Archives for March 2011

‘Today’s younger generations do not know about Carlton Chester (Cookie) Gilchrist. I consider myself fortunate to have known him. I admire and respect him because he lived his life standing up for his beliefs – and doing so in a time when being coloured meant you were often denied basic rights that most of us take for granted. And I sometimes wonder what kind of football and financial rewards he could have achieved were he playing today.’

‘Buffalo’s batting average with its draft picks (just six out of 27 starters) is the single biggest factor in the team’s 11-year playoff drought. In fact, it hasn’t hit a true home run with its No. 1 pick since 2004 (wide receiver Lee Evans).’

‘Buffalo allowed almost 170 yards per game rushing and its pass rush was anemic, ushering in a need to get bigger, stronger and younger up front. Auburn’s Nick Fairley, Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers and Alabama’s Marcell Dareus would fill the bill with the third overall pick.’

‘"I feel like after this year we’ll see where it goes. I’m still here for another year and I feel like I’m the starter." – QB Ryan Fitzpatrick on whether he thinks he’s earned the right to be the starter next season.’

‘”I’ve got eight or nine defensive ends with first round grades. Typically four defensive ends go in the first round. So that gives you an idea as to how good I think the defensive ends are,” said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock. “The defensive tackles are going to be fascinating especially at the top end. I start looking at kids like Temple’s Muhammad Wilkerson an underclassmen. He could be a defensive tackle or a defensive end and he could go anywhere from 25 to 40 and the kid is a heck of a football player. I think he would fit into the first round last year easily and he might get pushed into the second round just because of the quality and depth of the defensive line group.”‘

‘Wang’s life has been so tied to football that this was the first time he’s visited China in a decade. The last time was at age 13 when he spent two grueling months in Beijing training with the People’s Liberation Army’s athletics program.’

‘”You need to be able to talk to fans and know what you’re talking about,” she said. “It’s mostly current information, but you need to know the Bills went to four super bowls, and who Jim Kelly is. You need to be able to say who you think the team needs to draft. Last year, we drafted a noseguard, and I had to know they wanted to revamp their defense.”‘

‘If the Bills don’t have a solid conviction on a quarterback in six weeks, maybe they should consider one of those pass rushers or someone who can stop enemy runners.’

‘"We’d have a team party on Tuesday nights downtown at a place called Mr. Anthony’s on Delaware," Maguire said. "There was a meeting room upstairs, and it was kinda neat those years we were winning. We’d get after it and look at the film. Then we’d separate and go over it by position. Jack never missed coming to one of those parties. He didn’t drink, but he was there. Through all his life, through his political career, Jack was a team player. And the one thing in his mind that every one of the guys who played with him will remember is there’s nobody who wanted to win more than Jack Kemp."’

‘Yet Mr. Posluszny, whose mother is a teacher and his father a mechanic, said he was well aware of the financial problems that a rush of wealth had caused many professional athletes. And he did not want to be among them. “I knew I wanted to be in something safe and secure,” he said. “A long career isn’t guaranteed. I wanted to have this money for life.”‘

‘”Every player was evaluated and scrutinized, and we tried to project whether they would become productive members of our football program as well as the university at large,” Wannstedt said by phone, repeating comments he made to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette a day earlier. “Every player and each incident was evaluated on an individual basis. And we did our due diligence to make sure that we treated each player fair.”‘

‘General manager Buddy Nix has tabbed this draft as very deep at defensive end, tackle and outside linebacker, calling D-end “deeper than I can remember.”‘

‘The Bills covered their bases regarding several key potential free agents when they extended qualifying contract offers to SS Donte Whitner, LB Paul Posluszny and TE Scott Chandler. In the cases of Whitner and Posluszny, the moves protect Buffalo’s negotiating rights should those players be ruled restricted free agents rather than unrestricted pending the outcome of current labor talks.

‘”Sure, there are always chances of that. There’s chances of trading down, trading up. We don’t turn our phone off at night. We always are looking for ways to upgrade and if that’s the way that we feel is the best way to go we’ll do it.” – Coach Chan Gailey on the possibility of trading out of the No. 3 overall pick and gaining more draft picks.’

‘"It not only affects just the little guys who are wondering where their next meal will come from," he said. "Just the regular people, business owners, that’s a lot. That’s who I’m talking about everyday guys who have to work for something every hour, every minute to get something. It’s hard. We work so hard and now don’t know when we’ll be able to get back it again."’