Two Bills Drive

‘"You don’t rebuild an entire football team in two years," he said. "It takes time. You’ve got to have patience. That’s not what the NFL is all about. But I like watching kids grow. I like to see them get better."’

‘Since the bye week was introduced in the NFL schedule, the Bills are 10-3 in games following the open date.’

‘Their 5-4 record says they are tied for first, but with a 1-2 record in games against their AFC East rivals, and a 2-4 mark in the AFC — key tiebreakers which, given the jumbled state of the playoff race, will certainly come into play — the Bills have little room for error in these final seven weeks.’

‘”I don’t think there’s any question I’ll be able to play on Sunday, the biggest thing is not to have a setback and have it tighten back up on me,” Riemersma said. “The big question is how I feel (today) because I did quite a bit today. I pretty much took my normal reps.”‘

‘Heading into week 11 of the regular-season schedule, 13 of 16 AFC teams are either tied for first place or are one game back in their respective divisions.’

‘”I think last year he wanted to err on the side of being a little too hard on some guys, and some guys really didn’t appreciate it,” fullback Larry Centers said. “He kind of has a rough edge to his approach, and he’ll tell you flat-out how it is. For a veteran, you always want a little leeway, and last year with Gregg there wasn’t a whole lot of leeway.”‘

‘The Chiefs might have some competition for [Greg] Favors. He already has visited with Green Bay and could be headed to Buffalo and Carolina.’

‘”This,” Bledsoe told himself, “is a cool football town.”‘

‘Carol Vermeil, 66, wife of the Chiefs coach, was assaulted by a purse snatcher Tuesday afternoon on the streets of Kansas City’s fashionable Plaza shopping area, near where the Vermeils reside.’

‘Former Delaware quarterback Scott Brunner, former Kutztown (Pa.) receiver Andre Reed and former Valdosta State (Ga.) linebacker Jessie Tuggle comprise the 2002 class of inductees.’

Knowing it was only a matter of time before opponents started to figure out ways to contain Buffalo’s Drew Bledsoe-led offense, Gilbride spent the extra practice time tinkering with some changes in order to keep everyone guessing.

"I really enjoyed my whole time there. There’s just great people in the Buffalo area. I still talk to a lot of people in the organization and obviously, my teammates. We all see each other at different events in the off-season. The relationships, I think, are the best part as far as on-the-field stuff. I think ’88, when we won our division and (the fans) tore the goalposts down, we were right up there in the top of the league. It was the first time that we had that feeling that we were one of the premier teams in the league."

The Short Punt

I’m always an aggressive guy so I’m always lobbying to go for it but ultimately those are the types of decisions that head coaches make and he’s our coach so we stand by what he calls. I trust him. And if we punt it down to the two-yard line and our defense makes a big stand then everybody is talking about what a genius he is. Ultimately, he’s our coach and we stand by him. He makes the calls and we go play.

The Bills hold a 20-15-1 overall lead (18-14-1 in the regular season) against the Chiefs in a series that dates back to 1960. These two teams were members of the original six-team American Football League, with the Chiefs franchise originally located in Dallas.

Read a week-by-week review of Bledsoe. He is 2nd in the NFL amongst quarterbacks in yardage (2,802) and yards per game (284.9) behind only Rich Gannon (2,898; 310.2); 3rd in completions (231) behind Rich Gannon (266) and Tom Brady (243) and is 4th in TDs (17) behind Tom Brady (21), Rich Gannon (19) and Aaron Brooks (19).