Archives for January 2015

‘”I do believe that a stadium, long term, is going to be needed in that marketplace,” Goodell said. “That’s one of the things” the Pegulas are “evaluating with their franchise: What’s the next generation of stadium? I think that that’s an important consideration for the Buffalo market and that region, but also for the NFL and Terry and Kim.’

‘Polian could give the Bills a Hall inductee for the second year in a row. Former Bills receiver Andre Reed was inducted last year.’

‘Ryan had 11 media stops in a three-hour schedule. He was trailed by reps from Pizza Hut, where he has recently landed a national ad campaign that features him throwing a red challenge flag at celebrities – Tony Romo, for one – who commit the infraction of not eating the new triple crust offering.”

‘”The greatest predictor of future events is the past,” Roman said. “We could have been No. 1 in the league in rushing in San Francisco every year if that was my goal. … But my goal is to win, and I think you’ve got to strike a commensurate level of balance to do so in this league.”‘

‘”We just have to focus on beating them handily on the field so it doesn’t come down to things like footballs being inflated to the proper pressure. Let’s put up enough points so that it doesn’t matter.”‘

‘”I think it’s great for Buffalo and would love to see it down here, but not exactly on one of the sights they picked, obviously, because it impacts us.”‘

‘”They played well enough to kill us twice,” Thurman said, referencing Buffalo’s two lopsided wins over the Jets last year. “There’s a lot of talent here and they played good defense a year ago, and that’s a credit to coach Schwartz and his staff. There’s talent on this defense up front, at linebacker, and in the secondary.”‘

‘”If you’re good and you know you’re good, who cares if you talk about it. What do you have to do? You have to go out on the field and prove it. Talking doesn’t win games. Being brash and having bravado doesn’t win games. You have to go out and back it up, so who cares.”‘

‘In Jacksonville, Hackett will have a chance to work with 2014 No. 3 overall pick Blake Bortles, who struggled in his rookie season with the Jaguars. Hackett, 35, has six seasons of NFL coaching experience, including two as a coordinator, but he has never been a quarterbacks coach in the NFL. Hackett previously worked with Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley in Tampa Bay as well.’

‘”He was a guy who made those guys aggressive and put them in the right places to make plays, and you saw it,” Jackson said of Schwartz’s impact. “That’s why they had a league high in sacks and we had a bunch of different people who had double digits in sacks just because he created a lot of different havoc and brought people from all over the place.’

‘Hackett reportedly pulled out of the discussion to become the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams to take the job in being the point man for developing former first-round pick Blake Bortles starting in 2015. He and Bradley previously served on the same staff in Tampa Bay in 2006 and 2007.’

‘”Whatever the talent dictates,” Thurman said Tuesday. “We’ll play a 3-4, we’ll play a 4-3. We’ll get in the 46. We’ll get in an odd front. It’s whatever our guys do best. We’re gonna play to their strengths, and when you do that, you’re giving your guys a chance to be successful. That’s what it really comes down to, is those guys that are out there on the field, are you giving them the opportunity to go out and succeed? So it doesn’t matter.”‘

‘Especially considering the obvious difficulty the Bills would have in making a big upgrade at quarterback, I think Ryan and Roman will go with Manuel if need be and not hate their fates for it. If something else comes along, fine. They’ll need some kind of veteran QB to fill out the roster. But I’d bet Ryan thinks he has Sanchez’s equal in Manuel. This, of course, is as this evaluation process starts.’

‘”I know (Senior VP of Football Administration) Jim Overdorf has been in touch with his representatives and started the process,” said Whaley. “We want him back. He’s a great part of our defense. He brings a lot of energy, and hopefully we can get it done sooner rather than later.”‘

‘”After my seventh year at Dallas coach Landry asked me if I ever thought about coaching,” Thurman said. “I said, ‘No, I majored in journalism and minored in communication. I wanted to talk about sports on television.’ I didn’t want to get into coaching, but he said, ‘You prepare like a coach. You might want to give it some thought.'”‘