Archives for August 5, 2009

‘”I wouldn’t say there was fear. I would say there was an extreme amount of pressure,” Smith said, recalling a key turning point. “When I ballooned up to 310 pounds, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to become the player that I wanted to be.”‘

‘”I want to make plays and show people I’m better than a seventh-round pick,” the rookie defensive back said. “I can start with the special teams, make my coaches proud of me and work from there.”‘

‘”I have that mindset that nothing is ever given to you,” the seventh-year veteran said after a recent practice at St. John Fisher College. “I am out here just trying to work hard. Every day I am out here trying to get better and be more comfortable with my teammates.”‘

‘”I’m definitely looking forward to running out on the field,” said the former McKinley high school star. “I’ve practiced and played there so many times, and this time as a pro is really exciting. I’m really looking forward to the whole thing.”‘

‘"My best strength I think is just my overall game as far as being a leader on the field and off the field," Florence said after training camp practice at St. John Fisher College. "We have a lot of young guys in the secondary, and those guys come to me and Terrence a lot just for advice about different coverage, different things we see and why we play different routes."’

‘"We’re setting up the screen game really well with our running and passing game, and I’m really happy with the way it’s going right now. … It’s a lot easier on me. It’s easy yards that I can get in the passing game and it’s easy first downs. It keeps defenses guessing and that’s what’s nice about it."’

‘"Every year you’re going to hear that," said Stroud on Tuesday after a training camp session at St. John Fisher College. "You get a little older and people (on the other side of the line of scrimmage) get a little younger and you hear it. I don’t let it bother me. I still think I have a lot of gas left in the tank."’

‘"Whatever it was going to be," he said. "It’s a hard thing, sitting out a game, the feeling you have knowing that you can’t play."’

’10th place in jersey sales was a lot better showing than the ratings for his VH1 reality show. SportsBusiness Journal reports that The T.O. Show tied for 798th-rated cable show of the week, with a 5 a.m. showing of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite. I didn’t know there were that many shows on cable TV.’

‘"Bruce has a combination of instinct and intelligence. Not everyone possesses that. That’s why you see so many guys who get out of the game and can’t move forward. They go backward. Bruce has moved forward."’

‘”So I’m still going to show up every day, give my 100 percent and ride my boys,” he said. His suspension begins Sept. 5 and will last until Sept. 28, the day after Buffalo plays the New Orleans Saints.’

‘”It is cool to have us both in there and you’ll have a guy to work with and you’ll have a guy in the same boat as you,” said Wood. “Going against a guy like Marcus Stroud and for him Kyle Williams, not every day is going to be your best day, but you have got to get better every day. As you keep getting better, those mistakes will lessen and you’ll become a good player.”‘

‘”It’s a hard thing sitting out a game when you’re not hurt,” Lynch said. “Preparing, leading up to it, just the feeling you have when you know you can play and now you can’t play, it’s gives you that feeling that I messed up. That isn’t a position I want to be in. I love being out there too much to ever want to put myself in a position like this where I can’t strap up on Sunday to go be out there with my boys.”‘

‘Right now, Buffalo – the team and its followers – don’t want to hear about how divisive T.O. will be, how selfish he is, how he’ll ruin their Bills. To them, the entire situation might be wrong, but it feels so right.’

‘”His steadfast loyalty to Buffalo is undeniable. He’s worn the colors of Buffalo with pride and poise and class. He’s the star among stars,” Raiders owner Al Davis said. “When he got up, you knew he was speaking from a small market, he was speaking for the good of the league.”‘