Archives for August 5, 2011

‘After four unproductive and injury-plagued seasons in San Diego, the former first-round draft pick is tired of hearing critics joke that you can’t spell “Buster” without “Bust.”‘

‘”Hectic, nerve wracking, and then a feeling of being really happy and blessed,” is how the Buffalo Bills rookie described his amazing day.’

‘”It’s awesome so far,” said Smith, who practiced with Buffalo for the first time on Thursday. “The people have been great and very welcoming. The guys on the team are excited to have me. I’m looking forward to actually getting to do something."’

‘”I’m hoping they see when you have a dream, set goals and work towards those things, you can make dreams come true,” Fitzgerald said. “The Bills work really hard and the things we want in life take some effort.”‘

‘"I spoke with Chan the first day I could, when they lifted the lockout," Thigpen said. "I just felt like it was a great opportunity out here, already knowing the system. When I got a look at the playbook … the first meeting, it felt like second nature to me."’

‘"Yeah, since I’ve been at Harvard I haven’t had this opportunity," said Fitzpatrick, 28. "In my first six years in the league I was able to get so much knowledge. But it was never really my offense. I wasn’t able to take ownership. Hopefully, this will be a great year, because I’ve taken ownership from Day One."’

‘"I come from a place where everyone tells me I can’t do something, you’re not good enough and you don’t fit in here. I think we have a group of guys who feel that way, too. We may be not the most respected group of guys because of whatever reason. I think we are so talented right now that we are going to prove a lot of people wrong."’

‘”I think people expected him to come in and do exactly what he did at Clemson, which was probably unfair,” said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. “There are not many people that can come in their rookie year and just dominate the NFL.”‘

‘A former star quarterback at Edinboro, Harris, 25, said he wouldn’t have been able to join the Bills until Thursday because of the league’s collective bargaining agreement rules about non-rookie free agents. That’s nine days before their first preseason game. "I imagine with the time slotted for me to learn, they decided to go in a different direction," said Harris, who worked out for the Bills in January.’

‘”It was great to see everybody and most everybody made some kind of play out there,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “It was great. It was good to see those guys. I didn’t see much of Nick (Barnett) because I’m watching the offense obviously. I’ll have to go watch it on film. It looked like he got around the ball a couple of times. Drayton made a play or two. I saw that. I thought Tyler did some nice things for not ever having taken a snap in our offense, at least the one here. So it was good.”‘

‘Whitner told the Buffalo reporter he had "a change of heart."’

‘Whitner, 26, who reportedly signed a three-year contract worth $11.5 million, ranked fifth in the NFL with 140 tackles last year, the only season in his five-year career in which he’s played 16 games. The deal signaled the end of free-agent safety Dashon Goldson’s four-year tenure as the Niners’ new regime continued to aggressively retool a defense which ranked 24th in the NFL against the pass last year. Goldson took to his Twitter account shortly after Whitner’s signing was reported.’

‘The Bills also waived defensive back Domonic Cook, who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University at Buffalo.’

‘Bills GM Buddy Nix has intimate knowledge of Davis’ game having had a hand in the drafting of the LSU product five years ago. Davis found it difficult to crack the starting lineup in his time with the Chargers due in part to the talent in front of him on the depth chart and injuries.’

‘Since his rookie season of 2007, the LSU product has had trouble climbing San Diego’s depth chart with the likes of Vincent Jackson, Chris Chambers and Malcolm Floyd on the roster in recent years. Injuries have also played a role in keeping Davis from developing into a productive talent.’