Two Bills Drive

"I think the sleeping giant is about to awaken in Buffalo," says Colts GM Bill Polian, the lead architect of the Bills’ Super Bowl run in the early 1990s. "Last year, (Bills GM) Tom Donahoe did a great job repairing their offense, and this year he appears to have done a similarly great job of fixing their defense. So much, of course, can still happen, with injuries, bad bounces of the ball, etc. But on paper, that’s now a football team that has to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball."

Josh Reed, Buffalo — Drew Bledsoe is the QB, Peerless Price is gone and the defense will get the ball back for the offense more this year. Reed will enter his second season with enough experience to make the jump up to starter. With Eric Moulds opposite him, Reed should double his receptions in 2003.

Among Tampa Bay Storm players, WR/DB Antoine “T.T.” Toliver and OL/SL Al Lucas have been offered tryouts with the Green Bay Packers. Offensive specialist Freddie Solomon has received interest from the Buffalo Bills. Defensive specialist Corey Sawyer worked out for the Bills during the season.

Henry was told by Bills coach Gregg Williams two weeks after the season they were going to expand his role next year and that he’d probably carry the ball more. This is a man you want to replace?

‘"When it was all said and done," Mac says, "he liked the guy in the mirror."’

‘Within the NFL, the Bills are considered in the upper echelon in terms of fan support – both at home and away from the region.’

‘How does [Donohoe] assess his own team after minicamp? ”It’s getting harder to tell what your offensive and defensive linemen can do at these camps because there’s no hitting,” he said. ”We’re complying with the letter of the basic agreement more than ever. I know that with cap money being tight, if your player moves haven’t worked out by mid-August, there’s not a lot you can do.”’

The cast members, which also included the celebrity Bills Brothers and the well-known Elvis impersonator, were asked to dress and cheer as they would on game day at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Throughout the different scenes that were shot, the group acted out different parts of the game, cheering for kickoffs, touchdowns, missed passes and big hits. Snow was also created to add effect. Photos

‘[Q:] What restaurant has the best wings in Buffalo? [A:] "I haven’t eaten at a lot of different places, but the best that I have had were at the Big Tree."’

LBs Dustin Cohen and Fred Jones each agreed to one-year contracts. Cohen originally entered the league as a UDFA with Buffalo in 2000 and also spent time on Chicago ‘s practice squad that season. Jones entered the NFL as a UDFA with Buffalo in 2000 and was cut by Buffalo as suprise final cut on September 2, 2002.

Levy was always proud to promote the special teams game to his players. He would usually keep five receivers on the roster, but the fifth receiver wasn’t necessarily the fifth-best receiver he had in camp, but rather a solid special teams player. That’s how Steve Tasker made the Bills. Ironically, both of those coaches have taken teams to the Super Bowl.

‘Sobieski was taken 151st overall in last April’s draft after a six-year career at Iowa, during which he missed the 1999 and 2000 seasons because of shoulder injuries.’

‘The Bills project him as a center, but he played mostly tackle in mini camp.’

‘It started as research for a Pro Football Weekly feature on the Buffalo Bills’ defense. But it ended with some unexpected insight.’

‘Sobieski was taken 151st overall in last April’s draft after a six-year career at Iowa, during which he missed the 1999 and 2000 seasons because of shoulder injuries. He played both right tackle and right guard at Iowa, and appeared in all 13 games for the Hawkeyes last season.’