Archives for August 2014

‘”You know, until two or three years ago, you couldn’t even get a chicken wing here,” said Marc Honan, chief marketing officer for the Bills. “It’s just amazing.”‘

‘As it stands now, here’s a look at an early projection of how the roster may look after final cuts. This will be updated weekly.’

‘”I can probably see where people see our depth at running back and try to connect the dots with teams that don’t have depth, but, again, nobody has talked to us.”‘

‘With time for comments over, Pai is calling out FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to finally put the issue to a vote. A simple majority of the five commissioners is all that’s required.’

‘The nearly 40-year-old rule, intended to ensure National Football League venues are chock full, is an unnecessary vestige of an era before the sport’s popularity soared. And it is particularly unfair in western New York, where the population is stagnant, the stadium is larger than average and a playoff-caliber team hasn’t hiked a ball in 14 seasons.’

‘Yes, a Super Bowl is a lofty target for the Bills, who have gone 6-10 in each of the last three seasons, but general manager Doug Whaley spent time in the Steelers organization and wants a few things to rub off on his current team.’

‘I was always intrigued about how intelligent he was about everything, not just the sport of football,” Marrone said. “Not being a very good football player and being on the look team, I’ll never forget Coach Noll used to jump in.”‘

‘”I think the work is different,” defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. “I think we get good work no matter what, and we compete at home, but there’s a different edge to this. It’s a different view.”‘

‘”We have not been contacted by any team about C.J. Spiller,” Whaley said. “These rumors are news to me, and it’s exciting for you guys I guess because it gives you something to fill the newspaper with. You know I’m a straight shooter. We have not been contacted by any teams.”‘

‘”I remember we used to run down the hill before practice to get ready to go with Coach Noll,” said Marrone, who played offensive line in the NFL for two seasons. “Do they still wear the black jerseys without the numbers on them? We had these black uniforms. We used to call them burlap sacks. They were tough. We used to run with our pads on with Coach Noll. I was going through that in my mind when I saw the field [upon arriving].”‘

‘”I thought it was great practice and great etiquette. … It doesn’t get reported enough. We like to turn on the TV and see gory, unfortunate incidents like what happened between Dallas and Oakland,” Tomlin said. “We’re here to prove that teams are capable of coming together and doing it in a productive and professional manner, and I compliment both teams for how they did it today.”‘

‘”We as coaches have to constantly move (players) around a little bit to get a good evaluation,” the Bills coach said. “Here, they go against somebody else and I think you get a better evaluation.”‘

‘”It’s hard,” Suisham said. “By me saying it would be great to have a team in Canada, doesn’t mean I want to see a team leave Buffalo.”‘

‘”It raises the level of intensity and urgency up a notch,” said Tomlin. “Any time you can do that with a football team it helps. So I really don’t compare it to in-stadium work. I compare it to a non-practice against another football team.”‘