Archives for April 2005

‘The Houston Texans open the 2005 season against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo on Sunday, Sept. 11.’

‘Overall, the Bills’ schedule will be against teams that went a combined 136-120 last season, and features five opponents that made the postseason.’

‘Buffalo’s bye week appears exactly in the middle of the year, Sunday, Nov. 6 and there are exactly four home and four road games in each half of the season.’

SUN 9/11 HOUSTON AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SUN 9/18 BUFFALO AT TAMPA BAY 1:00p (ET)

SUN 9/25 ATLANTA AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SUN 10/2 BUFFALO AT NEW ORLEANS 12:00p (CT)

SUN 10/9 MIAMI AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SUN 10/16 NEW YORK JETS AT BUFFALO 4:15p (ET)

SUN 10/23 BUFFALO AT OAKLAND 1:15p (PT)

SUN 10/30 BUFFALO AT NEW ENGLAND 8:30p (ET)

SUN 11/6 BYE

SUN 11/13 KANSAS CITY AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SUN 11/20 BUFFALO AT SAN DIEGO 1:15p (PT)

SUN 11/27 CAROLINA AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SUN 12/4 BUFFALO AT MIAMI 1:00p (ET)

SUN 12/11 NEW ENGLAND AT BUFFALO 1:00p (ET)

SAT 12/17 DENVER AT BUFFALO 8:30p (ET)

SAT 12/24 BUFFALO AT CINCINNATI 1:00p (ET)

SUN 1/1 BUFFALO AT NEW YORK JETS 1:00p (ET)

‘”I’ve never been in a position where you wait until 55 (to make an initial draft pick), but it couldn’t have come at a better time for the player we got.”‘

‘Donahoe has indicated that he’ll be seeking depth on both lines first and foremost, and the club would also do well to add some bodies at tight end, cornerback, and fullback.’

‘But he’d better do something with Henry before training camp, and preferably sooner. The notion that Henry could still be a Bill next season is ludicrous. It would be bad for everyone involved, a needless distraction for a team trying to break in a new quarterback.’

‘Noted for his draft day blockbusters, Donahoe has a big ace card this year with which to work a trade and move up the draft order: disgruntled former starting running back Travis Henry. A depressed market for ball carriers and Donahoe’s insistence on getting what he decides is “fair market value” for Henry have prevented a deal from taking place so far. But things tend to happen fast on draft weekend.’

‘”We had no idea,” Donahoe said of the resolution presented by councilman Antoine Thompson that was approved by the council. “We had nothing to do with it. It’s a nice idea but it’s not something we’re pushing.”‘

‘The NFL plans to announce the schedule at 2 p.m. ET on the NFL Network’s signature show, NFL Total Access. Meanwhile, the schedule will be posted at Buffalobills.com in unison with its release on NFL Network.’

‘So will the Bills sit and wait for the 55th pick this year? "It’s great to speculate," said Donahoe. "Where is this guy going to go and who is this team going to take? Will there be trades? How will it affect the round if there are significant trades made? People get into it. A lot of our fans and the media have great ideas about it and we think we do too."’

‘”I’m sure there will be some Sundays that we watch the process of trial and error, and the learning curve causes us to pull our hair a little bit,” Wyche said. “Then there will be other Sundays when he’s going to make something happen out of the blue because he’s a natural at the position – a natural quarterback, a natural runner, and he can make things happen. I don’t know what it will mean in terms of wins and losses. I don’t know if anyone can predict that. … He should step right in. I think he’ll be OK.”‘

‘Chicago will then play at St. Louis on Fri., Aug. 12 and at Indianapolis on Sat., Aug. 20 at Indianapolis before hosting Buffalo on Fri., Aug. 26 and Cleveland on Thurs., Sept. 1. All five games begin at 7 p.m. central time.’

‘The lightning rod for criticism from Buffalo fans through the first six weeks was Bledsoe. “Everyone was ready to send me home,” he says. “The fans, the media – they wanted to put me to pasture. If I came out of the season with anything positive personally, it was that I was able to persevere through all that and come out the other side.”‘

‘”I think he could be the first player taken (this year),” Donahoe said of Losman at a pre-draft media briefing Monday in Orchard Park. “That’s just my opinion. I think he’s definitely the first quarterback taken, and generally quarterbacks go first.”‘