Two Bills Drive

‘For Joe DeLamielleure and James Lofton, today will be, aside from births and their wedding days, the most memorable occasion of their lives.’

‘Jill Kelly has begged her husband to relax his schedule, to take a step back and appreciate what he has around him. Buffalo connections played a major role in building the home in Richmond, where he says builders attempted to take advantage of his money. Kelly had half the house built from Buffalo companies, everything from windows to carpeting to the wiring for the in-house intercom system. He figures it saved him more than $100,000, some of which was based on trust alone.’

‘This was DeLamielleure’s 13th year of being eligible for the Hall. “The longer the wait, the sweeter the taste,” he said.’

‘Lofton will become the third straight Buffalo representative from the Super Bowl era to go into the Hall of Fame when he is inducted today. Kelly went in last year. Former Head Coach Marv Levy was inducted in 2001. There will be more to come. Reed, running back Thurman Thomas and defensive end Bruce Smith also starred on the Bills’ Super Bowl teams. “Those three guys are no-brainers,” Kelly said.’

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‘”We started off awful slow,” said Head Coach Butch Davis, who was dismayed with his running game for the second time in as many days against Buffalo.’

‘Couch took the first series of the day with the first unit, against Buffalo’s No. 1 defense. After Couch ran a series of plays starting on the 30, Holcomb did the same, with the other members of the No. 1 offense coming back out. However, Buffalo’s substitution pattern was different, and the Bills sent out their No. 2 defense.’

‘Holcomb finished 12-of-16 for 164 yards and two scores. Couch was 8-of-13 for 79 yards and one score.’

‘Only Couch went against Buffalo’s first-unit defense, and he was effectively shut down during that set of plays.’

‘” I just wanted to let him know, just in case he didn’t get the tape,” Donahoe said with a sly grin.’

‘Williams isn’t ready to anoint either Van Pelt or Brown as No. 2, but he reiterated that ” we want to get (Brown) as much time as we can this preseason.” To that end, it is expected that Brown is going to get the lion’s share of work in the four exhibitions to see if he’s ready to become Bledsoe’s backup. ” I don’t think of it as extra pressure,” Brown said. ” It’s a great opportunity for me and my career, but more importantly it’s a great opportunity for this team and I’m looking forward to making myself the best that I possibly can, whether that’s the second spot or the third spot.”‘

‘Fans in Buffalo always viewed him in a positive light. They appreciated his blue-collar work ethic and his durability. They liked the fact he preferred to let his play do his talking for him. He left the caviar and champagne to the superstars. He was a beer and chicken wings kind of guy; a true Buffalonian; one of them. ” I’ve always loved the people there,” he said. ” They’re real people. There’s nothing phony about them.”‘

‘” He’s one of those guys whose winning attitude is infectious,” Polian says of Lofton, who is now in his second season as the San Diego Chargers’ receivers coach. ” I think the day will come in the not-so-distant future when James will get the opportunity to become a head coach in the NFL, and he’ll wind up making his mark in that job, too.”‘

‘”(The defense) looked pretty tough today,” he said. “The Browns had a lot of trouble getting back to the line of scrimmage (in the running game). “If they can play at that level all year, it will make things significantly easier for us as an offense and allow us to win some games defensively.”‘

‘Tickets were cheap for this football “friendly.” The difference in turnout between yesterday and the recent soccer matchup that drew mostly out-of-staters to the stadium is that this brand of football offered the opportunity to boo Tim Couch.’

‘Kevin Johnson was the player of the day, catching five passes for 78 yards, including a 20-yard TD from Holcomb in a red-zone drill. He also caught passes of 13 and 25 yards from Holcomb.’