Two Bills Drive

‘It was a welcoming feeling,” he said of Sunday’s player introductions when he was the last Buffalo defender to exit the inflated helmet. “From leaving Boston the way I did, rejected, to coming here and getting my name called out and getting the fans going, it just felt like I’d been here my whole career."’

‘The Buffalo Bills’ new tackle titan Lawyer Milloy was bowled over by all the love shown by 400 New England Patriots fans who packed a Boston bowling alley last night to raise money for his charitable foundation…“The city of Buffalo and my teammates welcomed me with open arms, but the city of Boston, I love you and thanks for lettin’ me be me.”’

‘"These fans were just crazy. I just loved them. To come here and see this kind of support, even when we first got here, and it hasn’t diminished at all, I just wanted to give my heart and soul to the team and be a winner. I wanted to participate in the community and just offer all the support I could from the standpoint of a player on the team. It was just fantastic," said Warlick, who was presented with the Ralph C. Wilson Distinguished Service Award three years ago. "I was recognized as having played a part in not only the community, but the team back then. I made that my life’s work, playing professional sports, and to be recognized like that, that’s the ultimate."’

‘"I think it was a little bit of a statement game for us," Bledsoe said. "We came out and said, "Listen, it’s not just on paper where we got better. We actually can take it to the field.’ But that being said, in this league you’ve got to prove it every week. We made a bit of a statement, but we also woke some people up."’

‘"I checked out every one of them, man," Spikes said Monday afternoon. "Empire Sports, ESPN, CNN, ESPN2. I checked out everything. It was a sight to see."’

‘"He gives you a threat on the perimeter," Williams said. "He gives you a threat with his feet that should he ever get in a ball game he can makes some plays out of nothing."’

‘Although it was only one game, there was undoubtedly something different about this Bills team that I haven’t seen in quite some time. Come to think of it, probably since the seasons surrounding that opening-day win over the Rams in ’92 I had mentioned earlier. Could you feel it?’

‘What did they really do? The Patriots aren’t exactly like shutting down Joe Montana’s 49ers.’

‘Who was Bill Belichick trying to kid when he kept denying that the Lawyer Milloy saga had nothing to do with his team’s performance? He kept saying the Bills totally outplayed the Patriots, and he was right, but to think his strange release of Milloy and his subsequent signing by Buffalo did not play a factor in the game is out of touch with reality.’

‘” Coy is a special young man and he made some significant plays in the special teams, plays that were needed for us on open-field plays,” Williams said Monday. ” He’s a good football player.”‘

‘M&T Bank has signed a 5-year marketing agreement with the Buffalo Bills that gives the it high profile exposure at Ralph Wilson Stadium and the status of “official bank” of the Buffalo Bills.’

‘”Lawyer is no longer here. To my understanding he’s probably not gonna come back, so we can’t count on that. I mean, I want my granddaddy to come back, but I’ve been waiting a long time and he ain’t coming back. The chances of me suiting up here with Lawyer again, you know, miracles can happen, but I don’t see any. As soon as we win or as soon as they lose, things are going to be forgotten.”‘

‘The Patriots came out with a surprising lack of emotion, considering it was opening day, against a division rival, with Milloy and Drew Bledsoe on the opposing team. “There wasn’t really a lot for us to build on and that is because we didn’t make enough plays for us to build positively on,” Belichick said. “I think it is hard to be emotionally positive when things aren’t going well and they certainly didn’t go well early in that game and that is our fault.”‘

‘Even when the Patriots were down 21-0 to the Buffalo Bills at halftime on Sunday, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was convinced his team could erase the deficit.’

‘Patriots coach Bill Belichick said the club does not intend to pursue allegations of personnel tampering by the Washington Redskins in their pursuit of strong safety Lawyer Milloy.’