Archives for September 2004

‘"We had a ‘check with me play.’ I called one play and Thurman thought I called another," Flutie said. "I turned and he wasn’t there, so I just took off. It was a busted play. It wasn’t a naked bootleg. The blocks were made, the play was there and I walked into the endzone. If that had been Thurman, he would have walked into the endzone."’

‘Shaud Williams, a 1999 graduate of Andrews High School whose collegiate football career took many strange turns, made the opening-day roster of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.’

‘The Buffalo Bills will be a feature at the 11th Annual St. Francis de Sales Charities Golf Tournament to be held Friday, Sept. 10 at the Twin Ponds Golf and Country Club.’

‘I don’t think any of this weekend’s cuts were shockers. One thing that somewhat surprised me was to see the Bills cut both Jason Gildon and Keith McKenzie. I figured those two guys would battle it out for a veteran pass rusher spot, but neither of them ended up making the team. I was also surprised at the Travis Brown situation. They put him on injured reserve and unfortunately, that’s just part of the business. As a younger guy it can be frustrating to catch on with a team. I was cut three times before I finally stuck around and made it somewhere. He’s just got to keep his head up. It’s nothing that he did. I thought he had an outstanding camp and he did everything he had to do to be the back-up. It’s just unfortunate that an injury had to basically cause his release.’

‘"We really like Travis," Donahoe said after practice. "The plan during the week was to see if there was a way we could keep four. But when you start to put the numbers together it just couldn’t work. It’s unfortunate for Travis, but as I told him (Monday) morning it may not be the best thing for him, but it’s the best thing for the team right now to give us the additional roster spot. So he understood better after we talked to him. There are no guarantees until you put the final roster together."’

‘”It’s my first day I’ve got out of my bed, so I wanted to see the guys and it was good for everyone to see me and I’m glad to see them,” Losman said after practice. “It’s good to be part of the team again.”‘

‘Denney and Kelsay are going to split time at the position, which, in today’s NFL is not a bad thing. Teams have come to realize that they must rotate defensive linemen during games because the line positions are physically demanding and it’s very difficult for players to play entire games up front.’

‘Boy, did 31 teams miss out when all three of them went undrafted last spring, Ritzmann chimed in. ”We all kind of felt, `Man, this is not right,”’ Ritzmann said. ”So we all came in here knowing that we were going to give everything we’ve got to make this football team.”’

‘The GM said, “It’s unfortunate for Travis, I told him it may not be good for him, but it’s the best thing for the team to give us the additional roster spot.” He understood better after we talked to him, but I think he felt that he was here, but there are no guarantees until you put the final roster together.”‘

‘Add it up, and you’ve got a 9-7 team headed for bigger and better things, even if that won’t be quite good enough to get into the playoffs.’

‘The Bills signed eight players to the Practice Squad. A day after reducing their roster to the league mandatory 53, the Bills along with the rest of the league could sign up to eight players to their Practice Squad.’

‘Donahoe said Brown proved to be the odd man out because the team had already elected to keep active starting safety Lawyer Milloy and rookie quarterback J.P. Losman. Milloy is expected to miss at least the season opener with a broken forearm, and Losman will miss at least the first half of the season.’

A fifth-round draft choice out of Illinois by Buffalo in 2001, the 6-5, 325-pound Sullivan played in 32 games with 22 starts over the past three seasons for the Bills. He played in 10 games with two starts (one at left tackle and one at right tackle) as a rookie in 2001. In his second season, Sullivan started all 16 games at right guard for the Bills. The 26-year old Sullivan was inactive for the first eight weeks of the 2003 season before starting the last four games of the year at left tackle. Sullivan was born on Feb. 2, 1978 in Chicago.

”’This is my first day out. It feels good,” said Losman, who is now wearing a protective boot that covers his lower left leg. ”I wanted to see the guys. And it’s good for everyone to see me. I’m glad to see them. It’s good to feel like part of the team again.”’

‘Offensive lineman Dylan McFarland fought his way onto the Bills 53-man roster. The seventh round pick from Montana even beat out a few veterans to grab the last lineman spot on the Bills squad. "It’s a great feeling," McFarland said. "This is something I’ve worked for my whole life and to make this team is pretty special."’