Archives for October 8, 2013

‘”When you look around the league, it’s difficult when you get down to your third or fourth quarterback. The thing with Thad is he’s been in a game before,” Marrone said.’

‘But if Marrone felt Tuel was such a precious commodity, why did he give up on him after just a quarter and a half in Cleveland? You don’t give someone the backup job to keep him from other teams. It looks like Marrone took a gamble that Manuel wouldn’t get hurt, and it came back to bite him.’

‘”We do need to improve our play there. … That’s going to be an open competition. Both those players will play left guard this week versus Cincinnati. So that’s where we are with that,” Marrone said. “How we’re going to do it, we still haven’t finalized that plan – quarters, series, whatever it may be. That we’re going to work out during the week with the players.”‘

‘So, to capsulize: The No. 1 quarterback (Manuel) is a raw and erratic rookie who is currently hurt; the veteran backup (Kevin Kolb) they had banked on is out for the season with a concussion; the No. 3 guy is an undrafted rookie (Tuel) who is clearly not capable of starting or playing in the NFL yet; and the No. 4 man (Lewis) is up from the practice squad and is about to make just his second career NFL start.’

‘Marrone’s Monday announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise, and is as much an admission that Jeff Tuel — the only other healthy quarterback on the Bills roster — indeed failed miserably in his first NFL action last Thursday, and isn’t an answer at least in the short term.’

‘”That guy’s a competitor, No. 1,” Rey said. “I give him that. He’s a competitor. I just remember being at Duke and he had just like a no-lose mentality. He’s going to fight until the end.”‘

‘He was an undrafted free agent out of Clemson, who spent last season on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad.’

‘Bills coach Doug Marrone announced the move Monday, saying Hopkins was having difficulty kicking off in practice. The Bills also needed to free up a roster spot to promote quarterback Thad Lewis off of the practice squad.’

‘Lewis’ elevation was regarded as a surprise move, coming a day after the Bills worked out two prospective candidates: Pat White and Dennis Dixon. The Bills also lost out in a bid to sign former Tampa Bay Josh Freeman, who was cut by the Buccaneers last week. Freeman instead agreed to sign with Minnesota late Sunday night.’

‘Lewis, meanwhile, doesn’t have much more experience than Tuel. He has played one game in his four-year NFL career, starting the 2012 season finale for Cleveland against Pittsburgh. He connected on 22-of-32 passes for 204 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 24-10 loss.’

‘”Thad gives us the best chance,” Marrone told WGR 550. “We’re going to give him an opportunity to see what he has.”‘

‘Dan Carpenter will continue kicking duties for Buffalo. Carpenter is 11 of 12 on field-goal attempts through the first games.’

‘”Thad gives us the best chance. He can extend plays, he can run, he can throw it..now he has an opportunity to show us what he has,” Marrone said.’

‘”The way he played in the preseason, and you look at his numbers, really outside of EJ, probably played as well as any young quarterback in the league,” he said of Tuel, who completed 72.1-percent of his passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns in three contests. “What we didn’t want to have happen was someone to go ahead and take a young, developing quarterback from under us.”‘

‘”That’s going to be an open competition,” the coach said of the left guard spot. “Both those players will play left guard this week versus Cincinnati. How we’re going to do it, we still haven’t finalized that plan — quarter, series, whatever it may be.”‘