Archives for August 20, 2010

‘The National Football League has suspended Buffalo Bills tight end Shawn Nelson four games without pay for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.’

‘Nelson had 17 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown in 12 games as a rookie out of Southern Mississippi last season.’

‘Nelson’s suspension begins on Saturday, Sept. 4. He will be eligible to return to the Bills’ active roster on Monday, October 4 following the team’s Oct. 3 game against the New York Jets. Nelson is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games.’

‘"We’re really confident with the group we have. I think we run probably seven or eight deep where we’re really confident with people stepping in,” Wood said. “That’s kind of where we ran into issues last year. We had people get hurt and we had a lot of lapses throughout the offensive line. We’re all working to get better and that’s all we can do right now."’

‘Shawn Nelson of the Buffalo Bills has been suspended without pay for the team’s first four games of the 2010 regular season for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.’

‘Chan Gailey and Curtis Modkins had an excellent game plan with Spiller, getting him plenty of touches early. The coaches did a nice job of getting the starters more reps than in an average preseason game. This team was a vast improvement over the one that played against Washington.’

‘The offensive explosion of 21 first half points comes with the “preseason wins and losses don’t matter” disclaimer, of course, but the Toronto excursion was a sign that the Bills just might be moving in the right direction, after all.’

‘”Overall I think it went pretty well,” Brohm said. “There are obviously some things we can work on, but I think overall I felt good about what happened when I was out there. We moved the ball well, but we definitely need to put some points on the board.”‘

‘"What I told our team is you have to keep making steps forward," said coach Chan Gailey. "I thought we made a step forward in this ballgame."’

‘”It felt good,” he said after scoring his first NFL touchdown in the Bills’ 34-21 victory. “The offensive line did a great job blocking up front. Coming in, we knew how they were going to play. We knew they were a fast defense and they were going to over-run a couple of our plays. I just did a great job of reading my keys and made a couple of guys miss and just tried to get in there.”‘

‘”It’s definitely fun,” said Roosevelt, a Buffalo native and former St. Joe’s standout who had three catches for 22 yards Thursday. “I talked to Mike a couple of days ago and we were having fun joking around. I told him I was going to hit him if I got the chance. It was so awesome to see those guys.”‘

‘Why not give Brohm a start in a preseason game? Coach Chan Gailey, who anointed Edwards as the No. 1 after he lost the job a year ago, said he’ll consider it. If it’s really an “open competition,” why should Edwards be the only QB who gets to throw long to Evans or hand off to Spiller? “I think we all want to be in there starting,” Brohm said, “but I’m just going to try to get better every single day, and whatever the coaches decide, that’s what we’re going to do.”‘

‘”It was awesome to get our starting offensive line out there,” Spiller said. “That’s a great defense we just went up against and that’s a big confidence booster. Those guys did a great job.”‘

‘”There are Bills fans in the area, but a lot of them are older,” Muir says. “I know a lot of 35 and up Bills fans that identify with the older teams, the O.J. teams, the Jim Kelly teams. But because there was no Toronto allegiance until three years ago, people like myself have found other teams they identify with.”‘

‘Whatever the case, the Bills 34-21 victory, while it means squat in the overall scheme of things, offered much more action than Buffalo’s two previous regular-season outings at the Rogers Centre, a 19-13 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets last December and a 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins in 2008.’