Archives for April 2014

‘”When he comes back here, it’s not, ‘The great Jim Kelly’s in town.’ It’s, ‘Hey, Jimmy’s back.'”‘

‘Geez, what a week.’

‘This isn’t the sort of pervasive sexism – the wage gap between men and women being the most obvious manifestation – that still courses through American workplaces. No, this is the over-the-top condescending, paternalistic nonsense that I thought had been relegated to Mad Men punch lines.’

‘”We’re excited about it, and we look for great things from him,” Bills General Manager Doug Whaley said in making the announcement at the team’s annual pre-draft luncheon.’

‘”I think the most clear and obvious change was when Jim was told he could go home,” Jill said. “I think that although the care in NYC was impeccable, we started looking into our options to make sure we could do the exact same thing back in Buffalo.’

‘”If we bring in a quarterback that we think can help our team, then he’s going to compete,” Whaley said. “Now compete to start? We’ll see. I would say no right off the bat, but there are going to be injuries and a lot of that stuff works itself out. But we wouldn’t, per se, pick a quarterback and say ‘You’re coming in to compete with EJ.’ “‘

‘Dareus, who’s started since arriving at Buffalo as the fourth pick in 2011, had a career-best 7-1/2 sacks last year.’

‘Let’s start with quarterback. Whaley has talked about the Bills not being interesting in drafting a quarterback in the first round. On Friday the GM said,”Let me say this, I’ve been vocal about it, will it happen? I will always say to you guys never say never. We don’t plan on it, but there’s a lot of things that could go down and we may be staring at a guy and he’s the best person for us and it may be a quarterback, so it may happen.”‘

‘There has been more than one report that Buffalo is trying to move up to the number one pick in the draft. It would take a lot to move up eight spots in the top 10, but moving up a few spots from nine might be more realistic. Buffalo’s roster isn’t far away from reaching critical mass and an elite prospect that’s ready to make an immediate impact could be the difference in getting over the troublesome playoff hump.’

‘We look at it this way. We’re going to focus on the draft right now and then after the draft we’ll start looking at issues such as Marcell and C.J. (Spiller). We’ll start doing a pecking order of what we want to do. The ownership has no bearing on us trying to win football games.’

‘A two-year starter for the Crimson Tide at left tackle, Kouandjio played in his last 27 college games. Still, he’s young in football having played soccer as a youth in his native Cameroon. What NFL clubs that like him are banking on is his upside.’

‘Bills GM Doug Whaley confirmed that the club locked up Dareus through the 2015 season. NFL clubs have until May 3rd to do so. Players like Dareus, who were taken in the top 10 get a deal equal to their position’s transition tag. That means the former number three overall pick in 2011 will be one of the top 10 paid players at the defensive tackle position.’

‘Certainly, you can’t blame the Jills for taking offense and lawyering up. We all want to be reimbursed for travel expenses, most of us would likewise think it was unfair to have to pay for uniforms (and the sequins that come with them), and who embraces the idea of squirming in the laps of louts at golf tournaments?’

‘The suit’s central claim is that the contract was illegal and that the Jills were in fact employees of the Bills – since the team directed how their time would be spent – and therefore entitled to at least minimum wage for the estimated 840 unpaid hours each worked. The Bills generate more than $250 million in revenue annually.’