Archives for July 23, 2014

‘Any experienced office mover will tell you: The best time to go treasure hunting is moving day. I start at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where I navigate safely past construction workers welding support beams, husky interns half-jogging to and from trucks, and into the visitor’s locker room where the rookies made their home during minicamp.’

‘These people aren’t just hungry, they’re starving. The Bills haven’t made the playoffs in 14 years, the longest drought in the league. They’ve had nine straight losing seasons and haven’t had a winning record since 2004.’

‘”I never want to be in that situation again. I’ll make sure I never put myself in that situation again,” Bradham said Tuesday after the Bills wrapped up their third day of training camp at St. John Fisher College. “That was one of the main things this offseason was refocusing, and not hanging around the guys who I was hanging around, because they’re not really friends. The guys who are out here grinding with me are my friends. That’s what I had to learn.”‘

‘”Yeah, in the beginning,” Marrone agreed. “They finished strong, but it was not what we wanted.”‘

‘Jeff Tuel received some reps with the second team during Tuesday’s practice, and coach Doug Marrone declared the backup quarterback job behind EJ Manuel to be there for the taking between Tuel and Thad Lewis.’

‘”The Ralph” has certainly served us well and I’m sure can continue to do so for decades to come. Our current stadium has great bones and the necessary infrastructure along with a fieldhouse and administrative offices already in place.’

‘”I thought we had a good day,” Manuel said, a somewhat surprising response given the evidence of what transpired during the two-hour-plus session at St. John Fisher College. “It was the first third-down day so we have to continue to get better, but it was the first full pad practice and I thought we ran the ball well and threw the ball well.”‘

‘”I dunked on Naaman in high school,” Williams said with a smile Tuesday. “They beat us – he played for St. Joe’s and I played at Riverside – but I dunked on him real bad. It was an ‘And one’ and the crowd was going crazy.”‘

‘Fourteen years out of the post-season, a collective record of 88-136, six different general managers, seven head coaches, 11 starting quarterbacks, and still the fans come. As if the Bills have bottled the secret to marketing mediocrity.’

‘Buffalo Bills rookie wide receiver Sammy Watkins will make an autograph appearance on Monday, August 11 at Frontier Field.’

‘”This is what it’s about,” said the new linebacker. “It was good to be back out and getting used to the pads again.”‘

‘Diabate, who played for Bills coach Doug Marrone, joins Chris McAlister and Myles Russ as 2014 Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship participants, the team announced Tuesday.’

‘Kitchens, a rookie out of Florida, had to be carted off the field, and coach Doug Marrone said on Tuesday that he would be out indefinitely. He was designated as waived/injured.’

‘”I looked at it quite a few times,” Tuel said. “One of those things you look at the good, you look at the bad, you move on and you learn. It just seems like from where I am now to where I was then, already I feel like a different player. It’s crazy just to think, it may sound funny to some, not even a year from it I feel like I know so much more now than I did then.”‘

‘Manuel was fine, but the Bills obviously don’t want him taking hits in practice. What they do want, though, is that type of disruption and fire and Hughes, who had double-digit sacks for the first time in his career last year. Tuesday was a day Hughes had been waiting for as the Bills practiced in pads before the first time.’