Archives for February 2005

‘Shelton is under contract to make $3 million a season through 2008, a reasonable rate for a starting left tackle. Shelton, though, was replaced at left tackle by Leonard Davis in Arizona, and Shelton and coach Dennis Green haven’t had the best relationship.’

‘"The biggest change in football in the last seven or eight years has been the defenses and what they do to you. The way they attack a quarterback is much more varied than it was 15 or 20 years ago, and that’s made it tougher for the classic drop-back quarterbacks. Offensive linemen now are big, strong guys who are not as athletic as the guys we find on defense. The guys rushing the passer today are generally better athletes. They’re faster and quicker and that’s made it unrealistic to ask an offensive line to hold its pass protection for five seconds the way the Raiders did when Plunkett was playing."’

‘”As a leader in the preseason games and in practice, he had the chance to display some leadership skills that I like,” Mularkey said. “We designed some runs early in the preseason he took advantage of and made plays. He had a good pocket presence about him. He has a lot of things now that we are going to start to scratch the surface with.”‘

‘I do look for the Bills to take somewhat of a step back to start off the Losman era. Hopefully the learning curve won’t be too big for JP and he will catch on quickly. He has the talent; he has to tools, now he has to put it together. I do like that when the press conference that the Bills held to announce the releasing of Drew Bledsoe, JP Losman was with Sam Wyche watching film.’

‘And if Drew Bledsoe works out as well as did Vinny Testaverde, the next quarterback you’ll hear about suiting up for Bill Parcells’ Cowboys is Phil Simms.’

‘This Bledsoe is not the Bledsoe Parcells coddled in New England, but if the Cowboys want to get on the carousel, he’s the best choice.’

‘He’s 33, he hasn’t had a solid, complete season in years and he’s a drop-back passer, and that’s gone out of style. Good thing for Bledsoe there are still coaches around, like Bill Parcells, who famously crave old-fashioned players.’

‘Kelly said he will attend from 10 to 12 Busch races this year for the full-time team. Driver Randy LaJoie, a two-time Busch champion, is making his return to the series after a two-year absence under Cicci, also returning to the series after running limited events the last three seasons. Cicci teams have started 708 Busch races, winning 19.’

‘Shelton, 28, was given permission from the Cardinals to seek a trade earlier this month. The Bills are a possible destination because Jennings is an unrestricted free agent and is seeking a contract that would make him one of the highest paid offensive tackles in the NFL. The Bills aren’t expected to meet those demands.’

‘If a deal is made with Buffalo, it could be a rare player-for-player trade. The Cardinals are interested in Henry, who wants out of Buffalo after losing his job to Willis McGahee last season.’

The Bills were given permission early this week to meet with Shelton, who was told he could shop his services in exchange for a draft choice in the first day of April’s draft. The Bills are looking for left tackle options because they aren’t expected to re-sign their starting left tackle, Jonas Jennings, who is an unrestricted free agent.

‘While re-signing Jennings would cost the Bills a signing bonus of around $10 just for starters, Shelton still has four years left on his contract at $3 million per year.’

‘”It was good. It never felt like a sticky situation. I was in the same situation competing in college and it was really like that. Drew Bledsoe always answered my questions and he always gave me help. It was a great situation."’

‘The Bills needs can be summed up in the following short list…’.

‘On Wednesday, Bledsoe said he had no intention of being a backup, but Jones said he assumes Bledsoe would be willing to compete knowing coach Bill Parcells does not believe in handing players jobs. "We just can’t bet the house on how these two young guys are evolving," Jones said. "That’s just not smart."’