Archives for April 2002

When Drew Bledsoe was acquired in a trade with New England on April 21, it marked the end of his nine-year career with the Patriots that ironically began in Buffalo on September 5, 1993.

Buffalo's new quarterback Drew Bledsoe has been compared to Hall of Famer Jim Kelly in many ways. Here's a look back at the top 10 greatest moments in Jim Kelly's career with the Buffalo Bills.

‘Buffalo Coach Gregg Williams praised Bledsoe for his willingness to assume a leadership role. Though Williams didn’t name names, his remarks were clearly directed at departed quarterback Rob Johnson.’

‘He despises public attention, ironic because he’s brought so much upon himself. People have been adding things up, and it was inevitable someone would raise his most-hated subject. It happens to be Tom Donahoe.’

”’Someone with Bledsoe’s tremendous star power will draw people from all over the U.S. and Canada. And while they’re here, hopefully, they’ll spend money on products and services other than football, which will benefit the economy of the whole region,” says Arun Jain, a marketing professor at the University of Buffalo.’

‘Weighing similar low-money deals, Webster went to where he felt his best chances of winning are.’

‘At 6-feet-7, 275 pounds, Denney bears a striking resemblance to Hansen. If the rookie plays the part as well as he looks it, the Bills will be ecstatic.’

‘I’ve never understood why people who say Buffalo never has won a major-league championship don’t give the Bills credit for winning AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. The NFL record book fully recognizes AFL records and statistics.’

‘While free agency and the salary cap have shortened that requisite learning period from a few years to a few months, or even a few weeks, 12-4 or 13-3 is optimistic to the point of fantasy. But make no mistake, better the Bills will be. And that improvement starts with the quarterback.’

Buffalo's Alexander rushed for 75 yards, including a one-yard touchdown run, to help the Galaxy to the win. Alexander leads NFL Europe with 358 yards rushing and a 6.4-yards-per-carry average.

‘The Browns and Buffalo Bills will conduct a summer practice session and scrimmage on August 2 and 3 at St. John’s Fisher College in Rochester, NY, the Bills’ training camp home.’

Alexander, who is one of seven Bills allocated to NFL Europe, starts for the Frankfurt Galaxy and leads the league in rushing yardage (358), total yards from scrimmage (434), and rushing touchdowns (4). For the season, Alexander is averaging 6.4 yards on 56 rushing attempts.

He will be the leader and he can make the difference, but Bledsoe won't be a one-man revolution.

‘Training camp is almost three months away, but it’s not too early to speculate about the impact of this year’s draft class.’

The response to the acquisition of Drew Bledsoe has been enormous, with emails pouring in to buffalobills.com by the minute. Here are a few of the latest emails received. Additional emails will be posted throughout the week.