Two Bills Drive

‘The cbs.sportsline power ranking has the Bills ranked 17th. Nice piece on Buffalo West, having the Chargers ranked 23rd. Potential sixth seed combatants? Perhaps the Bills/Chargers game will settle more than the QB controversy…’

‘Well it looks like another sportswriter has a dour feeling about the Bills. The author rates the Bills as having suffered the 4th worst performance of any team this offseason. He highlights the losses of Sam Rogers, Ted Washington, Joe Panos, and Chris Mohr as being crucial and damaging.’

The National Football League is considering leaving the last two Monday night dates open this season in an attempt to televise meaningful games leading up to the playoffs.

“They asked us about it at the league meetings last week and everybody was very much in favor of it,” Harlan said. “It’s just whether they’ll be able to start it in (2001) or ’02.”

Harlan said the league is considering waiting until possibly three weeks before the last two Monday night games before deciding which games would have the most appeal on those last two dates.

‘For those who believe football is a 12 month sport, here is some pre-draft fuel. Bills are on their poll choice list for team which has declined the most this offseason?’

‘Cris Collinsworth, Mark Kelso, Megan Donnelly and Dr. James Martin are among a group of 25 finalists for induction into the 2001 Verizon Academic All-America Hall of Fame®. Five of the finalists will be inducted at ceremonies in New York in June.’

‘[This Steve Tasker column appears in Shout!’s 2001 NFL draft issue, on newstands this week. Call 1-800-932-4557 for a subscription.] The new off-season training program that Gregg Williams has instituted is really the players’ best opportunity to adjust to the new coaches without the pressure of having to play a game the next Sunday.’

‘But his position seems obvious: He was waiting to get an offer that he considered good enough to make him want to stay. He didn’t get it. Wilson fired him. Wilson says he is convinced there was no offer that could have kept him.’

‘Remember when the Bills signed Bryce Paup and Ted Washington in 1995, then added Chris Spielman the next year for the free-agency triple crown? We may never see that again.’

‘They both had their reasons for Doug Flutie’s coming and his going, but in the end it came down to this: The club for which he won a lot of games believed he had less to do with those victories than the club that just hired him did.’

‘In the autumn of 1924, while in his final year of dental school at the University of Buffalo, where he had been captain of the football and basketball teams, Ailinger joined the Buffalo Bisons of the N.F.L., which had been founded only four years earlier. Listed at 5 feet 11 and 185 pounds, he played guard on both offense and defense.’

‘A final decision isn’t due until June 1, although the issue could be put to a vote at a May meeting. The plan that many league and team officials believe has the best chance of receiving the necessary 24 votes for approval is called Option A1.’

"These guys, they’re teachers and they want to work hard," explained Wright when asked about the new coaching staff and offseason conditioning program. "Actually, (DB’s coach) Pat Thomas’s nephew was my roommate in college, so I knew his style a bit. He’s up in everyone’s face. He gets down with the defensive backs and backpedals with them.

‘Being drafted versus doing the drafting certainly supplies different kinds of pressure. Marv Levy handled that pressure from inside the Buffalo Bills’ “war room” quite well… it comes as no surprise that two of the more memorable recollections of the Hall of Fame coach came in the late 1980s just prior to the Bills’ Super Bowl run.’

’14. Buffalo (8-8) – Marcus Stroud – DT – Georgia.

Bills front four has gone through some more major overhauling, and Stroud would be an excellent new anchor in the middle.’

"If you saw the film with Buffalo, (Bills linebacker) Sam Cowart rarely got touched," Washington said. "He went to the Pro Bowl. I’m not taking full credit for that, but that’s my job. I don’t like to see guards and centers get on the linebackers because of the size difference."