Archives for October 28, 2011

‘"When you come into the league as a Division III player you come in with a chip on your shoulder knowing that they’re always trying to replace you, and they don’t think you’re good enough," Fletcher said. "They don’t really know the full story of why you may have ended up at the level that you played at. There’s always a reason why the Division III players defiantly play with a chip on their shoulder."’

‘"It hasn’t been discussed and if anyone was going to do it I would do it so I ought to know about it," said Nix, the Bills’ general manager, about shutting down Williams for the season. "He’s getting treatment and we hope to have him back."’

‘Heading into Sunday’s game in Toronto against the Washington Redskins, the Bills have a league-low four sacks, and they have performed quite a daily double in ranking 30th in both run defense and pass defense.’

‘One more reason why the Buffalo Bills figure to sweep the Dolphins this season (at Miami on Nov. 20 and here Dec. 18).’

‘”I’m not so sure how far along we are yet. I don’t know how far we’ve come. This has been fun, these first six weeks. But it’s only six weeks. We still have a ways to go. We have to get more depth. We said in the summer, if we can stay healthy, we would surprise a lot of people. We knew we had good enough players to do that.”‘

‘”It was definitely tough,” Jackson said. “Going to a Division III you’re not going to get a lot of workouts, and I went to (a relatively unknown) Division III school, so again, that makes it tough.”‘

‘”For my entire rookie season, we just had the one car. So when I went to practice, I drove it and after practice we did everything together so that was pretty much all we needed. And some days when my wife needed the car, she just dropped me off.”‘

‘The Buffalo offence is full of players whose names were rarely uttered around the NFL a couple of seasons ago: Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and wide receiver Steve Johnson were seventh-round picks, while receivers Donald Jones and David Nelson were, like Jackson, not drafted. “We definitely feed off each other,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of no-name guys, so to speak, that are trying to make plays for each other.”‘

‘”I think these guys understand that being undrafted, being a seventh-round pick, being the lowest guy on the totem pole for so long, these opportunities don’t come by every day,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s taking advantage of the right now and living in the moment and putting all that extra time in in the film room and on the field and I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been so successful this year.”‘

Chris Cooley is hurt now, but he plans on staying awhile with the Redskins (Washington Post)

Redskins tight end Chris Cooley says NFL lockout hurt recovery from knee surgerys (Washington Post)

Black Redskins fans loyal, despite loathsome start (Washington Post)

Chris Cooley sees a lot of football with Redskins in his future (Washington Times)

Punishment usually doesn’t fit the crime when NFL lays down law (Washington Times)

Canadian forays go back to the 1950s (Washington Times)

Redskins coaches want more focus on forced fumbles (Washington Times)

Redskins at Bills: 5 Questions (Washington Times)

Cooley: Not finished in D.C. (Washington Examiner)

It may be the beginning of the end for Redskins’ Cooley (Washington Examiner)

Injury update, Orakpo’s sacks (Washington Examiner)

Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Takes Roundabout Route To NFL Success (Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)

Mike Sellers Taken To Hospital After Weightlifting Accident Wednesday Morning (Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)

Long-Term Goals Driving Chris Cooley In Rehabilitation From Knee Injury (Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)

Transcript: Chris Cooley’s Press Conference (Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)

Cooley vows to return (CSN Washington)

Don’t write off Cooley just yet (CSN Washington)

Redskins looking for defensive turnaround (AP)

Redskins’ Sellers in hospital after hurting back (AP)

Redskins TE Cooley says he’s a lockout casualty (AP)

Redskins FB Sellers in hospital after hurting back (The Sports Network)

Run Defense Looks to Get Back In Form (Redskins.com)

Redskins, Bills Head North Of the Border (Redskins.com)

‘”It would be something that I’d like to get done, and we’ll see how it progresses here in the next few weeks,” he said.’

‘Bills 30, Redskins 21.’

‘For the second day in a row, Demetrius Bell, Chris Hairston, Kyle Williams, Aaron Williams and Donald Jones all did not participate in the session. All five likely will not be available for the team’s game at the Rogers Centre this weekend.’