Archives for July 2012

‘”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.”‘

‘Head Coach Chan Gailey said the offense has some work to do, but admitted he is impressed by Gilmore early on in camp.’

‘The defensive line was consistent in getting pressure on both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tyler Thigpen, who rotated back in as the primary number two signal caller Saturday. Mario Williams had a strong day rushing the passer getting into the backfield with regularity. Marcell Dareus had a ‘would be’ sack in 11-on-11 work. Kyle Williams consistently pushed the pocket and Mark Anderson was active as well.’

‘I thought the defense dominated the practice. We have a lot of work to do on offense to be at their level of play right now. It is a little bit different than it has been and it is good for our football team. They have some good players (on that side of the ball). They work hard, they play hard, they are good leaders; it is a solid group up there.’

‘"He and Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) have a great feel for each other at this point in time. He’s made some plays down the field. He’s a big target. I see nothing but more positive things happening for him in the future.”‘

‘”I feel like we’ve all hit the ground running,” Dareus told Buffalobills.com. “It’s crazy. I like the feeling of everybody together. The camaraderie, the way we feel with each other. The way we’re playing together. Everything feels like it’s coming together, slowly but surely. I can’t say there’s a feeling we’re going to do this or do that. I just know we’re going to go out there and play the best Bills defense we can play.”‘

‘"Explosive – that’s the word that comes to mind when I think of him," said guard Andy Levitre. "He’s just really quick. He’s got a lot of good moves and he uses them quickly. He’s dangerous on third downs. He’s a play-maker, for sure."’

‘”I failed the physical with the Ravens,” he said. “It was about something that was in my shoulder. But I came up here and did my physical the next day with the Bills, and they cleared me to play.”‘

‘”My whole thing is just try to make every play count, let (head) coach (Chan) Gailey and (quarterbacks) coach (David) Lee know that I’m studying and working hard and trying to get up to speed to what Fitz is doing with the first-team offense,” Young said. “That’s all I can do.”‘

‘”I’m just now getting into a rhythm, starting to understand what’s going on – the different plays that coach Chan was calling and who he was trying to get open,” Young told QMI Agency following the afternoon practice. “I’m just taking my time with it, taking it one day at a time. It’s all I can do.”‘