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Posted at 12:41 p.m., Sunday, September 16, 2007

NFL: Bills TE Everett watches Bills game from hospital

By John Wawro
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Falling in and out of sleep in his hospital bed, Buffalo tight end Kevin Everett was well enough to watch part of the Bills' 26-3 loss to Pittsburgh on TV today, a week after he sustained a life-threatening spinal-cord injury.

"We had a TV put in his room and he watched part of the game," Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital spokesman Mike Hughes said. He added Everett, who slept through part of the game, was joined by his mother, Patricia Dugas, a family friend and a Bills player's wife.

Hughes was unable to provide an update on Everett's condition, except to say that doctors continue to urge him to rest.

As a sign of support, Bills players designed and wore beneath their jerseys a T-shirt, which had Everett's name and No. 85 printed on the back. During its game broadcast, CBS also featured a brief clip of Bills tackle Derrick Dockery wishing Everett well.

Following the game, Bills coach Dick Jauron spoke of how his team wanted to win and play well in honor of their injured teammate.

"They wanted all those things to happen and they didn't happen. That's just the way things go," Jauron said. "But all of those things are what they wanted."

There have been significant signs of progress in the week since Everett was hurt when he ducked his head while tackling Denver's Domenik Hixon during the second-half kickoff in the season opener last Sunday. Everett dropped face-first after his helmet hit Hixon high on the left shoulder and side of the helmet.

Since arriving at the hospital paralyzed from the neck down, Everett has begun voluntarily wiggling his toes, bending his hip, moving his ankles, elevating his legs and slightly moving his arms, doctors said Wednesday.

On Thursday, Everett slightly — and voluntarily — moved three fingers on his right hand, something he had previously been unable to do.

"No doubt Kevin's situation affected us but we have to do our job, prepare and be ready," Dockery said following the game. "We just have to do a better job of executing the game plan."