Two Bills Drive

On focus on Sunday:

"We spoke about that immediatley. Today’s practice is pretty trivial compared to what occured. We would be joking each other if we thought we could focus on what we had to do without distractions or what went on. As proud as I am to be a Buffalo Bill, I’m more proud to be a United States. We are, as an organization and as a team, more proud of doing of what we need to do for the nation right now."

The Bills, who had made such tremendous personnel changes in the offseason, I felt did suffer from that. Their QB was sacked five times, admittedly against one of the best defensive pass-rush teams in the league. I’ve never seen a game that changed so much from the first half to the second. Buffalo dominated the first half and then New Orleans just totally took over in the 2nd half. Ricky Williams finally began to show why they thought so highly of him. He had a great 2nd half. The Bills looked impressive early, but fell off.

‘"I got a call from my agent, and he said, "Get your butt to the airport. You have a plane to catch in less than two hours,’ " Arians said.’

‘"The thing the players have done an excellent job of is they’ve bought into the system, they’ve accepted coaching, they’ve practiced very hard, they have studied tape," Smith said. "They have done everything that I have asked of them.’

My family started the day by celebrating my birthday. However, the celebration soon ended when I found myself sitting at the blood bank for 5 hours performing my civic duty.

Today I almost lost my supervisor. He was booked on the flight that went down in PA this morning. Fortunately, he was called out to the west coast a day early and changed his flight. This change of events allowed two small girls to keep their father today. It allowed a woman to keep her husband. It allowed a small group of employees to keep jobs that provide for their own families.

Thousands of others were not so lucky.

Reading the posts on our message board, the Stadium Wall, is a chilling experience. Fellow Bills fans turned to our community for updated news and to check on friends from NYC and Washington DC. Those fans located frighteningly near the attacks shared their experiences as the day’s events unfolded. These personal stories have made today’s tragic events more tangible. Having this community to lean on during times like this is a blessing I will never take for granted.

On behalf of our community, I would like to send a prayer to each and every person who has been directly affected by these attacks. May God be with you in thought and in deed as we all search for some semblance of resolution to today’s events.

‘"Regarding Sunday’s games, we will make no decision today [Tuesday]. We’ll gather information and speak to several parties within the next 24 to 48 hours."’

‘What’s certain is that, in losing the opener, the Bills have set themselves up for early-season failure.’

If you are trying to reach our message boards, we are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by and watch this area for updates.

If you are caught without access to information because of clogged internet connections to the major news sites, you can turn to the Stadium Wall for info. Fans from all over the country are keeping each other up to date with regards to the ongoing terrorist attacks.

‘Kenyatta Wright always wondered if he would ever be good enough to start in the National Football League. He’s about to find out.’

‘Who do they feed off now? Kenyatta Wright? Erik Flowers? If the defense was feeding off anyone, it didn’t show in the third quarter Sunday, when the Saints blew them off the field.’

‘The reserve-injured list is basically the same as injured reserve. The difference is that a player on injured reserve gets his full salary. By working out a settlement with Christie while he’s on the reserve-injured list, the Bills could bring him back after the 10th week of the season. If he stayed on that list all year or was put on injured reserve and released when healthy, the Bills lose all rights to him.’

‘But Wannstedt said Cowart’s injury won’t cause the Dolphins to ease up in this week’s preparation. "It’s a division game," Wannstedt said. "That will be huge in itself. We know Buffalo, they’ve always been tough. The rivalry is as good as any we have."’

‘Coach Gregg Williams said a magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed that Cowart suffered a partial tear of his Achilles’ — the tendon at the back of the heel — while back-pedaling in pass coverage during the first quarter of Sunday’s 24-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the season opener. While Cowart will not require surgery at this time, he has been fitted with a walking cast and "he’s going to miss some significant time," said Williams, who would not give a specific time frame.’

‘"I’d like to see us upset about this loss," he said of the Saints’ game in which Buffalo squandered a 6-0 halftime lead. "Right now, it’s hard to gauge the feeling in the locker room. Everyone is a little quiet. But you’ve got to hate to lose as much as you enjoy to win and young guys have to understand that and play accordingly next week."’