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Late in the first practice of the Buffalo Bills' minicamp last weekend, players ran across the turf in the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Fieldhouse, stopped, touched a white line and ran back. Wind sprints.
Those two words rank among the most unpleasant for football players at almost any level. But the drill, a test more of desire than speed, hadn't been seen at a Buffalo practice since the Bills' helmets were white.
Under Marv Levy and Wade Phillips, players conditioned themselves in the weight room and on their own, but not much during practice. Their successor as coach, Gregg Williams, has different ideas.
When Williams was introduced in February, he immediately sent a message to his new players.
"I don't like fat guys," he said.
It's no coincidence that Ted Washington now is a member of the Chicago Bears, or that Jamie Nails remains on the list of available free agents.
Williams' point got across to the returning Bills.
"The veterans were impressive on how far they've come," Williams said after Friday's practice. "They took all of the snaps in practice, did all the running that the young kids did and were able to just walk off the field today. They're not hurting nearly as bad as they did about seven weeks ago."
The rookies? Well, that's a little different.
"The young guys took very few snaps and died in the conditioning," Williams said. "Some of them already told me, 'I wish I wouldn't have drank as much at that draft party that I had before I came here.' I think all of them will leave here understanding the conditioning level that has to be played at in the National Football League."
In another departure from the protective nature of his predecessors, Williams didn't hesitate to call out his No. 1 draft choice, Ohio State cornerback Nate Clements.
"He's not in shape and he's not ready to be No. 1," Williams said of Clements' prospects for replacing the oft-burned Ken Irvin in the starting lineup. "He knows it right now, and it's evident. You can see he's not ready to go."
Williams showed that he knows how to mix praise and criticism, though, when he talked about Clements matching up with Pro Bowl wide receiver Eric Moulds during drills on the rookie's first day as a pro.
"He's got a lot of talent, though, and it's fun to see him do that," Williams said. "He's going to have to break in, though. That was a rude awakening. He's going to have to understand that the speed of the game is a drastic jump. But he possesses the ability, and it won't be very long before he catches up."
As for the wind sprints, they may diminish, or disappear, as Buffalo gets closer to the season.
"Running for the sake of running--I don't want to do very much of that," Williams said. "I want to do things in conditioning that are like playing the game. If you practice the way the game is played, the game becomes routine.
And we're going to be the best conditioned team in football."
So who do you like? Pete Gonzalez or Tim Hasselbeck?
Let's size up the battle for the spot behind Rob Johnson and Alex Van Pelt.
Gonzalez has more experience, having spent two seasons in Pittsburgh. The question is, can a quarterback actually learn anything from watching Kordell Stewart and Kent Graham?
Hasselbeck, whose brother, Matt, is expected to start at quarterback in Seattle after three years as Brett Favre's backup in Green Bay, is an undrafted free-agent rookie. He's shorter than Gonzalez and went to Boston College. But he's not a perfect Flutie substitute--he's wearing No. 8 (a digit last donned by the immortal Billy Joe Hobert).
Proving once again that no one, but no one, gets full of themselves faster than the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh left HSBC Arena up 2-0 and judging from the first two games, the Penguins won't have to worry about returning this year.
The Sabres could barely connect on a simple pass in the first two games, much less find a way to get the puck past rookie goalie Johan Hedberg. They didn't have to deal with the mysteriously injured Jaromir Jagr in Game 2, but couldn't seem to keep track of Mario Lemieux when it mattered in either game.
Let's see--Lemieux scored the game-winning goal in the first game, and his positioning at the edge of the crease forced the deciding score in Game 2.
And after Buffalo defenseman Jay McKee had an opportunity to level Lemieux, Mario stood and watched as a bloody, dazed McKee was led from the ice. Note to Darcy Regier--sometimes it helps to have your best player on the ice.
Not to suggest that Michael Peca might have provided a little bit of help in this series, or anything.