Archives for July 29, 2012

‘”When he came in as a rookie his pass rushing skills were way more advanced than any of the other rookies that came in,” Brown told Buffalobills.com. “Tommie Harris was drafted way ahead of him and a real good pass rusher, but he didn’t have the ability to torque his body the way that Mark can. Mark can really elude punches and really give offensive tackles a tough angle to try to put their hands on him. And on top of that he’s fast.”‘

‘”We’ve got a lot of talent on the defensive line,” Kelsay says, “really at every position. They’re gonna give everybody a look, and it’s gonna be a competition, but it’s fun that way. It keeps everybody on their toes. It keeps everybody out here competing, nobody’s missing practice, because you miss practice here or there, you may not be around.”‘

‘"I think everybody had some doubt. You never know until it happens. I certainly wanted him back and I hoped it worked out," Gailey said. "I have said it a hundred times if I have said it once: Stevie is a good guy. He really is. Did he make a decision that was not good for him and the team and for me? Yeah. But he is a good guy and he is a great receiver. He really is."’

‘”I thought the defense dominated the practice,” coach Chan Gailey said. “We got a lot of work to do on offense to meet their level of play right now. So it’s a little bit different than it has been, and it’s good for our football team.”‘

‘In any event, Poloncarz – to mix metaphors – needs to play hardball. If the Bills balk at a screws-tight lease, I see a Plan B: Extend the current lease on a year-to-year basis. Delay improvements until a new owner arrives, then offer a $200 million stadium face-lift if the team stays. If the next owner declines, we will have saved the cost of fixing up a now-empty stadium.’

‘”I’ve been ready to go, training hard all offseason. The time is here and I’m ready to go.”’

‘”I’m still Penn State proud and I still support the school,” said Scott as he walked off the practice field at St. John Fisher, stopping to sign autographs.’

‘”Carder looks like he can be a great player,” Bills linebacker Nick Barnett said. “It’s a different game from college and you’ve got to learn a lot. These coaches are going to demand a lot from you as players. They’ve got some time with OTAs and mini camps.”‘

‘”They’ve got some good players, and they work hard, and they play hard and they’re good leaders,” Gailey said. “That’s a strong group up there.”‘

‘But on Saturday at training-camp practice, Young succeeded in a fun but difficult test of accuracy – twice! – when Fitzpatrick couldn’t. Young twice lobbed a ball about 27 yards and into a stack of barrels – and hit the rim another time.’

‘Rookie cornerback Stephon Gilmore stood out in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. Other than a perfectly executed back shoulder throw from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Stevie Johnson, Gilmore was near perfect in coverage all day long. The combination of a beefed up defensive line and drafting the likes of Gilmore are two reasons why a lot of people feel the Bills will be much improved this year.’

”’I don’t know how to say it, but he’s up there with some of the DBs in the league who’ve been playing for a couple of years, and he hasn’t even played one play,” receiver Stevie Johnson said Saturday. ”Really, I don’t want to speak too highly, but it’s hard to not speak highly of somebody that can play as well as he has from rookie minicamp all the way up until now.”’

‘Coach Chan Gailey said the initial prognosis was that Nelson sustained only a bruise. He added there was no indication of ligament damage.’

‘David Nelson was extremely upset as he left the field midway through practice with a knee injury. Gailey said, “They said it’s like a bruise, they don’t think it’s any kind of ligaments or anything like that so we’ll see what the determination is tomorrow probably.”‘