Two Bills Drive

‘"Jay has been a very productive and proven player in the National Football League," Steelers coach Bill Cowher. "We are happy to have had the opportunity at this time to add such a quality player."’

Jay Riemersma, who played for the Buffalo Bills for the last seven seasons, was in Pittsburgh visiting with coaches and team personnel on Wednesday and before he got a chance to walk out the door, he signed a contract.

According to Brian Levy, agent for defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday, the Bills are not a player in the Vonnie Holliday situation. "We have spoken, however, there is no interest in him at the numbers we are currently at with other teams," Levy said.

‘Buffalo was also a stop, but the Bills signed Jack-sonville’s Bobby Shaw instead. That left the Panthers, who hope a surgically repaired Dyson can once again become the kind of speed receiver they so desperately need.’

‘With training camp still four months away, and the draft over five weeks off, Bills’ fans are already cranked up over the coming season. And the reason is Donahoe’s aggressive personnel acquisitions via free agency that have addressed Buffalo’s defensive shortcomings in emphatic fashion.’

No one has played in more games, has caught more passes, has more receiving yards and has hauled in more touchdowns for the Buffalo Bills than Andre Reed. A two-time ECAC All-Star at Kutztown (PA) University, Reed realized during the first day of Buffalo’s training camp in 1985 that he had what it took to make the transition from Division II to the NFL.

‘"I never expect to be given a starting position," Reese said. "I know at safety there’s some opportunity here. I’m well aware of that. All you can ask for is to compete for the job."’

Brian Levy, Holliday’s agent, said that Buffalo has dropped out of the running to sign the unrestricted free agent. Levy wouldn’t name the other two teams that might try to sign his client because they haven’t decided whether to get in the running.

‘”The offer is there if he wants to take it, but there’s one thing about (general manager) Tom Donahoe: He sizes up talent, their value to the team, he makes an offer and that’s it. Otherwise you’re going to get yourself into this game of just going up and up. We were in that cycle and we’re trying to get out of (it).”‘

‘”It’s the best front office organization we’ve ever had in 43 years,” Wilson said.’

‘Can Reed pick up where Price left off? There are some around the league who question whether Reed can do it, wonder if his lack of big-play speed is a detriment to what the Bills will want to do on offense.’

Prior to joining the Saints in 2002, Irvin spent seven seasons in Buffalo, where he started 46 games from 1997 to 1999. He originally was a fourth-round pick of the Bills in the 1995 NFL Draft out of Memphis.

The offer sheet for Lindell is proof that the Bills were not going to pay top ten kicker money for Mike Hollis, who was looking for about $1.3 million a season. That’s a 50 percent raise from last year’s $650 thousand dollar salary.

Bills GM Tom Donahoe was apparently convinced that Hollis was going to stick to his guns on that figure in light of recent deals for John Hall (5 years $7.13M) and Chicago’s Paul Edinger (5 years $7M) and decided to look elsewhere.

Dan Pompei throws an interesting jab at Buffalo : For Spikes, he no longer is encumbered by the history of losing and the humiliation of wearing stripes. When he signed with Buffalo, he said he wanted to smell the playoffs. He had to be reminded that it’s about more than smelling playoffs in Buffalo (it’s also about losing Super Bowls).

‘The Bills have attacked the offseason as effectively as anyone in the league, with Spikes being the centerpiece of that well coordinated plan.’