Archives for August 3, 2004

‘“He’ll be fined each day he’s not here. He’s under contract with the Buffalo Bills and he should be here with his teammates,” Donahoe said.’

‘”I treat camp like I do every year. I’m always in competition no matter who it is because the player behind you is always striving to get where you’re at,” Posey said. “At every position out here, everybody is competing for a job.”‘

‘Whatever is the issue with Williams, this is not what they bargained for when they made him the fourth overall pick in the 2002 draft.’

‘Look closer, and Bledsoe’s confidence has returned with his optimism in tow. We’ll see what happens when the season starts, but he appeared rejuvenated Monday with the new atmosphere. You put Bledsoe in the right situation, and my money’s still on him.’

‘”I’m I worried about Mike Williams? Well, Mike obviously has a challenge. He’s been through a lot this offseason and he needs to come back and prove he’s ready to go for us. But he’s a guy that we expect to contribute, and if he can contribute at the level that we expect, he’s going to be a great player for us.” – Drew Bledsoe on Williams working with the second team.’

‘On him gaining his enthusiasm back after last season:

I came out of a season like that angry. I had extremely high expectations for the season and myself, and to have a season go like last years did, I was highly motivated to get back. I was so angry by the way things turned out, that I just couldn’t wait to get back and prove people wrong and start having fun playing ball again.’

‘”I found myself lying in bed at night a month after the season thinking about what went wrong and what happened. When I’d get up in the morning and work out, that was the motivation I had. It was a very hard one to shake, so I’m glad we’re back out here practicing and playing ball again, because I really feel strongly that we’re going to be able to put last year behind us and have a much more successful season.”‘

‘It was learned Monday that Williams skipped Mularkey’s voluntary June workouts – during which final installation of the team’s new offense occurred – because he was distraught over the death of a close family member.’

‘It says a lot about Donahoe’s confidence in Bledsoe, and in new offensive line coach Jim McNally, that he didn’t bother picking up an insurance policy at quarterback. Plenty of low-cost, high-experience passers have been available for months, but Buffalo enters camp with only the rookie Losman and career third-stringer Travis Brown behind Bledsoe. Translation: If anything happens to Drew, see you in ’05.’

‘”I whoop up on him,” McGahee said. “He’s scared of me. That’s one thing I think he’s intimidated of me in — PlayStation.”‘

‘First round draft pick Lee Evans has already made a big impression. He even got some time to work with the first time offense. "Something I have always taken pride in was catching the ball for one, and catching it with my hands for two. I do different things to strengthen my forearms and try to keep my hands strong," Evan said.’

‘Enrollment has grown 20-percent since the Bills began training at the college five years ago. “Enrollment has been growing over the last five years. Fisher, since 1996, has been in a growth period for undergraduate, full-time enrollment primarily, and this fall, we’ll get up to about 2300 students."

‘"We are rotating so that (the receivers) get reps with different quarterbacks," said Coach Mike Mularkey. "Sometimes in off-season workouts you find yourself getting the same people in the same rotations. We’re trying to help everybody out by letting them get a feel of different routes and a feel of the guy that’s throwing it."’

‘Without going into detail, team spokesman Scott Berchtold said Williams’ absence was not injury related. He added that coach Mike Mularkey indicated the former first-round draft pick could be back for Tuesday’s session.’

”’When Eric is healthy, he’s the No. 1, 2, 3 receiver in the league,” said Vincent, the former Eagles star who signed with the Bills last March. ”And with him healthy, we’re a totally different football team.”’