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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 10:48 a.m., Thursday, September 11, 2008

NFL: Parrish electrifies Bills' return game

By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Bills coach Dick Jauron has trouble putting into words how blurry-fast Roscoe Parrish is when returning punts.

"It's hard to imagine or even see his steps," Jauron said. "Sometimes, it just looks like he appears, and he's past people."

One minute, Parrish is fielding a punt with a defender in his face. The next instant, he's in the end zone. That's the way it looked Sunday, when Parrish ran circles around the Seattle Seahawks to put the Bills ahead 14-0 in a game they won 34-10.

Statistically, Parrish's return covered 63 yards. In reality, the return was far more electrifying than mere numbers can account.

In a span of about 14 seconds, Parrish covered close to 85 yards zigging and zagging through a maze of Seahawks defenders, and eluding some of them twice.

Starting at the right hash, he faked left and zipped up the right sideline before breaking back into the middle. Parrish made a 360-degree spin to break John Carlson's tackle attempt and righted himself in time to burst up the middle to cover the final 20 yards into the end zone with three defenders in futile chase.

Let's see Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt try that with pads and a helmet on, while eluding tacklers, no less.

"I know I'd like to see it," Jauron said, when asked about Bolt. "That would be an interesting thing."

Parrish said he's no match for Bolt, especially on a straight track, but he doesn't mind being compared to the NFL's premier returner, Chicago's Devin Hester.

"I like watching Devin Hester. And we're always calling each other throughout the week," said Parrish, who played with Hester at Miami in college. "And yeah, I'm one up on him."

Hester might have returned four punts for touchdowns to Parrish's one last season, but Parrish did finish ahead of Hester with a league-leading average of 16.3 yards per return. And after scoring against Seattle, Parrish became the first NFL player to score on a punt return in consecutive season openers, after he ran back a 74-yarder against Denver last year.

What sets Parrish apart is how fearless he is to run in traffic for someone listed at 5-foot-9 and 171 pounds.

"I've said often, Roscoe's not a big person as we know, but he has no idea," Jauron said. "He plays like he weighs 270 pounds. He plays the game so hard and so fearlessly."

That was apparent Sunday, when Parrish cut back into the middle rather than electing to run the ball out of bounds.

Parrish even surprised himself by doing that.

"When you break for a long run like that, you don't want to cut it back inside because of all the pursuit," Parrish said. "But our guys did a good job of holding their blocks. And I just did whatever I had to do."

The spin move was what caught everyone's attention, and made for a jaw-dropping highlight that helped earn Parrish AFC special teams player of the week honors.

"Yeah, a lot of people called me and said, `How'd you do that spin move?"' Parrish said. "I can't sit here and say where I learned that spin move because that's just what happened at that point in time. If I have to make him miss by doing a spin move, that's what I'm going to do."

Buffalo's 2005 second-round draft pick, Parrish is entering his third season as the team's main punt returner. He's now returned three punts for touchdowns and also scored four times as a receiver. He was also a double-threat at Miami, scoring 11 touchdowns receiving and three times on punt returns.

"At Miami, Larry Coker said he was the most exciting player they ever had there," Bills special teams coach Bobby April said, referring to Parrish's former coach. "That's a pretty high compliment."

During practice, April makes sure to stress to his blockers that they continue pushing downfield even after it appears Parrish might be stopped or that the return is going in the opposite direction.

"There's always a chance, because you never know when that thing's coming back on you," April said.

The Seahawks learned that the hard way.