AFC EAST Bills now stampeding opposition

Buffalo evened its record at 6-6 Sunday to keep its slim playoff hopes alive.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Pat Williams is a big man with a big heart and appetite. So imagine his dilemma when the Buffalo Bills were back to their bumbling selves at the start of this season.
Most every time the defensive tackle went out, he couldn't escape the critics and questions about what was wrong with his team.
"You weren't hearing anything good from nobody," Williams said. "I heard it all the time, 'What's going on here?' or 'What's going on with Drew [Bledsoe]?' "
It got so bad Williams considered not going out for dinner anymore.
Fortunately for the 317-pound Williams, it never led to such drastic measures. To the relief of Williams -- and restaurant owners who stood losing a bulk of their business -- he can now eat out in peace.
Overcame 0-4 start
Williams is hungry and so are the Bills, who have gained a sudden appetite for the playoffs. They've overcome an 0-4 start to win six of their last eight games, a run that's put Buffalo back in contention with four games remaining.
Buffalo's chances remain slim. At 6-6, the Bills are tied with Cincinnati and Jacksonville and sit one win behind Denver and Baltimore in the race for the AFC's sixth and final berth. It's no help that the Ravens and Jaguars hold the tiebreaker for having defeated the Bills this season.
History's against Buffalo, too. Only one team, the San Diego Chargers in 1992, has overcome an 0-4 start to make the playoffs.
Arithmetic aside, after three miserable seasons under Gregg Williams in which the Bills went a combined 17-31, there's a sense of hope suddenly emerging under rookie coach Mike Mularkey.
Faulted last season for lacking mental toughness, a knock that led to Gregg Williams' dismissal, the Bills are displaying a newfound tenacity. And they've found an offense ever since Willis McGahee became the starting running back in October.
As much credit as McGahee deserves -- the Bills are 6-1 with him starting -- it's Mularkey who has brought focus to a team that was better than its 6-10 record in 2003.
Change of pace
If Williams irritated his veterans by using air horns for wake-up calls during his first training camp, and persistently blamed the players and media for the Bills' woes, Mularkey came in with a low-key, inclusive approach.
A former Steelers player and offensive coordinator, his best attributes are his creativity and flexibility:
UMularkey addressed the Bills' early-season penalty problems by borrowing from Jets coach Herman Edwards in bringing officials to throw flags in practice.
UHe bolstered the team's stumbling goal-line offense by bulking up his line with Pat Williams and fellow massive nose tackle Sam Adams.
UAnd he came up with the "Cheeseburger Solution" to help end the team's road troubles. Comparing travel itineraries with other NFL coaches on the East Coast, Mularkey learned that some serve their players cheeseburgers as an extra meal when making trips to the West Coast.
It worked when the Bills ended a six-game road skid by beating Seattle 38-9 last month.
Mularkey also has shown unwavering resolve.
At a time when the Giants turned to Eli Manning and the Cowboys flirted with Drew Henson, Mularkey didn't give in to critics demanding he bench Drew Bledsoe in favor of first-round draft pick J.P. Losman.
Bledsoe responded with three of his most effective outings of the season, a stretch in which he's thrown eight touchdown passes, one fewer than in his previous 11 games.