Archives for May 2013

‘”It really, at first, kind of shocked me a little bit,” Nix admitted. “But when you think about it, people were worried about this quarterback class. The hype or the lack of it got people concerned and they went out and tried to give themselves some insurance, bringing in veteran quarterbacks. It made that not be a priority in the first few picks.’

‘The Bills shouldn’t let it come to that. I’m not privy to negotiations, but it would be imprudent to play hardball with Byrd and risk alienating one of the top players and good guys on the team. It’s only May, but drafting safeties in consecutive rounds was a troubling sign that this could get ugly.’

‘Alonso is a highly athletic, tenacious defender with a history of making big plays in big games. His agility, speed and instincts make him a legitimate three-down defender — critical when taking into consideration that if the Bills have plans to jump in the AFC East standings they’ll have to not only improve against the run but slow down Tom Brady’s quick-hitting passes over the middle.’

‘”Players will be released. There’s still some cap work that needs to be done on a lot of teams so there will be good players popping up. You just have to be ready, and we track them,” said Tom Gibbons, the Bills’ director of pro personnel. “If there were to be a player come available, I don’t think there’d be any question that we’d sign him … up until camp if we felt the player could help us.”‘

‘The first scout gave the Bills’ draft a C grade, the second a B to B-minus.’

‘What Mastrole did was come in and put the gifted passer through every test imaginable. By last week’s NFL Draft, many had felt that his improvement and ability was worthy of a first-round pick. When the Buffalo Bills made the selection, Manuel and his instructor were center stage.’

‘Losing Andy Levitre is bad enough, but they also lost a valuable backup in Chad Rinehart. David Snow was an undrafted free-agent in 2012, and ended up starting two games due to injury, as well. Maybe Chris Hairston or Zebrie Sanders slides over to guard, but this is just a hairy situation overall that the Bills didn’t do anything about.’

‘”I feel I can do a lot for (the Bills),” he said. “There were abilities and talents I had that were not tapped into at Clemson. I was only scratching the surface at Clemson. The things I can do from a safety standpoint, I think I will fit in well using my aggression, size and speed.”‘

‘But regardless of the outcome — good or bad or something in between — this was a poorly conceived decision because Buffalo burned a first round pick on a player they could have gotten much later. You mean to tell me Buffalo couldn’t have drafted Manuel in the second round with the 41st or 46th overall picks, or in the third round with the 68th overall pick, and filled another need (one of their many) with their first pick instead? Please!’

‘”I stand before you because of that,” Gailey told the audience at the Northeast Alabama Fellowship of Christian Athletes Home Team Celebration and Fundraising Banquet on Thursday night at First Baptist Church. “I stand before you today not as a coach who professed Christianity, but as a Christian who happened to coach for a living. And there’s a big difference in those two.”‘

‘The trend of the new NFL is unmistakable, and teams all over the league are attempting to adapt as the years pass by. Gone are the years where teams depend on the downhill, road-grading run games that dictate the tempo.’

‘Manuel seems excited to come to Buffalo and work with the Bills. He appears to be intelligent on and off the field. He received All-ACC academic honors and has even begun taking master’s level courses at FSU as a fifth-year senior. Manuel respects coaches and teachers, and is a very humble player as evidenced by his presence during interviews with the media.’

‘”It was a big process,” Manuel said. “He’s someone who has been through the process. He knew what to expect. I could learn from some of the mistakes that he made. He’s just a good guy. We worked out hard, but we had fun doing it. He was living vicariously through me.”‘

‘”We spent a lot of time with these quarterbacks. All of them. You grow attached to them but, obviously, the attachment to Ryan is far deeper than anyone else,” Marrone said. “We didn’t put anything out there saying we were talking to Ryan or saying we were going to take him or anything else. But the media really pumped it up, and I’m thinking to myself when we made the decision on who we want to go with, you’re talking not just on draft day but days leading up to it of being “Ugh, this is awful.” And everyone asking you, “Hey, you gonna take Ryan?”‘