Two Bills Drive

Rookie to watch: DE Chris Kelsay, the team’s second-round pick, is in a position battle he can win on the left side. Veteran Marcus Jones’ knee problems are improving, but he’s not yet there. Ryan Denney has looked good, but Kelsay has the inside track if he plays well from here on out.

He was originally drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round (167th overall) of the 1993 draft. He spent the majority of his rookie year on the Bills practice squad, but started 10 of 11 games in 1994. He played for the Bills through the 1997 season.

Washington is a four-time Pro Bowler, having been selected in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. After three seasons in San Francisco, he went to Denver for a year before playing six seasons in Buffalo. He left Buffalo in 2001 to join the Bears and was a force in the middle of a strong defense during the 2001 season in which Chicago finished 13-3.

The Chicago Bears traded veteran nose tackle Ted Washington to the New England Patriots on Tuesday for a fourth-round pick in the 2004 NFL draft.

This will be Washington’s fourth team, but he’s been a part of taking three different franchises to the playoffs — San Francisco, Buffalo and Chicago. Washington has been to the playoffs in seven of his 12 years

‘From 1 to 9, it’s not a stretch to say that the linebackers have been the most impressive unit in training camp for the Bills. Translation: The team’s special teams stand a chance to be better.’

‘” He’ll get enough attention when he produces on the field,” said defensive line coach Tim Krumrie. ” All my guys are going to have a big impact. They’re all going to play and they’re all going to roll.”‘

‘” I think everybody knows I can play,” Henry said. ” Ripping off that run, what people will say is, ‘ I knew he had the speed, I knew he could do it.’ There are people who will jump on the bandwagon. But I don’t feel (I was shutting people up).”‘

‘Thomas has spent most of his time with second- and third-teamers but has dressed for the Bills’ first two pre-season games where he has seen most of his time on special teams. There has been the odd bullet coming his way from Bledsoe in practice, though, for a real taste of the big leagues.’

”’Fred Graves is our wide receivers coach,” Steckel said. ”What happened is he came down with prostate cancer. Gregg came to me and said ‘I know you can coach wide receivers.’ So now I’m coaching the wide receivers and trying to look out the corner of my eye for the running backs and fullbacks. We’ve asked an intern coach to help oversee things until Fred comes back, but I’m busy with meetings. It’s been a challenge, but a good one. It speaks for the character guys Buffalo has.”’

‘”A huge offseason factor for us was, ‘How do we get better around Drew Bledsoe?’ ” coach Gregg Williams says. “He’s proven year after year he can play in this league. We had to get players around him to do their jobs so that we’re not just depending on him to win ballgames. Defense is a big part of that.”‘

‘Thurman Thomas will be at Eastview Mall Friday evening to introduce “Sports Legends Telecom.” Its top service provides home telephone service with unlimited local and long distance calls.’

”’If you went in the dictionary and looked under ‘Old-school football,’ you’d find Sam Gash’s picture,” said quarterback Drew Bledsoe. ”The guy just loves to hit. When he’s on the field, linebackers know he’s on the field. And a lot of times, if they’re smart, they’ll try to kind of duck and hide a little bit because he brings it when he comes to hit.”’

‘"(The Bills) definitely didn’t spend enough time on special teams even though they thought they were putting in enough time," Rogers said. "I was on special teams that were No. 1 in the league in Seattle, so I know what it takes. I was always going to the coaches for more special teams practice, and they didn’t use the best players they could on special teams. That kind of hurt."’

‘”I’m very glad to be a part this campaign,” said Reed. “All of us learned first-hand how common prostate cancer is when Coach (Fred) Graves was diagnosed last month. We’re all thankful that it was detected early and because of that he’s well on his way to a full recovery. Hopefully this program leads to more education, more screenings, and more successes in the battle against it.”‘