Archives for July 26, 2014

‘”I felt I ended pretty well last year,” Branch said. “I’m just glad the team thought I did pretty well as well by re-signing me for a couple more years. Do I think there’s more I could have done? Yeah. I think I probably fell into more of a groove towards the middle of the season, getting more stats-wise. I did my job beating up on the offensive linemen early, but I wasn’t getting very many tackles.”‘

‘”These last nine years I just went about my business,” he said. “Of course it was always in the back of my mind because I heard it every year and there was times I was like, well, is it ever going to happen? I don’t know. I have to thank a lot of people for keeping me humble and telling me what the process is about. As every year went, I understood the process more, what you go through and what some of these other players went through waiting for that call.”‘

‘The players serenaded coach Doug Marrone with a chorus of “Happy Birthday” after the practice. It was Marrone’s 50th.’

‘Truth be told, it is time to stop talking about Dareus’ off-field transgressions, and the focus now must be on what Dareus does on the field. Although the Bills have installed a new defensive scheme under coordinator Jim Schwartz, Marrone isn’t worried that Dareus is far behind his teammates from a mental perspective. According to Marrone, the duties of the defensive linemen are pretty clear cut regardless of the scheme.’

‘For a seventh-round pick starting at left tackle in his first training camp, Seantrel Henderson hasn’t looked half bad in the past week. There are still time where blocking Jerry Hughes and Mario Williams looks to be a bit too much for him to handle, but he also flattened Hughes a few times on Friday and has shown the strength and movement skills that made him the No. 1 high school recruit in the country once upon a time.’

‘Jackson limped off the field during the 11-on-11 portion of practice and was checked out by trainers before being escorted to the locker room. He wasn’t walking with a limp as he got to the locker room and didn’t need to be carted off, both of which are good signs.’

‘”I feel anxious, man,” Branch said after the Bills’ walkthrough on Friday. “I’m ready to get out there and put the pads on. That’s what players go out there and do. They don’t want to go out there in helmets and shorts. I’m pretty excited to go out there and start banging heads.”‘

‘”You definitely want a guy like that on your team on the team to help in coverage in critical situations to make plays,” Woods said. “He’s definitely shown that so far and hopefully he continues to show it.”‘

‘Five vital questions are being asked repeatedly about the Toronto group. Near as I can tell from sifted information provided by a wide range of sources on both sides of the border, here’s what I can share in an attempt to answer these questions…’.

‘With some help from veteran real estate executive Mike Czestochowski, here’s a look at the pros and cons of various potential sites in the Greater Toronto Area. Bottom line? The land is certainly out there.’

‘Johnson began Buffalo’s training camp on the active/physically unable to perform list.’

‘To make room for Felder on the roster, the Bills released defensive tackle Colby Way from the team. An undrafted free agent out of the University at Buffalo, Way signed with the team shortly after the 2014 NFL Draft. He was likely made expendable with the signing of defensive tackle Landon Cohen earlier in the week.’

‘The team’s training staff examined him for roughly 10 minutes and then eventually walked him back to the locker room. Jackson, who was walking under his own power, suffered what the team is calling a lower leg injury. There is no initial timetable for Jackson at this point in time.’

‘”At this point in time, I think this will probably be the end of it I would think. He’s back out here on the field, he passed his conditioning test, we’re ready to go,” Williams said. “We’ll see how everything pans out with all the off field stuff, I’m sure there will be a day for that. But, right now, the good thing about it is he’s in pads, we’re practicing and he’s ready to go.”‘

‘Last year’s training camp showed that defensive end Jerry Hughes had a definite ability in rushing the passer, often beating his opponent on the offensive line to get into the backfield. That trend has continued into 2014, with seventh-round rookie left tackle Seantrel Henderson taking the brunt of the Hughes-led punishment. Hughes made Henderson look silly on a couple of plays during team drills, with one outside-in move that looked effortless on the defensive end’s part. Of course, he is going up against a rookie in practice so there’s no use in projecting a bigger season than last year just yet, but Hughes has been a consistent, disruptive force for the defense thus far.’