Archives for March 6, 2014

‘Attendance for the series, which began in 2008 and was extended in 2012, has been poor recently. In a 34-31 overtime loss to the Falcons last season, the announced attendance was 38,969. Ralph Wilson Stadium has a 73,960-seat capacity.’

‘Recently released by the Baltimore Ravens, inside linebacker Jameel McClain made his first official visit and flew up to western New York to meet with head coach Doug Marrone and the rest of his defensive staff. McClain will next be on his way to the New York Giants for an official visit.’

‘There has not been an answer on what this means for the future of the Bills playing game sin Toronto, rumors that this is just a “one-year hiatus.” The Bills are 1-5 in games at the Rogers Centre and have yet it make the Rogers Centre feel like a home-field environment. The Bills do not want to lose its fans from the Southern Ontario area. The Bills offices have said that they attract more fans from the Ontario area than from Rochester area.’

‘”Aaron Williams is a versatile player who has grown into a key playmaker for our defense in recent years,” said Buffalo Bills General Manager Doug Whaley. “He had an extremely productive season for our defense in 2013. Aaron is the type of young, core player we targeted early in the process to retain for years to come and this will be our philosophy moving forward. By building on his improved play in 2013, we expect Aaron to continue to grow into a key contributor for the Bills organization.”‘

‘We are committed to continuing our partnership and have secured a robust sponsorship agreement for the 2014 season that will bring Canadian NFL fans visibility and access to the Bills. The sponsorship includes ticketing, merchandising, media exposure, and a newly created Canada House, near Ralph Wilson Stadium, that will serve as the official pre-game Canadian tailgate zone for all Bills home games.’

‘Just want to thank Russ (Brandon), Doug (Whaley) and Jim (Overdorf) for allowing me to sign long-term with the Bills. It’s been a great opportunity and I’m very blessed to have a great opportunity to be with a team like this. I know that Russ has a great plan to build this team in to a playoff team again and we talked at the end of the season that they’re going to give me the responsibility of leading this defense to where it used to be. That’s a dominant defense and being aggressive and being nasty out there and making plays. I told them I accept the role of leading this defense to where it used to be and just blessed that they gave me that opportunity and they trusted me to be here long-term to get this team back to where it started.’

‘We have not played well up there. We have to take responsibility for that. We’re 1-5 up there and as Coach Marrone says all the time, it doesn’t matter where we play. I think I referenced Coyne Field earlier and that’s a practice field in Syracuse. It doesn’t matter if we play there, when you line up you play to win. We’re not using this as an excuse. I can’t say enough about the partnership that we have with Rogers, which is obviously continuing in a different facet for this year. The incredible leadership of Ed Rogers, Phil Lind, Keith Pelley. Everyone within that organization is first class and top notch. Quite frankly that’s why I’m standing here today and we were able to work through a very complex set of discussions.’

‘”Health-wise I’m 100 percent. That’s first,” McClain said. “Now I’m a veteran in this league. I understand what it takes to win games. I understand how you lose games. I understand what it is to prepare and go for a long haul over the season. That was different when I was a kid coming in. I didn’t know any of those things. So where I’m at in this game, I’m a professional within it and I’m going to treat the game like that.”‘