Former Bills teammates of New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett strongly refute his claims that every offensive and defensive linemen and linebacker used steroids in the NFL through the 1980s until the league began cracking down.

Haslett, speaking to reporters at the owners meetings in Hawaii, said he took steroids for one off-season early in his career with the Bills in order to remain competitive against opponents that were growing bigger and stronger.

"They tossed you around; they were strong," Haslett said. "Everybody wanted an advantage, so you tried it. I tried it. Everybody tried it."

Haslett, who played for the Bills from 1979-86, managed to implicate Bills Wall of Fame center Kent Hull in his comments, and dragged into the sphere of questions fellow Wall of Famers Jim Ritcher, a guard, and Fred Smerlas, a defensive tackle.

"I played with a guy who came into the league, he came out of the USFL," Haslett said. "He was 270, and he would never have made our team if he didn't get up to 300. The linemen got him together, got him a little supplemental pill for the week and he got up to about 305 and made our team. And he's probably one of the all-time great players in Bills history. He was a great player."

Haslett didn't name that player as Hull, but Hull is the only one who would fit the description. Hull played for the USFL's New Jersey Generals, was a lineman and was one of Buffalo's all-time greats.

Hull, who joined the Bills midway through training camp in 1986 the day Jim Kelly arrived, was a teammate of Haslett's for just one season.

"It's false, I can tell you that," Hull told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. "I hate to hear it. I may have to give him a call." The heaviest Hull was ever listed in Buffalo's media guide was 284 in 1996, his final season.

"I have never weighed 300 pounds in my freaking life, even now when I'm retired," Hull said. "I didn't even know he (Haslett) used them. He may have admitted it, but I don't know of any players in my career (on the Bills). I certainly didn't use them."

Ritcher, who played seven seasons with Haslett and seven with Hull, also refuted Haslett's generalizations about steroid use during their playing days. Ritcher said Hull didn't need chemical help making the Bills squad.

"It's news to me that Jim did them and to sort of name Kent, I don't believe it," said Ritcher, a commercial pilot who spoke from the Newark, N.J. airport.

"Just because he got stronger and bigger doesn't necessarily mean that he did steroids. When he fist came in, I thought Kent was a great center right off the bat. It wasn't like he wasn't going to make the team. (Assistant) Jim Ringo said immediately, 'This guy's good.'

"He was country boy strong, and if he gained weight, it was from getting older and naturally putting on weight. And it wasn't drastic then."

Ritcher couldn't corroborate Haslett's story of the Bills offensive linemen pulling a struggling former USFL player aside and giving him a pill.

"If he says we got him together, I can tell you, I wasn't invited to that party," Ritcher said.

Ritcher once was listed at 272 pounds in the Bills media guide, but his real playing weight was about 260. He said he played in Super Bowl XXVI at 242.

Ritcher said coaches often threatened to replace him with somebody bigger, but he never gave into using steroids, and starred for 14 seasons. He did use nutritional supplements, but gave them up after suffering too many pulled muscles.

"It's nice to say that half or 70 percent of the league was on steroids back then, but I truly don't know how many guys were. The guys who did it, did it behind closed doors," Ritcher said.

"They always said Fred and I used steroids because we were so hairy. I just hate to see this (from Haslett). Good for him if he wanted to be honest about it, but to sort of implicate guys, that's unfair."

Copyright (C) 2005 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.