Archives for August 11, 2013

‘”What I’d like to see out of EJ and the rest of the players,” Marrone said, “I’d like to see them go out there and be very competitive. Go out there and win a game.”‘

‘”Anytime you’re an undrafted free agent, you want to make special teams a priority,” Smith said. “I’m a big guy, I can block, I’m physical. I think I’ve got a good shot of making it on special teams. I played special teams in college.”‘

‘Manuel had to fight his way into the first round and is now competing for the Bills’ starting job. While he has taken more snaps in training camp than his nearest competitor, Kevin Kolb, and will start Sunday, there’s a long way to go before new Bills coach Doug Marrone declares a winner.’

‘There were players with bigger arms, bigger reputations and maybe even bigger upsides. But perhaps none could have made a bigger impression on the Bills than Manuel has already.’

‘The highly anticipated debut of first-round quarterback EJ Manuel is finally here. Because of the injury to Kevin Kolb and the death of his grandmother, Manuel will get the initial start of the team’s preseason schedule. Kolb was expected to be on the trip and would likely dress, but will only take snaps if the Bills get into a dire situation. Although it’s likely to be a very vanilla look from the Colts on defense, seeing Manuel react to players and situations he hasn’t seen on a daily basis will be an important step in his professional progression.’

‘”If you’re healthy then you in your mind have to be prepared to play the whole game,” said Marrone. “I’ve been through this quite a bit and sometimes you have injuries during the game and if you told the player he’s only playing this amount of time and then you have to put him back in there his mindset is a little bit different. And he probably has a chance to get injured if he’s not mentally prepared to go in there.’