Archives for June 2010

‘”It’s a good feeling, that little stress gone from my life,” said Batten from Buffalo on Thursday. “We got it negotiated quick. It was actually a really good deal – my agent thinks it’ll be one of the top deals in my round.”‘

‘Chosen 192nd overall out of South Dakota State, Batten was the All-Missouri Valley Conference co-defensive player of the year last season. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 254 pounds, he was credited with 274 tackles and 23 sacks in 46 career games, including 45 starts.’

‘It was a day to throw and throw often as the Bills had one of their longest 7-on-7 periods of the spring as the second week of OTAs wrapped up Thursday. And while things did not get off to the best start for the offense, on the whole, the quarterbacks made good decisions, had a high completion percentage and made a handful of big plays downfield.’

‘Sixth-round draft choice Danny Batten signed a multi-year deal with the club at One Bills Drive following the team’s OTA practice.’

‘”It’s really just one person I’m reporting to now,’ Edwards says of the biggest difference between last year and this. “We have a position coach and an offensive coordinator, but Chan is sitting in all the meetings and Chan is calling all the plays, designing everything and making all the decisions. We’re meeting with him so any question or problem I have I’m going to him. It didn’t happen that way in the past.”‘

‘In short, George Wilson is the textbook example of good things happening to good people. So why don’t we hear more about him? I mean, he was an undrafted free agent who worked hard to get where he is, while, say, former first-round draft pick Pacman Jones worked hard to play himself out of football before Cincinnati came to the rescue.’

‘When asked if he was satisfied with the progress of the quarterbacks specifically, Gailey offered the following response. “Never,” he said. “Again it goes back to never being satisfied. We’re making progress every day though. I see these guys understanding what we’re trying to do and I think they’re getting better. We’ve got a long way to go yet. It’s easy when you’ve got shorts on and nobody is hitting you. That’s the easy time to play quarterback. It’s a lot harder when they’re all flying around you and they’re all trying to take your head off.”‘

‘"It’s almost like being a rookie again because I haven’t studied this much since I was a rookie just because I was so comfortable with our defense," Kelsay said. "I knew exactly what I was doing and I knew exactly what everybody was doing. When you’re in a system for a while, obviously there’s advantages to that but I’m extremely excited about what this defense is capable of doing."’

‘When asked to expand on what kind of leadership he’s seen from Edwards, Green referenced how Edwards is carrying himself as well as interacting with teammates. “Just his confidence man,” said Green. “He’s confident with what he wants to do. He wants to lead a team. He’s had some years in the league and he just wants to be able to get this team past that point of just being a good team and getting to the playoffs. He works with us every day. We eat breakfast together. We’re chatting with him so I’m looking forward to working with him.”‘

‘”It’s something that I think I’ll pick up on pretty quick,” said Kelsay. “I can already see progress since we started a couple of months ago with offseason stuff. I intend to get better every day I step on the field and continue to learn from the coaches and other players around me.”‘

‘"It seems like everything about me since Day One has been mistabbed," Johnson said after a Bills practice this week. "I didn’t really expect to get drafted because there wasn’t a lot of hype around me. I was a relative unknown."’

‘The Bills face a difficult task in climbing out of the AFC East cellar. They could improve a lot but still remain in fourth place because their division rivals are all strong playoff contenders. Gailey’s offensive reputation suggests the Bills should be able to move the ball and score more in ’10, but a lot of that will be determined by who’s at quarterback.’

‘”It’s a special holiday for our family,” he said. “I come from a strong military background. Both of my grandfathers were in the army. My dad served in the Air Force, my brother is currently serving in the Air Force right now. It’s a real special day to just kind of reflect on what our veterans have done.”‘