Archives for June 2014

‘”The family atmosphere has always been evident here,” said Andre Reed, the Bills’ go-to receiver who played 15 seasons in Buffalo. “We’ll be the first ones to tell you that. We weren’t as good as we were without each other. We loved each other off the field and really cared about each other, and it’s more evident now than ever.”‘

‘Dareus declined to talk about his recent run-ins with the law. He was arrested in May for possession of “spice” or synthetic cannabis.’

‘”It’s nothing personal,” said Charles Pellien, one of four fans who came up with the Bon Jovi boycott last month. “If Santa Claus was coming to Buffalo and telling us he was going to take our team to the North Pole, we would be boycotting Santa Claus.”‘

‘”One of the good things about being here in Buffalo is the weather was so bad that we had plenty of time as coaches to stay together,” Schwartz said with a laugh, following a voluntary minicamp practice this week. “When the snow was rolling and it was 5 degrees outside, we were holed up in the room watching all their stuff from last year.”‘

‘”Here, you get in early. It’s your job now,” Watkins said of being a professional as opposed to college. “If you’re taking it seriously, you’re trying to be great and be the best at your position in the NFL, you need to be here early.”‘

‘”Obviously he’s had a string of bad decisions. We as players, teammates and friends, we expect more out of him because we need him to play football for us,” Williams said. “Hopefully these things are kind of a silver lining for him. But, I don’t think there’s any disguising the fact that he has to be accountable to his team and coaches and our organization for the decisions he makes.”‘

‘It seems as though the aim is more to judge the versatility of the talent they have on hand more than finding the best combinations. Testing Cordy Glenn and Chris Hairston at left guard with the first unit were the most notable moves of the week.’

‘”We look back at last year, and those first four games when EJ had a lot of run going on, it was awesome,” Hackett said. “We were really rolling. It’s funny. You look back on it and as the season went on, with the changes we had at that position, it slowed down.”‘

‘”Even in our weekly meetings, Jim has me coming down to the hospital and wants to know how many kids are signed up, do we have our coaches signed up, do we have the food service set up, do we have the medical staff in place,” said Kelly’s brother Dan. “He’s involved behind the scenes as much as all of us are in organizing.”‘

‘”My guess, and it’s strictly a guess, is the stadium will be covered,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll have a sliding roof or just a permanent roof, but my guess is it will be covered. And the state government, our governor and some of our U.S. senators are very much in favor of this happening.”‘

‘Even in a contest where two Bills players competed against each other, nobody was able to win. Dareus should have had a clear advantage in his Jaguar against the Camaro Hughes was rolling. But, of course, Dareus’s car followed a similar path as Scott Norwood’s ill-fated kick and veered right off the road.’

‘Two Monet paintings, each valued at more than $10 million, will be among four pieces that Wilson’s estate is putting on the block at Sotheby’s semi-annual Impressionist and Modern Art sale in London on June 23.’

‘”If they get moved out of Western New York, I’m not going to feel very good about it. I might even feel partially responsible. Not totally, but partially responsible.”‘

‘It wasn’t a ton of exposure for third-round selection and linebacker Preston Brown with the first-team defense, but it was a little bit. Head coach Doug Marrone stated after the first practice that as the younger players grew more comfortable, he had no problem with throwing them into the first-team just to get some exposure with it.’