Chris Gragg jarius wright

Buffalo Bills Chris Gragg runs with the ball during training camp in Pittsford, N.Y., in on July 29, 2013.

(Bill Wippert | The Associated Press)

Orchard Park, N.Y. — If Chris Gragg and Jarius Wright had a choice, they might make a few changes to the game between the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Gragg, a tight end for the Bills, and Wright, a wide receiver for the Vikings, will have an unfamiliar feeling when they take the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not since they were growing up together in Warren, Ark., a town with two stoplights and just more than 6,000 people, have Gragg and Wright had to play a sport as opponents.

"They would never put them on the same team, because a lot of times they were the two best players in their grade," Gragg's mother, Tenita, said.

Gragg and Wright have always been connected. Their parents had them in the bathtub together, they took family vacations to Disney World together, and then they dominated Arkansas High School football together before going to the University of Arkansas.

"Blood couldn't make me and Chris closer, and he'll probably tell you the same thing," Wright said.

Arkansas wide receiver Jarius Wright, left, celebrates with tight end Chris Gragg (80) after Wright scored a touchdown on an 11-yard pass against Vanderbilt in the second quarter of a college football game on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, in Nashville, Tenn.

To understand exactly how much Sunday will mean to these two, you need to know where they came from. Warren, Ark., doesn't just churn out NFL talent. Gragg, Wright and Greg Childs all graduated together and went to Arkansas. They were the first three to earn scholarships to the flagship school and all three got drafted. A 99-person graduating class from Warren High School had three NFL players.

"You don't see that a lot," Gragg said.

"We were the top high school football team in our class. We were No. 1. In college, we end up taking Arkansas to its first BCS bowl game and we all did that together and both of us end up getting drafted to the NFL. It's crazy being from where we from, you usually don't see that at all."

It's not just that these three were unlikely heroes from a small southern town. They have a key to the city, and the town hangs on their every accomplishment.

"It's kind of the stuff you see on TV about football towns where the whole city shuts down," Wright said. "That's kind of how our town was."

Last year, the city organized a charter bus to travel to New Orleans to watch Gragg play when the Bills played the Saints and traveled to Dallas to watch Wright when the Vikings played the Cowboys.

"It's put Warren on the map," Tenita Gragg said.

Wright still remembers throwing passes to Gragg in high school. Warren lost only three games while Gragg and Wright were there. Now there's going to be an odd feeling when the two meet Sunday.

"It's going to be bittersweet," Wright said. "The sweet part of both of us being on an NFL team, both of us having the chance to make plays. Just seeing us both on the field helping our team win at the highest level. The bitter part is as much as I want him personally to do good I don't want them to win."

Tenita Gragg knows the feeling. She compares it to having two sons playing against each other. She'll be making the trip to Buffalo for the game and it's going to be tough to pick a side.

"It's going to be a thrill to see them both on the same field, but of course, there's going to be some heartbreak there because I want Chris to win, because he's my son and he plays for the Bills," Tenita Gragg said. "But I want Jay to have as much success as Chris, so it's going to be hard."

Sunday won't be about who has more success. It won't be about who has more yards or which team wins the game. It will be about two kids from a small town in Arkansas sharing an NFL field like they shared the pee-wee field so often growing up.

"We don't really talk smack about each other or nothing like that, but we do know how big this game is, and whoever wins will definitely have bragging rights," Wright said.

Regardless, the people of Warren will have the most bragging rights on Sunday.