Archives for August 2010

‘Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a number of ducks, but connected on some decent mid-length strikes. In other words, both he and Edwards showed their positives and negatives from 2009 as a refresher course for fan, right down to No. 5 looking a little ginger after a big hit. I’ll say it again: I’m not sure Fitzpatrick is the man for the job, but Gailey’s use of quarterbacks in the NFL has required the mobility and creativity Fitz showed in his touchdown connection to Nelson.’

‘It was the Bills debut for new head coach Chan Gailey, and it was one that left much to be desired, particularly in terms of how the starters played.’

‘The Bills took a 3-0 lead before the Skins ran off 35 straight points.’

‘”We made too many mistakes to be a quality football team,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “If you make that many mistakes, give up that many big plays, turn the ball over, penalties at crucial times you will not be a quality football team. And that’s my job to make sure that we become that kind of football team that avoids those bad plays that turn games around.”‘

‘”Fred hurt his hand and we hope to be able to get him back for the first game, but we’re not sure,” Gailey said. “It hurts. Thank goodness it’s preseason. When we get to early September it’s going to be 0-0 on the win-loss column and thank goodness for that, but we’ve got to find who can do what in these next three ballgames and get ourselves ready for that first one, that’s the biggest thing.”‘

‘”This is an exciting day for us,” said Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly at a news conference. “I know what Hunter’s dreams are, and that’s to help other kids.”‘

Some good, some not-so-good….Bills preseasons have provided plenty of memories over the years. As the team kicks off its second 50 years, here’s a look at five memorable preseasons from the first 50.

‘"I feel like last year’s preseason was horrible," quarterback Trent Edwards said this week. "I’d say that right now, that we didn’t do what we needed to do. We weren’t in rhythm. … We’ve got to come out and be efficient. We got to come out and [have] no stupid penalties, no mistakes. I know a lot of these young guys are putting on their game jerseys and playing under the lights for the first time, and I was there at one point. But we still have to go back to basics and go back to fundamentals."’

‘"I think it’s been different for him," Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. "He’s been so comfortable in a situation for 11 years that he’s never had to really grind out the system, because that [Eagles system] came natural to him with time. So it’s been a little different for him knowing that he’s really got to put in the work, and just the book — just memorizing what we’re doing, memorizing the verbiage — so it’s taken some time for him."’

‘"I told our team to anticipate if you’re a starter that you would play maybe a little bit longer than you would have in a normal situation because we’re learning new schemes," said Gailey. "We have a new defense, new offense, new special teams. You might have to go a little bit longer so we can get a feel for each other."’

‘”It’s tough on him,” Gailey said. “I feel bad for him, I feel bad for us, too. We wanted to get a good look at him. He had done some good things.”‘

‘”Oh, it’s a definitely an opportunity. (Coach Gailey) has given us all the chances in the world in practice, and he just wants us to perform in a game,” Roosevelt said. “That’s all I want to do, is perform.”‘

‘”To go up against another defense is valuable experience,” said Trent Edwards, Bills quarterback. “We want to make sure we are ready for Miami in week one. The Redskins are going to be a tough test defensively. Hopefully we can get our reps and put some points on the board.”‘

‘”But, at the same time, you’re mostly trying to evaluate personnel. You have a lot of players that you have seen on film, but you have a lot more players that you haven’t seen on film. We’ve got a lot of objectives in this ballgame, but the first one is that you would like to win it.”‘