Archives for August 6, 2013

‘The Buffalo-based hat and apparel maker is scheduled to film a TV commercial today featuring Buffalo Bills Stevie Johnson and Marcell Dareus at the team’s fieldhouse in Orchard Park.’

‘”Obviously we had the two interceptions,” said Bills coach Doug Marrone. “The way I viewed it, one was on him, one was on something else that didn’t have anything to do with him.”‘

‘”When we first got him obviously we all knew about the speed,” coach Doug Marrone said. “I don’t know about the consistency of the hands prior to getting him. I’ll tell you what, I think if you said what’s the one thing you’ve seen from him that maybe you haven’t seen in the college film, I think he’s been much more consistent with his hands in really making some tough catches. He’s been doing that through the camp.”‘

‘By unofficial count, Manuel was 9 of 17 for 113 yards, while rookie Jeff Tuel was 10 of 20 for 160 yards. Veteran Kevin Kolb was excused due to a death in his family.’

‘”I certainly didn’t start the way I wanted to, but I’m telling you I’m sure that won’t be my only interception,” said the 23-year-old Manuel, out of Florida State. “I’m not always going to be perfect. What I liked about my effort was I didn’t lose confidence.”‘

‘”Personally, I feel like my talent was there, but obviously there were a few things off the field that I had to fix,” Rogers said. “I think the Buffalo Bills have taken that chance and I use it every day as motivation, a chip on my shoulder.”‘

‘Manuel failed to lead the offense to any points in his first seven possessions with the offense. Corner Leodis McKelvin intercepted Manuel’s first pass of the scrimmage and ran it back about 40 yards for a touchdown. Linebacker Arthur Moats later intercepted a pass that was tipped into the air by a pass rusher.’

‘”We are very excited about Jerry (Hughes),” said Doug Whaley, Buffalo general manager. “He was a high pick and we think that this fresh start will be good for him and a bonus for us.”‘

‘One of the best performers was third-string quarterback Jeff Tuel. Tuel connected with Marquise Goodwin for a long gain on one of his first possessions and had plenty of good plays during the scrimmage. If he keeps playing like he did Monday, he’s going to make it tough for the coaches. Will they keep only two quarterbacks? Not if Tuel has anything to say about it.’

”’I felt like I didn’t start out how I wanted to, obviously,” said Manuel, whose first throw was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by cornerback Leodis McKelvin. ”The biggest thing for me was just to show that I could fight back, move past it. Obviously, it’s not going to be the last interception I throw in my career.”’

”’Obviously, our goal was to have that done by July 15. We didn’t meet that goal,” Brandon said, referring to an NFL-imposed deadline that passed to reach a multiyear deal. ”But we’ll pull up our boot straps, and as soon as we can start on that again, we will.”’

‘It’s unclear whether Kolb would have been able to take part in the scrimmage. He’s been listed day to day since hurting his left knee while slipping on a rubber mat during practice Saturday.’

‘”I was excited. I thought we got a lot of work in. We had over, I believe, 100 plays. I was happy how we got after each other out there. I think what you saw early on was, again, the one thing you do get concerned about when you don’t go live tackling in the practices even though we did go on the goal line in the short yardage period a couple days ago. During the beginning, I thought we didn’t tackle as well. I thought we really picked it up at the end. And then there were a lot of things out there that I was pleased with, but like I told the players afterwards, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. They need to come back and they need to be ready to go. As long as they understand that, we’re going to be in good shape.”‘

‘Early on, Goodwin got downfield on T.J. Heath and caught a perfect strike from Jeff Tuel down near the goal line covering about 50 yards. It was pretty to be sure, but what I liked was the play before. Heath was so scared of Goodwin’s speed he thought the fly was coming. Goodwin stopped, gave Tuel a perfect target and it was an easy 20 yards. It was the following play he gave him the hitch and he was gone.’

‘Throughout the evening, the Bills ran a whopping 123 plays during 11-on-11 drills, getting a large amount of time on the field for may players desperately trying to make an impression.’