Bills Hope as Giants Fade

For one of the few times this season, Drew Bledsoe and the Buffalo Bills lived up to the preseason hype. The New York Giants’ failure to do even that has put Coach Jim Fassel’s job in jeopardy.

Shaking off the effects of a concussion, Bledsoe threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns, and the Bills embarrassed New York, 24-7, Sunday in a game that ended with 78,000-seat Giants Stadium three-quarters empty.

Bledsoe completed 19 of 29 passes before another blow to the head forced him to the bench in the third quarter.

“There is an overall sense of frustration because we feel like we’ve underachieved this season,” Bledsoe said after the Bills (5-7) ended a four-game losing streak.

The situation for the Giants (4-8) is worse.

The Bills came into this season thinking they could make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. The Giants were thinking Super Bowl again after a high-powered offense got them back to the playoffs last season.

Turnovers, injuries, dumb plays, penalties and bad tackling hurt them all season and they all were evident again in a game that all but ended New York’s playoff hopes.

“It’s hard to describe my feelings right now,” a subdued Fassel said after enduring the first four-game losing streak of his six-plus seasons as coach.

It was also hard for co-owner Wellington Mara, who had seen Fassel lead the Giants to three playoff berths and a Super Bowl after the 2000 season.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Mara, who refused to discuss Fassel’s future. “I never go into a season or game with high expectations. But I do go into some with higher hopes than others, and this year we had high hopes.”

Meanwhile, the Bills still have an outside shot at the playoffs if they can win their final four games.