Archives for July 2010

‘While there are differences from the NFL to the CFL, notably the smaller field and one less player, Cortez said there are similarities. "I recognized some of the playbook," he said. "There’s only x numbers of plays. Everybody in the league runs a similar offence…Football is football. A curl route is a curl route. The extra down is a big deal."’

I won’t be absurd and say Nelson is the key to the season – it’s obviously the quarterback and the line – but look for him to be one of the breakout stories in the league if Brohm, Edwards, Fitzpatrick or Brown find him with the football. Gailey’s last job was working with Tony Gonzalez, and while it’s foolhardy to compare Nelson to one of the best tight ends in NFL history, the 6’5″ kid may be used in a similar fashion.

Obviously, the fate of the defense lies in the outside linebackers. Will Schobel be back? Can Kelsay cover at all? Is Maybin smart enough to start the path to being a Joey Porter/Jason Taylor-type? If all those answers are yes, the Bills will have a pretty solid defense for a first-year 3-4. Two out of three won’t be bad, either.

‘”We have three guys,” said Gailey. “They got pretty much equal reps during OTAs and minicamps. We’ll go to camp and we’ll have a pecking order, but nothing is in concrete. That’s the one thing I’ve got to keep impressing upon people because as soon as you go out there and somebody takes reps with the ones and somebody takes reps with the twos and the threes everybody is going to say that’s locked in concrete and I don’t want that to happen. I want to make sure first of all that our players don’t think that and second of all that John Q. Public doesn’t think that. Everybody still is going to have a chance to win the job. It’s close.”‘

‘”Having been around it, I realize all the different looks that you can get from 3-4 personnel,” Gailey said. “I thought that in looking at it, the diversity, I don’t want to say overwhelming, but it was drastically different from the four-man front. I think it’s the right defense for us.”‘

‘”When you bring in a new coach and a new philosophy, you have to expect changes,” said nose tackle Kyle Williams. “Every job is up for grabs, so it’s going to make for an exciting training camp.”‘

‘ Forgive me for tapping into better days that are long gone in this town, but all these years later they remain infinitely more compelling than anything happening with the Bills this season. The Bills open training camp in two days at St. John Fisher College, but it might as well be two months away given the communal sense of dread.’

‘As long as the Bills are competitive, I think it will be a successful season. As long as they show progress, it will also be successful. As for more than that, I think it would be wise to not expect too much. I think the Bills will get to 4 or 5 wins this season, and it’s hard to see who they might potentially beat over the course of the season. The likely candidates are Jacksonville, Cleveland, Kansas City, maybe they sneak one out against Miami, but this much is for sure: there’s no ‘automatic win’ on the grid in 2010.’

‘Pitts (6’4" 308) is an eight-year NFL veteran that has spent his entire career with the Houston Texans, where he has been a starter since the club made him a second-round pick in 2002. He’s played primarily left guard for the Texans, but has also spent time at left tackle.’

‘”He was my roommate when we traveled on the road with the Bills and anything I can do to support him I will do,” Lofton said. “He’s a great guy who has always had the best interests of kids at heart. As far as the Hall of Fame, he’s inching closer.”‘

‘”I’ve never really been in this situation where we have three like this,” Gailey said. “But I certainly am looking forward to seeing how it all pans out because I think you have a chance to give defenses some real problems with that many good running backs and football players.”‘

‘The New England Patriots, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins are overrated and the Bills will be at least 4-2 against their AFC East rivals.’

‘Gailey said both preseason games and camp practices will weigh heavily into the QB decision. "I don’t discount practice," Gailey said. "To me if a guy doesn’t practice well, he hurts himself. It’s not just games. Now I know there’s gamers and there’s practice players. I understand that. You can’t discount what happens in games. That is more heavily weighted. But you don’t discount what happens in practice."’

‘This offseason everybody’s been in Buffalo. We like living here, and the neighborhood we’re in. We live out in Lake View. There’s a million kids on the street. It really is nice for my wife and kids and for me not to be shipping back and forth every weekend to make time to see them. In July we go back to Arizona for a month before training camp.’

‘That’s always been a strength of my game — accuracy, getting completions. You always try to work on your weaknesses, but at the same time you want to make your strengths even stronger. So that’s something I’ve always worked on. A huge thing in this league is making sure you get completions, getting the ball in your guys’ hands and letting them make plays. I feel very good about where I’m at as a quarterback.’