Archives for March 2004

‘The Bills enter the draft with a glaring weakness at wide receiver. Josh Reed showed he was better suited to fill the No. 3 role. Statistically, Drew Bledsoe was one of the worst quarterbacks in the league and the team came up empty in a bid to sign Billy Volek as its signal-caller of the future.’

‘”I realized early that that was my meal ticket,” Pike said. “I don’t want to say we didn’t focus on our positions, but we put the extra focus to our special teams, making that as important as playing offense or defense. We prepared that way, we studied film that way, we practiced that way. Steve and I became the two leaders of the special teams for years because of that. Later in my career, half the time I felt like I was a coach. We had so many young players, I was the guy that everybody came to. Your coaches can coach you so much, but then the younger players like to talk to players who have been through it.”‘

‘The Bills are counting heavily on their new offensive scheme to allow their 32-year-old quarterback to excel. It’s a system that worked in Pittsburgh with quarterbacks Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox. “I have a different philosophy (than last year’s staff) on how to attack,” Mularkey said. “I think Tom (Clements) has the same one, which is why I feel comfortable with Tom calling the plays. He has seen it be effective. I think it improved Kordell’s play, it improved Tommy’s play. I think it will help Drew.”‘

‘”He’s been impressive,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. “I saw no hesitation at all with his knee. He looked very fluid and I think he built a lot of confidence in this camp. “We’re going like he is full go. To me, sometimes you can make them too conscious of it. I personally don’t ask him how he’s feeling. I let the trainers tell me. We’re trying to get him confident and it looks like he is ready.”‘

‘However, if Stewart decides to join the Bills, Buffalo coach Mike Mularkey plans to use him on selected plays as a running back or receiver. “I’m intrigued by Kordell because of some of the abilities he has to do some of the things we talk about,” Mularkey said Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings. “I don’t want to call it the slash role, but it’s a little bit of that. To me, when he was the most popular player in the league, that’s what he was doing best.”‘

‘This is Mularkey’s first year as a head coach and he admits he hasn’t done a lot of in-depth study of the teams in the division. But he has seen tapes of both of the Bills’ games against the Patriots and has a pretty good grasp on what he’s facing.’

”’You can do anything you can put your mind to,” Teague said. ”Stay focused on your goals, start now and don’t be afraid of standing up for what you believe in.”’

Can Drew still do? Does the wing that was as hot as any in Buffalo in 2002 have anything left? Or is this the end for a quarterback that has never really received the due he has deserved in his career? Time will tell, and there are seven million reasons why the Bills want an answer by late October.

Bills cornerback Troy Vincent was elected president of the NFL Players Association on Tuesday.

The personnel people I spoke to, almost to a man, echoed the same reasons for Bledsoe’s poor 2003 season – the loss of deep-threat weapon Price, the inconsistency of the offensive line, the stubbornness of the play-calling. These factors should all be rectified by the time the season begins in September.

‘General manager Tom Donahoe drafted the Notre Dame product in the fourth round in 1995 and was with the Steelers when head coach Mike Mularkey was on staff there. In Cincinnati, Gibson played for Bills defensive-line coach Tim Krumrie.’

‘The date and time of the Titans-Bills preseason game in Buffalo has been set: Aug. 21 at 6 p.m.’

‘Gibson has appeared in 133 games with 57 starts.’

‘The Bears also offered a three-year contract to guard Ruben Brown, an eight-time Pro Bowl player who was released by the Bills in a cost-cutting move. The Bears plan to start Mike Gandy at right guard but can’t resist the chance to add a player with the resume of Brown, 32, a first-round pick in 1985 who became a perennial Pro Bowl selection over his 10-year career. He was waived because he carried a $5.8 million salary-cap number for 2004. The Bills replaced him with former Bears right guard Chris Villarrial. Brown is likely to take the Bears’ offer and compare it to any other deals he receives. Brown is still talking to the Lions and Patriots.’

‘”I’m healthy and I’m going to go out there and give it all I’ve got,” said McGahee. “Everybody gets better as the season goes on. The more you work out the better it gets.”‘