Archives for August 2008

‘”Derek’s going to be a little while,” said head coach Dick Jauron. “We’re hoping not a long while but at this point Bud (Carpenter) is talking in the weeks. So it’s not good, but it could’ve been worse.”‘

‘”Josh is a good player and we’re depending on him to make plays for us,” said Dick Jauron. “He knows how to play the game at this level. He’s tough. He’s a good blocker for us. He runs after the catch. We’re anticipating really big things from Josh.”‘

‘”No, no, no,” Royal said. “I’m just trying to stay modest and just remember that it’s still a very long season and I don’t want to look at things more than what they are. Right now, it’s still early.”‘

‘”Toronto wants an NFL franchise, and it feels its best shot is to go after the one in Buffalo,” Phillips said. Toronto has the SkyDome. It also has an economy that is considerably more robust than the one in Buffalo.’

‘”They were sharp,” Jauron said. “As I said, we didn’t get the silly unforced penalties that we got a week ago in the game, so we didn’t hurt ourselves in that regard. Let’s face it, the Steelers are good enough to hurt you on their own. We blocked OK, we ran it okay, it was a nice kind of combination, that first group.”‘

‘Edwards is never going to be ranked with the cannon arms of the NFL, but he demonstrated once again that his blending of quick decision making and quick release of the football produces the required results. Thursday’s case in point was the 90-yard touchdown drive against Pittsburgh’s formidable defense.’

‘”I don’t have mixed emotions; my loyalty is with the Bills in western New York,” he said. “I think it’s important, though, to establish relationships with some major people up here, because who knows what the future holds. I’ve had discussions with Mr. (Ralph) Wilson (team owner), and he knows my agenda. He talks about people up here with money, but I tell him I know 15 or 20 people (in the Buffalo market) with money, too.”‘

‘But the cold fact for Ted Rogers and the promoters of NFL in Canada (who paid the Bills $9.75 million US per game for the honour) is that 5,000 seats went unsold, and a lot more might have gone begging had platoons of fans from Pittsburgh not ventured to Toronto for the experience. Apparently, the scalpers outside the Rogers Centre were taking $20 for a face value of $300-a-pop for tickets to a glorified controlled scrimmage. Maybe those reports of Torontonians losing their collective minds over the NFL in Toronto were a tad exaggerated.’

‘The Bills are getting $9.7 million a game from the event organizers and Buffalo fans are afraid that Toronto is going to steal their football team. They should be a lot happier about the empty seats than the empty win. Step one in the potential move to The Great White North was a dismal failure.’

‘”I loved it,” quarterback Trent Edwards said after the Bills’ 24-21 victory. “I thought the pep rally [Wednesday night] was great to get the week started for us. There was a ton of support, a ton of media coverage for this game. The hospitality here was very, very well done and I look forward to coming back up here in December.”‘

‘"Coming out into the stadium, I saw a lot of Pittsburgh jerseys, fans calling Troy Polamalu’s name. That’s OK. It’s good for football," Whitner said. "But when we come back here in December, we want it to be lopsided for us, 99.9 percent Bills fans. I believe this can be our home for one game, and it’s something we have to do. We have to regionalize the Bills and good things can come of that, keeping the Bills in Buffalo for fans that deserve their team in Buffalo."’

‘That’s why Turk Schonert’s decision to attack the defense – even in an exhibition game – meant so much to the psyche of an offense that’s been trying to prove it’s legit for years.’

‘”One thing I would like to comment on are the claims that there were not many fans from Buffalo,” he said. “Our intention was not to lure fans from Buffalo. This was about the people of Toronto being able to see an NFL game here.”‘

‘An NFL team in Toronto would be very different. Exorbitant prices made tickets for Thursday’s game a difficult sell. But given the cost of buying an NFL team, such prices – perhaps even higher ones – would be inevitable if four-down football found a permanent home in the city. For regular season games, the tickets would likely find a market. But it would be a far less diverse and representative crowd than the one that takes in Toronto Argonauts games.’

‘Forget the Buffalo 24, Pittsburgh 21 final score. The one that really counted was Bills 14, Steelers 0.’