Archives for August 2, 2014

‘”I said that stuff and thought the guy wouldn’t put it in there,” Reed said during media availability at McKinley High School, referring to New York Magazine’s Reeves Wiedeman and an article that came out Tuesday. “He was looking for a story and he put it in there. Publicly, I’m saying that was supposed to be off the record.”‘

‘”He had the skill set that would have allowed him to play outside,” Lofton said. “You can talk about how fast he ran corner routes and how he tip-toed his feet on the sideline. He had tremendous short-area quickness.”‘

‘”You can’t even describe it,” Reed said. “To see all of those yellow jackets out there and to have them embrace you into their fraternity … that’s what the Hall of Fame is all about. When you go out there and see that … it gives you a different feeling…”‘

‘Kelly is here in Canton as he continues his very public battle with cancer. The disease returned earlier this year, and Kelly was hospitalized for much of the year while undergoing treatments. Kelly is awaiting word on how much his most recent treatments worked.’

‘Here’s what I think: Pegula has not as of yet offered anything close to $1.3 billion. Trump stands about as much of a chance as being approved by the league to buy the Bills as I do, and the Toronto group is maybe at $1.1 billion. That’s as of this moment (remember, these bids are all non-binding). And I think if you called Morgan Stanley with interest in buying the Bills they would return your call within five seconds.’

‘If things go well then I could see the Bills going 9-7. If they are mediocre then 7-9 looks like the call.’

‘”Obviously we want to go out there and put out a great product,” Manuel said. “It’s national TV. It’s the kickoff of the NFL season so obviously we want to start off with a bang.”‘

‘Not only are the Bills going to be playing in the Hall of Fame Game, but Andre Reed is getting inducted and Jim Kelly has made it to Canton to honor Reed and do the coin toss before the game. Bills history matters to Watkins, “Just to have the guys that made the Bills franchise there will be great. To see those guys honored on the steps of the Hall of Fame is a big pleasure and we’re going to be there for him.”‘

‘Guard Chris Williams, tight end Lee Smith and offensive lineman Chris Hairston all made their return after missing some practice time due to injury. All three players were only away from the field for under a week before they were able to participate in the team’s on-field work once again.’

‘It was a bit of a shorter practice with the team only in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts, but they took a good portion of time during team drills to work on their red zone offense and defense. Even with an abbreviated session, there were still some standouts during the day…’

‘”I needed money,” he said. “So I went to every job you could name. I thought about the military. I tried getting a janitor position, Pet Smart, any job you could think of. Wal-Mart happened to hire me for $7.73 per hour. Minimum wage. Working in toys.”‘

‘”We’ve kind of got a better understanding now going against our defense and the different looks they’ve been giving us the past couple of days are kind of hard to pick up, but now we’ve got good identification of what’s coming,” Spiller said. “Once we get that down we’ll pretty much just go in and block the guys. The last few days we struggled a bit, but I’d probably say the last day or so we’ve been better.”‘

‘The first year that Andre Reed was selected as a Hall of Fame finalist was in 2007. First ballot Hall of Famers are extremely rare and with other receivers on the ballot in addition to his own teammate Thurman Thomas it was hard for Reed’s presenter Mark Gaughan to find a way that Reed would have the support necessary for enshrinement. So his plan was to provide a history lesson on Reed as a supreme physical talent.’

‘Without a doubt, the most prolific receiver in Bills history, Reed, a four-time All-AFC choice, is still the team’s all-time leading receiver with 941 receptions, (266 more than number two on the list). His 13,095 career reception yards are still a team best, as are his 36 games with 100-plus receiving yards and his 15 receptions in a game.’