Archives for May 2011

‘He objected to the revenue sharing plan that didn’t put enough money in the pockets of the small-market teams like the Bills rather than to any distaste he had for all the money – 59.5% – that was going to the players. He felt the revenue-sharing portion was being shoved down his throat without a proper explanation what he would be signing. “I’m upset about the whole deal and the way it was presented,” Wilson said five years ago. “And 59.5% is far too much money for the whole league, not just Buffalo.” Whatever his reason, the fact remains that Wilson voted no when just about everyone else voted yes. If they had listened to him, this might have been settled a long time ago.’

‘But the current team of talent-evaluators now has the unmistakable stamp of Nix and Whaley, giving Bills fans hopes their team just might return to the days of when it was recognized for being one of the NFL’s very best at finding talent.’

‘”People don’t realize that the atmosphere in the locker room is so important,” said Nix a former college head coach. “I don’t care how good your coaches are or how well you drafted. If you don’t have team leaders you’re not going to be successful. I had a chance to work with two national championship teams all of them had the same thing. We’re trying to get to that point. We’ve got good leaders. We need to add to it.”‘

‘I’ll be living in Mississippi. I’ll be on the road and be a mobile director and do everything pretty much on the road. I’ll get a chance to meet in here in December and February.’

‘How impacted will the Bills be by the work stoppage? On a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the most significantly impacted), the Bills rate a 4, which is pretty impressive for a 4-12 team.’

‘"If you keep doing the same thing the same way and get the same results every time," Nix said during Wednesday’s news conference, "sometimes you need to make a change."’

‘”We are real proud of him and happy,” Gibbons’ father, Jim, said. “He has worked hard. Things are happening pretty fast. He was just in San Diego for 18 days before the draft. He is busy.”‘

‘"He’s known me long enough to know the way that I evaluate players and I know what kind of players he likes," Gibbons stated. "It’s easy both ways, that he understands when I’m writing reports and what I’m saying and when I’m out looking at players, I know what he’s looking for — what kind of players he’s looking to bring in here. When you have that kind of relationship it makes it a lot easier."’

‘Gibbons was a college scout for the San Diego Chargers the past seven years after spending 12 seasons with the Bills as a college and pro scout starting in 1992.’

‘The shuffle in Buffalo’s personnel department continued Wednesday with the hiring of Tom Gibbons and Chuck Cook. Bills Executive Vice President and General Manager Buddy Nix named Gibbons the team’s new Pro Personnel Director, while Cook will serve as Director of College Scouting.’

‘"I’ll cover the country and see the top prospects," he said. "I’ll probably do those during the middle of the week. At the beginning of the week and the end of the week, [I’ll] concentrate on the pro side. I think the way we had things set up this past year, it’s going along at a nice clip and it just needs to be maintained on the pro side."’

‘”It’s an exciting time in my life and in the Bills organization,” Whaley told Buffalobills.com. “It was a challenging year last year, but I think with what we did to finish the year and what we did in the draft and hopefully once this thing gets settled in free agency it’ll be the cornerstone of turning this franchise around and get it going in the direction that everyone wants it to be. Not only the fans and Mr. Wilson, but Buddy Nix and our staff.”‘

‘"The support from the Bethel and McKenzie families, the people back home in Mt. Juliet, even the folks in Buffalo … it’s all been amazing," Jasper said. "Buffalo folks are hitting me up on all the social networking sites, and I want to work hard to make everyone proud."’

‘”We’ll have to find a veteran free agent, or some veteran free agents,” Gailey told Buffalobills.com. “We don’t know which way we’re going in terms of whether we add one or two. We might add a veteran and a young guy or we might add two veteran guys. We’ll see how that pans out, but we have to have at least one veteran player to back up Fitz.”‘

‘While hoping for a long-term deal, he insisted he would be fine playing under a one-year tender. "I wouldn’t have any problem with that," he said. "I’m not going to go in there and be a cancer to the football team. I’m not going to go in there and act out of character. I’m going to go in there and do what I’ve been doing for the past five years. I’m going to lead."’