Archives for August 24, 2004

‘Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback J.P. Losman was taken off the field Tuesday afternoon with an apparent lower left leg injury.’

For now, he’s only getting third-team mop-up work behind starter Drew Bledsoe and backup Travis Brown. But the Bills rookie has already given us a glimpse of why he’s the quarterback of the future in Buffalo. Losman is 9-of-11 for 78 yards and has a 96.2 passer rating, and he has handled the offense with an impressive command and poise. But what the Bills really believe sets him apart from this year’s other first-round quarterbacks is his feet. Losman has gained 80 yards on seven scrambles, and he has made plays to keep drives alive. In his five drives, the Bills have scored three field goals, missed on another field goal attempt and fumbled the ball away once.

"It’s not official, but I’m not going to push him to play if there’s any pain at all," Mularkey said. "I’d maybe have a different answer if we were in the regular season. But I’m not going to push that right now. It’s just to get him back full strength."

‘Mularkey said some of the players may have been trying too hard to impress the coaching staff. “They’re trying to play hard,” he said. “It was just the timing of it. If there’s a gray area (as to if it’s a penalty), they just have to pull back.”‘

‘The penalties were not as big of an issue as some people made them out to be.’

‘Also, the Colts have made available several hundred additional single-game tickets for the eight regular-season home games, including the Sept. 26 home opener in the RCA Dome against Green Bay. The tickets had been held back for possible season-ticket sales. Fans wishing to purchase tickets for the Packers game still must buy a similarly-priced ticket for Saturday’s preseason game with Buffalo.’

‘Bledsoe’s $8.75 million salary might rank in the bottom half among starting quarterbacks, but it’s still big money for someone coming off the least-productive full season of his 11-year career.’

‘"We need to get a better feel of how he’s fitting in," Mularkey said. "We need to give him a chance. He hasn’t gotten enough reps, and we’ll probably do that more in this game."’

‘The Bills’ offense ran no-huddle drills against a nickel package.’

‘"You can certainly learn a lot of stuff, and every kick in a game is big, so it was a good experience that way," Lindell said. "But I definitely plan to be better."’

‘"To miss (practice and probably Saturday’s game) is very disappointing, but there is no reason at all to rush back," he said. "If it was a regular season game and they needed me, I would be back."’

‘”I’ve been training the whole off-season to get to this point and to miss is disappointing,” said Henry. “I know I have to get healthy and guys are looking for me to be ready for the opener.”‘

‘”They need to understand that when you play physical football the other team is probably going to retaliate and you’ve got to walk away and get back into the huddle,” Mularkey said after his team fell to the Titans, 16-15. “I have not done a good job of stressing that.”‘

‘Coach Mike Mularkey may keep Henry out of this week’s game against the Colts as a precaution. Willis McGahee worked with the first team and is in line to make his first NFL start this weekend.’

‘“It’s not official, but I’m not going to push him to play if there’s any pain at all,” Mularkey said. “I’d maybe have a different answer if we were in the regular season. But I’m not going to push that right now. It’s just to get him back full strength.”’