Archives for July 24, 2013

‘Eric Wood goes in to the most important season of his life. At the end of 2013, Wood is set to become an unrestricted free agent. A year without any injuries will help him significantly, and the Bills are certainly depending on him to be a steady force with a position in flux right next to him.’

‘”That will be our mentality,” Pettine told Buffalobills.com. “We want to intimidate. I know some things have been made of that recently, but we’re going to walk that line. We’ll never be a dirty group, but we want to intimidate. We want to be physical, we want to knock people down and not help them up. I think that’s the approach you have to take. That’s something we’re not going to shy away from. We want to be the toughest defense in the NFL.”‘

‘”He wanted to make sure that everybody knew that there was no favoritism there, so he went out of his way to be extra hard on me,” Pettine Jr. said.’

‘With new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine running a vastly different scheme to the one run by Dave Wannstedt, Anderson clearly had a difficult time finding his niche, so the Bills cut ties before they check into training camp at St. John Fisher College Friday.’

‘”I don’t know if it’s more special but it’s always good that I’m able to do (this), especially with all the things I’ve been through the last couple of years,” Kelly said. “I felt pretty good out there. My arm feels good – the rest of my body, it’s getting there.”‘

‘”Both are head-to-head because it’s a new offense for both of them,” Kelly said. “From Kevin’s standpoint, he’s seen the defenses, he’s seen how fast the game is. It’s not college, it’s the NFL. But EJ … from watching him, he’s a specimen. I was never like that, not even close. But I know to be a quarterback in the NFL, it’s what you got between your ears. Both seem like they know what they’re doing but time will tell.”’

‘The Pro Football Hall of Famer underwent surgery for cancer in his upper jaw bone on June 7. Two weeks later, doctors told Kelly he was cancer free. Kelly said it’s good he’s still able move around after going through the procedure and other surgeries for back, neck and hernia problems over the years.’

‘He made just five appearances, registering 12 tackles and one sack as the Buffalo defense allowed 435 points, most in the AFC East.’

‘The Bills offseason overhaul included a significant purge of a roster that features only nine players who were still on the team since 2009.’

‘Anderson, 30, missed 11 games due to injury and had only one sack and 10 total tackles compared to the 10.5 sacks Williams recorded.’

‘When the agreement first happened, Anderson inked the contract which would have paid him $19.5 million over the four seasons if he saw the end of the deal. Only $7.9 million, however, was qualified as guaranteed money.’

‘The two large sporting events will take place less than a mile away from each other. The Bills training camp will start this Friday while the PGA Championship starts on August 5. The two events overlap for a week in August.’

‘I think he will accomplish what predecessors Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron and Chan Gailey weren’t able to. But it most likely won’t happen this season, unless rookie quarterback EJ Manuel winds up having an immediate, transformative season like 2012 rookie QBs Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson did in their first NFL seasons.’

‘The Bills have some very talented young pieces on both sides of the ball and could absolutely become a contender a few years down the road. So much of that will depend on the development of E.J. Manuel (or Kolb, for that matter). In the meantime however, Buffalo will remain a below-.500 team as new coach Doug Marrone and his staff lay the groundwork.’