Archives for August 27, 2013

”’I came here to play football, and that’s what I’m doing,” Tuel said. ”It just explains, you can never expect. You never know what’s going to happen in this league.”‘

‘Coach Doug Marrone provided the update Monday, two days after Gilmore was hurt in a 30-7 preseason loss to Washington.’

‘Rogers failed to make an impact in Buffalo in a bid to make a fresh start following a troubled college career. As a sophomore in 2011, Rogers led Tennessee with 67 catches for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns.’

‘Marrone also confirmed that starting cornerback Stephon Gilmore will miss the next 6-to-8 weeks with a fractured wrist that will require surgery, capping a trying week that has seen Manuel’s preseason cut short due to a knee injury and Kolb’s career called into question after sustaining another concussion.’

‘”I talked to (C.J.) when we landed from the Washington game and I excused him to be able to go back (home) and handle his personal situation,” Bills head coach Doug Marrone said Monday. “I don’t have anything more to report than really what I said before as far as what has been in the paper. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims as well as C.J. and his family.”‘

‘”A little bit of adversity (there),” Marrone said when asked about the team’s quarterback situation.’

‘Rogers failed to consistently impress throughout training camp and the preseason games, resulting in being one of the last few receivers to see action on offense in both practice and the games. The former University of Tennessee star was kicked out of the school for failed drug tests and then went on to play for Tennessee Tech in 2012.’

‘”Well, I think right now we’re going to evaluate to see where we are with that, to see what the ability of those players that we have out there are in these next couple days. But then I think you have to look really hard at matchups, really,” Marrone said. “Do we feel good about these matchups and how do we want to match up defensively on teams’ receiving ability. So if you don’t feel comfortable in a matchup, obviously you can cloud him, put someone behind him, because at the end of the day if you’re just having single coverage man to man they can get to you. So it’s probably more schematic about how you want to go about it which puts a little bit more planning on our part but that’s what we do. Our job is to put our players in the best position.”‘

‘What do the Bills do now? There’s pretty much one player whose shoulders the success of the defense rests upon now: Mario Williams. Without Gilmore locking down opponents’ receivers, the Bills will have to rely heavily on getting pressure on quarterbacks. Blitzing is great, but Williams was signed to a $100 million contract to get after the QB. For the first eight weeks, they’ll especially need him to earn his dollars.’

‘”Right now, we’re planning on Jeff Tuel playing the first game and we’re working with EJ to get back as quickly as possible,” Head Coach Doug Marrone said on Monday.’

‘”We’re waiting to see where the protocol goes and then be able to talk to him and I think that’s a day to day thing that we have to make a decision on obviously before the final cut,” Marrone said.’

‘”I was a little, you know, I didn’t really have a … I was a little disappointed honestly,” he remarked. “But I was hoping that, you know, ‘Ok, there will be a resolution to this.’ That was my initial, just being honest, that was my initial feeling. But I did think that just initially it was going to take a while, but there would be a resolution to it.”‘

‘”It’s just the business side, it’s what I’ve learned,” said Byrd. “It’s disappointing, but it’s just business. At the end of the day, it is what it is. That’s the business side of things. They see things one way, we see it another way. You let your agent handle things like that. Now I’m back here. It’s just football.”‘

‘”I talked to him when we landed from the Washington game and I excused him to be able to go back (home) and handle his personal situation,” said Marrone. “I don’t have anything more to report than really what I said before as far as what has been in the paper. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims as well as C.J. and his family.”‘

‘Hairston missed a good portion of OTAs and all of training camp with a lower body injury that had him moved to the Active/PUP list earlier this year. Hairston had been working with athletic trainers on the side at practice daily but did not make enough progress to be elevated.’