Clements anchors Buffalo Bills' secondary
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Not so long ago, people in Buffalo wondered if cornerback Nate Clements was worth keeping and earning the franchise tag from the Bills earlier this year.

Well, after a couple shaky games early in the season, Clements has come on lately to make game-changing plays. Just look at what he did Sunday against the Houston Texans in Buffalo's 24-21 win.

Clements intercepted David Carr's first pass attempt of the day, setting up the Bills on their own 13-yard line. Three plays later, the Bills were celebrating in the end zone after an 83-yard touchdown pass from J.P. Losman to Lee Evans.

With less than two minutes to go in the first half and Houston knocking on Buffalo's door, Clements teamed up with free safety Ko Simpson to prevent the Texans from taking the lead. Carr hit Jameel Cook for a 6-yard gain to the Buffalo 7-yard line, but Simpson knocked the ball loose and Clements was there to scoop up the fumble.

Clements also made three critical pass break-ups, one of which was a pass to Andre Johnson late in the fourth quarter that forced the Texans to punt and set up the Bills for the game-winning scoring drive.

"Nate likes a challenge," coach Dick Jauron said Monday. "Whenever you take a guy and put him on somebody, it is a personal challenge. He likes that and he responds to it. And he's very talented."

That challenge of being assigned to the team's top receiver is one that Clements has said he relishes. And his actions in the past few weeks have shown how much he likes to shut them down.

Clements held Johnson to 76 yards on six receptions this week.

In the Week 10 loss to the Colts, Clements was superb in shutting down Marvin Harrison, arguably the best receiver in the game. Harrison made just two catches for 21 yards. Clements had four tackles and an assist to go along with a fumble recovery.

Covering Donald Driver in the Week 9 win over Green Bay, Clements had seven tackles and two assists. He also held Driver (nine catches for 96 yards) under 100 yards.

Clements made one of the biggest plays in that game in the third quarter, when he tipped a Brett Favre pass intended for Driver in the end zone. Simpson caught the ball to prevent the Packers from tying the game at 17-17 and set up the Bills for a touchdown with his 76-yard interception return.

Part of the reason Clements has been so prepared to shadow the best receivers in the league is the prep work he does in practice with backup receivers Roscoe Parrish and Sam Aiken.

"They worked so hard in practice challenging him," Jauron said. "And we need that from our so-called look squads. We need that. We don't need people just going through the motions and let the defense or offense win. We need them to challenge them and then make them better. And those guys did. They definitely worked at it. As it turns out, it was critically important for us."

For the season, Clements has already matched last year's total of 11 passes defended and is two away from his career mark, set in 2002. He also has two fumble recoveries.

His interception of Carr in the first quarter of Sunday's game was the 21st of his career and the first since last season.

Clements and the rest of the Bills will try to shut down the Jacksonville Jaguars at 1 p.m. Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com