Johnson was confronted with a daunting test, going head to head against Green Bay's Brett Favre, and he outgunned one of the game's great quarterbacks.

"I was kind of excited today," Johnson said. "I was driving in with my dad and we were talking about how you never know what you're going to get (with Favre). He could put 40 points up on the board, so with a player like that over there, you have to be ready to put some points on the board."

Johnson was up to the challenge. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns, and only because the Bills were playing a soft prevent defense in the final two minutes of the game was Favre able to finish with more passing yardage (25 of 35 for 269 yards and two TDs).

MOULDS GETS INVOLVED: "Rob's a great quarterback and when he has time, he makes the throws," said wide receiver Eric Moulds, who was in a much better frame of mind after this game as he caught seven balls for 103 yards.

Moulds had voiced his displeasure over the performance of the offense following the Tennessee game, and part of his rant concerned his lack of involvement in the Titans game. That wasn't a problem Sunday as Johnson threw his way often and completed seven passes for 103 yards.

GOOD START: The Bills haven't started 2-0 since 1996, a point that did not escape coach Wade Phillips.

"We still have some areas to work on, I know that, but the most important thing is to be 2-0 and that's where we are, and not everyone in our division can say that right now," said Phillips. "We had two at home, we needed to win those two and we did that."

Everybody gets to play

SportsLine.com Report
Sept. 8, 2000

He didn't call it running back by committee, but coach Wade Phillips made it clear this week that he doesn't expect his running game to consist of one star with three spectators on the sideline.

Phillips indicated Antowain Smith will get most of the carries, but Shawn Bryson, Jonathan Linton and fullback Sammy Morris will all have roles to fill in the backfield.

"We still want to get Antowain the football," Phillips said. "Jonathan Linton (bruised ribs), has a chance to play some this week, and if he does, we'll have to utilize him some, too. The other two guys are good-looking prospects that need the ball some.

"I don't know if it's by committee," Phillips said. "It's just we've got certain packages, certain personnel groupings that we have certain guys in."

Down and sistance situations will determine which running back is in the game.

Look for Smith to be the man on first and second downs when the Bills are more likely to run. He still has the power and burst of speed to make plays. Even though Smith won't catch a lot of passes, his presence in the backfield on first-and-10 could help set up the play-action pass.

Linton led the team in rushing last year as a part-time player, and developed into a thid-down specialist. At 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, he's a load to tackle and may see some game time this week.

Fullback Sam Gash was used exclusively as a blocker last year, but there are no such plans for Morris -- Sheldon Jackson's backup at H-back. He got two carries for 11 yards and caught one pass for 14 against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. Bryson has what coaches call a big "upside" as a runner and pass receiver. He also has the breakaway speed to turn short gainers into long ones.

Bryson and Morris could all be used on third downs.

"We may have four wide receivers and Linton in there, three wide receivers with Bryson in there, two tight ends, two wide receivers with one of the two or Sammy Morris in there," Phillips said. "It depends on which personnel grouping is doing well, especially in the running game. We want to be consistent in all those areas, and be able to run it from all of them. We set all of that to try to take advantage of our personnel and get some matchups that we like."

The Bills ran for 129 yards against the Titans, but the total was misleading. Quarterback Rob Johnson's ran six times for 60 yards, while the running backs gained just 69 yards on 29 carries -- just 2.37 yards per carry.

Despite their struggle to run the ball against the Titans, the Bills didn't abandon the run. They still had more rushing attempts (35) than passes (26) in the game.

Good news for the bottom line

Sept. 6, 2000

Coach Wade Phillips said he wasn't overly pleased with the performance of the offense in the season-opening victory against Tennessee, but he was quick to remind that the bottom line was that the Bills won.

"I'm concerned in a lot of areas every week, but my biggest concern is the win," he said. "If we win, that's the important thing and that's what I want the team to realize, the most important thing is to win.

"Sure, we've got things we have to do better," Phillips said. "Offensively, we played well enough to win, they were a part of the victory. There's always going to be an area that didn't play as well as another, but the ultimate goal is to win."

Phillips wants to see an improvement this week against Green Bay in the play of the offensive line. Quarterback Rob Johnson was running for his life much of the night against Tennessee and took a brutal beating before finally exiting with a nerve injury to his ankle. The line was often confused on its stunt and blitz pickups when the Titans put heavy pressure on, led by Jevon Kearse.

The Packers have an imposing front four as well, but they figure to be a little more conventional in their approach and Phillips expects the line to play better.

WOUNDED ARE WALKING: The Bills are hoping to get two players back into action this week. Right guard Joe Panos and reserve running back Jonathan Linton both practiced on Wednesday and while they are listed as questionable on the injury report, there seemed to be a good chance that both will play against the Packers.

Panos suffered an arch injury in the third preseason game against St. Louis and was expected to miss at least the first two regular-season games, but he said that he's feeling much better and was back to work.

Jamie Nails could still get the start against Green Bay if Phillips thinks Panos needs another week. It shouldn't make much difference because there is very little dropoff at that position.

Linton suffered fractured ribs, also against the Rams, but he figures to see action in the third-down role as long as he doesn't tweak his condition this week.

QB HEALTH REPORT:Rob Johnson was limping more than expected in practice Wednesday, though it seemed a certainty he will start Sunday. Doug Flutie continues to make rapid progress in his recuperation from a groin injury suffered in late July, and could be elevated to No. 2 quarterback this week instead of serving as the third-string emergency quarterback.

"I haven't run 100 percent yet because I haven't had to, but I've had no problems going 85 to 90 percent," Flutie said.

FAVRE FEARED: Packers quarterback Brett Favre may have a sore elbow and banged up thumb, but Phillips remained concerned by what Favre can do.

"He's one of the great quarterbacks of our time," Phillips said. "I think he was a little rusty more than anything last week. He's got great courage and those kind of things, but they expect him to get better and play better because he hadn't played in a while and you could tell he was rusty on some of the things.

"But he still zipped the ball, made some great throws," Phillips said. "He can make plays anytime, so we're particularly concerned with him."

One of the keys against Favre will be to get pressure on him, as the Bills did against Titans quarterback Steve McNair. The Bills had four sacks and 11 pressures last week, and a similar performance would go a long way toward curtailing Favre's effectiveness.

Industrial strength wrinkles

Sept. 4, 2000

In their opener against Tennessee, the Bills unveiled their newest defensive wrinkle, which they worked on in the preseason, to use nose tackles Ted Washington and Pat Williams in the game at the same time.

The two massive run stuffers were utilized often on first down against Tennessee because the Bills knew the Titans would try to pound Eddie George on the ground. The ploy worked superbly. George carried 11 times for 22 yards on first-down plays, and either Williams or Washington or both were in on the tackle eight times.

Williams was re-signed to a contract extension last year because the Bills deem him a valuable commodity, even though he is a backup to Washington, the highest-paid player on the team. In the offseason, the coaching staff admitted they had to find a way to get Williams on the field more often, so they devised a scheme where Williams would move out to an end position in place of Marcellus Wiley on certain downs.

Williams is a 310-pounder with great quickness for a man his size, so he is capable of handling the end position should the offense decide to pass on a down when he's lined up outside. He is a better pass rusher than Washington, and is rapidly becoming Washington's equal against the run.

WARRANTED FEARS: It was Wade Phillips' primary concern going into the Tennessee game, and his fears proved warranted.

The Bills coverage units -- especially on kickoffs -- are loaded with first-year players, and the Titans nearly won the game on special teams which, given what happened last year in the playoffs, would have been a devastating pill for the Bills to swallow.

Tennessee averaged 30.3 yards per kickoff return as Derrick Mason broke a 57-yarder and a 52-yarder. Mason also averaged 10 yards on six punt returns, including an 18-yarder.

"Seven of the 10 guys are rookies and that was probably the biggest thing I was concerned about, our lack of experience on special teams," said Phillips. "They're aggressive enough, most of the mistakes were aggressive mistakes.

Asked if he would move veterans onto those units, Phillips said: "We don't have any more veterans. The guys we've got are going to have to do it."

As for their own return game, the Bills decided rookie Avion Black wasn't ready so they acquired Chris Watson from Denver in a trade. Watson was largely unimpressive, as he muffed a punt and a kickoff, though he recovered both. He averaged just 11.4 yards per kickoff return and two yards on his five punt returns.

JOHNSON IS FINE: Quarterback Rob Johnson, forced to leave Sunday's game when a nerve injury caused his left ankle to go numb, said Monday he was fine and he expected to practice this week and play against Green Bay Sunday.