“I’m a smiling guy, man,” Dareus said. “So I can look over at Dwan (Edwards), who’s locker is right next to me and say, ‘Hey, we played good last night.’ It feels good, there’s a lot of smiling faces around here, not just mine.”

The Bills defenders have plenty to be happy about after Dareus led the way in a 23-0 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday. He had 2 1/2 of Buffalo’s nine sacks in helping the team improve to 5-2 heading into an AFC East showdown against the visiting New York Jets (4-3) this weekend.

Buffalo is tied with New England for the division lead, and is one win short of getting off to its best start since going 7-1 to open the 1993 season.

Most encouraging is how the defense finally made a difference on a team that was becoming overly reliant on an offense that’s scored 20-plus points in each of its seven games.

The nine sacks in one game are the second-most in franchise history, and two short of the team record set in 1964. Buffalo matched its season total with four sacks in the first half alone in eventually handing Washington’s Mike Shanahan his first shutout loss in 24 seasons as an NFL coach or coordinator.

And Dareus warned, this was “just the tip of the iceberg.”

He was referring to the entire defensive front, which created havoc against a banged-up Redskins offense missing five regulars, including a pair of starting linemen.

And yet it was an unexpected showing by a Bills unit playing without two key regulars: defensive tackle Kyle Williams (foot) and after linebacker Shawne Merriman (Achilles tendon) was placed on injured reserve last week.

Most of the sacks came with Buffalo using a four-man rush. Dareus used his 6-foot-3, 340-pound frame to drive up the middle and collapse the pocket around John Beck, who was caught holding the ball too long.

By the second half, Beck was over-throwing receivers over the middle and into double-coverage to avoid the Bills’ rush.

Buffalo had two interceptions to up its NFL-leading total to 14 — three more than last season. And the Bills once-leaky defense limited the Redskins to 178 yards after allowing 400 in each of its five previous games.

“I think guys got a taste of playing well and gained confidence as the game went on,” coach Chan Gailey said. “We’ve pressured the quarterback this year, but we weren’t getting sacks, but it created interceptions. This week, (Beck) was holding it and not wanting to throw interceptions. And we got sacks. It probably was going to happen, but I just didn’t think it would happen nine-worth in this ball game.”

Linebacker Chris Kelsay was impressed by Dareus.

“He’s a force to be reckoned with,” Kelsay said. “He’s got a number of years ahead of him playing like that. We’re fortunate that he’s on our side.”

After opening the season at defensive end, Dareus shined in his first start at tackle in place of Williams. It’s a position he played at Alabama, and Dareus spent part of Buffalo’s bye week off dusting up on his tackle technique at his alma mater.

He was driven after vowing to make an immediate impact shortly after being drafted third overall. And Dareus was growing tired of hearing questions about the defense’s poor start.

“I kind of had a heart-to-heart with the D-line to start cracking down on it altogether,” Dareus said. “We went out there, we prepared well, and handled business.”

Dareus wasn’t the only one in a jovial mood in what was an upbeat locker room on Monday.

Many were getting a big kick out of a picture receiver Stevie Johnson posted on his Twitter account of him dressed up as Gailey for Halloween. Johnson had on the sleeveless vest the coach prefers, and wore a pair of beige slacks that were perfectly creased — “Gailey fresh” as the player called it.

Gailey acknowledged he’s heard about the picture, but not yet seen it. With a half-smile, he suggested Johnson might have too much time on his hands.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick loved it.

“Somehow, I don’t know how Stevie makes every outfit he wears look cool,” Fitzpatrick said. “Not to say that Chan doesn’t look cool, but that vest, Stevie made it look cool.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Buffalo Bills traveled north and found a pass rush.

With a season-best nine sacks and a pair of Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdowns throws to Scott Chandler, the Buffalo Bills finally gave their Canadian fans something to cheer about, smothering the injury-riddled Washington Redskins on Sunday, 23-0, at the Rogers Centre.

The Bills won their first regular-season game in Toronto since the international series began in 2008, and posted their first shutout in five years.

Rookie Marcell Dareus moved to nose tackle and had 2.5 sacks.

“I think this is the first complete game we’ve played,” said Dareus. “The sky is the limit.”

Fred Jackson had 194 yards from scrimmage, including 120 rushing on 26 carries. Jackson became the fourth Bills’ player — and first since Thurman Thomas in 1991 — to surpass 1,000 yards from scrimmage in the first seven games of a season.

“When you have 22 on your team, you always have a chance,” said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick, in his first game since agreeing to a six-year, $59 million extension, went 21-of-27 for 262 yards, shaking off a pair of first-half turnovers and a huge hit from London Fletcher.

Fitzpatrick’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Chandler gave Buffalo a 7-0 lead with a little more than five minutes left in the first quarter and the duo’s 15-yard connection in the third made it 20-0.

Heading into the bye week, Bills head coach Chan Gailey challenged his defense, specifically the pass rushers, to be better. Buffalo had only four sacks through the first six games, but responded with its best output since 1997.

“I kind of took it personally, myself,” Dareus said. “We just hadn’t been doing a good job of getting after the quarterback and bringing as much pressure as we could.”

Gailey admitted he did not know how his team would bounce back after the loss in New York and the off week.

“Scared to death,” said Gailey. “It’s not something that is normal. You’re not in your routine. You don’t know if your guys are back into it or not.”

His players quickly showed him they were back on track.

“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t expect (nine sacks),” said Gailey. “They gave such a great effort, did a good job working technique and getting back to fundamentals.”

It also is Buffalo’s first shutout since a 21-0 win over Miami on Dec. 17, 2006.

Washington (3-4), which has lost three straight, ran for only 26 yards and finished with a paltry 234 yards of total offense. Add the nine sacks, and Washington had only 178 net yards in a forgettable trip to Canada.

“We talked about dominating each individual battle,” said Bills safety George Wilson, who had his team-leading fourth interception. “We had a chance to make a lot of plays.”

John Beck, making only his second start in four years, went 20-of-33 for 208 yards and two interceptions.

The Redskins’ best chance to score came early in the second quarter when linebacker Brian Orakpo recovered a Fitzpatrick fumble at the Buffalo 31-yard line. However, Jairus Byrd sacked Beck on 3rd-and-15 and Spencer Johnson blocked Graham Gano’s 49-yard field goal attempt.

“It doesn’t feel like much of anything was right out there today,” said Redskins wide receiver Jabar Gaffney.

Washington played without several starters, including wide receiver Santana Moss (hand), and tight end Chris Cooley and running back Tim Hightower — both of whom are out for the season with knee injuries.

“It’s just a blur right now,” said Orakpo. “I really thought we were prepared. I’m at a loss for words.”

The Bills will host the division-rival New York Jets next Sunday, then play three straight on the road before returning home again on Dec. 4 against Tennessee.

“We’ve just got to remember what we’ve done to get to this point and keep pushing the envelope to get better,” said Wilson.

BUFFALO, NY – Take a look at some of the most memorable moments from Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Bills are coming off their bye week 4-2.

Once Ryan Fitzpatrick(notes) put pen to paper on a $59 million dollar, 6-year contract extension, Buffalo Bills fans like me breathed a sigh of relief. The deal finally gives Buffalo a bona fide franchise quarterback. Just days after putting a face on the franchise for the longterm, Fitz and company delivered a 23-0 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Best of all for Buffalonians? It’s looking more and more like Bills fans can count on a solid (and improving) defense to go along with Fitz and the rising offensive stars.The shutout win was thanks in large part to a Buffalo defense that turned in as dominant a performance as it’s had all season.

The Bills had no less than 9 sacks by the end of the day, with first round draft pick Marcell Dareus(notes) walking away with a team-leading 2.5. The Bills also added another 2 interceptions to their league-leading total which now stands at 14. So have the Bills proven that they’re the real deal yet?

When the Bills pulled off a comeback win over the New England Patriots in Week 3, much of the football world had finally taken notice of the long-written-off Bills. The qualifier to some of the praise at the time was that the Bills weren’t “for real.” Not the same way the Detroit Lions were, anyway.

It’s getting harder and harder for some of the skeptics to downplay the Bills now. Though Buffalo has the same 5-2 record as the Pats, their earlier win puts them in the lead of the AFC East.

Yes, it’s Week 8 of the 2011 season, the Buffalo Bills are the division leaders, and they have settled on a long-term franchise QB. Oh, and they happen to be fielding a running back in Fred Jackson(notes) whose 103 yards per game average is second-highest in the league. I think it’s safe to say that signing Freddie to a long-term deal of his own should be the next big priority for the FO now.

How about this interesting fact: As far as I can tell, the last time the Bills had the division lead at Week 8 was in 1996. Then, as now, they were 5-2 and tied with another division opponent (the Indianapolis Colts) who they’d beaten earlier in the year.

1996 would also prove to be the last time Buffalonians could root for a true long-term franchise QB, Jim Kelly. It’s a fact of which Kelly himself is well aware, the Hall of Famer recently expressing his happiness at the news of Fitz’s new deal. Kelly is no doubt hoping that Fitz will be able to do what he didn’t after four tries; win an NFL championship for Buffalo.

Taurus Londono grew up in Buffalo, NY where he watched the Buffalo Bills go to four consecutive Super Bowls. He is a lifelong fan of the team.

Sources:

Football Reference – Buffalo Bills

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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click as the action is assumed for now

the data object should look like this:

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The drop panel nodes should be placed so they share the same offset parent as the buttons that activate it.

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cw.ieRoundedCorners();

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if ($(‘#handle-header’).attr(‘id’)) {
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}

//need to check state of search radio buttons since firefox doesn’t reset to the default checked radio button
if($(‘.cw-header #radio-btn-yp:checked’).attr(‘id’) != null){
$(‘.cw-header #header-search-form’).attr(‘action’,'http://canadacom.yellowpages.ca/search/’);
$(‘.cw-header #header-search-string’).attr(‘name’,'what’);
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function eventSetUp() {

$(‘.cw-header .main-nav ‘).bind(‘mouseleave’, function(event){

if (isIE) {

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