Two Bills Drive

‘Now they meet again, Lewis and Bledsoe, Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. It’s their first competitive encounter since that fateful day in Foxboro, when Lewis knocked Bledsoe out of the game, out of his job, and, basically, out of New England.’

‘The former Pro Bowl linebacker claimed he’s "not out for revenge," but he acknowledged, "It will be a tale of two tapes. If I go to Buffalo and play bad, they’ll be like, ‘I told you so.’ If I play great, they’ll be like, ‘We should’ve kept him.’"’

‘"I felt like I deserved more than a one-year audition and that’s basically what they were giving me," Cowart was saying of the Bills’ meager effort to re-sign him. "The way it was structured, they wanted to back-end everything. It didn’t have anything written in stone after the first year and I needed something written in stone."’

‘"I’m looking forward to this," Evans said. "Gregg is a fiery coach, a no-nonsense guy who’ll have his team fired up. He’s a coach you love to play for."’

‘"Some people are writing them off, but we’re not writing them off at all," the Jets cornerback said. "They’ve got nothing to lose. I remember having that feeling in ’96 when I was with Jacksonville. Nobody even thought we were going to make the playoffs."’

‘Is he ready to play? “Ask me Sunday evening and I can answer your question precisely,” Cowart said. “Right now I feel ready to go, but you never know until you get out there and start hitting, start banging and get back into the feel of things again.”‘

‘”Belichick knows something, has confidence and if he thought anything else, he wouldn’t have done this,” Madden said. “The question I have is what effect will Bledsoe being in Buffalo have on Tom Brady – plus or minus? Will he feel better without Bledsoe? I’m not sure.”‘

Gilbride has strong-armed Drew Bledsoe to throw downfield. He also has receivers in Eric Moulds and Peerless Price who have the size and speed to stretch a defense. When teams finally respect the Bills in the air, Gilbride has a ‘talented line’ and ‘hard runners’ in Travis Henry and Shawn Bryson.

‘"People should be excited. You don’t want to try to temper that in any way," Donahoe said weeks later as the Bills prepare to open the season against the New York Jets on Sunday. "But people have to be realistic. They have to understand that we’re still a young team in a lot of areas."’

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‘"I still want to prove to myself," he said, "that I can be what I was."’

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‘Sheldon Jackson’s release leaves the Bills with only 13 players left from the roster Donahoe inherited in taking over in January 2001, following John Butler’s dismissal.’

‘But as much as the 2000 draft was filled with failures, this year’s roster survivors had plenty of success stories.’

The Colts tried everything they could to acquire a backup halfback from the Buffalo Bills, but they wouldn’t settle on Richard Huntley, who was later released by the Bills. They preferred Sammy Morris or Shawn Bryson, but no trade could be worked out.