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When the National Football League's 2001 schedule came out last week, most eyes in Western New York scanned the Buffalo Bills' slate not for traditional AFC East rivals like Miami and Indianapolis, but for the San Diego Fluties.
Sorry, I mean, Chargers.
Buffalo's Oct. 28 visit to San Diego makes for a natural grudge game. Former Bills General Manager John Butler picked up Flutie shortly after Buffalo's new regime dumped the franchise's alleged savior in February. Add Marcellus Wiley, whom Butler signed to a massive deal when the defensive end hit the free-agent market, and A.J. Smith, the personnel guru who helped build the Bills of the 1990s and brought Flutie back from Canada, and you've got Buffalo West trying to turn around a hapless Chargers franchise.
Add Ralph Wilson's allegation that Butler planned on leaving for San Diego while still under contract to Buffalo, and you've got a full-fledged grudge match.
At least it looks that way more than six months in advance.
A lot of things could change by the time Buffalo makes the first of its two West Coast trips. The Bills' schedule is front-loaded, with home games against New Orleans, Pittsburgh and the New York Jets, and visits to Miami, Indianapolis and Jacksonville preceding the San Diego trip. The Saints, Dolphins and Colts all reached the playoffs last year, while the Steelers and Jets just missed.
The Chargers, meanwhile, are starting over. Again. While some point to their usually solid defense and numerous close losses last year, you don't lose 15 of 16 games unless you're a very bad football team.
Flutie presents an improvement as quarterback for San Diego. But that's not saying a whole lot. Jim Harbaugh looked like a boxer who hung around too long, unable to coax one more competent season from his battered body. Ryan Leaf finally wore out his very expensive welcome. And Moses Moreno put on one of the most disastrous performances in recent memory when the Chargers visited Buffalo last October. It didn't help that San Diego's porous offensive line couldn't keep any of the three healthy.
Yes, Flutie's better than what San Diego had. But is he good enough to make the Chargers even a .500 team, much less a playoff contender?
Not unless Butler and Smith do an even better job of rebuilding the rest of the team--including a big draft this weekend--than they did keeping the Bills in contention throughout the '90s.
And if Butler keeps the first overall pick and selects Michael Vick on Saturday, there's no assurance that Flutie will even hold the starting job when the Bills come to town.
Speaking of the draft, the Bills won't know what sort of quality they come up with this weekend until next fall. But there's little doubt about one thing--Buffalo is guaranteed plenty of quantity.
The National Football League awarded the Bills four compensatory picks to make up for free agents lost last year, giving them 10 choices in all. That's the most picks Buffalo has had since 1995.
And the Bills may not be through acquiring picks yet. The Bills are slated to pick 14th in the first round, but President and General Manager Tom Donahoe indicated last week that the team would consider trading down to acquire more picks.
"We're going to look at all avenues," Donahoe said. "We may stay at 14 and take the pick, we may slide back to pick up additional picks. That may not just happen in the first round--that could happen in any round."
Wherever they wind up in the first round, look for the Bills to address their defensive line in the first round. Wiley's departure leaves the Bills thin at defensive end, while the release of Ted Washington leaves Pat Williams as the only defensive tackle on the roster with significant NFL experience.
If the Bills stay at No. 14, defensive tackles Marcus Stroud of Georgia and Miami's Damione Lewis are two strong possibilities. But new head coach Gregg Williams built the league's top defense over the past two seasons in Tennessee around pass-rushing end Jevon Kearse and may go in that direction again.
"We'll never, ever, pass up a guy who can pass rush off the edge with great speed," Williams said. "Those are the hardest guys to find."
Andre Carter of California and Florida State's Jamal Reynolds may not approach Kearse's overall athletic ability, but both have sub 4.7-second speed over 40 yards and should remain on the board when Buffalo goes on the clock.