Archives for December 2015

'"I expect over 200 yards from LeSean," Thomas said with a laugh. "Nah, you know what he's really gotten on a roll the last four or five weeks. Obviously going back to where he grew up is going to be a big emotional day for him. But I told him today, I said 'You know what? The last time the Bills and former players were on an emotional high was the New England game, and you can't allow yourself to get caught up with what's going to be happening in the game, especially with the crowd and Chip (Kelly) and all that. You have to go out and keep doing what you've been doing and you'll be fine.' I expect a big game out of LeSean, but I expect an overall team effort and for them to go down there and beat Philly."'

'The Bills are hurt by their 6-5 record against conference opponents, with only one remaining game against an AFC team, the Jets in Week 17.'

'"Every player that's ever left this team, I've talked to them personally myself. Everyone that's in town, we talk to them individually here in our office. . . . We have a way that we do it that I think is the right way to do it, and it wasn't exercised in that case and I understand why he's bothered. He was an all-time leading running back here, felt like he was disrespected, and it was wrong. Because I was part of it, it's on me."'

'With McCoy and with Taylor, "on the backside of a play, you've got to know where you're at, know your opponent, really. You've got to be aware on the backside that it could come back all the way to you," Allen said.'

'"My understanding was the trade would not be initiated until the next morning so there was no phone call to be made (to McCoy)," Kelly said, "and then all of a sudden, I'm driving to an event and hear he's been traded.'

'“That’s the way it should’ve been done,” Kelly said. “It wasn’t handled that way with LeSean, and I understand why he’s not happy about it. And he should not be happy about it. And I would apologize for that because it didn’t happen the right way.'

'"A lot of the decisions we made here the past two years have been about money. It's not that we don't think these players are good players. The running backs we have here their salary cap hit is $11.1 (million). His was going to be $11.9 (million). So it's how do you want to do that.'''

'"When we traded Sam (Bradford) for Nick (Foles), it was a great situation," Kelly said. "(Head coach Jeff Fisher) and me were both on the phone together, we said 'When are you going to make the call. Let's call now.' He then called Sam, I then called Nick. That's the way (the McCoy trade) should have been done."'

'“And every player that's ever left this team, I've talked to personally, myself. Everyone that's in town, we talk to individually here in our office. I talk to them, a coordinator talks to them, the position coach talks to them. We have a way that we do it that I think is the right way to do it. And it wasn't exercised in that way. And I understand why he's bothered. He was the all-time leading running back here, he felt like he was disrespected. He was wronged and because I was part of it, then it's on me.''

'“I know it means a lot to him,” Fletcher Cox said. “He’s from the state of Pennsylvania. The Eagles drafted him. I know he’s looking forward to coming back into the stadium. It may feel different for him for the first part of the game, being on the other sideline, but he understands this is business and, of course, they’ve got a game to try to win too.”'

'“It was a tough decision with all those guys we let go last year and in my first two years here,” Kelly said. “Those decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren’t made because we don’t think they were good football players or we don’t think they’re good people. I think people kind of forget that. We look at it. That’s a lot of money. We have three running backs this year who their salary cap hit this year is $11.1 million. We had one guy making $11.9 million.”'

'“Instead, with the passage of time, I think it’s now a tale of epic heroism in the face of failure. If there’s a way for a sports documentary to be heroically tragic, this is it.”'

'"I think he contributes by being here," Rex Ryan said. "I think the guys love the fact he's here. There is a lot of respect for him. It's good to get him out there. … I know Rob's had a great time being around it. Obviously, he misses being around this type of atmosphere. He's been impressed with this team, I can tell you that much."'

'The 6-2, 241-pound Stanford product originally came to Buffalo as an undrafted free agent following the 2015 NFL Draft.'

'"We were told that the trade wasn't initiated and wouldn't be initiated until the next morning so there were no phone calls to be made. And then all of a sudden, I'm driving to an event and he's been traded. I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to him. I called him. He didn't answer my phone call. I know he was pissed. And he should be pissed. Rightfully so," Kelly said.'