Two Bills Drive

‘The Bills introduced their new coaching staff to the media at the team’s training facility in Orchard Park, NY on Tuesday, February 10. The group is made up of five incumbents from the 2003 staff and 10 first-year Bills coaches.’

‘The 2004 free agent period for the NFL begins on March 3 and the Bills have a total of 12 players that are either categorized as a EFA, RFA or UFA this offseason. Below is a complete list of Buffalo’s 2004 free agents, broken down into their respective categories.’

In the Bills locker room, where new fashions don’t go unnoticed, Wire drew praises and inquiries from his teammates when he premiered his new lid. “I was wearing that hat around and guys on the team started asking me about it and where I got it,” Wire remembered “When I told them, they asked me to start making hats for them and it kind of grew from there. I realized that people understood the purpose behind it and I realized a lot of people could benefit from it.”

‘Wyche takes medication for his heart and says he’s fine. The voice, well, he can work around that. “If I’m on the field on a real windy day, then I’m going to have to get closer to the guys to communicate,” Wyche said. “And coaching is teaching. And you’ve got to be able to communicate. But we’ll handle that.”’

‘”I look at it as they took the best player available, and grabbing him had nothing to do with me,” said Henry, the NFL’s fifth-leading rusher last season. “I can only control what I can control. And everything else will play out.”’

‘The Bills’ offensive overhaul so far includes an offense-minded head coach in Mike Mularkey, a new coordinator who is a former star quarterback in Tom Clements, one of the most experienced offensive line coaches in the game in Jim McNally, and Wyche.’

‘”The heart is fine. No problem. Physically, I proved that coaching in high school because you’re on the field just like you are in the pros,” Wyche said. “My voice is fine. The volume just isn’t going to get any higher, which is fine indoors. We’ll have to see what happens on the field if it gets windy and there’s other noise, but I think it should be OK and obviously Mike does, too. If one of us wasn’t comfortable with it, this wouldn’t have happened. This has given me so much energy. I can really feel the energy after being here just a week.”‘

‘”I can’t yell,” said Wyche, the colorful former head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “And I can’t tell you how many of my former players have called to say they wished it had happened 20 years ago.”‘

‘”I’ve looked at him as hard as I can,” Wyche said of Beldsoe. “I’ve looked at his arm strength. He’s still got it.”‘

‘He will work in practices with a small microphone attached to a speaker that will hang from his belt, to better project his voice. It would have been a lot easier for the Bills to go hire one of the many assistants who can scream like a banshee all day long and is desperate for the opportunity. But this is Sam Wyche, an innovator, a free-thinker, a former Furman University and NFL quarterback who knows this game as well as anyone and a guy who may have a level of motivation that surpasses anyone out there.’

‘”He got along with the players well,” says Gregg. “They respected him. He sort of gets in the ring with them. He won’t challenge them physically, but he really works hard step-by-step on technique. That’s his big thing, which I saw in him when we first talked. He spends the time needed at it and he’s always looking for what’s being done by somebody else and constantly updates his knowledge. He’s never afraid to ask for advice or help.”‘

‘Coach Mularkey managed to hire his first staff with much more experience than the one Gregg Williams selected as a first time head coach three years ago.’

‘Wyche first served as quarterbacks coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 1979-82, where he helped develop Joe Montana.’

‘A senior vice president with the Union Bank of Switzerland, formerly Payne Webber, McBath has been involved in the stock market for 28 years, and a member of the company’s ‘President’s Club’ for top producing brokers for 25 of those years.’

‘Arkansas CB Kahill Carter and Kutztown tackle Jasen Esposito are going to the Scottish Claymores. New Mexico Military LB Asa Francis will play for Cologne while Vanderbilt QB Greg Zolman will lead the Rhein Fire.’