Archives for July 2006

‘”‘Fletcher’ is my mom’s name, but the name ‘Baker’ is to pay homage to my grandfather and father with their last name,” Fletcher said. “They’ve been trying to change my name for a while. They thought about it when I was in elementary school. My grandfather was adamant about me carrying on the Baker legacy. I’m the last male who can carry on the name.”‘

‘”Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?”‘

‘So is it a natural conclusion to say the Tampa-2 is the ideal defense for Wire? “All I’ll say is I feel very comfortable in this defense,” he said. “I feel it.”‘

‘”I just felt a little tweak in the hamstring when I just kind of changed direction and went to take off full speed,” Nall said, noting he’s previously injured his right hamstring. “I knew better than to try to tough it out and keep going.”‘

‘In fact, when Levy was coaching the Bills, he said he was prepared to hire Jauron as his defensive coordinator in 1995. “We ended up being 12 hours too late,” Levy recalled this week. “By the time we called, he had already accepted an offer from Jacksonville.”‘

‘As the team’s head strength and conditioning coordinator, the Woonsocket native has designed a training regimen that he — and the Bills — hope will give them an edge this fall. “It’s intense, very intense,” Allaire, 35, says of the experience of working with an NFL team. “It’s fun. I love it. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else right now.”‘

‘As for supplements, they are exactly what the name suggests, Allaire says: “They supplement your normal eating habits if you are missing something in your diet. But don’t use it as a meal. The Bills’ use of supplements, he adds, “are very minimal — nutrition bars and that’s pretty much the extent of it — because the diet program we’re on has everything.”‘

‘”In a lot of ways we’re proud of the fact that this has become sort of blue print for NFL training camps,” said Bills Vice President for Communications Scott Berchtold.’

‘”One of the compelling things that made me excited about coming back to the Buffalo Bills was our fans, they’re incomparable,” Levy said. “There are no fans anywhere like the Buffalo Bill fans and these fellars are going to find it out,” Levy said.’

‘Crowell will stay at weak side linebacker while Spikes will move to the strong side when he’s healthy. Spikes did play some strong side backer in Cincinnati.’

‘When camp began yesterday Angelo Crowell replaced Jeff Posey as the Bills starting outside linebacker. Posey says the switch took him totally by surprise. While Posey was stunned by the demotion, he’s not deterred. And, if you’re looking for reasons why, look at speed which is more of a factor in the Bills defense this year than size.’

‘Nall was hurt during 11-on-11 drills, while running the offense he was under heavy rush and forced to change direction. Following the play he came up limping.’

‘Each day, Jauron’s been asked if he’s ready to name a starter. And each day, he’s provided much the same answer: "No, not yet."’

‘”We’re hoping it’s nothing significant, but we won’t know for a couple of days,” said Jauron.’

‘Craig obviously did something to his hamstring; we’re not certain exactly what it is. He’s inside, we’ll check with our trainers. We probably won’t know that much more tomorrow and it won’t matter anyway because we’re just walking through tomorrow. We’ll certainly find out something on Monday because that’s when we practice again, it will be our first padded practice. We’re hoping it’s nothing significant, but we really won’t know for a couple of days.’