--CBs Troy Vincent and Nate Clements are taking bows for holding Raiders WR Jerry Rice without a catch last Sunday, ending Rice's amazing NFL record streak of catching at least one pass in 274 consecutive games. Rice had only a couple balls thrown his way and even though the 41-year-old lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a shadow of his once great self, Vincent and Clements came to play. Clements was 6 years old when Rice's streak began. "He's going to play as long as he thinks he still has got it, which I think is great," Clements said. "But my duty when I'm lined up in front of him is to beat him. Troy and I just went out there and tried to play our style and do what we do best."

--Two costly holding penalties that wiped out big returns in the kicking game won't turn Buffalo's coverage men gun shy, linebacker Mario Haggan said. Haggan was whistled for holding in the Raiders game to wipe out a 63-yard punt return by Nate Clements. Earlier, Angelo Crowell was flagged for holding to nullify an 88-yard kickoff return by Terrence McGee. "Personally, I think it was a bad call but I'm not going to blame the referees," Haggan said. "I've got to live with it and keep playing hard. They will not take away the integrity and the toughness we have on special teams. If we're going to be physical and beat teams up on special teams, we're just going to have to play through those types of calls."

--DT Sam Adams, who has played on two Super Bowl teams, including the Raiders in 2002, on what the Bills need to have happen in order to turn things around: "Somebody needed to make a play at the end of the game. We put ourselves in a hole and over the course of the game we stayed in the game, but we didn't do what it takes to win the game. That's what we have to look to correct, fix the little mistakes, and it will come around."

--Rookie FS Rashad Baker lost coverage on Raiders WR Ronald Curry last Sunday and was beaten for a 43-yard TD. What happened? Baker bit on a pump fake by QB Rich Gannon, a classic case of a veteran coming after a rookie in the secondary. "That's what you do when game planning. It was a tough lesson to learn for all of us, especially him," coach Mike Mularkey said. "From that play on, he wasn't to blame on anything. Unfortunately, it was a tough lesson."

--Mularkey wishes he had challenged Travis Henry's failed fourth-and-goal-at-the-1 run against Oakland. Mularkey didn't have a good view of the play and his coaches in the box watching the TV monitors and Henry himself couldn't make a case. "I just wasn't convinced he was in until I watched the film and saw he was pretty darn close to being in," Mularkey said. After watching the replay, Henry said he was never on the ground when he stretched the ball over the goal line.

--Mike Pucillo, who entered training camp as the starting left guard, has been inactive for the first two games, an indication of just how far off the Bills' preseason planning was. Free agent Lawrence Smith leapfrogged both Pucillo and Ross Tucker to nail down the job made available when veteran Ruben Brown was cut in a salary cap move. Smith's emergence shows that accurate personnel evaluations can't really occur until the pads go on.

--QB Drew Bledsoe (7,570) needs just 13 yards to pass Doug Flutie for third-most passing yards in Bills history. In the eyes of the many fans who adored Flutie, that will be one more reason to dislike Bledsoe.

BY THE NUMBERS
-- 29. Buffalo's turnover differential in their last 13 road games (2-11 record).

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It's not what you believe outside (the locker room), it's what we believe inside. We've spent countless hours coaching wise and playing wise, I know it's there because I've been around it. I know for a fact it will come around and obviously, the sooner the better, but I've got total confidence in this offense." - Coach Mike Mularkey, whose offense has scored a total of 20 points in its 0-2 start.

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