Archives for September 2009

‘The Bills, who haven’t had a winning record since 2004, appear to be making progress under Dick Jauron, who is in his third season as coach. They began the season with two solid performances.’

‘The Packers didn’t have any problems with Meredith in his five months with the team but thought he was raw as a player and apparently didn’t try to sign him when Buffalo showed interest.’

‘Will any of this continue starting with the Saints on Sunday? I hope so. You can already tell Jauron trusts Alex Van Pelt more in two games than he trusted Turk Schonert in two years. He has a huge body of work to know that he can trust Bobby April with Special Teams (even with the McKelvin fumble). The defense needs to attack to get pressure on the quarterback. I like to see them blitz, especially when they are at home and the crowd helps. He is still a very conservative coach, but he showed signs of change. The hot seat can have that affect on people.’

‘Meredith, who graduated from USC with a 3.74 grade-point average, was viewed as an outstanding athlete but an unpolished project by many scouts entering the draft. At the draft combine, his 40- and 20-yard dash times of 4.99 and 2.84 seconds were tops among tackles.’

‘Jonathan Scott took over for Butler on Sunday and will likely continue to start at right tackle while the signing of Meredith provides depth at both the tackle and guard positions.’

‘But his greatest skill might be in the area of human relations.’

‘Meredith was drafted in the fifth round by the Packers, but failed to make Green Bay’s roster. Signed Tuesday, he’ll fill the spot left open after Buffalo placed starting right tackle Brad Butler on injured reserve.

‘It’s believed that Meredith will be a reserve player at both guard and tackle for the Bills, while Jonathan Scott continues to man the starting right tackle position.’

‘The script looked familiar, but this time there were no last-minute re-writes.’

‘Once Marshawn Lynch returns from suspension following this Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, the Bills have two starting backs they can mix in and out of the lineup, making who the starter is rather irrelevant. Whether Jackson gets the first carry or Lynch does should not matter, it comes down to how many each of them gets per game. The problem Jauron and Van Pelt have to figure out is keeping both of them fresh and not burying one over the other.’

‘The Bills rank sixth in the league in scoring at 28.5 points per game, fifth in rushing and 13th in total offense. It’s early, but all are improvements over 2008, when they ranked 25th in total offense.’

‘”I always have confidence in myself,” Whitner said. “Over the past three years I have played so many positions here. I bounced around from game to game. Playing the free safety position is not easy, but if you do your job you’ll make plays on the football.”‘

‘Through two games Jackson has 337 all-purpose yards, which includes 220 yards rushing, 108 yards receiving and a nine-yard kick return.’

‘Orchard Park police and deputized security officers logged a total of 26 arrests Sunday, similar to last year’s opening- day total of 28. A check of last year’s records shows an average of between 30 and 35 arrests per game, with a low of 16 for one game and a high of 50 for the Monday night game against the Cleveland Browns in November.’

‘Unofficially, the Bills blitzed a whopping 32 times in the 52 times Leftwich dropped back to pass.’