Archives for August 10, 2009

‘Owens now has what may be one last chance to prove he really is a good guy, that his burning desire to win was misinterpreted by others as counterproductive to the cause. As his athletic skills gradually diminish, a 35-year-old player like Owens will be given increasingly less leeway to demonstratively demand passes, chew out his quarterback or exhibit me-first behavior at the expense of his team like last season in Dallas. If these headaches happen in Buffalo, the T.O. Show will get canceled as soon as his one-year contract expires. Another NFL suitor may not be forthcoming.’

‘Bills fans who haven’t had the chance to watch them at St. John Fisher and caught their first glimpse of the no-huddle offense Sunday night on NBC’s broadcast might feel disillusioned that it looks nothing like the K-Gun. But the system implemented by offensive coordinator Turk Schonert came off as natural against a live opponent.’

‘Edwards finished 3 of 4 for 34 yards and one interception while Owens hauled in the aforementioned two passes for 34 yards.’

‘The bigger picture involves Lynch learning from his mistakes and not putting the team in this situation again, coach Dick Jauron said.’

‘”Tempo to me, I’d like to see a little more speed between plays, I guess, a little more in that area, at times,” he said. “But other than that, I don’t have any issue with how they work. The contact, we’re not a team that goes full contact. We’ve got five exhibition games to do that, but we go hard in our drills. Our nine-on-seven drills and our team work will go heavy thud at times. We try to stay up and off the ground. It’s hard, try to not make piles of bodies where people can have their legs fallen on and things. Generally, they do a really nice job with it.”‘

‘”I’m proud of being a part of football for 50 years,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of fun, met a lot of great people. I’ve just had a lot of fun. It’s not a good investment, you know, but if you’re having fun — winning or losing — I think it’s all worth it.” Smith played 19 NFL seasons in all, enduring 11 knee surgeries on way to a league-record 200 sacks. His proudest achievement? “The relationships I’ve built over the years,” said Smith, 46, a real estate developer in Virginia Beach. “I can depend on every one of these guys I played with at the drop of dime. We are family. And now to be welcomed into a fraternity like no other, well … it’s better than any frat house or organization you can belong to. This is the elite of the elite. What a privilege to belong to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”‘

‘”We can build off that one opening series,” said Edwards, who exclusively ran a no-huddle attack. “Preseason is about getting comfortable. You make mistakes, then work on them. But you can take a good drive like that and go with it, too.”‘

‘Tennessee reached into its bag of tricks on the game’s opening drive and pulled out a beautifully designed fake punt. A.J. Trapasso, a rookie punter out of Ohio State, bluffed a reverse and scampered 40 yards to the end zone.’

‘”The no huddle looked good at times and looked poor at times,” said Jauron. “We’ll certainly get better at it too. We would like to keep moving, but for the first night I was pleased. I don’t recall that we had an illegal procedure or a delay of game.”‘