Archives for August 2006

‘"We’re real excited to go out there and play somebody else, hit somebody else. It’s hard to practice as fast going against your own guys; you can’t cut ’em, can’t tackle ;em like you want to, so, we’re real excited", Jason Peters said.’

‘We’re not expecting Bills head coach Dick Jauron to come out and declare a winner just yet, but the dots are starting to get connected in favor of quarterback J.P. Losman.’

‘On if he has decided on a starting quarterback: No, definitely by game time (laughs).’

‘"You would love to get big plays out of the deep passing game," said Jauron. "Maybe as important or almost as important is to stretch the defense and make them know that you will throw it. If they don’t think you’ll throw it then all of a sudden everything starts getting tighter and they clamp down on every throw underneath. Just putting it up over the top and taking that shot makes a defense play honest most of the game. You’ve got to have it."’

‘Jauron said the coaching staff has started to talk about playing rotations under center. Who gets the starting nod isn’t as important as the playing time each quarterback gets and what he does with the opportunity, Jauron said. "Nothing was resolved, but we’ve begun the discussions," said Jauron of which quarterback will be starting Saturday. "We’ll just continue it through the week. I don’t know that there’s any meaning with who’s going to go first."’

‘Initial glimpses of Fairchild’s offense have McGahee running more to the outside, which was his strength in college at Miami, while also being used as a receiver.’

‘”Whatever role they put me in, I feel like I can help,” Thomas said. “There are a lot of situations they can put me in, and if the opportunity comes around I want to keep it up like (McGahee) never came out.”‘

‘”The league has been heading in the right direction, I think, except for revenue-sharing, which is a huge issue for our franchise,” Bills general manager Marv Levy said during a break at Training Camp at St. John Fisher College. “I hope we keep moving forward on that now that the commissioner issue is out the way. That can be the main focus.”’

‘Success for the offense starts up front raising plenty of questions about this team challenging anything but the Jets for the cellar in the AFC East.’

‘”With the new coaching staff, it was almost like coming to a completely new team, with the new front office and coaching staff,” said Denney, who met with General Manager Marv Levy, coach Dick Jauron, defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and defensive line coach Bill Kollar. “I just wanted to see what they were like and what they had to offer.”‘

‘Kelly Holcomb had a miserable passing night, throwing three interceptions, all on medium to deep throws. Eric Bassey, Rashad Baker and Matt Bowen made the pickoffs. Nate Clements could have made it four INTs when Holcomb underthrew an open Peerless Price deep but Clements couldn’t hang on. “I thought we had a good night – everybody but myself,” Holcomb said. “But you have to forget about that and get back out tomorrow and try to get better.”‘

‘Under new coach Dick Jauron, the Bills have joined teams like the Colts, Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams in adopting Dungy’s philosophy that bigger isn’t necessarily better.’

‘”He (Thomas) brings experience,” said Buffalo’s running backs coach, Eric Studesville. “The stats he had when he was in Chicago (two 1,000-yard seasons), he played real well early in his career. He might not have had the numbers or the opportunities these past couple of years, but you can’t underestimate the value of that experience.”‘

‘Reed’s dilemma is simple: He was inexpensive enough to fall back into a third or fourth receivers role in years past. But it’ll be interesting to see if the Bills will want to head into the season with Reed, Price, Roscoe Parrish and Andre’ Davis all on the roster. Lee Evans has solidified his position as the number one receiver and others like Sam Aiken and Jonathan Smith have proven their worth on special teams.’

‘Scotty Bowman, former Sabres coach and owner of 10 Stanley Cup rings, met with the Bills before the night practice at St. John Fisher College. “I was impressed with their enthusiasm,” Bowman said. “I used to love training camp and I loved the playoffs. Training camp is fresh. It’s an exciting time.”‘