Archives for January 2014

‘Even though the Bills finished 6-10, Pettine received good reviews for his direction of the defense. He brought a more aggressive, unpredictable scheme to a Bills unit that had ranked 31st in points allowed the year before.’

‘Pettine would represent the seventh coach to be interviewed for the Browns opening. The others are: Ken Whisenhunt, who accepted the Tennessee Titans job, New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, former Titans coach Mike Munchak and Green Bay quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo, who took the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator position. McDaniels and Bowles have removed their names from consideration.’

‘”We’re going to reach out to his agents pretty soon and see if we can try to get something done,” Bills General Manager Doug Whaley said the day after the season ended.’

‘”You live in it, you take your kids to school in it, and you practice in it,” said Bills kicker Steve Christie, who faced his own adversity that day. “It gave us a real advantage.”‘

‘”It’s pretty cool,” said the 6-foot 5-inch, 320-pound Colling, who grew up in Arcade, N.Y., about half an hour from Ralph Wilson Stadium. “My whole life my goal has been to reach the NFL, and now I get the chance to do it with the Bills.”‘

‘Also signed on Tuesday were offensive guard Randy Colling and defensive end Kourtnei Brown, who was cut by the Bills before the start of the season.’

‘The Buffalo Bills have dipped their toes into the pool of players originally from western New York once again. On Tuedsay afternoon the team announced they’ve signed three players to reserve/future contracts.’

‘Buffalo added to their offseason roster Tuesday with the signing of three future free agents. The Bills signed RB Anthony Allen, LB Kourtnei Brown and OL Randy Colling.’

‘There were certainly more high profile trades like the Percy Harvin trade between Seattle and Minnesota that handed the Vikings three draft choices, and the Trent Richardson trade between the Browns and Colts. But there are very few that benefited one team significantly more than another than the Hughes trade.’

‘Alonso, who finished third among all NFL players with 159 total tackles, was selected as the Defensive Rookie of the Year. A second-round pick out of Oregon, Alonso had four interceptions on the season, including a streak of three consecutive games, the first three-game interception streak by an NFL rookie linebacker since 1980, and the first by a Bills rookie linebacker in team history. He had a season-high 22 tackles (13 solo) in Week Six vs. Cincinnati, the most by a Bills LB since 1997. Alonso also had two sacks, a forced fumble and a pair of fumble recoveries.’

‘Buffalo gave up 19 runs of at least 20 yards, most in the league.’

‘Marrone told Driesbach, who had just finished his first season as inside linebackers coach for the Bills, that “they just wanted to change the dynamic of the staff and they had to let me go. He said I hadn’t done anything wrong, shook my hand and I walked out of the office.”‘

‘Driesbach also had ties with Bills first-year defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.’

‘Driesbach is the second of Marrone’s positional coaches to have been fired. He joins former wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard as the castoffs from the 2013 staff. Two names that haven taken heat throughout the season, special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and offensive line coach Pat Morris, both remain employed by the Bills.’

‘Driesbach spent one season with the Bills where he primarily coached the team’s inside linebackers.’