Archives for January 2010

‘Harbaugh, 46, spent 14 years as an NFL quarterback. He’s made the big decisions under pressure and can be trusted to do the same on an NFL sideline. He’s a bright, passionate leader who learned under some of the best minds in the sport, including Bo Schembechler, Ted Marchibroda, Mike Ditka and Bill Walsh. His father, Jack, has coached football for more than 40 years.’

‘"When you’re losing it’s just not a good feeling in the locker room," Schobel said. "Winning would have revived me a little more. I haven’t made a decision. I’m going to think about it and make the best decision I can make for everybody."’

‘”Obviously it’s important who we hire,” said Nix. “The head coach — this is a crucial time for us, and we’re going to set about that and make sure we get the right guy.”‘

‘If this turns out to be Perry Fewell’s swan song, he went out on a good note. The plan was to pound the ball on the ground, knowing the weather was going to be miserable, and the Bills succeeded with a great running day from Jackson. On defense, Manning’s absence made things much easier to diagnose because the Colts were primarily interested in running the clock with a short passing game and a ground attack. Neither worked, and they were held to 11 first downs and 157 total yards. As they have all year, the Bills played hard, and this time it was good enough to win.’

‘The Bills set a team-record low for first downs achieved in a 16-game season with 233, and that total also ranked dead last in the NFL.’

‘”It was a Buffalo day,” Fewell said with a smile, “I loved it … it was absolutely awesome.”‘

‘He added, “They kept fighting to the very end and I think that says a lot about them. They wanted to go out and win a football game today … (get) one win to feel good (about)."’

‘”You don’t want the media or anybody else telling you what your team is or isn’t,” Saturday said. “You don’t ever want those guys trying to define you. It became kind of a rallying cry for the media I guess for a week. We just had to make sure young guys stay focused on the task at hand. We have our playoff spot. We have to make the best of it.”‘

‘Bills running back Fred Jackson had a career day with 212 yards on 33 carries. He became the sixth Buffalo running back to rush for 200 yards in a game joining O.J. Simpson (six) and Cookie Gilchrist, Terry Miller, Greg Bell and Thurman Thomas with one each. Jackson’s total was seventh best single-game by a Bill.’

‘Timothy O’Connell, the lawyer representing Kimberly Shpeley (SHPELL’-lee), says a civil claim for an unspecified amount in damages was filed in Erie County Court on Dec. 28. He declined to discuss the Canadian woman’s injuries.’

‘Most of the assistants had served for the past four years under former head coach Dick Jauron, who was relieved of his coaching duties on Nov. 19. Under Jauron the team went 24-33 in three-plus seasons and 3-4 under Fewell in the last seven games of the 2009 campaign.’

‘The coaches will remain under contract, though their status going forward will be decided by the new Bills head coach, which has yet to be determined.’

‘The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Monday because the team has not announced the dismissals.’

‘On Monday the Bills fired their entire coaching staff — including interim head coach Perry Fewell, FOXSports.com has learned. Fewell, however, is expected to officially interview Monday for the Bills’ permanent head-coaching position.’

‘”We could have given up a long time ago and we never did,” said interim head coach Perry Fewell. “They wanted to go out and win a football game today. They wanted to have one win to feel good and it does, it feels good to win.”‘