Two Bills Drive

‘But the Bills are encouraged by his development and have not backed off their belief that Williams will eventually become a great player. “He’s making progress,” said Bills coach Gregg Williams. “He’s made improvements from his first year to his second year. Only through experience of playing week in and week out will he be able to take his game to the next level.

“Once he gains a better understanding of his opponents in this league he has a chance to be physically dominating every time he steps out there. You can tell there are a few things that surprise him and that’s going to happen to a first or second-year player. When he gets through things, the different schemes and players he hasn’t faced before, he’ll be confident enough to dominate.”‘

‘Haslett basically has control of personnel decisions in the Saints organization. Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis is a salary cap expert and does not stand in Haslett’s way on player moves. Haslett obviously would not have full control of player moves with the Bills. Haslett’s family also is happy in the Big Easy. The Saints also have a decent group of young players – Deuce McAllister and Aaron Brooks among them – and could be poised for a strong playoff run next year. Coaches almost never voluntarily leave a spot where they have as much control as “Haz” has in New Orleans. Nevertheless, the Saints’ finish this month bears watching. After today’s game with the ‘Skins, they play Tampa, the Giants, Jacksonville and Dallas.’

‘Hofher can attest to the fact that McNally can have a profound effect on a man’s life in a short period of time. McNally has been changing the lives of young offensive linemen, albeit in a less dramatic fashion, for four decades.’

”’For whatever reason we’re not playing up to the expectations that everybody planned out for us, and what we planned out for ourselves,” said Bills’ halfback Travis Henry.’

‘Coach Gregg Williams is fond of saying nobody’s a rookie any more at this point in the season. Is that how you feel?

Yes, very much so. I’ve been here since May. They drafted you for a reason and you’ve got to do the job they drafted you for. I feel I’ve been here long enough to know something about the defense and get out there and contribute.’

‘The Bills, 8-8 last season, spent lavishly on free agents to take that next step. The Giants returned 20 starters from a 10-6 team that made the playoffs.’

‘Bills Coach Gregg Williams pushed aside the question of whether his players would continue to play hard under the circumstances. “These are prideful men,” Williams said in a conference call this week. “I don’t think you would ask the doctor that when he is going into surgery on a tough surgery, either.”‘

‘Yet as bad as all that sounds, there’s not a feeling of chaos inside the Giants’ locker room – at least not yet. Publicly, the players remain mostly united. They don’t expect this season to deteriorate into a finger-pointing mess.’

‘”It shouldn’t be tough to get up,” Allen said of today’s game against the Bills, a meeting of two 4-7 teams that weren’t supposed to be in such dire straights. “I’m in desperate need of a win, no matter what may happen as far as [the] postseason. You still have pride, you still want teams to respect you. Going out there and fighting hard each week is fine and dandy, but at some point we’ve got to come up victorious at the end of the game.”‘

‘”Let’s hear the 50,000 other fans; let’s listen to that other voice, too,” Kitty told The Post in a telephone interview. “It would be wonderful if they would start a chant ‘Keep Fassel.’ How about that? ‘Keep Fassel.’ So I hear what is not being said.”‘

‘”It’s probably easier,” Tiki Barber said. “The way we’ve been playing, we have nothing to lose. We can go out with a little bit of reckless abandon and not feel any inhibition about making mistakes. We can just play football and hopefully get better as the weeks go on.”‘

‘The fans, too, are braced for the worst. Their team has not won a home game since the opener Sept. 7. They won’t be in a forgiving mood on a blustery day against a bad team on a holiday weekend.’

‘”We would use the words ‘extremely frustrated’ around here,” said Bills linebacker London Fletcher. “Especially these last three weeks.”‘

‘Giants 23, Bills 16.’

‘A win over a struggling Buffalo squad, which has running back Travis Henry playing with a cracked bone in his leg, and Bledsoe having missed two days of practice with lingering affects from a concussion, would help keep the boo-birds away.’