Archives for August 18, 2003

‘Bledsoe was nothing but praise for Henry. “We’re going to see some big plays out of Travis this year,” said Bledsoe. “He’s a tremendous back and we’re going to do a good job blocking for him. We just have to get some more big plays out of our passing game.”‘

‘It set the tone for a night when Tennessee consistently tested the Bills’ secondary with long attempt after long attempt. Tennessee amassed 242 yards through the air, almost 100 yards more than they gained on the ground.’

‘After his team committed 10 penalties in the preseason opener at Baltimore, Gregg Williams had his team practice one day for the game in Tennessee with rock music blaring through a stack of 10 loudspeakers along the sideline. "It was supposed to be on the entire last period, but my head was pounding early in practice so we only did it on third downs," Williams said.’

‘After getting selected in the first round and now signing a solid deal, McGahee has already proven a lot of detractors who thought his career was over, wrong. "It’s like the pressure is off me," he said. "I’m glad for the people who stayed in my corner. I just sat back and prayed and I’m happy how things have turned out. The pressure’s off our whole organization about what I’m going to do and how the contract was going to turn out," McGahee added. "We can just concentrate on one thing now, (winning)."’

‘PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RB Joe Burns — The punishing former Georgia Tech star ran hard against Tennessee (4 carries, 32 yards) and turned a screen pass from QB Travis Brown into a nifty 33-yard TD. The Bills No. 1 and 2 ball carriers are set with Travis Henry and free agent Olandis Gary, and Sammy Morris is the club’s special teams captain. But Burns is having another solid camp and the coaching staff is likely to keep four RBs again, with Burns possibly becoming the top reserve if Henry or Gary to be injured. Burns does too many things well and plays too hard to cut.’

‘Is this a guy who’s going to be ready to start at left defensive end, as was expected entering training camp?’

‘Ten of the 16 infractions occurred in the second half. Major infractions accounted for most of the yardage.’

‘It’s been fun hanging out with the guys too. We’ve been trying to keep busy during our time off. We have a lot of card tournaments but this week it should get exciting. NFL Madden 2004 was released for PlayStation so I’m going to head out to pick that up. There are always great Madden tournaments going on around here. The guys love it and I heard the Bills are pretty good on the game this year. That should keep us busy for a while.’

‘Football has obviously consumed most of my time the past two weeks but I have needed some time to myself to just wind down and relax. You need to know your body when you are using it this excessively. Sometimes I like to hang out with the guys at night, and others I try to get to bed early. I have to stay rested so I can always remain on the top of my game both physically and mentally.’