Two Bills Drive

Included in the high-profile mix are five former NFL head coaches, the most recent being Gregg Williams (Washington) and Dick Jauron (Detroit), who were let go this season by the Bills and Bears, respectively. Others include Gunther Cunningham, the former Chiefs head coach who has returned to become Kansas City’s DC; Wade Phillips, a former head coach in Denver and Buffalo who will be in charge of the Chargers’ defense; and Dick LeBeau, a former head coach in Cincinnati who is returning to Pittsburgh, where he spent 1992 through ’96 as an assistant coach and then defensive coordinator.

‘The Texans will shop Henson to the highest bidder, but whether Buffalo would be involved in bidding for him so soon after giving up a No. 1 pick to New England for Bledsoe in 2002 is highly speculative. Many personnel directors feel Henson is a long-term project.’

‘”I’m just succeeding him. I mean, who can replace Van?” said Murphy, 46, who worked alongside the legendary Miller for 16 years. “If you grew up around here, he’s the voice of the Bills, and I just feel I’m succeeding him. These are huge shoes to fill. I’m going to try not to think about it.”‘

‘”I’m the luckiest guy going,” he said. “How many times can you call up and say,”I’m looking for a job. Oh, by the way, I have a heart disease, I can’t talk very well, you got a job for me?””

‘Moving to the offense, former Notre Dame quarterback Tom Clements is in his first season as an offensive coordinator. Clements has coached quarterbacks with the Steelers, Chiefs and Saints. He says his philosophy will fit the talents of the players he has. He did mention he likes to run the football and develop a solid running game. He also feels Drew Bledsoe is not washed up and he will have plays that get the ball out of his hand quicker. Clements is a huge fan of Travis Henry. He loves the power Henry packs in such a small package.’

‘”I expect he’ll be fairly impressive,” said Bills offensive coordinator Tom Clements. “We’re just going to go down there and see how rusty he may be, see what kind of athletic ability he displays, see how he’s throwing the ball, whether he’s accurate, whether he still has the same zip on it, things like that.”‘

”’All I know is what I’ve heard about him,” Mularkey said. ”That’s why I’m probably going to ask Tom and Sam to go down there with me and do all the evaluating on him. They’re the quarterback, I don’t want to say gurus but they know it better than I do.”’

‘Murphy had served 16 years as Miller’s partner. He is a Buffalo-area native and Syracuse University graduate, who will retain his job as sports director at Buffalo’s WKBW-TV.’

‘Murphy recently completed his 16th season alongside Miller in the booth. He first held the analyst job from 1984-89 when working as sports director at WBEN-AM and then again from 1994-2003.’

‘We are fortunate to have an owner and general manager who realize that the legacy of a team is as important as its future is, because the future is built on the heart of it’s past.’

‘”I have always missed the game of football, but there was a period in my life where I was very sick. I was awake for an hour a day and couldn’t do much at all. For a while there, I was in real trouble. Luckily, the medication has corrected that part of it and I have a pacemaker now. In fact, I have the same pacemaker that Vice President Cheney has. He gets it during the week, and I get it on weekends. We are saving a lot of money,” Wyche quipped.’

‘”My biggest memory of when I got to Buffalo was the size of the guys,” Villapiano recalled. “Joe Devlin, Kenny Jones, Reggie McKenzie, they were all big, but they were all cut. The Raiders were all big, but they were just big. Not cut like these guys. Everybody was lifting weights, trying to make their bodies bigger and stronger. Where in Oakland, nobody lifted weights. It was just a totally different world. It was a different, more modern-type team than the Raiders were. One other thing I noticed besides that was how many really good players were in Buffalo. The only thing they needed was what Chuck Knox did: bring in some old guys to help out the young guys. The young guys were great athletes, they just didn’t know they were. We had a real good blend of people.”‘

‘Moore was waived by the Bills in ’86 and for the past 15 years, has worked in law enforcement. He’s now a sergeant/detective with the Genesee County (Mich.) Sheriffs Department.’

‘”I know how rabid these fans are. And when I’m coaching, I’m going to be thinking that I’m home and I’m going to do the best that I can for their team,” he maintained.’

‘”If you can get the running game going really effectively, that’s going to open up the offense and make the play-action passing avenues more open,” Clements said. “That’s where you can get some big chunks of yards. When defenses are reacting up to the run, you can get big chunks of yards throwing it downfield. If it’s not there, take what they give you, get it down to your dump back and get some positive yards and avoid the sack. That’s basically the philosophy.”‘