Two Bills Drive

‘The Buffalo Bills filled out their defensive staff by appointing Pat Thomas defensive backs coach on Tuesday amd Steve Jackson as a defensive assistant.’

‘The 46-year old Thomas enters his eighth year coaching defensive backs in the NFL. He spent the past two years running his own business. His previous stops included the Colts (1994-97) and the Oilers (1990-92). He began his coaching career with the Houston Gamblers (USFL) in 1983 …’

‘By Yahoo Sports/The Sporting News/The Warroom

Fall changes in coaches may not bring everything their fans are expecting.

‘Traditionally, Buffalo has been a 3-4 defensive team, but Williams won’t stop there. He will run some 4-3 man and even more 4-6 zone. The Bills might get outplayed next season, but they won’t be outschemed with Williams at the helm.’

NFLTalk says that ‘Flutie is willing to restructure (get more bonus money rather than salary) contract to lower number if he is named starting QB.’

‘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."’