Archives for September 7, 2006

‘While he earned the first preseason start, at Carolina on Aug. 12, Holcomb slipped badly when he completed just 2 of 4 passes for 16 yards with an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Holcomb rebounded with better showings against Cincinnati and Detroit. Against the Lions, he when he went 8 for 8 for 81 yards.’

‘"I’ll probably be a little emotional come Sunday when I think about everything that’s transpired in such a short period of time," Fletcher said of the season opener at New England. "And to be able to still be standing, so to speak, and be out there with my teammates — there’s really no place I’d rather be than on the football field."’

‘On Takeo Spikes: He’s been taking all his reps, he’s kind of just in a rotation now. Quite frankly, we’re not thinking about it in terms of anything but him playing. We don’t think about watching his reps or monitoring what he’s doing. We’re past that and he’s past it. It’s a good situation… I feel great about him. It’s just terrific to have him back. Not just his skill, or just his enthusiasm, all of it, to have all of it back.’

‘"The last two exhibition games he played, he looked like Kelly Holcomb," Jauron said. "He looked confident and he handled the team. And the team has confidence in him."’

‘Jauron had said during the latter stages of training camp that he felt comfortable with Holcomb, knowing what he’s capable of and knowing that he can manage a game. Rebounding from his poor performance in the Carolina preseason game to play well against Cincinnati and Detroit was a factor as well.’

‘"It was taken away before," said McGahee of how he was used in 2005. "But that’s in the past and you can’t do anything about it. You live and learn from that. You just let the animal loose and let him do what he does."’

‘I’ve actually started a little library in my locker. Between shoes, shoulder pads, and mouthpieces lies my little collection. Sure it is a mix of literary classics, homicide novels, and advice books for the dad to be, but is a collection never the less. I might start to give out library cards to guys in the locker room before too long.’

‘On reflecting on how far he has come back: I do a lot of that in my downtime. I’m pretty sure it will hit me the night and morning before we play the game. Everything I’ve been through, I have a little scrap book with pictures of the surgery when I was opened up, what it looked like after the surgery, its just steps.’

‘On dealing his mother’s death in his rookie season: It’s eventually going to happen, I have to tell myself that. At the time, I’m trying to get my career going. It’s been real tough. My younger siblings are looking up to me, asking me questions I have to answer, that I didn’t think I’d have to answer at this time. It’s a hard part of moving on up. I have a lot of big decisions to make.’

‘Craig Nall will be third on the depth chart.’

‘Patriots 20, Bills 9.’

‘Sit back and enjoy this team for what it is. Leave room for them to surprise you, and chances are, no one will come away from the season depressed.’

‘For the first time ever, they have four of their first six games on the road and four of their last six games at home. The Bills obviously prefer to have more home games the first half of the season because better weather is better for ticket sales. They also open on the road against their two toughest foes.’

‘There should be better chemistry. This is supposed to be one of Jauron’s big assets.’

‘If Losman bombs this year and Craig Nall does not turn into the second coming of Jake Delhomme, then the Bills will have to start from scratch at quarterback. That means they either will begin another long building process with a rookie or roll the dice on some free-agent veteran discarded by another team.’