Two Bills Drive

Buffalo Bills News and Discussion

Archives for August 2020

Bills CB Levi Wallace not backing down from challenge for starting role

‘Wallace started all 16 games last season, but he missed the biggest one of the year. A sprained ankle kept him out of the team’s wild-card playoff loss to the Houston Texans. Prior to that, he started splitting reps with Kevin Johnson over the second half of the season. A nagging shoulder injury that required surgery earlier this offseason is partly to blame for Wallace’s perceived dip in performance – not that he agrees with that assessment.’

For Bills’ Beane, unprecedented training camp

‘“We’ve got to come up with various ways to create competition and some situations (that come up) in games … high impact, high pressure moments the best we can make them. We’re not in pads yet (it’s not allowed until Monday), but as we get closer to that first game we’re going to have to try, when we have to cut this roster down, to come up with as many ways to simulate preseason games. Whether it’s seeing how many snaps they played last year in preseason versus some live snaps we have in practice or any types of scrimmage or intrasquad scrimmages we may do.”’

Bills’ Oliver, Ford, Singletary, Knox hoping for big jump in second NFL season

‘“To be honest I feel like I need to do everything better. Year to year that’s what it’s about – you always want to be better all the way around,” he said. “I’ve got to be better at pass blocking, catching the ball out of the backfield, making my reads, whatever it maybe I’ve got to be better at all of that. There is always room for improvement, so I really went back and looked at everything.”’

Bills roster in-depth: Safety

‘Marlowe has developed into a reliable backup for the team in his two seasons on the active roster, including being called upon to start three games over that time. He entered the league in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers when McDermott was their defensive coordinator, spent two seasons there, then was on the Bills’ practice squad in 2017 before making the club the last two years, so he’s been with McDermott and in his defensive system for five straight years now, which is a big reason they trust him to fill-in when called upon.’

Bills TE Dawson Knox: “I feel like I’m ready to make a big leap” in year two

‘Knox showed flashes of promise during his first season in the NFL. Fans remember him stiff-arming a Bengals defender then running over another right after for a monster play. He also had some highlight reel catches throughout the season where he showed promise. Knox led the Bills’ tight ends with 28 catches for 388 yards and two touchdowns.’

Bills OL Quinton Spain’s 2020 goals: Allow no sacks and improve in the run game

‘“We got the same motto from when I first got here, “competition.” They bring people in and they get rid of people, camp is a way of showing people what you have. I just really like Buffalo. From when I first came in they told me straight up, nobody’s job is safe, we play the best. So coming in undrafted that’s all I know is competition. That’s a chip on my shoulder and that’s the reason so that’s the reason I came back because it makes you get better every year,” Spain explained.’

Bills DE Jerry Hughes: “Juice back in my tank”

‘“It puts a lot of juice back in my tank. It picks up my mental game and how I approach each day so I’m excited to get out there and play football,” Hughes said on a zoom call with reporters.’

Wade back from England (barely) to again chase NFL dream

‘“Last year, I kinda made it obvious that I didn’t have any clue what’s going on,” Wade said. “Now that I’m understanding what to do, I can get a bit more loose out there. Before, I would be a bit more stiff and thinking so much.”’

Quinton Spain ‘Mr. Undrafted’ ready to thrive in Buffalo

‘“It makes you get better every year because you know they bringing guys in for competition every year. You can’t all offseason, doing what you want to do, and lose a step or something like that. You’ve got to remember that camp is competition, no matter what.”’

Bills Secondary with a new mentality this season

‘”For the last two years I know, especially the secondary, we’ve had some of the top secondaries in the league and overall defense as well,” cornerback Levi Wallace told media on a Zoom call Tuesday. “I think it’s just making that next step into getting more turnovers. Coach Fraizer’s done a great job of challenging us to get more turnovers this year, and we have to get the ball out. We have to create more opportunities for our offense this year.”‘

Levi Wallace provides insight into the defense’s new mindset for 2020

‘”For the last two years I know, especially the secondary, we’ve had some of the top secondaries in the league and overall defense as well,” cornerback Levi Wallace told media over a Zoom call. “I think it’s just making that next step into getting more turnovers. Coach Fraizer’s done a great job of challenging us to get more turnovers this year, and we have to get the ball out. We have to create more opportunities for our offense this year.”‘

Bills Today | New leaders emerging

‘”It’s a huge void just because of his senior leadership as far as football IQ,” Hughes explained. “Just moving around on the field you see a lot of guys this offseason who have really stepped up their football IQ and understand our defense more, understand what the coaches are asking from us and for us to do on the field. You see a lot of guys like Tremaine [Edmunds], Matt Milano— those guys moving a lot faster this year, communicating things a lot quicker as we are going through our different phases. And it’s making the game up front, for a lot of guys who are new on the team, it’s helping us out tremendously.”‘

Bills’ Ed Oliver says he felt ‘violated’ and ‘guilty until proven innocent’ after arrest

‘Speaking with the media for the first time since the incident, Oliver said he’s not sure why he was arrested with nothing in his system after taking a field sobriety test. He said he blew .00%, but that the officer involved told Oliver, “I still think you’re intoxicated.” Oliver said he attempted to explain that he was “just tired,” but that the officer either “wasn’t understanding” what the player was saying or “didn’t want to understand” and proceeded with the arrest.’

John Brown wowed by Bills rookies, excited about Brian Daboll’s scheming

‘“I’m real excited,” Brown said on a Zoom call with reporters. “I’ve never been this excited, especially the way Coach Daboll has put things together. We have so much that makes everything right in trying to confuse defenses. It confuses me sometimes. I’m so excited about that because it’s like it’s enough for everyone to eat.”’

Ed Oliver says being a Black man very well could have been why he was arrested

‘“Well, I’m not sure, but to be honest in Montgomery County, they have a no-refusal law so you can’t tell them, ‘No I don’t want to go to jail,’” he said. “That’s how it was explained to me so I don’t know. Maybe so, but the law in Montgomery County, I would hope to believe that whatever color you are, you’re going to jail. I was on the way to my house and not expecting to be arrested. You never know, you can be doing anything and life could just hit you.”’

Bills’ Ed Oliver says he feels violated by unwarranted arrest

‘Oliver said he was “frustrated” when the arresting officer “wasn’t understanding” or “didn’t want to understand” that he was tired — not under the influence of any drugs that night. The experience also allowed him to reflect on just how volatile interactions with the police can be.’

Bills roster in-depth: Cornerback

‘Jackson was a seventh round pick of the team back in April. I really liked him when I saw him at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama in January. He just looked like he belonged on an NFL field. He was patient and didn’t overreact, and played solid man-to-man defense. The Bills play a lot of nickel packages, and injuries always seem to pop up, so he will certainly have a chance to make the team and have a role, especially since he can play both outside and inside.’

Bills DT Ed Oliver shares perspective gained following dropped DWI charges

‘”You get stripped down, you get put in a jumpsuit. My jumpsuit had like holes by your private parts and these slippers. I didn’t feel right. I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this. I didn’t work my life and walk the straight line my whole life to be put in this jumpsuit and taken to jail for what?”‘

Bills DT Ed Oliver says felt “violated” by his arrest in Houston

‘“I’m not sure how you get arrested with nothing in your system but honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know how I got arrested. That’s one of the things I say life can hit you quick like even if you’re innocent you can still go to jail for nothing,” Ed Oliver said on a zoom call with reporters.’

Bills LB Matt Milano: “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else”

‘“I’m not really focused on that right now, that’s the business side of things. I’m really focused on winning a championship here with the Bills, focusing on myself being the best version of myself that I can be so I’m gonna let that take care of itself and whenever it takes care of itself it’s the right number,” Milano said on a zoom call with reporters.’

Ed Oliver: George Floyd could have been me

‘“He wasn’t understanding what I was saying or he didn’t want to understand,” Oliver said of the officer who arrested him. “One of those things in your life you gotta go through and get through it.”’

Bills WR John Brown on upcoming season: ‘I’ve never been this excited’

‘“I’m really excited. I’ve never been this excited before,” Brown says. “Especially the way that Coach Daboll has put things together, we have so much that makes everything right. We’re trying to confuse defenses, it confuses me sometimes. I’m so excited about that because it’s enough for everyone to eat.”’

Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver on dropped DWI charges

‘”One of the things that kinda aggravated me was they entered me into the program for no reason — the drug abuse program or whatever. You get pulled over, your test results come back with nothing, they try to enter you into the program, and it’s kinda like, ‘Wow,'” Oliver said.’

6 things we learned from DT Ed Oliver and WR John Brown about Bills training camp

‘”I just learned that I was a resilient human,” Oliver said. “You go through stuff, and I just knew in the back of my mind that it wasn’t going to last forever, you just got to go through it. You can get through whatever. Another thing I learned about myself, just because you’re having a bad day or whatever, there’s always going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. My mom was telling me, ‘You live through 100% of your worst days. So your worst day, you have already been through that. There isn’t any reason to sit and ponder on that, you’ve already been through that.'”‘

Bills Today | Excitement is building at One Bills Drive

‘”I’m real excited. I’ve never been this excited especially with the way Coach Daboll has put things together,” Brown said. “We have so much that can look the same but confuse defenses. Even I get confused sometimes. I’m excited about that because there’s enough in there for everybody to eat.”‘