Milloy's game plan is a secret
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- If the decision were left solely to Bills safety Lawyer Milloy, he would pull on the pads and wear that runaway, raging buffalo on his helmet for tomorrow afternoon's season opener against the Patriots.
"I want to play football, because that's what I do," Milloy said yesterday, slightly more than 24 hours after signing a four-year, $15 million deal with one of New England's top AFC rivals. "That's what I love to do."
Bills coach Gregg Williams made it clear following yesterday's workout that he won't make up his mind until tomorrow whether to play Milloy, and perhaps will wait until the minutes leading up to the scheduled 1 p.m. kickoff. Considering Milloy's new deal included a $5 million signing bonus, and that the Bills no doubt will want to make a splash at home on opening day, it's a good bet Milloy at least will suit up, if only to see limited action.
"I want to play; that's the bottom line," said the 29-year-old Milloy, who received his release from New England Tuesday rather than take a $1.5 million pay cut. "I mean, I've never been on the sidelines, so to be on the sidelines would be funny for me."
Milloy arrived at Ralph Wilson Stadium at 7 a.m. yesterday, following a good night's sleep at a local hotel, and practiced for the first time with his new team, speakers blaring crowd noise in order for the Bills to be ready for game conditions.
Just as he did Thursday, when he was introduced to the local media, Milloy continued to downplay the fact that his first game will be against the team he first played for in the NFL.
"Just a coincidence," he said, sitting in a corner of the Bills' locker room, a Red Sox cap turned backward on his head. "Me wanting to play [tomorrow] has nothing to do with them."
Williams said Milloy would stay at the stadium late yesterday, further scrutinizing the defensive game plan and watching game film. Milloy then was headed back to his hotel, opting not to be a tenant-at-will at fellow ex-Patriot Drew Bledsoe's suburban estate.
"I'm just a hotel guy," Milloy said. "I like to be independent. Drew's here. Drew's in the locker room. I have his support, and he has mine. That's one good thing about coming here -- I'm fighting for one of the guys I know, one of the guys I'm familiar with in the league. I only know him and Tom [Brady, the Patriots' No. 1 quarterback], and I'll fight for Tom any day, too, because I love him like a brother. I tried to take him under my wing.
"It's going to be funny seeing [Brady's] eyes when I'm lining up on the opposite side, but, uh, it should be fun."
And if Milloy does play, how might he feel if one of the Patriots, with whom he shared a locker room at the start of the week, is headed his way, either with the ball, or about to make a catch?
"If anybody has the ball, they've got to get hit," he said. "That's how I play. I never try to see numbers. I never try to see, you know, personalities or fame. We all line up the same. And I think everyone in the league, and not just the Patriots, knows what I bring to the table. That's what I bring to the game."
After seven seasons and eight training camps in a New England uniform, Day 1 as a member of the Bills, noted Milloy, did feel a little strange.
"I'll tell you what felt weird," he said. "It felt weird when I was running scout team cards, and I was actually playing myself."
For at least one day, then, and perhaps for one last day, it was as if he never left New England.
