Archives for July 27, 2014

‘Just how serious a challenge Chris Hairston will be able to mount against incumbent Kraig Urbik remains to be seen, because Hairston is coming off a full year of inactivity and still is trying to work himself back into top condition.’

‘”We understand if we can block our front four, then we’ll be able to block about anybody,” said center Eric Wood. “For my money I think they’re the best in the league. But that’s no excuse. We gotta do a better job. I think in regular down and distance we’re doing a good job of understanding situations. But when we do all third downs and all third and long, we’re not executing as well right now.”‘

‘The defense dominated the offense as the team worked a lot on third-down situations. The offense looked miserable, giving up eight sacks in one 17-snap stretch.’

‘But a larger question looms first: Do taxpayers get their money’s worth by public dollars helping to build sports stadiums?’

‘We’re a community, because of our love for our team. But more importantly, because of our struggle. A playoff drought of 14 years and the memory of four straight Super Bowl losses have made their mark on Buffalo Bills history. And yet this team has fans that will tailgate in the most severe weather and sit in the same seats every Sunday until the day they die! Why? Because we are the BUFFALO Bills, The City of Good Neighbors, The city that doesn’t give up. Not on our team. Not on each other. And that can’t be taken from us.’

‘However, a funny thing happened along the way: Coach Doug Marrone, an old offensive lineman at heart, decided to give Hairston some reps at the guard positions to see how he’d do. Hairston had never played inside at any point, but the 320-pounder did pretty well, and through the first week of training camp he’s been getting more time inside than he has at his natural tackle position.’

‘Spiller is entering the final year of his contract and is going to be 27 years old in August. Those two facts alone make his future in Buffalo beyond 2014 uncertain. Will the Bills be willing to pay Spiller what he wants as he inches closer to 30? He struggled through injuries last season and would need a fully healthy year to justify a big contract extension. In terms of cost, Spiller is going to require the biggest investment among the backs on the roster.’

‘More than a motorcycle, Marrone would likely just appreciate a winning season from his players. The last two night practices have provided Marrone with plenty of frustration as his team prepares for the Hall of Fame Game against the New York Giants on Aug. 2.’

‘Doug Marrone said Moeaki will miss “significant time,” but maybe not the rest of training camp.’

‘Quarterback EJ Manuel wasn’t particularly sharp, and that made it difficult for the offense to get going. It was the first practice with live hitting, so that may have played a part, but Saturday was the culmination of a week where the offense often has lagged behind the defense.’

‘”There’s talent here, and I had a strong feeling for Coach Marrone. I never worked with him. I just knew him a little bit when he was at Syracuse and he came over to Detroit a couple times. But he worked for the Jets as the offensive line coach when Mike Heimerdinger was their offensive coordinator, and “Dinger” and I worked together for eight or nine years in Tennessee. So I knew how much respect Dinger had for him, and we talked about the job and I thought it was a good fit. I’m really excited and I think we have some pieces defensively that give us the ability to play the game we need to play it. We’ve got corners who can cover, we’ve got guys up front who can win and it’s an exciting opportunity.”’

‘Time will tell if Watkins is the cog to hasten the overall offensive maturation of this unit. If he puts up a rookie-of-the-year season, it would hardly come as a shock. But if it comes during yet another six-win season, might that come at a price?’

‘The hamstring injury is the latest injury setback for the 27-year-old, whose career has been plagued by injuries thus far.’

‘Following the release of Mike Caussin earlier in the week, the Bills lost both Tony Moeaki and Chris Gragg to injury which left them with only two tight ends on the roster. Moeaki will be out with a hamstring injury for “a significant amount of time” according to head coach Doug Marrone. The head coach clarified that “significant” could mean missing three, or four days of work, and with that reasoning, he did not give a timetable for the tight end’s return.’

‘8 sacks in 17 plays.’