Archives for September 1, 2003

‘Gary has never been able to recapture that magical season and has been plagued by a number of injuries that led to his exodus from Denver.’

So, which teams will leverage their last-place schedules into a breakthrough season? The most likely candidates are a pair of 8-8 teams from the competitive AFC East and AFC West Divisions. Buffalo, at 8-8, was last in the AFC East, while Kansas City was 8-8, last in the AFC West. Some experts feel they both have the opportunity to execute an instant replay of the Baltimore Ravens, who went 8-8 in 1999, then won SB XXXV the next year.

The funny thing? Because they both finished last, the Bills and Chiefs play each other in one of their two positional games. In the parity-leavened NFL, that Oct. 26 game could be the difference.

On the trade for RB Olandis Gary: “Olandis Gary was a player that we brought in during the off-season and considered signing him as a free agent acquisition. He’s a veteran, he’s played in the league and he’s played well. Given the health of our situation at tailback, a trade was a possibility so we pursued it. Matt (Millen) worked on it for the last day or two and ended up getting it done. He gives us another veteran back on board. Shawn Bryson is really the only other one that’s played a little bit. Avon Cobourne is a rookie and we don’t know quite how long James will be out so we felt to sure up that situation a little bit, adding a back like Olandis Gary gives us a bit of a security blanket there.”