Two Bills Drive

‘”Everyone’s helping each other out,” Sheldon Jackson said. “There is no one person bad-mouthing the others. Everyone’s helping each other because they do realize that there’s room for the guys that are here. And we have to pull for each other to be successful in the position.”‘

‘With the jettisoning of Wade Phillips and the entire offensive coaching staff, the straitjacket that Price played with all last year has been removed and the former Tennessee standout and Sports Illustrated cover boy expects to enjoy a breakout season in 2001.’

‘Once he reached the sideline, the training staff immediately doused him with water, and a few minutes later he was carted into the locker room. Williams said Cowart was fine after practice, but as a precaution, he did nothing during the special teams workout in the afternoon.’

‘"I think graduating from any university is an accomplishment, but Notre Dame, they did demand a lot," O’Leary said. "The transition has been easy because I came in here from a place where they disciplined you and forced things on you. I think that’s paying off because in camp, you’ve got to have your head on straight to get through this."’

On injuries: "Sam Cowart has his back tightened up a little bit and got hot just from the heat. Just for precaution we said back off a little bit and you’ll be fine. Nothing significant. Keith Newman had a very slight strain and again I think that was heat related too and repetition and real slight, we are going to look at what he’s doing this afternoon, Keith is having a really good camp."

On what he wants to accomplish Sunday: "Hopefully a couple of touchdown drives. I want to go in there, go through my reads, play sharp and keep everyone healthy."

With the heat this morning, linebacker Sam Cowart left practice with what coach Gregg Williams described as having "his back tightened up a little bit, and [he] got hot just from the heat." He added, "Just for precaution, we said back off a little bit and you’ll be fine."

‘Bills rookie Josh Whitman has been presented with some interesting changes in his first training camp for the pros. With the trade of tight end Bobby Collins to Green Bay, more opportunities are knocking for hopeful rookies such as Whitman and Notre Dame’s Dan O’Leary. Whitman is keeping cool with all the competition on the practice field though.’

‘Sam Cowart, the Buffalo Bills hard-hitting middle linebacker, has a soft spot for his big sister Lashawn. Her tragic death, she was gunned down by a disgruntled boyfriend in 1989, is a big reason Cowart is where he is today — coming off his first Pro Bowl season and considered one of the game’s emerging best at his position.’

‘Although his back remains stiff and he’s not sure if he’ll practice on Friday, Cowart said it’s nothing that would have kept him out of a regular season game.’

Early into the opening series of last Saturday’s Buffalo Bills scrimmage vs Cleveland Browns at Edinboro, it hit me like an anvil landing on Wiley Coyote.  For the first time in 15 years I could not recognize the majority of the players donning Bills jerseys.  Never mind picking out the faces out of the media guide, we are talking about simple matching of names to the jersey numbers.

“It started to look like [I would be moved],” Bowens said. “They drafted Jamal Reynolds, and the practice times and reps I was getting were getting reduced. I kind of thought there would be a change of scenery sooner or later, but I was happy it was sooner.”

Allen was in Bills 1999 training camp and saw action in preseason. Recently he spent the last year playing in the Arena Football League for the Buffalo Destroyers, where he played in 7 of 24 games and had 8 touchdowns for a total of 371 yards (15.5 avg.).

"We had an opportunity to improve the organization and the team, we had some depth at tight end," Williams said, comparing the situation to Buffalo’s moves on Draft day. "The same thing [happened] when this came about a few days ago prior to the scrimmage, because of our depth at tight end and [Green Bay’s] lack of depth. We posed back to being able to get another pass rusher in here, and it worked out for both of us that way.’

"Camp is actually tougher than I thought it would be, but I would rather be taking the pain right now and enjoy the benefits later," he said. Williams has his teammates and enthusiastic coaching staff to keep him going on the field in the scorching heat. "Coach Williams is a great motivator. When he notices our performance on the field it really makes us work even harder."