Archives for March 2011

‘Buffalo’s personnel department was well represented at Fairley’s pro day on March 8th with a contingent that included Bills GM Buddy Nix. The SEC Defensive Player of the Year had a school record 24 tackles for loss in 2010 along with 11.5 sacks to lead the conference.’

‘The Bills have upcoming visits scheduled with quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert of Missouri and Christian Ponder of Florida State. Bills General Manager Buddy Nix was scheduled to attend North Carolina’s pro-day workout today.’

‘The team confirmed that it hosted both players on Wednesday, a day after Heisman Trophy-winner, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, visited with coaches at the Bills facility. Dareus is regarded as a top-five selection in next month’s draft, putting him on the radar of a Bills team that holds the No. 3 pick and needs pass-rushing help.’

‘Dareus is considered one of the best defensive linemen in what has been touted as a very deep class. He figures to be of particular interest to the Bills and other clubs that employ a 3-4 defense because he played defensive end in that scheme for Nick Saban at Alabama.’

‘”If I had to say today, I’d say we’re going to use most of our picks defensively,” said head coach Chan Gailey during a half-hour Tele-Forum with Bills season ticket holders Tuesday afternoon. “I think we have to try to shore up our defensive football team. We have to try to get stronger there, get quicker there, get nastier there. I won’t say all of them, but I would say a majority of them will work toward that defensive side this year.”‘

‘"I’m not going to get into raw numbers, but we’ve always had very good success in group sales above the border," Brandon said. "We’ve been able to convert those sales into season tickets. That obviously brings in additional sponsor activation. It’s the same model we ran in Rochester and has been proven to be very successful to this point."’

‘”He’s a very impressive young man,” said Gailey. “It was really a joy to be able to take him to dinner last night and to visit with him all morning this morning about the game of football and how he relates to the game. It was a very good visit.”‘

‘Kelly said he saw his wife continuing to cling to the Lord for support. He said he knew his son was in heaven, and the only way he could get there too was to give his heart and soul to Jesus. In 2007, he apologized to his wife for his infidelity through the years, and promised to live a new life. "For her to forgive me that day, and for me to accept Jesus, that was the greatest day of my life," Kelly said."

‘In other words, even though several so-called draft experts have predicted that Buffalo will select a quarterback with the No. 3 overall pick in the upcoming draft, Nix warned that even he’s not sure what the Bills might do.’

‘"Let me just say this to you, and try not to read anything into this and try not to connect the dots, now, but if you wait until you do not have a quarterback to draft one, you’re too late," Nix said. "Now our greatest need is not quarterback. It’s definitely not quarterback. Invariably, if there’s going to be a franchise guy there and one we deem as a guy that can go eight or 10 years, be the face of the organization and take us to the playoffs and win every year, you can’t pass him up."’

‘A crowd of about 750 suite-holders, club-seat owners and sponsors were in attendance at the Buffalo Hyatt Regency to listen to Bills executives Buddy Nix, Chan Gailey and Russ Brandon rally the fans in a state of the team message. An informal poll of 60 fans found two-thirds of them were in favor of the Bills drafting for defense over quarterback in the first round.’

‘”Our greatest need is not quarterback,” Nix said. “It’s definitely not quarterback. However, if there were to be a franchise guy there, one we deem as a guy who can go eight or 10 years, be the face of this organization and take us to the playoffs and win every year, you can’t pass him up.”‘

‘”The key for us with our Toronto experiment is to continue regionalizing our brand, bringing our brand up north. We would be remiss if we did not try and bring in a fan base from southern Ontario, which we all know is a very vibrant fan base.”‘

‘”Blaine Gabbert is coming in, Christian Ponder is coming in. We’re also going to bring in some other guys, defensive linemen, linebackers,” said Nix. “There are 25 (pre-draft visits) scheduled right now and there may be some added, but all positions I think are covered.”‘

‘”It’s not a sin to tell a lie pre-draft,” he said with a wry smile. “Everybody does it. It’s accepted. So everything you hear or read or see, you need to keep in mind that about 10 percent of it’s the truth.”‘