Archives for September 2015

'Upon suffering an injury to his neck against the New England Patriots, starting safety Aaron Williams did not practice at all in the week leading up to the Dolphins game. He is officially listed as out, and although the Bills tried to be coy earlier in the week, he’ll be replaced by Bacarri Rambo according to Rex Ryan.'

'Bills fans should be quite familiar with Sheppard, who was dealt to Indianapolis straight up for Jerry Hughes. Since leaving Buffalo, Sheppard has been released and had to work his way back up a depth chart, and earned the starting middle linebacker job for the Dolphins this year. A slower linebacker, Sheppard certainly needs his reaction time to be a lot better than it is, and he gets covered up and pushed out of the way on run plays.'

'“It is clear that’s how people are valuing these defense tackles,” said Bills head coach Rex Ryan. “But it is really rare to get somebody like a Suh, like a Marcell Dareus, two guys that play the run extremely well and they get after the quarterback. So I think those guys are hard to find. They are rare guys, as my dad would always say it is hard to find an unusual guy like this. And he had Alan Page, Eric Swanson, Dan Hampton through the years. But I am certainly happy we have Marcell and I am sure Miami is happy they have Suh.”'

'If the Bills can keep penalties to a minimum and stay in manageable down and distance they should be able to sustain drives and finish them with points. Buffalo’s offense is one of the more productive attacks on first down averaging 5.9 yards per play, good for 10th in the NFL. Miami’s defense ranks 23rd in yards allowed on first downs giving up almost the same yardage on average (5.85).'

'Ryan provided no insight, saying he didn’t know whether Dallas had also inquired about Manuel. But his less-than-enthusiastic and sometimes cryptic answers to questions about the trade left members of the press to conclude he wasn’t totally onboard with it.'

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'When Thigpen was 14 years old, he was at the wheel of a van that careened into the woods and smashed into a tree. The girl in the passenger’s seat, his first girlfriend in elementary school, Lacrecia Daniels, was killed. That traumatizing night still replays through Thigpen’s mind daily. Through eight teams and two leagues over six years, Thigpen has played for Lacrecia because he knows when one life was lost, another was saved: his own.'

'“You’ve got to build trust,” Watkins said. “You’ve got to build chemistry. We’re in Week Two, so you can’t really say that we’re not good. It might take until Week Five or Six for everything to get clicking. It just takes time.”'

'“Still not quite where I want it to be,” he said of his performance. “Fundamentally, I just have to get back into the sync of things and that’s what practice is for, getting with the coaches and understanding my mistakes that I’ve made.”'

'Bringing in Rex Ryan as coach restored some respectability and gave them a fresh set of eyes. Rex was a czar in coach’s clothing. But I still think it would have been wise to hire a team vice president to run the football operation and manage the often contentious relationship between the general manager and head coach.'

'“Although there has been discussion of locating a new Buffalo Bills stadium inside and outside the City of Buffalo, no location has been approved or determined, including the Old First Ward or anywhere else,” Franczyk wrote to other city lawmakers. “The above-mentioned law firm is trying to use scare tactics to drum up business for its practice."'

'The Bills want to get big-time production out of him, too. Roman said Clay is a good blend of a big tight end whose body type can create problems for opponents, but he also has good hands like a smaller or H-back player with speed. Clay being predominantly a runner and not a pass catcher most of his life helps, especially in the YAC category.'

'"My train of thought is there's only one way to play the game, and that's with an edge and with an attitude," Incognito said. "I love the way Suh plays. I have a lot of respect for him. We went to the same school and he's had a lot of success. I think we're both cut from the same cloth. We're both kind of old school mentality, hard nose guys who are going to go out there and impose our will on people. Not a lot of people are ready for it. They label us as dirty, and I just think people can't handle our intensity."'

'Downbeat Percussion has about 35 to 40 performers on their active roster list and they bring between 18 and 22 to perform with them as part of "The Stampede" at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The majority of the group is based out of Central New York and most were dedicated to The Bills as children.

'This week marks a full year since the club’s first-round pick in 2013 last prepped for a start in the NFL — at Houston, last Sept. 28.'