Archives for December 16, 2006

‘No matter what happens, the Bills can at least find encouragement in their late-season surge. They already have one more win than last year and are gradually finding a sense of identity with a young, developing core under first-year coach Dick Jauron.’

‘”It’s pretty amazing the sellouts they’ve had with the team they’ve put on the field the last five years,” acknowledged William K. Heussler, treasurer and past president of the Monday Quarterback Club. “They’ve had a pretty good marketing plan this decade.”‘

‘”They have a heckuva pass rush,” said Bills quarterbacks coach Turk Schonert. “They get after the passer, they’re aggressive, they attack, they bring safeties and linebackers.”‘

‘”It doesn’t do any good to look back,” said Saban, whose Dolphins meet the Buffalo Bills Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium in a clash of 6-7 teams vying to keep their slim wild-card playoff hopes alive. “You have to focus on what’s happening now and do what you can do today to try and make things better. That’s what I tell our players. ‘We’re never going to get those games back. We were an inconsistent team earlier in the season. But let’s prove that we can be a consistent team now.’ That’s kind of how we approach it.”‘

‘”We talked to a number of groups about purchasing the final number but couldn’t get together collectively,” said Scott Berchtold, Bills vice president of communications. “We basically ran out of time, is what it was. It wasn’t from lack of effort. We’re disappointed. We’d like to have a sellout and the blackout lifted.”‘

‘He has long been considered one of the league’s top linebackers, but things could have been different this year. There could have been a drop in production for Fletcher-Baker after the Bills overhauled the coaching staff. Mike Mularkey resigned as coach, and defensive coordinator Jerry Gray and linebackers coach Don Blackmon were released after a 5-11 season. A defensive-minded Dick Jauron was named the Bills’ coach, and a new defensive system was implemented, one that Fletcher-Baker had last played in during his final year with the St. Louis Rams. But there hasn’t been a misstep.’

‘”The fact that he’s got the speed to stretch the field over the top and J.P. has the arm strength to use that speed really helps us everywhere else,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said. “And it certainly helps him everywhere else where he’s catching the ball. Really he is involved in every area. “The speed that he has and the way he’s utilized it really helps him in those underneath areas because you do have to honor that deep speed because it’s there and there’s no denying it.”‘

New force emerging on the defensive line (Miami Herald)

Vick could face criminal charges (Miami Herald)

Thomas should be a Dolphin for life (Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)

What’s in a name change? (Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)

Dolphins Q&A with Ethan Skolnick (Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)

Tyrannical intentions (Palm Beach Post)

Vick lawsuit doesn’t worry Saban (Palm Beach Post)

Evans having breakthrough season (Florida Today)

Coach Saban’s Post-Practice Press Briefing (MiamiDolphins.com)

‘”In Detroit, so much was expected of him. And he was thrown into a situation that was not ideal for a young quarterback to be in, and he had to play through a lot of the issues. As we all know, when it’s not successful, the quarterback gets more than his share of the blame.”‘

‘That’s still not an acceptable reason for Schobel to be so overlooked. A more likely explanation for his anonymity is that he plays in Buffalo. The Bills haven’t been to the playoffs even a single time during his career, and the windswept plains of Western New York have become a football hinterland of sorts in recent years — but he is on-target in his assessment of sack-threat defenders.’

‘It’s the first time the Miami game has failed to sellout in 19 years.’