Bills believe this may be year to remember
Panther Peppers keeps putting on pressure
Kyle Williams is getting tired of hearing about the skeptics counting out the Buffalo Bills.
Perhaps, a 34-14 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday might get the doubters to start believing.
“I don’t know how many times we have to answer the question, but I don’t care what anybody thinks,” the 12-year veteran defensive tackle said.
“We bring guys in and they go out there and they play for the team and they give it all that they’ve got. There’s a lot to love about that.”
What’s not to love about a Bills team that improved to 5-2 to match its best start during a 17-year postseason drought — the longest active streak in North America’s four major professional sports leagues.
Rookie linebacker Matt Milano scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 40-yard fumble return on a rainslick field. And the Bills injuryand star-depleted defense forced four turnovers while playing minus two starters in the defensive backfield and two days after trading their highest-paid player, defensive tackle Marcell Dareus , to Jacksonville.
“This team just shows you heart,” running back LeSean McCoy said. “It’s hard to go against the eye of the tiger, a team that will claw and fight you to the end. It’s hard to beat a team like that.”
PANTHERS: One day, Julius Peppers plans to sit down and reflect on his career as one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers.
Right now, he’s too busy helping the Carolina Panthers re-establish themselves as one of the league’s top defenses.
The Panthers shut down the Buccaneers 17-3, sacking Jameis Winston three times, forcing three turnovers.
Peppers moved ahead of Hall of Famer Chris Doleman for fourth place on the career sack list with 151, taking down Winston in the second quarter and forcing a fumble to thwart one of only handful of scoring opportunities for the Bucs.
“Right now, I’m more excited about us getting a road win because this was really important for the team,” Peppers said after Carolina, coming off a 14-point road loss to Chicago, snap a twogame losing streak.
“I’m not trying to diminish the other stuff that happened because that’s a big deal too, but more important is what’s going on with everybody in this locker room. Everybody contributed today, everybody did their part.”
TEXANS: DeShaun Watson threw four more touchdown passes, giving him an NFL record 19 through his first seven career games. That’s one more than Kurt Warner had in 1999 with the thenSt. Louis Rams.
BEARS: Chicago lost tight end Zach Miller to a gruesome dislocated left knee injury. Miller was trying to make a 25-yard TD catch when his left leg got bent in an unnatural position as he landed in the end zone at New Orleans.
CHARGERS: Defensive end Joey Bosa had a sack in the team’s loss at New England. Bosa has 19 sacks in 20 games, the most sacks by a player in his first 20 games to begin a career since the sack became an official stat.
COLTS: Frank Gore passed Barry Sanders for sixth on the NFL career list for carries. He started his 100th consecutive game, the first running back to do so since Curtis Martin started 119 in a row from 1998-2005.