Archives for February 24, 2012

‘The Bills finished 27th in sacks per pass attempt last season. Take away their 10-sack game against Washington and they were last in the league. Gailey acknowledged providing new defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt with more pass-rush talent — either in free agency or the draft or both — is a top priority.’

‘”I joked with him that he can have it during the season, and I’ll take it in the offseason,” Gailey said of Fitzpatrick. “I’ve never done this. I thought I’d try it and see what it looks like. If I like it, I’ll keep it. And if I don’t, I’ll get rid of it — unless my wife says get rid of it earlier.”‘

‘”He didn’t miss practice. He was nursing it but he really didn’t miss practice. I don’t know if it was that but we started getting receivers hurt, and we started getting linemen hurt. I think that had something to do with it. Scott Chandler got hurt late in the year. I think that had as much to do with it as anything. I knew he had taken that shot. I didn’t know anything about the broken (ribs) part.”‘

‘”I’ve never done this. I’m just going to see what it looks like. If I like it I’ll keep it. And if not I’ll shave it off, (but) not before my wife tells me.”‘

‘”I don’t think it’s good for coaches to be in negotiations,” the Bills coach remarked. “Because you’re talking about, [Stevie’s representatives] think he’s great then you’ve got to counter with saying what he’s not great at. I don’t need to be in there saying what he’s not great at. I want to see what he’s great at and always talk to the guy about what he’s great at. I try to stay away from all those negotiations. I don’t think it helps for coaches to be there in the long run.”‘

‘”There are a lot of big wide receivers in this draft,” said Gailey, speaking at the Combine Thursday. “There are obviously some very good corners in this draft, too. It’d be fun to watch them go one-on-one out there a little bit. I don’t think I can get that done but that’d be fun to do.”‘

‘Rushing the passer and stopping the run is an urgent need after the defense ranked 27th in sacks and yielded a team record 5,938 yards. New defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt is returning the Bills to a base 4-3 and would like a force on the outside to complement a defensive line led by Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus.’

‘”I knew he’d taken a shot. It was more in the chest I thought than it was in the ribs,” Gailey said. “He didn’t miss practice. He was nursing it but he really didn’t miss practice.” More than a possible lingering injury to his quarterback’s ribs, Gailey said it was injuries to his receivers and line that hurt more. “I don’t know if it was that (Fitzpatrick’s injury) but we started getting receivers hurt and we started getting linemen hurt,” Gailey said. “I think that had something to do with it (too).”‘

‘”That’s the biggest problem you have is trying to elevate somebody because of need,” said Gailey. “I think anytime you try to do that you put yourself in a position to be in trouble down the line. It may not be an issue right there, but down the line it creates a problem for yourself because you passed up a player that you may have had rated not at the position of need, but that’s a really good football player that’ll help your team on down the line.”‘

‘”He’s very important to us and we’d love to have him,” said Gailey. “The thing you learn to say in this business is you don’t ever want to say you can’t live without somebody because as soon as you say that you learn to live without them. But we would like to have him. He’s very important to our football team. He made a bunch of big plays for us. We hope it works out, but it’s business.”‘

‘I don’t know how to assess this time of year. New England’s the defending AFC Champion and they’re there until somebody knocks them off. The rest of us are trying to fight to get there. That’s just the way it is. I think it’s a tough division, but they’re all tough. Everybody’s got a tough division so I don’t see how I can make any kind of special determination about who sits where or does what before the season starts.’