Two Bills Drive

Bills QB Drew Bledsoe and Patriots QB Tom Brady absolutely have killed their teams’ chances when they’ve been slightly off the past season and a quarter, and if these teams are to have a realistic shot at the Super Bowl, these two signal-callers will have to become more consistent and reliable, particularly in protecting the ball. Of course, it would help if their supporting casts were better, but that won’t change anytime soon, so the pressure is on Brady and Bledsoe to adapt.

‘”He’s a straight down-hill runner. He’s got great contact balance,” said Bills linebacker Takeo Spikes, a former Bengal who recalled what his fellow Auburn alum did to the Bills in the preseason. “I know what he can do. A lot of the guys here know what he can do. When I was with Cincinnati, we came up here (last year) and nobody could even tackle Rudi. That’s what these guys are still talking about. He’s not as fast as damn Corey. He’s a power runner.”‘

‘Even though Spikes is gone, the defense feels good about the future even though such a huge part of their past is blocking them Sunday.’

‘"Believe it or not I got a couple phone calls from them on Monday," he said. "I thought they’d be enjoying their win over Cleveland on Monday, but I guess they love Spikes. I got one from Chad Johnson, he left a message, and Tony Williams and Brian Simmons."’

‘”As a team, we set our standards high the first two weeks,” said strong safety Lawyer Milloy. “That’s our potential. That’s what we expect out of each other. I’ve only been here a couple of weeks and that’s the first thing I got when I walked through that door. These guys expected to be good. You can go to anybody in this locker room and ask if they think we’re playing up to our capabilities and they’d say no.”‘

‘Long snapping is like real estate. The key is location, location, location. You have to be accurate 99 percent of the time. Albright, the ex-Bill now with the Redskins, has made about $3.5 million in 10 years doing nothing but snapping. If I were a backup lineman at a major college, I’d spend all my summers snapping a ball between my legs.’

‘When the Bills offered him a six-year, $32 million contract with a $9 million signing bonus, Spikes called Lewis and asked him not to match, as was Cincinnati’s right. Lewis obliged. In what remains the signature move of his brief tenure, Lewis allowed Spikes to leave.’

‘”Too many times, we make plays and our guys turn around and go back to the huddle,” he said. “Let’s be happy with things, let’s be excited, because the other team feels that – that you have that. The term is ‘swagger.’ It’s a confidence thing.”‘

‘"I personally felt like my tank was running low as far as some of the stuff you had to put up with around there, and then week in and week out getting yourself pumped up mentally thinking you have a chance to win and then be disappointed most of the time," said Spikes. "My mind was pretty much made up. I felt like my time was over. I did my time and, like I told (Lewis), he had some personal goals that he wanted to accomplish in life and I had some at the same time. And I felt that me being there with him and him being there with me, I think we would kind of be cutting short each other of our personal goals."’

‘"(LeBeau) does a great job on game days acting as an assistant coach. He’s in an advisory role to me constantly," said Williams. "When I was a young coach in this league, (Krumrie) was still playing and I loved watching him when he was playing and he coaches the same way, with the same attitude as he played."’

‘"If it weren’t for football," he says solemnly, humbly, "I’d be one of three places. I’d be dead, I’d be in jail, or, what’s the third thing? — selling drugs. I guarantee you I could give you 30 names right now of people I grew up with who are dead. We got ’em dead, we got ’em in jail, we got ’em on the street hustling."’

‘Against Miami and Philadelphia the past two weeks, the Bills committed 21 penalties worth 168 yards and lost both games, deflating the team’s early season momentum like police road spikes piercing the tires of a getaway car.’

‘”I think it helps to know players’ tendencies,” he said. “I never had to play against the Cincinnati Bengals offense, but I practiced against them a lot. Just seeing how they react in certain situations, who seems to turn it up a level, who falls below the level, who seems to be like ‘I’m going to just do my job and see what happens.’ I definitely know that.”‘

‘”We will continue to work from the list of our clientele,” said Tom Donahoe, Bills’ president and general manager. “We will utilize this month to get a firm understanding of exactly where we are in the process. The figures are now in but we want to take a good look at what they indicate.”‘

‘"It gets to the point where you’re getting tired of being an average defence," said Spikes.’