Archives for September 2004

‘"I think any rookie, it’s hard to step right in," Mularkey said. "Some guys can do it and some can’t, but I think at some point Lee will. It’s not right now, but he’s got to get more playing time so he can get more experience."’

‘”Every kick is big for me. Even if we’re up 28-0, for me to go out and kick a field goal is big for me; I want to make every one of them. And that one meant a little more than some of the others.”‘

‘At Aurora, Beebe uses a hybrid of the no-huddle (K-Gun, named after quarterback Jim Kelly) and West Coast offenses he learned playing for the Bills and Packers. His quarterback-wide receiver combo of Nate Peterson and Terrence Pool has teamed for seven touchdowns in the three games.’

‘Bledsoe didn’t have to elaborate. The Bills have won just seven times in their last 23 games dating back to 2002 when he joined the club from New England.’

‘The Bills will want to run the ball, score early and take the notorious Raiders’ “Black Hole” crowd out of the picture. That means finding a way to move the Raiders beefy D-line anchored by Pro Bowl veterans Warren Sapp and Ted Washington. Good luck.’

‘OT Jonas Jennings, who has gone against DE Aaron Schobel every day in practice since the two came into the NFL as part of Buffalo’s 2001 draft class, said Schobel was very deserving of his new contract extension. Jennings said Schobel has steadily gotten better. “His counter moves are definitely better and I’ve been going against him for so long and I know him so well,” Jennings said. “I think his speed is his No. 1 asset.”‘

‘”We know what we’re capable of and what we can do as a team,” wide receiver Josh Reed excplained. “We just want to go out there and execute and not shoot ourselves in the foot like we’ve been doing.”‘

”’He’s got to be automatic,” said coach Mike Mularkey, who’s team prepares to play at Oakland this Sunday. ”The objective of the offense is to score points every time they touch the ball, and he’s a large part of that. So his consistency is very important.”’

‘Lindell. Great leg, but inaccurate. It’s time to cut him.’

The Bills and Raiders enter week 2 trying to shake the bad feeling of tough losses. This game may come down to which team has the shortest memory and gets over their opening day loss.

‘On their day off from practice Tuesday, Buffalo Bills rookies Lee Evans and Tim Anderson joined children from Lackawanna’s Martin Road Elementary School on a field trip to the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum.’

‘The Bills have sold 42,553 season tickets this year. That’s 863 fewer than a year ago, but it’s still the second-highest total since 1994.’

‘Chuck Knox hired Hawkins for the Bills staff in 1982, and Hawkins was one of the assistants who went with Knox to Seattle.’

‘After four straight seasons out of the playoffs, there’s a little bit of restlessness in the seating bowl of Ralph Wilson Stadium. Scoring one TD in a game against a team that finished 5-11 last season isn’t going to cut it. There’s not a lot of patience around Western New York for nice tries or coming close. The Bills have to figure out how to win – and soon.’

‘"We lived and breathed football," Kelly said. "Nowadays, kids have Nintendo games and so many distractions. We didn’t have that. We played tackle football and it didn’t matter where."’