Archives for March 2012

‘This area – Buffalo and Niagara Falls combined – does not offer the same appeal of a Miami or a Las Vegas or a San Diego. But then, that’s part of the beauty of it.’

‘"Now he gets the big contract, they went right after him, rolled out the red carpet to get him. I think now he wants to go to Buffalo and prove hey you did make a mistake. I’m worth all this big money and I’m going to help get this franchise back in the playoffs where they belong. A lot of tradition and history with the Buffalo Bills franchise and Mario feels like he’s one of the missing pieces, especially on the defensive side that can push the Bills to the postseason."

‘"I think that, when you’re looking at stadiums throughout the country, whether it was Yankee Stadium, New York has fully subsidized those stadiums," Kearns said. "The Bills are an important part of our economy. They’re an important part of our area. And what they do internally is something they do. But, talk to those small business people that got bars and restaurants, that generates excitement."’

‘For days last week, the courting of Williams became a crucible as to whether we had what it takes to lure an elite athlete. Everything from the atypically warm weather to the quality of off-hours distractions to our housing stock was publicly weighed on the scale of his presumed acceptance or rejection.’

‘Austin, 54, of Wheatfield, suffered a knee injury while working on-field security Nov. 13, 2005. Standing behind the end zone, looking into the stands for trouble as his job required him to do, Austin was hit from behind by the Bills’ Lee Evans, who made a diving catch of a touchdown pass and tumbled out of the end zone.’

‘"It was that way in Miami with Jason Taylor and [Adewale] Ogunleye and [Tim] Bowens and [Daryl] Gardener," Wannstedt said. "It was that way in Chicago with [Richard] Dent and [Steve] McMichael and Trace Armstorng. In Dallas, we had Leon Lett and Russell Maryland and Charles Haley. As our guys up front go, so will our defense go. That’s why organizationally, we felt that this was such a high priority."’

‘Monitoring Twitter is a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week job for Chris Jenkins, the Bills’ director of media relations. The team not only needs to know what news and rumors are circulating about the team, they need to keep up with what the Bills’ own players are tweeting.’

‘Williams is a difference-maker and even should the unthinkable happen and the money deprives him of his fire and productivity – which it won’t – his mere signing sent a great message to Bills’ fans.’

‘Now let’s see which approach works better this season.’

‘The Bills say the ticket office has been so busy since Thursday’s signing of free-agent defensive end Mario Williams that it added Saturday hours.’

‘"The point is when someone goes out and pays him $15 million (a year), if you paid him that, your team doesn’t get better when you do that," said Kraft on the talk show "Squawk Box." "I would say your team maybe gets worse, because you have less money available for other players. And only your personnel people understand the chemistry of how that works. And sometimes our fans get upset. We’re faced with a couple decisions like that, too."’

‘General manager Buddy Nix must continue to add vital parts (most notably in the draft) to this roster, and Gailey and his coaching staff need to get more out of it.’

‘Here’s hoping the signing of an elite player to the biggest contract for a defensive player in NFL history is the start of a new chapter in Bills football. It couldn’t come at a more critical time.’

‘”If we didn’t sign him while he was in Buffalo, we’d never get him,” Wilson said. “The agent would take him somewhere else, for more money. But this guy (Williams) made up his own mind and liked what he saw.”‘