Archives for August 2005

‘Bills quarterback JP Losman completed 9-18, 82 yards, 0 td, 0 int. Kelly Holcomb finished 8-12, 96 yards, 0 td, 0 int. Losman has failed to throw a touchdown pass in three preseason games. Willis McGahee rushed 21-61 yards.’

‘Bills tight end Brad Cieslak had nearly 50 family members and friends in attendance Friday night. Cieslak spent five years at Northern Illinois where he made 47 receptions for 531 yards – an 11.3 yards-per-catch average – and five touchdowns.’

‘Bills quarterback J.P. Losman played the first half and the first series of the third quarter. He completed nine of 18 passes for 82 yards before he was replaced by former Bear Shane Matthews. Orton finished his brief night 7-for-11 for 74 yards.’

Head on over to the chat room tonight to talk about the Bills vs. Bears preseason game with your follow fans! Our chat room discussions are very well attended, so there will be plenty of fans to talk to about the game as it happens!

‘The first half tonight should look a lot like a regular-season game. Both teams are expected to let many starters play a full half and a bit of the third quarter. Teams generally play their first unit more in the third preseason game than the fourth in order to reduce the risk that starters enter the season opener banged up. “That’s the plan – the half and probably starting the third quarter, and see how many snaps we get in the third,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. “But even by mid-second quarter you’ll see (second-string) guys getting plugged in.”‘

‘”It’s the preseason,” Hutchinson said to Chicago reporters when asked whether his future was riding on tonight’s outing. “You make mistakes, you learn, you move on. That’s why they call it preseason. I’m going to get better.”‘

‘”He’s a bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter man,” said Bills new starting left guard, Bennie Anderson, who came over from the Baltimore Ravens. “Yeah he’s angry. I thought I was an angry man.”‘

‘”I ain’t saying nothing,” he said Monday while resting on a wooden bench outside the Halas Hall weight room as he removed equipment. “You can stand around all you want. I’m not going to say anything. Not this week. Not a word.”’

‘So, please don’t tell Mularkey that exhibition games are meaningless. He wants to sort out his team – let some players fighting for spots get time with the first team – and also win the game. “Anything you compete in you want to win. You don’t go to the extent of game planning that you do in regular season, but you’re still competing to win the game,” he said.’

‘”He got a pulse on the team after seeing where we went last year,” veteran safety Troy Vincent said Wednesday. “In the offseason he prepared us by saying, “This is my team, and this is the way we’re going to do things. If you don’t like it, there’s I-90.’ “‘

‘”A lot of it is preventive maintenance,” Mularkey said, “knowing the track record prior to drafting or signing or bringing a player in. You shouldn’t be shocked.”‘

‘”A lot of guys had projected me going in the third or fourth round. You slip to the seventh, and you have a lot of animosity. Every play, I want to run as hard as I can, as fast as I can and show people they really missed out on things.”‘

‘The Bears plan to play the starters, including quarterback Chad Hutchinson, into the third quarter of their penultimate exhibition game.’

‘”This game means a great deal to him,” said right guard Chris Villarrial, another former Bears player. “Just from talking to him, he wants to go back and prove that he can still play.” Added left guard Bennie Anderson: “He’s a bitter, bitter, bitter man. Yeah, he’s angry.”‘

‘”We’ve got a good bunch of young players,” said Mularkey. “With the draft, and the free agents that we’ve signed, it’s very competitive. It’s going to be a tough time [cutting down], especially with the way some these guys have come in here and not flinched with the competition and the level of the game.”‘