Archives for September 2, 1999

‘”Sure I’d like to go to the Pro Bowl,” Hansen admitted. “But I play defensive end on running downs and defensive tackle on passing downs. “I don’t know if that helps me or hurts me. But any good defensive end is judged on his sack numbers, not on his consistency or how he plays the run. To be recognized you need well over 10 sacks.” Of the focus on Smith, he added, “Notoriety brings notoriety. If you look at Bruce Smith you end up looking at all the cogs … and I’m one of the cogs.”‘

‘Throughout professional sport, teams are built and dismantled with such frequency and speed that players often don’t even get to know their teammates. If the Bills are successful this year, it will strike a blow for a concept long since considered an anachronism: Continuity.’

‘The final roster of 53 is announced Sunday. If he hasn’t done it already, Loud probably can win a job with a solid performance in the final exhibition game against Pittsburgh on Saturday.’

‘”The doctors wrote [my father] off about six or seven years ago,” Smith said last month. “They said he had six months to live, and my father’s still hanging around. He’s not in very good shape but he’s still passing on knowledge and experiences and wisdom, and that’s where I get my will to keep pushing on.”‘

‘Hansen is coming off a knee injury that ended his team-high ironman streak of consecutive starts at 86. It reminded teammates and media yet again just how underrated Hansen is while he plays alongside perennial Pro Bowlers Ted Washington and Bruce Smith, Buffalo’s all-time sack leader with 164.’

‘Hull and Levy think Spielman will make an exceptional coach but that it will take a special person to play for him. “We have a lot of the same qualities,” Hull said. “But I’m not sure I could play for him. He comes from a different breed. I will tell you this. If he decides to coach and finds the right players, they’ll be winners. He’ll take average and make them great.”‘

‘”He’s had some (stingers) so we thought we’d rest him a bit and give him some treatment,” Phillips said. “We’re on top of it. He’s had his MRIs.” Phillips said it hasn’t been determined if Panos will play in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers.’

Wow! ESPN actually gives the Bills one full sentence! Thank you ESPN. How can we ever show the depth of our gratitude?