Archives for June 2, 2016

'"I've got great people around me — the greatest staff, medical staff, great players, guys that continue to lift me up," he said. "And I'm working out now, so I feel pretty good."'

'“It’s black and white. You either make it through the yellow things or you don’t,” Carpenter said after the Bills wrapped up their fifth practice of the spring. “It doesn’t matter if you hit a good ball or a bad ball. If it goes through the yellow things, everyone’s happy. If it doesn’t, nobody’s happy. There’s no gray area whatsoever.”'

'"I went back to knowing that, you know what, I'm a guy who believes in myself a great deal," Ryan said. "And I believe in the guys around me. But the way that I grew up, my way of playing defense in my opinion is the best way. I think more than ever, it showed me — and I'm not blaming anything else — I'm responsible for what was on the field last year. But I'm also responsible for every team that I've ever coached, 100 percent. I expect to be really good. I think we'll be much improved from last year and time will tell."'

'"The thing is these are voluntary workouts," Ryan said. "So him or other players who aren't here or whatever, it's not that I'm in contact with those players. Some players call me and some don't. That's it. That's why I don't think it's that odd that a player wouldn't contact me or whatever. I don't contact every single player. But guys do call me, whether it's certain things. But I look forward to seeing him. If he's in tomorrow, that's great. These are voluntary workouts. If he's in, that'll be good."'

'For the Bills' passing game to take the next step — Buffalo was 0-5 when Taylor attempted 30-plus passes — it'll need more of this. Clay was underutilized for stretches in 2015.'

'A theater experience two years in the making, "A Game for Life" is described by the Hall as a "spectacular cutting-edge, multi-sensory immersive theater including holographic representations of Hall of Fame legends Joe Namath, George Halas and Vince Lombardi."'

'Here's where I stand on it: Rob Ryan saying the Bills are going to beat the Patriots might be absurd, but it adds to the fun. That's what professional sports is all about. If the Bills aren't going to win, they might as well be interesting. Nobody can say the Ryan brothers are boring.'

'"Last year was kind of a blow to the Ryan name," Ryan said. "I don't think there's any doubt about that. I don't know if I could stomach another year like last year, so I want to return to where I expect to be. Now when you look through the history of this game, I think we rank up there. Just because you have one off year it doesn't knock you all the way to the bottom like it has maybe been reported. I think we're OK. I think the Ryan name's pretty good, but do I want it to be where I think it needs to be, right there at the top when you think of defenses, you think of the Ryans? Absolutely. That's a pride thing. That's a family pride thing. That's certainly a big deal for me."'

'"I don't know if I'm going to miss training camp or not. Hopefully I don't and we can be on the same page. We've been together for a year now so we kind of know each other. We have other guys that can make plays and we'll get the timing back."'

'"The thing is these are voluntary workouts," Ryan said. "So him or other players who aren't here or whatever, it's not that I'm in contact with those players. Some players call me and some don't. That's it. That's why I don't think it's that odd that a player wouldn't contact me or whatever. I don't contact every single player. But guys do call me, whether it's certain things. But I look forward to seeing him. If he's in tomorrow, that's great. These are voluntary workouts. If he's in, that'll be good."'

'"That's a great play by him but I told him, you might want to be on top of that because that is what it was," Ryan said. "I said you really want to be on top of this guy but the fact you made a great play, you never gave up on it, and you came back and made a great play on the ball. That was impressive. But in this league, they can really run out there and if you're supposed to be on top, you better be there because it can be six for the bad guys."'

'"We'll see what happens," Ryan said. "I'm going to make my prediction. I'm calling the Sabres in the playoffs next year. That's my prediction."'

'"No timetable. I leave that up to the doctors," he said Wednesday after watching the Bills go through their second week of voluntary practices. "I can't tell you. This is a process where you might feel good one day or you might feel like you need to sit down."'

'"That's why I don't think it's that odd that a player wouldn't contact me or whatever. I don't contact every single player. I look forward to seeing him. If he's in (Thursday), that's great. These are voluntary workouts. If he's in, that'll be good."'

'"But I know one thing, we are going to beat them. We are together, we're going to beat the best. It's two against one. Him one-on-one against any coach in the league, that guy is pretty damn good. And he's also got his best buddy Tom Brady with him. He trained him, and he single-handedly made him great, as well."'