Archives for March 2012

‘”When you look at the Buffalo Bills, yes, offensive tackle is a huge need,” McShay told reporters on a national conference call Friday. “But are they going to pull the trigger that high? That’s the problem. Anyone can sit here and say, well, how about trade back? I don’t know that they can. I don’t know that anyone wants to move up to No. 10. My thought is in this draft, what you get at 9, 10, 11, 12, is what you’re going to get at 17, 18, 19, 20.”‘

‘Steelers offensive line coach Sean Kugler worked with Bell for two seasons before leaving Buffalo in 2010. The Steelers are not equipped to do serious bidding on Bell. They are believed to be $6 million to $8 million under the salary cap, and they want to re-sign a handful of their own free agents, including receiver Jerricho Cotchery.’

‘”Buddy Nix has been honest and consistent with us all along,” Raccuia said Friday. “I’m confident talks will get started in the next couple of months.”‘

‘Gary Horton of Scouts Inc., rates Buffalo’s new defensive line the No. 1 “best team fix” in free agency: “If you want to see a shocking transformation of a weak unit into a dominating unit, look no further than Buffalo. … This has a chance to be among the most dominating fronts in 2012, after being the weakest unit on this team in 2011. This will be a fun group to watch in the future.”‘

‘”You hope that by the time you get everybody on the field, and everybody healthy – and you get Kyle Williams and Marcell and Mario and the other people that will be playing, whether it’s Mark (Anderson) or whoever it is on the other side – you hope that you’ve got a viable pass rush with four people that makes our football team better,” Gailey said.’

‘”Fred and I have visited a couple of times,” Nix said. “Fred has been vocal some about wanting a new deal and that kind of thing so finally I called him in and we talked twice. I told him we’re going to offer you an extension. We had priorities with guys that were unrestricted that we didn’t want to lose. I told him when we get through it we’ll at least do it before training camp. That way there’s no chance of him getting hurt. He’ll be healthy and he’ll have an extension before he goes to camp. We’ll be as straight as we can with him.”‘

‘”We’ve been talking to him all along. But I don’t know what they’re looking for right now,” the coach said.’

‘”It absolutely helps,” Hansen told Buffalobills.com. “When you have a serious threat like I did with Bruce Smith, it opened things up for me that wouldn’t be open otherwise, and that went the other way too. We ran a lot of twist, stunt games with Bruce too and it really opened things up because you really have to allocate more resources to a guy who can rush the passer like Bruce could and like the Bills new player Mario Williams can.”‘

‘”He’s capable of playing all three downs, I think,” Gailey said. “And the thing about it is, all three downs in the league today are more passing than running. We’re a different animal than we were 15 years ago.”‘

‘”I know one thing. They’re both not going to be totally happy with the number of touches that they get. With only one football and several guys who can make plays, everybody’s not going to be happy. That’s part of it. So you do the best you can to use C.J. and Fred in different ways to get them the ball, because they’re both capable of making big plays.”‘

‘”It’s what I expected, so I can honestly say that it hasn’t been anything (different) for me,” Jackson said. “We felt like we had to make some moves in free agency, so I wanted them to concentrate on that. He gave me his word that we’ll get something done. He’s a man of his word, so something will get done about it.”‘

‘Jackson is scheduled to make $1.95 million in the final season of a four-year deal he signed with Buffalo in 2009.’

‘”Fred and I have visited a couple of times,” Nix said during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio (via the Bills’ official site). “Fred has been vocal some about wanting a new deal and that kind of thing so finally I called him in and we talked twice. I told him we’re going to offer you an extension. We had priorities with guys that were unrestricted that we didn’t want to lose.’

‘Easley’s chances appear pretty good and it helps that general manager Buddy Nix said last week that the team won’t pursue any other receivers in free agency. Still, despite the setbacks, we suspect Easley will be ready to seize his chance this summer.’

‘”I’ve just been down here in Myrtle Beach hanging out, playing some golf, training, obviously keeping myself in shape to be ready when we report back on April 21, but I’m looking forward to getting back up there and getting a full offseason instead of last year going through the whole lockout along with free agency and getting thrown right into the situation in Buffalo,” he said. “I definitely felt comfortable about the situation going back to Chan, but now [I] get a whole offseason to get to know the guys, you get to know how the receivers are. It’s tough going into training camp trying to learn the receivers on the go.”‘