Archives for May 2012

‘”Anxious is an understatement,” said Easley. “Waiting for this opportunity to be able to play professional football and knowing I had two major setbacks, nobody wants to start their career off like that. All of that is behind me and I am just trying to come out here and get better."’

‘The Bills will have 15 training camp practices that are open to the public. Four of them are night practices, which will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. NFL teams open their camps 15 days before their first exhibition game. The Bills break camp on Aug. 14, three days before their second preseason game — at Minnesota.’

‘Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams successfully defended his home run derby crown as he and teammates stopped by the Rogers Centre on Wednesday afternoon to test out their skills at Blue Jays batting practice. Williams was joined by Bills’ tight end Scott Chandler, wide receiver Donald Jones and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who all traded in their football helmets for Blue Jays caps and shirts prior to the Jays-Orioles game.’

‘Session is familiar to the Bills after he participated in the team’s rookie minicamp earlier this month on a tryout basis. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds, Session had 132 catches for 1,364 yards and five touchdowns in 48 career games with the Black Bears.’

‘”The only expectations I feel are to come back and get back to where Mario is supposed to be,” Williams told me Tuesday after his first organized team activities practice of the offseason. “That will take care of everything else. If I go out here and work and get better and get in the swing of things, everything will take care of itself. If I get stronger and be one of the elite guys, that’s the only thing I worry about.”‘

‘”In my opinion, the guy that does more than anything in the country [for cornerbacks] is the kid from Troy. Why? He drives on the football, he has a tremendous opportunity to play in the punt return game but when you watch coach’s tape, you can really see the quickness and change in direction in his acceleration.”‘

‘Players will report to St. John Fisher College on July 25, and have their first practice on Thursday, July 26 in the afternoon. The Bills will have a total of 15 practices, four of which being night sessions that will require a ticket for fan access.’

‘Session (6’1″ 225) began his college career as a running back for the Black Bears posting 849 yards and nine touchdowns on 198 carries (4.2 avg.) mostly from 2008-2009. He moved to receiver for his final two collegiate seasons and had 132 catches for 1,364 yards and five touchdowns for Maine over his four-year career.’

‘Williams had Achilles surgery back in November where his tendon was detached to remove a bone spur on his heel that was rubbing against the tendon. Then the Achilles was laid back down and re-attached. The rehab typically takes four to five months then steadily conditioning is followed by strength training and football work.’

‘"I think defensively on paper it looks really good," said defensive tackle Kyle Williams. "But, that doesn’t mean anything. I think we’ve talked about that in our room today, that everything looks great on paper but we haven’t done anything yet. Nobody has made a play, nobody has done anything — no matter what you’ve done in the past years. There’s a lot of work and a foundation has to be laid. That’s what we’re doing now. That’s what we’re going to do in training camp so hopefully we hit the ground running in September. But our goal is to be a great defense."’

‘”It’s all about leading by example,” Williams said. “You don’t have to be a hooting and hollering guy. There is no limit. The sky is not the limit.”‘

‘”Training camp, training camp,” Gailey said on Johnson’s likely return date. “I don’t see him making minicamp. I’d love to say he would, but I don’t know if he will or not. We’ll see. … You don’t ever want to rush it to the point where you have a chance of injuring a guy further. We’ll try to be smart about it, but if he can work we’ll work him. He needs it like everybody else. We all need it.”‘

‘”With Andre, I know his agent, who owns a business in Cheektowaga. I told him I was getting Fred Jackson and he said, ‘Have you considered Andre Reed?'”‘

‘”(The team) felt bigger on the field. It felt quicker on the field. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but initial observations were good.”‘

”’He looks like a Madden character you create when you sit there and up-up the strength, and the guy keeps growing,” Fitzpatrick said with a smile, referring to the popular NFL video game. ”And then he’s the fastest guy on the field, too.”’