Archives for August 2011

‘”I saw where somebody said he didn’t fit the scheme. I don’t know what scheme he fits at that size, unless you’re a strong safety. He says his metabolism and maybe that’s what it is. He couldn’t hold weight. He was 250 at the combine when we saw him and then he was 228 this fall. He goes up and down some but not very high.”‘

‘So now with a brand new week of preparation to ensue, trying to get ready for Denver on Saturday night, the Buffalo Bills have elected to cut Aaron Maybin. It was a smart move, it was a necessary move, and a move that will draw applause from the fans. He was not a Nix/Gailey draft pick, but the team gave him a year and change to see if he had anything that could contribute to this roster. The answer to that query is no, and the Bills cut him.’

‘Also, when is the last time you can remember a Bills team with only five penalties in a pre-season opener? That IS encouraging.’

‘”Makes no sense,” Florence tweeted. “I’m not mad at the trade. I’m mad because this will change how defenses play us now.”‘

‘After the trade of veteran WR Lee Evans to the Baltimore Ravens, second-year man Donald Jones started in his place in Saturday’s preseason loss to Chicago. Jones is poised to write a Cinderella story: undrafted free agent out of Youngstown State to NFL starter. “We really see him as a legitimate receiver,” QB Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “He is a guy we can get the ball to down the field. He is a guy we want to get the ball into his hands so he can make plays. We’ve really liked what Donald has done so far. He is going to be a very big part of our offense this year.”‘

‘”Right now all it is potential because he hasn’t shown it in practice or in games,” Gailey said. “He’s got to understand about pass rush, he’s got to understand about leverage and change of direction, not running past the quarterback and all those little things that go into a great pass-rusher’s feel for beating an offensive tackle and getting to the passer. He’s got to be a better special teams player, he’s got to be better against the run. There’s a lot of little things he needs to get better at.”‘

‘”It wasn’t bad for us,” he said. “It’s wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t bad for us. We needed the rain. We needed the work in it. You don’t know when you’re going to get a game like that. You need to handle the ball, and one of the good things was the ball didn’t go on the ground out there and that was a positive. It was good to get one of those. You don’t really look forward to them, but it’s good to have them.”‘

‘Bills head coach Chan Gailey had said time and again that Maybin had to get stronger, play more consistently and be more productive. Gailey’s commentary on the pass rushing linebacker often ended with “he has a long way to go.”‘

‘It’s a case of assessing individual elements rather than Buffalo’s body of work, though nine sacks have a way of standing out.’

‘”It’s nice to see Brad out there,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick. “He had a few third down conversions out there. When you have a guy like him who’s really a threat to throw the ball, having been a quarterback in college, but he has a good arm and he’s got good accuracy and also a guy with such great vision. That was something we saw in practice. He’s going to be a tough guy to stop.”‘

‘They call it “Disney-style parking”- about the silliest bit of spin I’ve heard in a long while. Will they also add trams, fuzzy characters and a monorail to shuttle people across Abbott Road?’

‘"We wanted to work on the Wildcat," Gailey said. "That was one of the things going in, we wanted to see that from those guys, from Brad and from Josh. We were able to get it on film and see what it adds to us. It really helps our short-yardage game. So that was a good thing."’

‘”If anything,” said receiver Stevie Johnson, “I would have thought it would have been some time later, like after the season. But that’s the business. Whatever the guys upstairs, whatever decision they make, we’re rolling with it. We’re the soldiers.”‘

‘”I was excited. I felt like a rookie,” he told reporters after the game. “I heard a bunch of the young guys coming off saying how they were nervous that it was their first game. I was like, ‘Hey, that’s good. You’re supposed to be nervous.’ I was nervous myself a little bit because I haven’t lined up and had a chance to play ball. But it felt good.”‘