Two Bills Drive

‘Since there are not many NFL-caliber QBs available to draft this year, one

option for the Bills is to sign a CFL QB when Flutie or Johnson is cut. Unfortunately it is not as easy as it sounds for CFL players need to be signed by end of February and both hot prospects have no training camp experience hence money needs to come out of rookie pool.’

Nice article about the fine people of WNY: "This lovable rust-belt city is full of blue-collar guys of every ethnic background who get together on Sunday to watch the Bills and remove their shirts in 35-degree weather. (We) support everything from tractor pulls to the philharmonic — and hardly any drive-by shootings…"

‘I’d like to re-speculate. I think Johnson will be slipped the queen of spades and Flutie will be the starting quarterback for the 2001 season.’

‘"I learned about his toughness because we see what he goes through and are amazed by how he pulls through. It makes me realize that football was fun, but this is real tough."’

‘New Buffalo Bills coach Gregg Williams officially added five more assistants to his staff yesterday, including two holdovers from the 2000 season — Chuck Lester and John Levra.’

‘I’m not ready to write off Johnson, but in fairness, he was a coach killer with his performance last season.’

‘Buffalo, which has two fortune 500 companies, use the power of the medium sized businesses to increase the market share and ticket sales. Now the Saints, which has only ONE fortune 500 companies is trying to do the same.’

‘Kaiser is the second former Cowboys’ coach to join Williams’ staff in Buffalo. Ronnie Vinklarek, OSU’s offensive line coach for two years, has also joined the Bills staff.’

‘Neal, 51, was the offensive assistant for Titans coach Jeff Fisher…Kaiser, 48, spent six seasons at Oklahoma State…Kragthorpe, 35, has been the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M for the past three seasons.’

‘The Bills today announced that the team has agreed to terms with three more assistant coaches – Tommy Kaiser (offensive assistant/special teams assistant), Steve Kragthorpe (quarterbacks) and Dan Neal (tight ends).’

‘"I expect criticism…it’s the personal stuff I don’t want. If you don’t like me because of the color of my hair or the color of my eyes, I can’t do anything about that, and that has no place in reporting. "But," he continued, "if you want to criticize our moves or our decisions, you have every right to do that…in fact, it’s your responsibility."’

‘Phillips was fired on January 8th, opening the door for the gifted Bryson to challenge the hulking Morris for the starter’s role in Gregg Williams’ new offense. Williams’ familiarity with Eddie George should insure that he knows the value of establishing a workhorse back.’

‘Gray has the same aggressive, attack style approach that Williams does disguising their defensive intentions with a host of different packages. But what he’s most interested in pulling off is the big play, "I know two years ago when we (Titans) went to the Super Bowl the defense really stepped up.’

In case you missed it live there are a couple videoclips, although they were taken from across the river. Plenty of photos….

The Buffalo Bills, who have a new general manager and a new coach, will probably have a new look as well in 2001 because of a $12.7 million cap overage. Certainly the club will not be able to afford both Rob Johnson and Doug Flutie at quarterback and likely will be forced to sacrifice at least two defensive starters.

"Let’s face it, we’re hostage to the cap right now," said new president and general manager Tom Donahoe. "It’s kind of like being in a cap jail. But you have to dig your way out and part of that is making tradeoffs. You have to ask yourself, ‘If I keep the guy at this position, where do I scrimp to make up for it? Is there somewhere I have a young player ready to step up, a spot where I can let a veteran go and play the cheaper guy?’ It’s all about tough decisions and having to handle as many as possible in the right way."