Two Bills Drive

‘”We want to get into the middle of this race,” he said. “Right now, we’re just kind of hanging out. We’re not in it and we’re not out of it. To really get into the middle of this thing, we’ve got to beat a good team. The Dolphins are probably playing as well as anyone right now. This is an important week for us … to go down and try to establish that we belong in the top part of the race and not just in the middle somewhere. It’s a very big week for us."’

‘How does a dying Rust Belt city end up squaring off with a community known for sun, fun and retirement?’

‘”You take a chance with any trade you make, the Bills did the same thing with Drew Bledsoe as we did (with Williams),” Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Any time you feel the upside is a lot bigger if it hits, you’ve got to take a chance.”‘

‘He agreed to join the team following a Friday night meeting with coach Dave Wannstedt and senior VP Rick Spielman as the Dolphins wasted little time replacing Oronde Gadsden, who tentatively scheduled Tuesday surgery on his left wrist.’

”’Not taking anything away from the previous quarterbacks they had, but they have somebody to get them the football now, and now they can show their talent,” Dolphins cornerback Sam Madison said. ‘If you look at Peerless’ first couple of years, he wasn’t getting as many balls. The quarterbacks probably didn’t have confidence in him or whatever. Now, Bledsoe is a quarterback who spreads the ball around. He doesn’t look just for one receiver. He looks to spread it around.”’

‘NFL greatness isn’t measured by how much talent you can put in the huddle on the season’s first Sunday. It is measured by how much talent you can keep in that huddle once those collisions begin. And it is measured not by how much pure talent you have on your roster at any point in the ravenous season but by how willing and able that pure talent is to play through pain without being diluted.’

‘There’s no one recognized rock on which all the Dolphins lean — that’s simply not how this team works.’

‘Suddenly, Sage Rosenfels is just a shot away.’

‘"He wants to show New England that they let the wrong quarterback go," Madison said, "and so far, he’s making a pretty good case."’

‘Carter, who spent the past 12 seasons in Minnesota, had visited with the Dolphins during the free-agent signing period last spring but the two parties never came close to reaching agreement on financial compensation.’

‘Carter would make the Dolphins better, and on a 5-1 team staring at a Super Bowl run that’s all that matters. Period. Next paragraph.’

‘”It makes you realize you’re really playing this game for a short amount of time and that you can be knocked out at any time,” said Spriggs, who had no previous knee problems. “It’s unbelievably hard work just to get your knee a little stronger.”‘

‘The Bills (3-3) know what the Dolphins want to do. Williams is the third-leading rusher in the NFL with 614 yards, and Miami is averaging 30 points per game.’

‘Carter will earn the prorated portion of a $1 million base salary, roughly $588,000, and he could earn another $750,000 in incentives, according to a source.’

‘Backup quarterbacks have won the past three Super Bowls…’