Archives for August 2005

‘Gause, a physical specimen from South Carolina at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, has impressed the coaching staff enough at camp thus far to be practicing with the second team. He currently is the No. 2 defensive end on the right side behind starter Aaron Schobel. “I’m going to try and stay there as long as I can,” Gause said after Monday night’s practice at St. John Fisher.’

‘”This was the toughest practice we’ve had so far, especially offensively,” said quarterback J.P. Losman. “We had to overcome so many things, like penalties. But we finished up pretty strong.”‘

‘Willis McGahee was fully dressed in pads but did not work out with his teammates, instead watching practice from the sidelines. The Bills say McGahee is fine.’

‘Monday, Mike Marsh of Rochester kicked a 20-yard field goal to win two Jet Blue round trip airline tickets to anywhere Jet Blue flies in Florida during the Jet Blue/Buffalo Bills Training Camp Field Goal Promotion.’

‘"My wife and I feel like having the five children that we do, we can go back and make sure those people who can’t have children, wanna have children and are really going to take the responsibility to be parents, can give their kids a chance whether they have a problem in their pregnancy or not," said Tasker.’

‘The Bills got flagged for 19-of them Saturday night in Indianapolis. The franchise all-time record for penalties in a regular season game is 19. Some of it… sloppy officiating, but most of it, was sloppy play and the Bills hope it was a 1 game anomaly not a trend.’

‘Williams may be the front-runner in the competition for the backup RB job against free agent pickup ReShard Lee and seventh-round pick Lionel Gates. But even he knows it’s too early to draw any real conclusions. "There’s still a long way to go," Williams said. "We’ve still got three preseason games left. There’s still a lot of work to be done. Personally I feel like there’s still a lot of room for improvement, as far as myself goes. There’s a long way to go. … Anything can happen."’

‘All in all, the Bills and Colts combined for 40 incomplete passes, 26 penalties and 16 punts.’

‘So, besides remembering Jim Kelly for heroic exploits on the gridiron, you should remember him and his wife for doing something almost unheard of these days when tragedy strikes. In lame football terms, they took a fourth and long situation and scored a touchdown. In other words, they refused to give up — they fought back.’

‘”That’s one of the things we really emphasize around here is stopping the run, first and foremost,” Fletcher said. “When you stop the run it allows us to be able to get after the quarterback and get them in third-and-long situations where we can bring our blitzes and pressures, which we like doing around here.”‘

‘Spikes told Losman he doesn’t have to win games himself. Just don’t lose them. Play to the team’s strengths. In that sense, Saturday was the blueprint for the season. There’s plenty of cause for optimism, though it’s sobering to be reminded that the kid has a very long road ahead.’

‘Mularkey had no update on the condition of rookie wide receiver Roscoe Parrish, who had surgery on his injured right wrist Friday. Mularkey didn’t reveal the nature of Parrish’s injury, though it is believed his wrist was broken. All Mularkey would say is Parrish’s surgery was a success, and he would return at some point this year. The common recovery period for such an injury is six to eight weeks.’

‘"But what I liked about it is the mood in the locker room — it was like we didn’t win the game and we did win. That’s the objective — to win. And when you have that feeling you didn’t play well enough but still won, I’m OK with that."’

‘Battle of the week: Josh Reed, Sam Aiken, Jonathan Smith for the No. 3 receiver job – With rookie sensation Roscoe Parrish out indefinitely, the job is suddenly wide open again.’

‘Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson are doing a strong job plugging the middle of Buffalo’s defense after the loss of free agent Pat Williams (Vikings), but four-year veteran Justin Bannan is showing this isn’t a two-man job. Bannan is one of the Bills’ top grunts, even playing offensive guard in short-yardage situations last year.’