Two Bills Drive

‘"I knew [the Bills] were going to cut somebody out of there," [A.J] Smith said. "We didn’t know which one, but we did suspect it, because of Doug’s age, and it’s well-documented that Ralph Wilson does not like Doug Flutie."’

‘Donahoe and Williams won’t admit it, but they are. This team will be hard-pressed — even if it stays healthy — to win seven or eight games, and that might be pushing it. The Bills need time to adapt to their new styles of offense and defense, their new players, and their new coaches. This will be a season of learning, and some of the lessons will be tough ones.’

‘And as he prepares for his fourth NFL season which begins next Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, he may be on the verge of greatness. He is only 26, and the switch to middle linebacker in coach Gregg Williams new attacking-style "46” defense is expected to take full advantage of Cowart’s extraordinary sideline-to-sideline agility and quickness.’

‘"If Rob can learn to get rid of the ball in this new West Coast offense, I think he’ll be a great quarterback," Wilson said. "I use the word ‘great’, too. I really believe that. He’s intelligent, he’s tough, he’s accurate, he can move around. Will he get hurt? Heck, they all get hurt. Hopefully he won’t. But he’s got as good an arm as I’ve ever seen. If they can coach him in this scheme, I think he can be outstanding."’

‘"It’s the learning curve of the offense," Johnson said. "It’s just a matter of doing it over and over. We’ve been working hard and I think we’ll be all right."’

‘Both WHAM and WCMF will have extensive Bills programming before and after games, as well as during the week, when each station (and their affiliated stations) will trot out a series of experts to talk about the team. “We’re putting more time and effort and energy into coverage of the Bills this year than we did when we had the play-by-play,” says Jeff Howlett, station manager at WHAM. Howlett adds that WHAM decided not to buy the play-by-play rights because of the high cost, a cost it did not want to pass along to its longtime advertisers. WHAM has been running ads that declare that its coverage is not “the company line,” suggesting that WCMF will cave into pressure from the Bills to be positive.’

’20. Buffalo Bills…predicted record 6-10.’

“I’m just glad we got the preseason out of the way, and we can start working on the Saints,” said defensive tackle Pat Williams. “We just ran basic fronts, and we didn’t want to show anything. We’re saving everything for the Saints. For the grand opening, you will see our whole playbook.”

"I felt a few guys came out and played pretty decent tonight overall," Gregg Williams said after Thursday’s pre-season finale in Pittsburgh. "I thought some of our young guys didn’t step up to the plate and do some things that they could have done better.

[Audio only – recorded prior to Pittsburgh game]

Donahoe talks about old issues, preseason (Bills are a work in progress), officials (no concern, officials are competent), 3-4 defense (some players better suited for 3-4, Gregg was willing to go 4-3 but ultimately he was going to go to 3-4) and Buffalo on Superbowl losses (hope champiobnship in time).

‘When Travis Henry gets the football in his hands, he knows where he’s going. Any novice fan can see it.’

‘Hulsey, a 6-foot-5, 340-pounder, seemed to hold his own again at right guard in the Bills’ preseason finale. It appears he will win the job created when Jerry Ostroski suffered a broken leg.’

‘The Fox affiliate is carrying the Bills-Saints opener Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. because the road team determines which network gets to carry the game. The Saints are a NFC team so the game goes to Fox. Channel 29 also gets to carry a second game on a Fox doubleheader weekend, since the game won’t conflict with a Bills home game. WUTV has asked for Flutie’s opening game when San Diego hosts Bruce Smith and the Washington Redskins at 4 p.m. It won’t find out if its request is being granted until Tuesday, but it would be a major surprise if Fox said no because it has to realize the interest here.’

At $12,502,560, Eric Moulds is one of 54 players making $5 Million a year more in compensation including a player’s base salary for 2001 and all signing, reporting, roster and offseason workout bonuses.

The Bills are coming off an 8-8 season and have a new HC, who’s brought in a positive attitude.

The problems are that Buffalo chose the wrong QB in keeping Johnson over Flutie and there simply are too many questions on this team, such as who’s going to run the football?

Johnson, who’s being backed up by Van Pelt, a player who it seems hasn’t taken an NFL snap since Ronald Reagan was in office, has to stay healthy — something he’s never been able to do.