Bills would make the playoffs.
It was a proclamation borne as much out of confidence as it was out of frustration after hearing over and over how the Bills were both laughingstock and punching bag.
In Buffalo, hope and Bill-ief just might be back in fashion.
NFL
Rams plan to start Green Nine years later, QB back under center in St. Louis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis Rams quarterback Trent Green throws during the second quarter of a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers in St. Louis in August. The 0-3 Rams announced Tuesday that backup quarterback Trent Green will start this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills in St. Louis.
BY R.B. FALLSTROM ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rams have lost 16 of their past 19 games while getting out-scored 116-29.
The benching of the Rams' highest-paid player, announced by coach Scott Linehan in a terse, two-paragraph release on Tuesday, signals just how desperate times have become for the sagging franchise. Linehan is 11-24 in his third season, including 0-3 this year with none of the games competitive.
ST. LOUIS — Marc Bulger is out as the St. Louis Rams starting quarterback after throwing only two touchdown passes in three games and will be replaced by 38-year-old Trent Green for Sunday's game against Buffalo.
240-yard total in Sunday's 37-13 loss at Seattle was still a season best for the league's lowest-ranked offense.
Last week, Linehan was told by new owner Chip Rosenbloom that improvements need to be made or that changes would be forthcoming. This is Linehan's first head coaching job at any level, earned off success as an offensive coordinator with the Dolphins and Vikings. He was a quarterback in college at Idaho.
The point total would not have been enough to win any of the first three games, and their mediocre
The team said in the release that Linehan would not comment on his decision until after practice Wednesday. The Rams were off Tuesday.
"Scott made an announcement, and he'll amplify it tomorrow," team spokesman Rick Smith said.
Bulger
finished
18-for-31 for
184 yards
with one
Linehan added that he was tempted to make moves just to shake things up.
possible at this point as far as our lineup"
"Yeah, I think weed be crazy if we didn't try something different
"We'd be crazy if we didn't try something different because what we've done for the first three weeks is not working."
SCOTT LINEHAN Rams coach
because what we've done for the first three weeks is not working," the coach said.
Green has experience under new offensive coordinator Al Saunders and quarterbacks.
Linehan had hinted at possible changes during a news conference on Monday.
touchdown and an interception on Sunday, his third consecutive game with less than 200 passing vards.
"I foresee evaluating everything," Linehan said. "What they are right now does depend on the health of our team in spots, but I would think that anything's
backs coach
Green earned his second Pro Bowl berth in 2005 with the Chiefs while working under those two coaches, throwing for more than 4,000 yards.
Green is from St. Louis and was supposed to be the starting quarterback on the 1999 Rams that won the Super Bowl, signing as a free agent after a successful year as the Redskins starter the previous season.
Kurt Warner was thrust into the starting role and had a storybook season after Green's season-ending knee injury during the preseason.
Green started for the Chiefs from 2001 until being sidelined by injuries midway through 2006. It is his first start since the fifth week last season for the Miami
Terry Shea, possible reasons for the switch.
He became the highest-paid player in St. Louis' franchise history after signing a six-year, $65 million contract extension on the first day of training camp in 2007.
The 31-year-old Bulger has been the Rams starter since 2002, stepping in when Warner was sidelined by injuries.
Last season, Bulger had only 11 touchdown passes with 15 interceptions while working behind an injury-raged offensive line and missing four games because of injuries.
Dolphins.
He's been sacked 11 times this season.
In his past 31 starts dating to 2006, Bulger has been sacked 97 times.
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. Center Tom Nalen, the last link to the Denver Broncos' Super Bowl titles of the late 1990s, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday.
The 37-year-old Nalen underwent two surgeries on his left knee this summer and missed the team's first three games.
Bronco center recovers slowly Denver's last remnant from Super Bowl sits out
The 15-year veteran, whose 2007 season was cut short by a torn right biceps after five games, missed most of training camp before deciding on another operation.
Nalen, whose five Pro Bowls are the most for a Broncos lineman, has helped Denver to the most rushing yards and the third-fewest sacks in the NFL since 1995.
The Broncos had left him on the roster hoping for his quick return.
Wiegmann, in his 13th NFL season, spent the past seven seasons with AFC West rival Kansas City. He has started 114 consecutive games in the regular season, the longest active streak among NFI centers.
His slow recovery has made center Casey Wiegmann the Broncos' most important free
Nalen ranks second in Broncos history with 188 starts and his 194 games rank third in team history.
He entered the league as a seventh-round draft pick out of Boston College in 1994, and he was a member of the Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl teams in 1997 and '98.
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