ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Brian Moorman couldn't wait until the
final stats sheet was delivered to the Buffalo Bills' locker room.
The punter wanted to see, firsthand, what it looked like to have a
perfect passer rating.
"I want to frame it," said Moorman, who threw a 19-yard
touchdown pass to defensive end Ryan Denney on a fake field goal to
register the NFL-best 158.3 rating.
Perfect, might also come close to describing how everyone else -
offense, defense and special teams - played in helping Buffalo open
the regular season with a dominating 34-10 win over the Seattle
Seahawks on Sunday.
"How about that?" Moorman said. "It's nice to come out of the
gate with a decisive win. Hopefully, we made a statement today."
It's early, no doubt. But if the Bills' objective is to end an
eight-year playoff drought this season, they got off to a very
promising start in blowing out the four-time defending NFC West
champions.
It was a victory that began and ended with Buffalo's special
teams. Roscoe Parrish returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown to
put the Bills up 14-0 in the second quarter. Then there was kicker
Rian Lindell, who recovered a fumble on a kickoff that set up Trent
Edwards' 30-yard touchdown pass to Robert Royal - 20 seconds after
Denney scored.
Moorman became the first Bills punter to throw a touchdown pass,
and first NFL punter to do so since Pittsburgh's Josh Miller on
Dec. 28, 2003. He caught the Seahawks completely flat-footed in
finding the 6-foot-7 Denney wide open in the left flats.
"That's a good question," Denney said, of how he eluded the
Seahawks after making sure to check in with the official. "I was
thinking the whole time they were going to see me over there. ...
Just a great play and it worked like we wanted it to."
The Seahawks, by comparison, looked completely unprepared.
"We got kicked around pretty good today," said Mike Holmgren,
who opened his final season as the Seahawks' head coach. "It's one
of those games we're going to learn a painful lesson. But we'll be
better next week."
They couldn't have played much worse.
Matt Hasselbeck was rusty after missing most of the preseason
with a back injury. He completed only one of his first eight
attempts, and finished 17-of-41 for 190 yards, with a touchdown to
Nate Burleson and an interception.
Then again, Hasselbeck didn't get much help from a banged-up
receiving corps that was minus two starters - Deion Branch (knee)
and Bobby Engram (shoulder) - and then lost Burleson, who left in
the third quarter with a left knee injury.
"It was just one of those things you deal with, but that's not
why we lost today," Hasselbeck said, referring to his receivers.
Holmgren had no explanation as to how the Seahawks missed
covering Denney.
"It's embarrassing for us when a play like that works, but give
them credit," he said.
There was plenty of credit to go around to a Bills special teams
unit that has statistically been among the best in the NFL for the
past four seasons. That was evident on Parrish's return, as he
zigged and zagged through nearly the entire Seahawks coverage unit,
finally breaking John Carlson's tackle at the Seattle 25 before
outracing three defenders into the end zone.
It was Parrish's third career touchdown return and first since
he ran one back 74 yards in last year's opener against Denver.
The special teams took the pressure off Edwards, opening his
first season as the Bills starter; and an offense that had
difficulty scoring last year. The 34 points came from a team that
failed to score 20 a dozen times last season. They were also four
more than Buffalo combined to score in its final three games of
2007.
Edwards finished 19-of-30 for 215 yards and a touchdown, while
Marshawn Lynch had 76 yards rushing, including a 21-yard touchdown.
The Bills defense did its part, finishing with five sacks and
forcing 11 punts.
"There were a lot of questions about us as a team and as a
defense," defensive tackle Marcus Stroud said. "And we were able
to go out there and put on a good showing."
Notes: Parrish set a single-game team record with 120 yards in
punt returns. It was his third career return touchdown and first
since he ran one back 74 yards in last year's opener against
Denver. ... Burleson told reporters he expects to play next week,
but Holmgren would only say that the player will be evaluated after
having tests on Monday. ... Seahawks RB Maurice Morris left with a
knee injury and will also be evaluated Monday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)