Archives for June 2014

‘”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. The better we get, the more we have of the understanding of the offense, the faster we can go.”‘

‘”No pressure. We already have many guys experienced here,” he said. “I just have to be prepared and ready to play early. “We’re not just going to come in and turn it on. We know we’ve got a long season ahead. If I perform the way I expect to perform, I think we’ll be OK. That’s all I care about, that and winning.”‘

‘Being a rookie last season, it was hard for Manuel to tell Nate Hackett he didn’t like a play in the playbook. Now, he’s more comfortable with it, “I think it’s having the repore with your coach.” Manuel added, “Sometimes there may be plays I don’t like and I’ll tell him. Honestly there were a few plays we came into this week of minicamp and I just wanted to be clean, I wanted to have sharp reads and I told him, ‘I don’t like that play, I don’t like that play and he took it out..”‘

‘Throughout the afternoon we got a taste of both good EJ and bad EJ.’

‘”It’s so much fun. It’s almost like we never lost a step,” Lawson said. “We still kid around and joke around and get after each other. We work hard and we have a good time doing it. We all have one goal in mind and that’s the way a team should be.”‘

‘We were a little frustrated, I know I was, before OTA’s. But I like the fact that he’s putting more on us, especially because we’ve got young guys in skill positions. It’s really put more of the onus on us to get stuff down and that’s made this week easier because we pretty much know all the plays already and we’ve run them all a bunch of times, so there’s not going to be any new stuff to learn.’

‘A Hamburg Town Court hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday in the street-racing crash case against Buffalo Bills defensive lineman Marcell Dareus has been postponed until July 1, according to a court clerk for Hamburg Town Justice Gerald P. Gorman.’

‘Dareus was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday to face a reckless endangerment charge stemming from him crashing his 2012 Jaguar into a tree in suburban Buffalo on May 30. Dareus was also ticketed for several traffic violations, including drag racing.’

‘These nine-week programs include three phases, per the collective bargaining agreement…’.

‘Now, with signs pointing toward him making an effort to purchase the Bills, you can only hope that he learned from his mistakes during his three-year test drive in the NHL. On a personal level, he would be ideal man for the Bills. On a professional level, well, look at the Sabres.’

‘Concussions weren’t in the forefront of the public or player conscience when Thomas played for the Bills from 2002 to 2004. He was on the roster in 2005, but didn’t play because of a right knee injury that needed two surgeries and eventually affected his left knee and now requires him to walk with a cane.’

‘Schwartz’s biggest contribution could be improving the Bills run defense which went from historically bad to just bad last season. The Bills were 28th in NFL in rushing yards allowed per game and gave up 19 runs of 20 or more yards, the most by any defense in the league. The Titans were ranked in the top 10 in run defense in five of the eight years with Schwartz as their coordinator.’

‘”Any rep I can get is going to help me,” Hogan said. “I have to just take advantage of those reps that I get, keep doing what I’m doing, and carry this over to minicamp and training camp.”‘

‘The idea, they say, is to deemphasize tailgating by getting them into the stadium early. That should work like a charm. You get the drinkers into the stadium at 11 a.m. sharp to allow more time for family singalongs and trading football cards with their kids. Why didn’t I think of that? I’m tempted to question whether anyone associated with the idea has a marginal allotment of working brain cells. But I must assume the brainstorm has almost nothing to do with family atmosphere and almost everything to do with family revenue.’

‘”I knew he did play because I would sit in the basement and watch old films and read old newspaper clippings and see what he did,” said Preston. “So it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a linebacker like my dad. That’s kind of how it happened.”‘