Archives for September 24, 2010

‘New England’s three man front used to be the most intimidating in the league, with three former first rounders all across the line. But Richard Seymour was traded to Oakland last year and Ty Warren suffered a hip injury and was placed on injured reserve. Only Wilfork remains with steady vet Mike Wright and former first-round bust Gerard Warren.’

‘Levitre missed practice on Wednesday, but returned Thursday after hurting his neck in Buffalo’s loss to the Packers. The second-year pro practiced fully Friday, wearing a protective collar on the top of his shoulder pads.’

‘The Bills offense has the opportunity to get going this week. They face a New England defense that is 28th in the NFL against the pass and 15th versus the run.’

‘Even Bills fans who think nothing of ignoring a four-leaf clover while walking under a ladder with a black cat are beginning to believe the so-called Flutie Curse has happy feet.’

‘The time is now for the rookies and the second year players to make their mistakes.’

‘I feel bad for Trent, but this is an unforgiving sport. When you don’t produce, whether it’s your fault or not sometimes things like this happen. So even though they’re in the midst of an offensive transition with a new system and it’s taking the offensive line a little bit more time to jell as a group, they’re going with Ryan Fitzpatrick.’

‘If there were a Pro Bowl for diplomacy, he’d be a unanimous choice every year.’

‘Reminder to Buffalo Bills fans dreaming of the team’s next "franchise quarterback": Andrew Luck (Stanford) and Ryan Mallett (Arkansas) will be playing simultaneously in games Saturday on network TV – kickoff time 3:30 p.m.’

‘The Amherst native is only a rookie, and there is no guarantee he’ll be as good as Francis or Coates. But Gronkowski’s exceptional physical tools have the Patriots excited about his potential.’

‘”For any back that’s a premier back, when you get the bulk of the carries I think you get to feel the defense out,” Lynch told Jackson. “On one run that you get, you see something you could’ve taken. It’s a lot of things that play into it.”‘

‘The Bills led the league in false starts last year (32) and were tied for seventh in offensive holding calls (22). So far this year they only have one false start. They have three holds.’

‘”Yeah, by the end of the fourth quarter they’re laughing at us,” Whitner said of a loss to the Patriots last year. “We want to get things turned around, but at the same time it’s football teams with grown men laughing at other grown men on the football field. That happened to us in the ball game last week and it happens every time we play New England.”‘

‘”I’ll tell you what, they’ve got three good backs,” nose tackle Vince Wilfork said yesterday. “They’re all tough runners, so we’re going to have our hands full. They’ve been running the ball successfully and we have a big, big challenge ahead this week in trying to stop a three-headed monster.”‘

‘How up can you get for a team that’s never put you down? How easy is it to convince yourself you must prepare for the 0-2 Bills as diligently as you did for the self-absorbed Jets or roaring Bengals before you have a cocktail instead?’

‘”Those games are all in the past,” Belichick said. “There’s different players, new coaches coaching, different players playing. I don’t think they care anything about those games, and I don’t think we care anything about them either. That’s all behind us. We’re just focused on this week and Sunday afternoon’s game. That’s what it’s all about.”‘