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Reed said his opening day flop was the result of pressing too hard in an attempt to put on a show for the fans. He realizes it won't be easy to make them forget Price.
But of course, Reed is nothing like his predecessor. He doesn't have Price's blazing speed, but he might be better after the catch. Reed is also a better blocker in the running game, which the Bills have been trying to improve.
And the bottom line is this: The coaching staff believes Reed can be just as effective working opposite Eric Moulds as Price was. In fact, head coach Gregg Williams said all last week that he expected Reed to come back strong.
"We really felt he would," Williams said. "He's very competitive. You saw that competitiveness in his run after the catch. He can run better than people believe he can run. He made some significant plays to keep drives alive. Those are the things we need all of our receivers to do."
The Bills want him to build off his success last week and help take pressure off Moulds against the Dolphins tomorrow. It could work the other way around. Moulds has averaged five catches and 122 yards against Miami in the last four meetings. He had his best game ever when he had nine receptions for an NFL playoff game record 240 yards on Jan. 2, 1999.
Miami likely will have two men on Moulds at all times. The Dolphins also must account for speedy No. 3 man Bobby Shaw, who is emerging as a dangerous weapon in his own right, without forgetting about Travis Henry and the running game. It means Reed could be left with man-to-man coverage often this week.
By the way. ...
Reed has more catches for more yards -- six for 76 (with no touchdowns) -- than Price, who has four catches for 58 yards (and no TDs) through the first two games. Not that Reed is paying any attention to his former teammate's totals.
"I'm not looking at trying to compete against what [Price] does," Reed said. "He's on a new team. We hated to lose Peerless, but you have to move on. That's the nature of the business. We're just trying to get better."
Also of interest. ...
Despite his impressive play over the first two games, Shaw isn't pushing Reed for the starting spot.
According to Pro Football Weekly, coaches believe the former Jaguar is most effective coming off the bench when the offense lines up in multiple receiver sets. The fact that all of Shaw's Week 1 catches came on third down -- with all three resulting in first-down conversions -- leads me to believe his role is fairly well defined at this point. ...
I'll also remind you that Henry is playing a larger role in the passing attack with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride making an effort to get him the ball on swing passes, screens and dump-offs.
As Buffalo News beat man Allen Wilson put it: "He's dangerous in the open field because of his quickness, elusiveness and balance. Henry also has improved at picking up blitzes. ..."
Thanks to Drew Bledsoe, Rob Johnson is quickly fading from memory in the Bills' record book. Bledsoe moved ahead of Johnson for most passing yards and completions last Sunday.
Bledsoe's 4,903 passing yards in 18 games with the Bills is sixth in team history and 105 more than Johnson. Bledsoe also jumped past Johnson and into sixth place with 411 completions, 10 more than Johnson. Both players are tied for sixth with 27 touchdown passes. ...
As a Fantasy owner relying on Moulds in more than one league this year, I'm already drafting a thank you note for Miami cornerback Patrick Surtain, who called the former first-round draft pick an "unmanly" liar this week.
That's right. Hoping to put to rest questions about his relationship with Moulds following last December's game in which Moulds spit on him prompting Surtain to take a retaliatory swing, Surtain tore into the star receiver -- at least verbally -- on Friday.
"It was unmanly of him to do it and then come back and say he didn't mean it," Surtain said. "It's severed between us. Before I knew him and we talked or whatever, but it's over now. It's all business from now on."
As you might expect, Moulds is eager to hit the field tomorrow.
They play man-to-man," he explained. "If you're going to play man-to-man and don't double team, you give yourself a bad chance of getting embarrassed. That's what's going to happen if they play man-to-man."
Or man-to-"unmanly" as the case might be.
And finally. ...
Sammy Morris did not practice Friday and remains questionable due to a sore groin. Morris is the team's third-down back, so Henry could see three-down duty against the Dolphins. If Morris can't play and Henry gets hurt, the Bills could have a problem on third down; Joe Burns has little experience in that role.