Archives for January 2014

‘Colling’s contract kicks in at the start of the new season, as outlined by the NFL labor agreement. He most recently played with the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League, seeing action in 16 of 18 games last season when he finished as the team’s leader in sacks (four) and tackles for a loss (five). The defensive lineman was the Gladiators’ sixth-leading tackler with 29 stops, including 17 solo tackles. He also forced a team-best three fumbles and recovered two fumbles.’

‘The Bills newly hired defensive coordinator indicated on Monday he has no designs on making drastic changes to the aggressive approach that made Buffalo one of the NFL’s most feared pass-rushing teams last season.’

‘”It’s a process and there’s no carryover. You start over again and you try to get something done,” Brandon told The Associated Press on Monday. “We just weren’t able to come up with a solution that worked for both parties, so you reset it and start again.”‘

‘”When you’re a head coach, and you find yourself on the outside, you want to be very careful about your next opportunity, and I was in this case,” Schwartz said. “And I didn’t step into this lightly. Not only from the administration here, the ownership and the coaching staff, but also from a player standpoint, this is a tremendous opportunity for a defensive coach.”‘

‘”Obviously Jim O’Neil was granted permission, he’ll be leaving to go to Cleveland as the defensive coordinator to the best of my knowledge,” Marrone said. “Brian Fleury, who is a quality control coach will be leaving to go to Cleveland to the best of my knowledge as an inside linebackers coach. Also Jeff Hafley who really wasn’t here long will be leaving for Cleveland to the best of my knowledge, working with the secondary in Cleveland.”‘

‘”Whatever anybody wants to tag the system as far as a name, it won’t be us. We’re just going to try to do whatever we can every week to do the best to have the game plan. I think the similarities you’ll see is it will be as aggressive as it can be and try to be as physical as we can be and it will be an attack style.”‘

‘There was a time really not all that long ago when the Bills would be looking to hire people and it felt like there was a certain cut of candidate who they just could not talk with. That perception could have been wrong, but that’s how it felt to me. Does an exhaustive search for a new General Manager landing on Buddy Nix ring any bells?’

‘He is the favorite to land the job in Cleveland according to multiple reports.’

‘It started with Doug (Marrone). Like I said, the respect I have for him and what he has done-and not just what he has done in the NFL. I have a lot of respect for what he did at Syracuse and where he took that program. That was not an easy job. I think anybody who is in our profession knows that. Then playing them last year, seeing some of the things. We have a lot of common friends. So there is a respect level that is there. I think that probably starts there.’

‘”When people say we relied on the front four that’s because they were really good,” Schwartz told Buffalobills.com. “For a significant portion of my career we didn’t have to blitz to get pressure on the quarterback. With guys like Jevon Kearse and Kevin Carter, Albert Haynesworth, Kyle Vanden Bosch in Tennessee, and even going to Detroit with Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, Cliff Avril, Kyle Vanden Bosch was also up there. We were in a situation where we were doing what our players did best.’

‘Pettine’s interest in O’Neil is anything but surprising. The two coached together with the Jets, and when Pettine was hired by Buffalo as defensive coordinator he brought O’Neil with him to coach linebackers. It’s presumed that O’Neil will interview for the Browns defensive coordinator post.’

‘”It’s tougher on us as scouts because you cannot look at those guys or talk about those guys until they officially declare and the list came out on Sunday so we can only start our process now and it condenses all that information into a shorter time period,” said Whaley. “So it makes us work a lot harder and it’s tough because those are usually the best players so you want to be as thorough as possible.”‘

‘Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M. At 6-foot-4, Evans fits the physical mold of a big, athletic receiver who can develop into a team’s No. 1 option.’

‘”Not many people remember we played (the Bills) three times that year, once in the preseason,” Parcells says. “When we played them late in the regular season, we got beat by three points and that was the game when Phil (Simms) got hurt. We found out pretty quickly he wasn’t going to be able to play after that. So we had to get Jeff ready to go.”‘