Archives for July 25, 2005

‘And after eight months of talk about salary caps, revenue linkage and the protracted departures of Drew Bledsoe and Travis Henry, it’ll be nice to have the sports world back to normal.’

The Bills head into training camp with unbridled optimism about the coming season. They return a fantastic defense almost totally intact and a shining special teams unit. On offense they have many weapons but two big question marks on that side of the ball threaten their goal of making it to the playoffs for the first time in five season.

‘Plus, the Bills became the first team to score five touchdowns on special teams since the Chicago Cardinals accomplished the feat in 1959 (the year of the first goalie mask in hockey and the announcement of a new pro football team in Buffalo).’

Join members of the Buffalo Bills staff, alumni and players for this interactive football workshop designed for women to benefit the United Way of Greater Rochester through Women United. You will learn the X’s and O’s of football, and then hit the field with Bills players and alumni.

‘”This is probably the best group of receivers going into a camp that I’ve been associated with,” Clements said. “Each of them has good qualities. Unfortunately, you can only keep a certain number, but the competition will make us a better team. It’s going to be a difficult cut, but those are the kind of difficult decisions you like because that means you’re going to end up with a pretty good player.”‘

‘Lee may have the slight edge based on talent. "He’s a big back," Donahoe said of Lee. "He’s more of a downhill-type runner, more of an explosive kind of runner, and when he got some opportunities in Dallas he did well. He was very good in the off-season program. We made sure coming here he understood he was going to have to do more than just carry the football. He was going to have to be involved on special teams and do whatever we asked him to do to contribute to the team. He’s been on board with that."’

‘He’s no Michael Vick, but Bills QB J.P. Losman is no turtle when it comes to flat-out running speed. At the combine workout before the 2004 draft, the former Tulane star clocked consistently in the 4.6 range in the 40-yard dash.’

‘"We made it clear to the teams [that] if somebody [was] willing to step up and give us a solid third, we [would] do the deal," general manager Tom Donahoe said. "A couple teams said, ‘What if you get two offers for a third-round pick?’ I said our inclination would be to take who offered it to us first."’

‘Reed knows that it’s likely a make-or-break year for him with the Bills as his rookie contract comes to a close. And he finds himself with more competition as well, as the team used its first pick in the 2005 draft to take speedy wideout Roscoe Parrish in the second round.’

‘”I think I’ll be close to 100 percent,” Campbell said about how he should be feeling by August. “The only thing that’s going to make me 100 percent will be playing in games. That will be the deciding factor. Whether I’m 90, 95, or 100 percent, it’s how well I can take a hit or how well I can get extra yardage after a hit and really get in the whole scheme of blocking somebody in a game situation. That’s when I’ll really be able to tell you that. But I’ll definitely be good enough to go, I know that. And I feel good about where I’m at. I realize as the season goes on my knee is going to get better and stronger.”‘