Archives for September 7, 2006

‘The Bills’ offense stunk in the red zone the past two years.’

‘The Bills were worst in the NFL in red zone defense, too.’

‘Bobby April’s units have been the best in the league two years running.’

‘”Regardless of who you are and where you came from, you have to prove yourself,” Smith said. “Coach Levy has always been a coach, a head coach, a Hall of Fame coach. Now, he’s a GM. I understand people are saying, “How can he, a coach, who’s 81 years old, be a general manager?’ Well, we’re going to find out. But when you’re that studious, that smart and ask a lot of questions, you’re going to right the ship.”‘

‘Such devotion can only mean one thing: Nobody sells hope like the Buffalo Bills.’

‘”The days of saying it’s a new head coach and a new system and using that as an excuse are gone,” Vincent said. “We see first-year head coaches make the playoffs. We almost did it under coach [Mike] Mularkey. We were one game away. Nick Saban almost did it in Miami last year.”‘

‘Kowal’s loyalty to the team isn’t wavering, despite the fact the Bills have entered another rebuilding mode. “There have been some lean years, leaner than this,” he said. “If I lasted [46] years, I must have patience.”‘

‘”During the [Tom] Donahoe regime, we were always given this hype every year, and they were always teeming with optimism,” said Bob Walion, 52, a 19-year season-ticket holder who lives in Albany and makes the five-hour drive to the game. “I just felt after awhile like they were hyping ticket sales rather than being forthright about the team. I feel a sense of betrayal by the Donahoe regime.”‘

‘At Bills gatherings in Los Angeles, you might catch J.P. Losman’s mom watching a Buffalo game with 60 of her closest friends. In New York, you could have met Marv Levy signing copies of his book about his years as coach of the Bills. At a Bills bar in any big city in the country it’s possible to run into Tim Russert, the closest thing there is to a professional Bills fan.’

‘Jeff Crump, president of the Boston Bills Backers chapter, says that when the Bills are playing well, they will get 300 to 400 people to watch them at The Harp, a bar-restaurant near TD Banknorth Garden. Crump gets a kick out of the fact that The Harp’s TV screens feature the Bills’ games prominently, while the games of the hometown Patriots “are off on one screen in a corner somewhere.”‘

‘”My Willis McGahee jersey is a great magnet for Bills fans in London – and we’ll meet in the most surprising places,” Manning said via e-mail. “I have been stopped in stations, airports, bars, in the street – all over London, really – when I am wearing my Bills gear. I tell them all to join me at the Sports Cafe come fall.”‘

‘”I ran into Bryan Cox there last year. He offered to buy me a beer and I turned him down.”‘

‘”I’ll be there even if they’re 0-16,” he said. “I love them. I can’t help it. I’m not crying when the game’s over, but it hurts me when they lose and the game matters. And it’s a long ride home when they lose.”‘

‘”My husband was very open to the whole idea,” Natasha said. “The wedding was great. It was fun and it was different. We had a few family members and 2,000 screaming fans. What better way to say, “I do’? To this day, we still get people saying, “That’s the couple that got married here,’ and it is a moment that we will never forget.”‘

‘”Unless you’re death-bed sick, you don’t miss the game,” he says.’