Two Bills Drive

Class of 2003 to be announced Saturday, January 25

Orchard Park, NY – Bills owner Ralph Wilson, offensive guard Joe DeLamielleure, and wide receiver James Lofton were named today as three of the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2003.

‘Modrak has worked for the last 18 months as the director of football operations and assistant general manager of the Bills under team president and general manager Tom Donahoe. The Jaguars were given permission by the Bills last week to interview Modrak for the personnel job, according to the source.’

‘Former New York Giants general manager George Young and Buffalo Bills founder and owner Ralph Wilson are also finalists.’

The Jets, Steelers, Falcons & 49ers advanced. Watch video highlights from the game.

LB Clay Matthews intercepted a QB Jim Kelly 11-yard pass on the 1-yard line with 9 seconds left in the game to preserve the victory for the Browns. In dramatic style, Buffalo began a comeback bid after K Matt Bahr kicked a 47-yard FG to give Cleveland a 34-24 lead with 6:50 left in the fourth quarter. Kelly began a string of 23 consecutive pass plays and closed the gap to 4 when he hit RB Thurman Thomas for a 3-yard TD.

The Bills’ Super Bowl dream came to a close on the frozen surface of Three Rivers Stadium with a 40-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the AFC playoffs. The Bills, playing without DE Bruce Smith who remained in Buffalo with the flu, quickly found themselves trailing 20-0 with under five minutes to play in the first half.

‘And having the league’s longest punt can’t hurt Moorman when contract negotiations come around. Moorman’s contract ended after this season and he is an exclusive rights free agent of the Bills, meaning that if the Bills want him, they have his exclusive rights. After next season, Moorman will be a restricted free agent and an unrestricted free agent after his fourth season.’

Sure, throwback uniforms are often viewed with a sense of awed nostalgia, but so is junior high school, and I don't see people buying tickets to experience that all over again. There's usually a very good reason old uniforms are burned like the American flag – ceremoniously or otherwise.

‘Find two more big-impact players and two more good role players in the defensive front seven. The Bills ranked 27th in points allowed, 32nd in takeaways and 29th against the run.’

‘”I really believe it was an instrumental part of the season,” coach Gregg Williams said, referring to the play of the revamped line. “We had some skill guys in place, and obviously we brought Drew in for a big part of the improvement, but he has to have those five guys up front to have the chance to do what he does.”‘

The starting all-star lineups for the 2003 Pro Bowl were announced today at halftimes of the AFC and NFC Wild Card playoff games. The AFC All-Star starters were announced during the Indianapolis at New York Jets game and the NFC starters at the Atlanta at Green Bay game.

‘WGR-AM General Manager Greg Ried announced a move that Dickerson has openly discussed – his impending departure until the Bills’ regular season starts up again in September.’

‘”The expectations within the team and everywhere should be for us to make the playoffs,” he said. “We won’t back off of that one bit. This year, for this team to go from 3-13 to 8-8 is a step forward. We feel like we should’ve been better, been in the playoffs, but next year definitely. This team should be a playoff team and anything less will be unacceptable.”‘

‘Of the 60 players currently on Buffalo’s squad, including injured reserve and non-football-related injury, a total of 14 – less than a quarter – were with the team when Donahoe became president/general manager in January of 2001. And that number will shrink.’