Archives for August 28, 2012

‘Gailey is adamant that Fitzpatrick is his guy and isn’t worried, despite the preseason struggles, and the QB maintains his confidence is high. Only a cynic would suggest they’re both in denial.’

‘Can Jackson get enough of a grasp on the offense between now and then, to the point Gailey would feel comfortable putting him into the game in case of an injury to Ryan Fitzpatrick? And if not, would the team take the unusual step of keeping Tyler Thigpen, and thus four quarterbacks (Gailey confirmed again Monday that Brad Smith is the No. 3) on its 53-man roster?’

‘But with only 12 days left before the opener, there’s mild cause for concern. You bet the preseason matters.’

‘Bills general manager Buddy Nix and head coach Chan Gailey believe that Tarvaris Jackson, who did not participate either in the Bills’ spring practices or preseason camp, is a better option as the team’s No. 2 QB than either Young, who did participate in both, or Thigpen, who has been on the team for 13 months. That’s less an endorsement of Jackson than it is an indictment of both Young and Thigpen.’

‘”Depending on how I do, this could be a possible second career for me,” he joked.’

”’Vince, I don’t want to get into what he can do and can’t do, it just didn’t work out,” general manager Buddy Nix said. ”We just need to move on and give this guy a try.”’

‘Jackson played in 15 games (14 starts) for Seattle in 2011 and set career- highs in attempts (450), completions (271), passing yards (3,091) and passing touchdowns (14).’

‘Upon his release, Young tweeted Monday morning, “I want to thank the Bills organization for the opportunity and wish the organization and my teammates good luck this season”.’

‘”It was Saturday night, I got a call from my agent so he was like, it’s a possibility so I went in like a regular day going through meetings and lifting and stuff and my agent gave me a call and said, ‘just go home and wait for me to give you a call, you’ve been traded’.”‘

‘”We’re always looking to improve. If we think we can better ourselves in the backup position or in any position really, then we’ll do it,” Nix said. “The timing has a lot to do with when the guy came available. It wasn’t like it was something you could do earlier or whatever. It was just availability and a need to see if we can better.”‘

‘Fast forward to Saturday, where Young’s abysmal performance against Pittsburgh was eye-opening enough to make the Bills re-think things in a very real way. Young completed 12-of-26 passes for 103 yards and also threw two very bad interceptions to the young Steelers secondary. The former Titans and Eagles passer also had a quarterback rating of only 25.0 in that contest.’

‘For Bills fans who crave national praise (which is all of us) then tonight’s broadcast of the John Murphy show was as good as it gets. John Clayton from ESPN is by far one of the most well respected reporters covering the NFL, and he proclaimed that this is the year that Buffalo goes back to the playoffs. He said the schedule and upgraded defense play in their favor, and Ryan Fitzpatrick’s good decision making will put the offense in good situations every week. Being based out of Seattle, he had a good look at Tarvaris Jackson, and said the new Bills backup quarterback is a hard worker, a well-respected pro for his toughness and is a good fit in Buffalo.’

‘”I don’t know,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “I’ve spent a little bit of time with him and he seemed to grasp … you know, there’s only so many plays in football. It’s just what you call them. We’ve just got to get him up to speed with how we call the plays and once he gets the terminology down, he’ll be comfortable with what we’re doing. We’ve just got to get the terminology in his head.”‘

‘We brought him in to compete for the backup job. That is why we brought him in here. Anytime you do not have consistency, whether it is guard, defensive end, linebacker or whatever it is, if we do not find consistency then we are looking to create competition. That is where we are right now. We had not found the consistency that we want so we are going to see how fast he can learn. We are going to try to play him Thursday night a few snaps. Let him get in the huddle, get a feel for things and see how we do it. I’d like for him to play if he can get enough in his system from now till then which I think he can just meeting with him for the short time I met with him.’

‘Vince (Young), I do not want to get into what he can do and cannot do. It just did not work out. Vince did everything he could. He worked hard at it. He did everything we asked him to do. It just did not work. So we go another route and it is not like we are thinking that (Jackson) can do something that Vince could not do. It is just we have seen him and he has played good, at times. Consistency has been a little bit of a problem. He has bounced around a little bit but who knows, we will give it a try. We know he has the ability to do it. We will see if he can produce.’