Archives for August 25, 2005

‘So, please don’t tell Mularkey that exhibition games are meaningless. He wants to sort out his team – let some players fighting for spots get time with the first team – and also win the game. “Anything you compete in you want to win. You don’t go to the extent of game planning that you do in regular season, but you’re still competing to win the game,” he said.’

‘”He got a pulse on the team after seeing where we went last year,” veteran safety Troy Vincent said Wednesday. “In the offseason he prepared us by saying, “This is my team, and this is the way we’re going to do things. If you don’t like it, there’s I-90.’ “‘

‘”A lot of it is preventive maintenance,” Mularkey said, “knowing the track record prior to drafting or signing or bringing a player in. You shouldn’t be shocked.”‘

‘”A lot of guys had projected me going in the third or fourth round. You slip to the seventh, and you have a lot of animosity. Every play, I want to run as hard as I can, as fast as I can and show people they really missed out on things.”‘

‘The Bears plan to play the starters, including quarterback Chad Hutchinson, into the third quarter of their penultimate exhibition game.’

‘”This game means a great deal to him,” said right guard Chris Villarrial, another former Bears player. “Just from talking to him, he wants to go back and prove that he can still play.” Added left guard Bennie Anderson: “He’s a bitter, bitter, bitter man. Yeah, he’s angry.”‘

‘”We’ve got a good bunch of young players,” said Mularkey. “With the draft, and the free agents that we’ve signed, it’s very competitive. It’s going to be a tough time [cutting down], especially with the way some these guys have come in here and not flinched with the competition and the level of the game.”‘

‘"I don’t care if they feel they were right or wrong. It’s not affecting me now," he said Wednesday. "My goal is to help the Bills win, and that’s what I’m going to do."’

‘Mularkey says the starters will play a half and maybe more on Friday against the Bears.’

‘Buffalo will this week seek further development from second-year quarterback J.P. Losman, who completed 7-of-14 passes for 59 yards, rushed five times for 36 yards, and bolted for a one-yard touchdown in last week’s win against Green Bay. Losman has been handed the starting signal-caller job but has just five career regular season pass attempts. Former Brown Kelly Holcomb (10-14 passing, 94 yards in the preseason) has looked sharp thus far in August. Running back Willis McGahee garnered his most extensive work of the preseason last week, when he rushed nine times for 32 yards and scored on a six-yard rush against Green Bay. McGahee and the Bills starters will probably play all or most of the first half on Friday. Tight end Tim Euhus (strained pectoral muscle) and wideout Roscoe Parrish (wrist) are among the Bills who will not be in uniform on Friday.’