Archives for September 2011

‘Young, a 6-8, 322-pound Notre Dame product, was selected in the sixth-round (179th overall) by Dallas in 2010 and appeared in two games with the Cowboys. Young set the Irish school record for the most consecutive games started with 50 (2006-09).’

‘”Right now I’ve got the basics down, and I’m still learning on the fly too,” said Morrison. “I’ve got to play a lot of catch-up, learn a lot of defense. Until that happens I’m definitely comfortable with sitting behind Andra (Davis) and Nick (Barnett) and just being a part of a rotation.”‘

‘"It surprised me how often they would go four wide receivers and have that fourth wideout do some different things that the tight end might do in other offenses that I’ve been in," Martin said.’

‘ “We really see him as a legitimate receiver. He is a guy we can get the ball to down the field,” Fitzpatrick said earlier this preseason. “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.”‘

‘The No. 1 priority for the Bills since the end of the 2010 season was to improve their run defense, which ranked dead last in the NFL. Opponents attempted 571 running plays against the Bills, and Buffalo’s porous unit allowed an average of 169.6 yards per game, 4.8 yards per rush, had eight games where the yield surpassed 200 yards, and also gave up nine individual 100-yard rushing games – all embarrassing league-high figures.’

‘Certainly the continued development of Fitzpatrick into a legitimate NFL quarterback will be the spotlight factor, especially given the team’s eternal struggles at that marquee position. A career backup until he replaced Trent Edwards, Fitzpatrick has shown signs of confidence and leadership that had been lacking at the position.’

‘It’s going on 11 months since he played in a meaningful game, and two years since Merriman played anywhere close to his once-dominant “Lights Out” form. Despite missing two weeks of training camp with a groin injury, all it took was a handful of productive snaps over two preseason games to convince him he’s ready. He’s vowing that fans will soon see “that I’m back.”‘

‘Coach Chan Gailey provided the update following practice Monday as the Bills prepare to open at Kansas City on Sunday. Moats has already missed two weeks since being hurt in a 24-10 preseason loss at Denver on Aug. 20.’

‘The Chiefs game wasn’t the only one they lost by three and Kyle Williams isn’t going to forget, “We could’ve won the game, whether we played well on defense or not and it happened to us a few times. You have to understand how close you were and we’ve added some good players, we can go out there in the first game and win, get some momentum and you never know what can happen.” Ryan Fitzpatrick can’t forget K.C., “That was a tough loss, especially since there were a few plays that I think I could’ve made at the end of that game that maybe could’ve changed the outcome so it was a hard one and I know with a lot of our coaches being from Kansas City, this game means a lot to them too.”‘

‘”We’re really excited about Donald. He’s going to surprise a lot of people this year. He’s a talented guy, we saw glimpses of what he could do last year, he’s one of those guys I’ve got so much confidence in. He also had a good camp, he was maybe our best receiver in camp in terms of the consistency, the way that he played every day.”‘

‘Practice squad NT Mike Jasper was trying something new on Monday as he was at RT. It seems like what from Gailey said, it could be permanent, “We think he’s a very good athlete. We like Mike Jasper. We like his work ethic, we like his athletic ability, we just think he’ll be a better offensive player in the long run. So we moved him over. He was agreeable to it and he was actually looking forward to it. I think he’s excited about the opportunity.”‘

‘Jones got the promotion over Roscoe Parrish, Marcus Easley and David Nelson. The Bills have always like Jones’ size and physical play. The fact that Nelson and Parrish are more slot receivers likely also figured into the decision.’

‘On how close LB Arthur Moats is to getting back to practice: Not close. We’ve got two or three more weeks I think on him.’

‘The bad news is the same old story will repeat itself as the Bills miss the playoffs for a 12th consecutive season.’

‘My prediction for the 2011 Bills is 6-10. I am hoping they can get off to a great start and make a run at a .500 record. I see some improvement and some progress. I think they are starting to change the culture of the franchise, but they need a little luck and a few more solid drafts to get where they need to go.’