Die Hard Sports Fan

The Buffalo Bills played terrible in front of their home fans when the team needed a win most, dropping to the San Francisco 49ers, 10-3.

1st Quarter

On the first drive on the day, the 49ers gamed the ball down the Bills throat. Whether it was running or passing, they moved the ball down the field in ease. A 14 play, 72 yard drive would end with a touchdown as QB Shaun Hill hooked up with veteran Issac Bruce on a 12 yard pass to put the road team up 7-0.

Later in the quarter the Bills tried to counter but they were kept out of the end zone. With a 20 yard field goal attempt, kicker Rian Lindell entered the game to make a kick less than a extra point. He clinked it off the right left upright though, so 49ers still in the lead, 7-0.

2nd Quarter

49ers kicker Joe Nedney made Lindell look like a high school kicker as he blasted a 50 yard field goal up and good to give the 49ers a 10 point lead.

Going into the tunnel at halftime, San Fran leads 10-0.

3rd Quarter

Lindell was able to make a 22 yard field goal in the 3^rd to get the Bills back into a one score game, 10-3.

4th Quarter

No scoring occurred in this quarter despite the numerous chances the Bills had. The defense came to play, stopping the Niners when it mattered most. However, with backup JP Losman in the game, the Bills couldn’t put the ball into the end zone.

Wrap Up

· Trent Edwards left the game at halftime after playing a terrible game. He went 10 of 21 passing for 112 yards. Backup Losman went 11 for 17 for 93 yards. Neither QB threw a touchdown or interception.

· Marshawn Lynch only carries the ball 16 times but made the most of it, gaining 134 yards on the ground.

· Lee Evans caught 7 passes for 80 yards to lead the Bills in receiving. Josh Reed had a solid game, hauling in 5 passes for 58 yards.

· Rian Lindell has looked very shaky since his Monday night wide right miss. He went 1 for 3 on FG attempts this game. Thank goodness he didn’t have to try a PAT.

· Defense ends have been bashed the entire season for the Bills but they stepped it up today. Chris Kelsay had 5 tackles (2 assists) and 1 sack while Ryan Denney had 2 sacks, a forced fumble and 4 tackles.

· It was the first win for a west coast team coming to the east. Previous team were 0-14 (Bills themselves were 3-0).

The NFL.com Game Center: Post Game is attached.

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The Buffalo Bills will continue to fight for their playoff lives this afternoon as they take on the San Francisco 49ers at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Broadcast Info:

Game: San Francisco 49ers (3-8) @ Buffalo Bills (6-5)
TV: FOX (Ron Pitts, Tony Boselli)

Radio: 97 Rock (Buffalo), 103.3 The EDGE (Buffalo), WHAM 1180 AM (Rochester), WNSS 1260 AM (Syracuse), FAN 590 AM (Toronto). Broadcasts are all done by John Murphy, Mark Kelso and Paul Peck on the Bills radio network.
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET

Game Notes:

• Last meeting: The Bills totaled 226 rushing yards, including 102 from Willis McGahee, whose two touchdowns helped the Bills leave San Francisco with a 41-7 win in Week 16 of 2004.
• The Bills have won two of the last three meetings with the 49ers to take a 5-4 series lead.
• Last week, Niners QB Shaun Hill posted a career-high 303 passing yards, yet it was all for naught as his team converted just two of 10 third downs against the Cowboys. The Niners have struggled on third downs all season, converting them at just over a 33 percent clip (27th in the league).
• Rookie corner back Leodis McKelvin had two interceptions Sunday, including a 64-yard return for a touchdown, marking the second consecutive week that he’s seen the end zone. McKelvin’s contributions are not limited to defense. The rookie ranks second behind Seattle’s Josh Wilson with 1,140 kick return yards.
• Last week, Trent Edwards looked more like the QB we saw during Buffalo’s first six games — the one who threw five touchdowns and just two interceptions. Since then, he went through a four-game stretch in which he turned the ball over 10 times. Look for Edwards to build on last week’s error-free performance against San Francisco’s 29th-ranked pass defense.
• The 49ers have 52 plays of 20-plus yards, the most in the NFL
• Frank Gore is one of two players to lead his team in rushing yards (860) and receptions (36).
• Edwards leads the AFC with a 108.6 passer rating in the fourth quarter.
• The Bills are 9-1 when Edwards has 80-plus passer rating.
• NFL west coast teams (San Diego, Arizona, Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco) have a combined record of 0-14 in games played in the eastern time zone this season.
• Buffalo is already responsible for three of those eastern time zone losses having beat Oakland, San Diego and Seattle thus far this season.

Injury Report:

Bills- Out of Game: CB Jabari Greer (knee), LB Teddy Lehman (hamstring), DT John McCargo (back), TE Robert Royal (hamstring), and DE Aaron Schobel (foot). Doubtful: S Donte Whitner (shoulder). Questionable: DE Copeland Bryan (foot), LB Keith Ellison (ankle), and TE Derek Schouman (hamstring).

49ers- Out of Game: CB Dashon Goldson (knee), and CB Allen Rossum (ankle). Questionable: WR Allen Rossum (foot), CB Walt Harris (hamstring), and WR Josh Morgan (groin). Probable: LB Patrick Willis (ankle), and WR Jason Hill (groin).

Quote of the Week:

“With five games in the season left, we want to try to make a run. That is how we have to approach the rest of our games and that’s how we are going to play them. We have an attack mentality, we are going to go out and attack with less mistakes.”

-Bills DT Marcus Stroud

Open Thread:

Please feel free to comment below or in the tag board in the sidebar to chat with Bills fans from around the world.

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Former Buffalo Bills Linebacker, Takeo Spikes is returning to his former team on Sunday when the Bills play the 49ers and he is happy to come back.

Nick Mendola of WGR550.com wrote a brilliant article on the subject and was able to get what “TKO” said when he spoke to the Buffalo media yesterday.

Saying he told former teammates he planned to “retire a Buffalo Bill,” and that the area “was the first place to feel like home,” Takeo Spikes reacquainted himself with the Buffalo media during Wednesday’s Media Day at One Bills Drive, saying he loved the city because it’s “genuine.”

Spikes has recorded 69 tackles and three interceptions for the 3-8 San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo’s Week Thirteen opponent, and is ready to come back to the city.

“I’m getting ready to put on a show.” Spikes said. “There’s so much history, lot of good times, and it’s the first place I could really call home.”

During a conference call with the Buffalo media, Spikes said he’s been contemplating how he’ll be received at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

“I thought about it several times,” Spikes said. “I don’t think I left in a bad way, and from time-to-time when I see the games, I see a lot of No. 51 jerseys in the crowd, and I like to think that a lot of those 51 jerseys, no disrespect to Paul… I think I put in enough good work that they kept mind.”

With all the fanfare that accompanied his arrival in Western New York, and his explosion onto the Buffalo playing field, Spikes thought he’d be a Bill for life, and described his love for the city.

“It was just genuine,” Spikes said. ”I think about it from Day One. The last game of the year back in 2002, when I was playing in Cincinnati and the fans were almost like recruiting trip, with the mock jerseys with ‘Spikes’ on the back.’”

Spikes made 126 tackles during 2003, his first season in Buffalo, registered two sacks and picked off two passes. That was just a tip of the iceberg, as he nabbed five interceptions the following year to go with 99 tackles and three sacks.

Injuries marred the rest of his time in Buffalo, as he played just 15 games over his final two seasons in Buffalo. During his career, he racked up 312 tackles, seven sacks, seven interceptions and six fumbles.

“I talk to Mario and Crowell all the time, and even in my third year, I thought that I would’ve retired as a Buffalo Bill, as far as playing the rest of my years out and maybe getting another deal,” Spikes said.

Spikes said he is ”still searching” for his first playoff game, and will be after this year. He holds the longest active streak for regular season action without a playoff game in the National Football League, saying he won’t be known as a “3-8″ player when he’s done with the game.

“People respect you when you play (expletive) to the wall all the time,” Spikes said.

That second season in Buffalo was an incredible performance by any standards. In addition to the aforementioned stats, he defended 17 passes from the linebacker spot, and scored two touchdowns, including a 62-yard interception return against his first team, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Then came the injuries, and while he’s back to being productive, Spikes is certainly not the freak who vowed to come back from a season-ending injury as a “mad dog in a meat house.”

“I’m still searching. I try not to get caught up into ‘Why me?,’ but when is it going to happen to me? And I know that when it’s going to happen, I need to be doing everything I’m supposed to do. That’s why I don’t get lagged down about people having bad conversations about ‘We don’t do this,’ or ‘We don’t do that.’”

“It’s going to happen. It needs to happen soon. Lord knows I’m not the guy who came to Buffalo.  I’m on the back nine now. I just started the back nine.”

On Sunday afternoon, Buffalo will greet him at the turn.

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