Two Bills Drive

Tom Donohoe did the right thing in giving his head coach the vote of confidence. Gregg Williams works for him. He gave him the public support he deserves. If Donohoe has a problem with the way his coach is doing his job, he’ll handle it the professional way. He’ll tell him about it in private and if he’s not satisfied, take care of it at the end of the season.

Coach: Rick Tomberlin; School: Washington County HS; City: Sandersville, GA

BOOMER ESIASON: With the bye week now on hand, this team needs to straighten itself out quickly. The Bills are 4-4, but with the Dolphins, Patriots, Colts, Giants and Cowboys on the schedule, this could end up being the most over-hyped and under-performing team in the NFL. Reputations don’t win games.

“Nevertheless, Bledsoe does need to play much better if the Bills are to have any hope of reaching the playoffs”

‘”I’m pleased with all of our coaches, I really am,” Donahoe said. “I’m pleased with the fact they’re together. I’m pleased with the fact they’re working hard. I’m pleased with the fact they’re trying to find out, “OK, we’ve got eight games in. We’ve got a lot of tape, information. Let’s take this week, see what are we doing wrong.’ . . . That’s what you do as a good coach and a good staff, and I’m pleased with that.”‘

‘I think a midseason switch, in their view, is much more a case of giving up on the season than trying to save it. If Williams were fired, assistant head coach Dick LeBeau would be the obvious interim replacement. He has the experience. He’s a good man. But LeBeau lived through the interim experience in 2000 in Cincinnati. I’m certain he would advise holding off on a change as long as possible.’

‘”I understand you guys (the media) have a job to do and that’s part of your job. But it doesn’t go on here. We don’t sit around all day after a bad game and say, ‘OK, who’s fault was this?’ We lost as a team the other day. As a TEAM. Two weeks ago against Washington, we won as a team. And that really is our approach to everything in this building.”‘

‘”If the feeling is that come Nov. 5 that he’s not ready to play, but he might be in a couple of weeks, he could be on the 53 and he’s just one of your eight inactive guys until everybody feels ‘OK, let’s put him in a game.'”‘

‘The parents of four children took on the juggling act in 1998 – when Stefanie Spielman was diagnosed with breast cancer and her husband announced that he would take a year off from professional football. He was then playing for the Buffalo Bills.’

‘He was cleared to practice two weeks ago and the Bills have until November fifth to either activate McGahee or place him on injured reserve.’

‘”It’s just going to take commitment to the team and everyone pulling their weight focusing on what their job is and doing it and not doing too much. It’s easy to turn this around. We can easily turn this around. If we start handing the ball off to Travis Henry, he seems to be hot, and we keep getting the ball to him and let him do his thing it will all fall into place.”‘

”’I think we’re in a gut-check period for this team and this staff and this organization,” Donahoe said. ”And I’m confident we’re going to come out of this and get this thing going in the right direction because I believe in the people that we have doing it.”’

”’It’s just not the old Bills that used to play around here,” Thomas said, recalling many of his former teammates, such as Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Bruce Smith. ”It doesn’t seem like anybody’s stepping up to the forefront right now and being a leader.”’

‘“We probably would be leaning that way,” Donahoe said. “We can activate him, but it doesn’t mean he has to dress. The thing that you probably do not want to do with Willis is put him back on IR because then he can’t practice.”’

When the Bills chose offensive guard Reggie McKenzie during the 1972 NFL draft, they knew they were getting a consensus All-American and they also knew they were getting a two-time All-Big Ten selection, who had played in two Rose Bowl games. What they didn’t know, was that they were also getting an unquestionable team leader and a player that would be nearly as dependable as the sun rising in the east for the next 11 years.