Archives for August 21, 2012

‘”I just wanted to be able to come in and work hard every day and show the coaches they could trust me,” said Moore. “There’s a reason why they put me on the field those last four games of the year. It wasn’t because of my talent, it was because they could trust me and I could play a little bit.”‘

‘Unfortunately, Buffalo dramatically overpaid for his services.’

‘The Bills already this year had paid Merriman a $1 million roster bonus in March and a $250,000 offseason workout bonus. But they decided he did not look good enough – as the No. 4 defensive end on the roster – to justify a $4 million base salary they would have had to pay him if he was on the roster for the season opener.’

‘It’s all fair, but you can’t fault Buddy Nix for taking a flier on a former All-Pro, knowing with great risk is the potential for great reward.’

‘Glenn, the rookie from Georgia, beat out incumbent Chris Hairston, a second-year pro who started seven games last season. The Bills expected Glenn to be their franchise left tackle when they drafted him 41st overall, the earliest they’ve selected a tackle since they took Mike Williams fourth overall in 2002.’

‘Mike Mosley is typical of the clients. The former Buffalo Bills wide receiver suffers from spinal stenosis — a narrowing of the spinal canal — and a crushed vertebrae in his lower back. He also needs wrist fusion surgery, shoulder surgery, ankle reconstruction and two knee replacements. The constant pain prevents him from sleeping more than two hours at a time at night.’

”’Oh yeah, he’s got the edge or I wouldn’t have given him more reps,” Gailey said. ”He’s made more things happen, so you’ve got to give him credit for that.”’

”’We think we’ve been patient, but it comes to a point where we felt like we needed to move on and look down the road,” Nix said shortly before the Bills returned to practice from a two-day break. ”We need to look past this week. We need to look further down the road.”’

‘Once among the most feared defensive players in the league, Merriman’s career has been plagued by injuries in recent years. He started each of the first five games for the Bills last season before his Achilles problems resurfaced, forcing the club to place him on injured reserve.’

‘When you have a rookie starting on the offensive line, it’s important to get chemistry and Gailey said that’s one of the reasons the move has already been made, “Very big. Very big for he and Andy to line up next to each other and them to continue to create communication there, that’s really big.”‘

‘Merriman’s snaps went down as practice went on. Nix said, “I think he struggled a little, but he can play, he did everything, he’s been healthy since OTA’s, he hadn’t missed anything, he’s very attentive in meetings, he’s worked hard in practice and he’s played in spots really good during the games so he’s a hard worker. He’s done everything he could do. We think we’ve been patient, but it comes a point where we felt like we needed to move on and look down the road, so these young guys will get a shot.”‘

‘So yes, the signing of Shawne Merriman did not work on the field for the Bills, no question, but was it the wrong thing to do at the time, absolutely positively not. The Bills needed and still need good football players, but Nix had nothing to lose by giving Merriman a try. The money wasn’t big, they weren’t up against the cap and the upside was high. The DE is injury prone, that didn’t change here, but it was well worth a try and I will never criticize Nix for giving it a shot.’

‘“Oh yeah, he’s got the edge or I wouldn’t have given him more reps,” Gailey said. “He’s made more things happen, so you’ve got to give him credit for that.”’

‘”Cordy Glenn will be our starting left tackle,” said Gailey. “It’s just worked out with Erik Pears not getting reps, we couldn’t have enough reps for both guys and Hairston has had to go play right tackle and Cordy has gotten most of the reps at left and has done a good job. So he’ll be the starting left tackle.”‘

‘(Secondly) Vince Young has performed well enough in the last two games to warrant more work. He will get the majority of the work with the twos this week. He will get most of the reps with the second group when they go in on Saturday night. We need to see how he can handle more game plan, more playing time and more of everything. It is not an indictment on Tyler (Thigpen), it is just Vince has done some good things. We know where Tyler is and we have to evaluate Vince more.’