Archives for August 11, 2003

Safety Ainsley Battles, who was not at practice on Monday, has left the team on his own accord according to Gregg Williams. In addition, LB Angelo Crowell, WR Charles Johnson, TE Dave Moore, TE Ryan Neufeld and C Mike Pucillo were held out of practice today. DE Aaron Schobel was not able to attend due to personal reasons.

While the Bills obviously helped themselves defensively during the off-season, New England did, too. The Patriots couldn’t stop the run last year nor hold important leads in the fourth quarter, but look far more efficient in its new three-man front.

Safety Ainsley Battles was not at practice today and has left the team of his own accord. Other Bills not practicing today were Angelo Crowell, Charles Johnson, Dave Moore, Ryan Neufeld and Mike Pucillo. Aaron Schobel also missed practice due to personal reasons.

‘"It was nice to see Brown take the punt and make a big play. On our special teams, we’ve been lacking in that for awhile, especially after he didn’t fair-catch the one before that. I wasn’t very happy when he gave up the ground…and he redeemed himself. He did a very good job. He’s an aggressive kid. That was fun to see. His speed is very exciting. The fact that he almost popped a pretty good one on a kickoff return. He saw the crack, and he’s so fast he stumbled. That’s good to see.”’

‘Behind those five include: Brown, who played last year in the Canadian league; James Jett, a 10-year veteran of the Raiders’ organization and an experienced deep threat; second-year man Andre Rone, who was on the roster but inactive all 16 games last year; Rodney Wright, a seventh-round pick last year; and Sam Aiken, a fourth-round pick this year out of North Carolina.’

‘"But he’s got good awareness. He understands the offense well. I would have liked to see him make some more plays outside the pocket. When he came out of the pocket a couple times he played conservatively and tried to take it down the field when he probably could have pulled it down and run with it."’

‘But in Saturday’s win at Baltimore, you could see clear signs that the Buffalo Bills are developing the sort of depth required to be a contender in an age of NFL parity.’

‘” Well, I felt like we were sloppy,” Bledsoe said. ” Thankfully, our defense stepped up, turned the ball over for us and gave us a chance to score on the short field.”‘

‘Buffalo also is the only AFC East team with a minus turnover ratio over the past three seasons (67 takeaways and 87 giveaways). The New York Jets were plus-17 (97-80), Miami plus-5 (99-94) and New England plus-3 (87-84).’

‘One more year would make four consecutive summers that the Bills have been represented in Canton, Ohio, and the next one should be Ralph Wilson. Like he was 10 years ago in training camp, the owner has been watching from the sidelines. It’s time to get him on the main stage.’