Two Bills Drive

The Bears purged another expensive free agent mistake left over from the past front-office regime, releasing cornerback Thomas Smith.

Smith entered the league as the Bills’ first-round choice in the 1993 draft. He is expected to draw immediate interest from several teams including Indianapolis and Seattle.

‘"First I will be the best. Then I will be the first," the T-shirt reads. "That’s my motto," Henry said after Tuesday’s practice. "I live by it and die by it."’

‘Travis Brown, whose only snaps have come in the past few days of practice, appears to have won the Buffalo Bills third-string quarterback job.’

Jack Hawley, QB, rookie, San Diego State

Rocky Henry, WR, 1st year, Utah

Josh Lind, G, rookie, Oklahoma State

Kendrick Office, DE, rookie, West Alabama

Josh Roth, FB, 1st year, University of Buffalo

All NFL teams are required to trim their rosters to 65 by 4:00 PM (Eastern) today. The final cutdown to 53 must be made by Sunday at 4:00 PM.

Rob Johnson’s stat line on Saturday night wasn’t very impressive. What was most disconcerting was his seeming lack of comfort in the pocket and with his progression of reads. Despite there being just one preseason game left before the opener with New Orleans, Johnson and his head coach aren’t panicking.

‘When will he learn to unload the ball? The question isn’t going away until Johnson proves he can avoid getting sacked.’

‘Travis Brown had his first full workout with the Bills on Monday, five days after he was signed to compete for the third quarterback position behind Rob Johnson and Alex Van Pelt.’

Held Tonight (Tuesday).

It kicks off the Bills season for the corporate community and raise awareness and support for the Food Bank of Western New York.

The networking reception brings together corporate sponsors, local restaurants, chefs and the entire roster of Buffalo Bills players and coaches. Guests will sample specialty foods prepared by some of the region’s finest restaurants.

‘The third sack in particular occured on a stunt, with 5 men rushing. The RDE looped around to the left and shot thru the right guard and tackle, who were both occupied. It is Larry Center’s job to pick it up, he threw a poor block. Ruben Brown saw this and quickly rolled back to hit attacker, leaving Michael Early with no help on Oliver Gibson, who had a near clean shot at Johnson, and ultimately lead to RJ getting sacked near the line by the safety…’

‘With just one dress rehearsal left, Thursday at Pittsburgh, Christie’s struggles are magnified, putting into question new general manager Tom Donahoe’s decision-making last spring.’

‘A new offense or not, blocking problems or not, it’s going to be another long season for Johnson unless he learns to throw the ball sooner, Moulds said.’

‘”It’s easy for people to go in and continue to preach and say that he has to do this and he has to do that,” Moulds said. “But Rob has to go out and make the decision that, ‘This is what I’m going to do. And this is the type of quarterback that I’m going to be.””

‘Buffalo isn’t too sorry to see Three Rivers Stadium go, as the Bills were just 2-8 lifetime at Three Rivers, with their last win in Pittsburgh coming in the 1992 AFC Divisional Playoffs on the heels of the comeback game against Houston.’

The Bills catch a break with a relatively soft schedule. However, with huge holes along the offensive line, the brittleness of starting QB Rob Johnson and the vast turnover of players on defense, the Bills will do well to break even this season.

‘Center Michael Early was a no-name free agent when he signed just before the Buffalo Bills went to training camp. To most fans and media, the 6-foot-2, 320-pounder was nothing more than an extra body for practice. However, Bills observers recently were hit with the reality that Early is close to being the regular-season starter.’