NFL training camps go hand-in-hand with backyard barbeques and liberal applications of sunblock as rites of summer, signaling the coming of America’s favorite sport with its twists, turns and thrills.

For head coaches DICK VERMEIL of the Kansas City Chiefs and MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER of the San Diego Chargers, this year marks the 29th and 20th year, respectively, since their first NFL training camps as head coaches.

What has changed in the world of training camps in the past 20 to 30 years?

"One thing that has changed is the readiness with which players report to training camp today in contrast to then," says Vermeil, who ran his first training camp as a head coach in 1976 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He guided Philadelphia to the playoffs by his third year and to Super Bowl XV in his fifth season. "A high percentage of players at that time showed up to training camp to get in shape to play football," says Vermeil.

"We had the minicamps, but we didn’t have the OTAs (organized team activities) and structured conditioning programs of today," he continues. "The structure of the offseason program is far more sophisticated, which is the biggest difference."

Schottenheimer oversaw his initial training camp as a head coach in Cleveland in 1985. The Browns earned a division title that season and stood as a fixture among the AFC’s elite throughout the 1980s. "When I was a player (Buffalo, 1965-68; Boston, 1969-70)," recalls Schottenheimer, "we played six preseason games and we started training camp eight weeks before the regular season started. That was no fun.

"It’s different since the start of the offseason programs in the last 12 to 15 years. Now so much more is done in the offseason from a coaching aspect. There is much more teaching of techniques and fundamentals that we get into before we get to training camp. It’s much, much easier this way."

NOT SO FAST: Sights you don’t see everyday: unicorns, "Lifeguard on Duty" signs in the Antarctic, and quick touchdowns scored against the AFC East.

Since the start of the 2003 season, the AFC East Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots and New York Jets have surrendered the fewest touchdowns in the NFL on scoring drives of four plays or less. Each club has allowed only five such touchdowns in the past two years.

The Bills allowed an NFL-low one touchdown on a drive of four plays or less last season. The last team to give up only one such touchdown in a season was the 2001 Chicago Bears.

"We stress that we don’t want to give up any big plays early and that we want to make offenses work to get first downs," says Bills defensive coordinator JERRY GRAY. "The longer the opposing offense is on the field and the more they have to work for yards, the greater the chance that they will make a mistake which our defense can capitalize on."

And the Bills do capitalize, evidenced by their NFL-best 39 takeaways in 2004.

A look at the five toughest defenses to get a "quick seven" against in the past two seasons: