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BILLS NOTEBOOK: Fitzpatrick flashes running ability
ORCHARD PARK — Ryan Fitzpatrick is making Bills fans forget about Trent Edwards. Ironically, he’s doing it with some of J.P. Losman’s old moves.
For the second week in a row, Fitzpatrick audibled into a breathtaking bomb to Terrell Owens, the latest one cementing Sunday’s 31-14 win over Miami as well as the stark contrast between Fitzpatrick’s confident and Edwards’ conservative quarterbacking.
Losman, who just led the Las Vegas Locomotives to the first United Football League championship, was never shy about firing the ball downfield. Nor was he ever hesitant to tuck-and-run.
Fitzpatrick’s not as fast as Losman, but he showed some running ability Sunday, scrambling for a touchdown in the first half and a fourth-down conversion in the second.
It was shades of Steve Bono on Fitzgerald’s 31-yard scoring run, in which the Buffalo QB rolled to his right and found so much open space that even the swiftest Dolphin defenders couldn’t chase him down.
“Oh man, I didn’t think I was going to score,” he said. “I thought one guy was going to catch me, but I was huffing and puffing out there for sure. I haven’t run that long — or that far — in a long time.”
It was the longest touchdown run for the Bills since Marshawn Lynch’s 56-yarder on Nov. 4, 2007. As you would guess, the original play did not call for Fitzpatrick to take off.
“It was a pass play and with the coverage the way I got flushed, we really had the perfect route on because it moved everybody to the other side of the field and there was an opening for me to take off,” he said.
In addition to his 246 yards passing, Fitzpatrick ran for 51 yards on seven attempts. He said it was part of the game plan to move the pocket around, if not flee it altogether
“Especially with some new guys up front,” he said, “and that’s one of the things you can do just to sort of get some more easy dink and dunk passes in the game.”
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The final score doesn’t indicate that Miami controlled the game for the first three quarters. If not for some questionable play calls that stalled drives, the Dolphins could’ve been ahead by more than a touchdown when the fourth quarter started.
The Bills had been outscored 54-0 in the fourth quarter of their previous three losses, and their 107 points allowed in the final quarter ranked 31st in the league.
Ahead of Miami, which has now allowed 141 points in the fourth after the Bills ended the game on a 24-0 run.
“I just think the players had an attitude,” Fewell said. “We’ve been talking about finishing. We’ve been practicing to finish offensively, defensively, and special teams-wise, and that’s what we did today. We were very fortunate that guys rose up to the challenge.”
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Jairus Byrd didn’t look like a rookie when he intercepted eight passes in a five-game span. But he did on one lazy play Sunday.
Brian Hartline rolled to the ground after catching a pass in the flat form Chad Henne to convert a third-and-4 around the Buffalo 10. By the time Byrd came over to touch Hartline, he had gotten back on his feet, and when the Bills safety turned away thinking the play was dead, Hartline advanced the ball down to the 1.
Ricky Williams scored two plays later to put Miami up 14-7.
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As rare as it was to see the Bills dominate the fourth quarter, Sunday’s most surprising development was that coach Perry Fewell reported just one injury in his postgame comments, backup linebacker Nic Harris’ bruised eye.
Buffalo has placed six players on injured reserve this year, and lost several starters to non-season-ending ailments.
Starting cornerback Terrence McGee missed his third game in a row after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Backup cornerback Ashton Youboty (ankle) and backup defensive tackle John McCargo (calf) were also inactive.
Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.
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