Archives for January 2016

'As for whether he’s changed as a person, only he can truly ever say. But as teammate after teammate tweeted to him Monday about his Pro Bowl honor – and Incognito took the time to respond to each one – it pointed to a player who is respected in the Bills’ locker room. Buffalo gave Incognito another chance, and he appears to be making the most of it.'

'“I don’t look back on those years and think, ‘Oh, those are the four years we lost the Super Bowl,’” he said. “If you’re a fan of a team, what do you want them to do? You want them to win. Think about those four years, we had an awful lot of excitement being fans of the Buffalo Bills. Sure, we lost four Super Bowls, but there wasn’t any other team that was winning more than we were. Think about all those games we won.”'

'You’re either qualified for the job or you’re not. Kathryn Smith, as Rex Ryan affirmed, is as qualified as Becky Hammon and Nancy Lieberman are for their NBA assistant coach jobs.'

'"I think it is going to allow me to be more involved in the team, even if just for supporting my coordinators and things, and I am going to be right there for them," he said. "Because this is my football team, that is how I am approaching it. It is not that I am just a defensive guy. No, this is my team. Offensive players, every offensive player, every special-team player, every offensive coach, every special-teams coach: This is it. This is all about who I am, I think this will help me to really tie in more to this football team, and that's because we got to be like this. And for us to be at our best, we got to be like this. And I think some of the moves that I made, I think will allow me to even bring them even closer."'

'-Aaron Williams is "ready to go," and, if the team had made the playoffs, the safety could have participated. Williams suffered a neck injury early in the 2015 season. Whaley also said he expects defensive lineman Kyle Williams, who missed 10 games in 2015, back by training camp. He said there is no need to overhaul that side of the ball with several new starters. Wide receiver Percy Harvin's health is still unknown, but "I want him back," Whaley said.'

'Kyle Williams is going to be 33 years old and coming off a knee injury that ended his season. The Bills plan on bringing him back as of now, but with an $8 million salary cap hit, there’s always the chance he isn’t fully recovered and the team decides to move on.'

'One of two big-time tackle prospects out of the Big Ten, Taylor Decker certainly has all the prototypical features a team would want.'

'“As far as the leadership thing, first year here, learning some of the guys, I was seeing how guys respond to different things,” said Taylor. “Learning different people, but I think I’ve taken steps forward in that department.”'

'“I think first of all you’ve got to look at the uncertainty that we have,” said Whaley in a recent appearance on Bills flagship station WGR Sportsradio 550. “Robert Woods has had some medical issues and ended the season on I-R. Chris Hogan is going to be a restricted free agent. Percy Harvin has got an automatic opt out, a void in his contract. So just by sheer numbers it’s a position we’re going to have to entertain.”'

'Bills fans can always count on something reminding them about a time in which the standards were considerably higher than what’s accepted today. Phillips and DeHaven worked together when the Bills won their last playoff game, in 1999, and their dismissals signaled the start of a 16-year playoff drought.'

'Buffalo's lone player to be originally selected to the game, running back LeSean McCoy, will not participate because of a knee injury suffered late in the 2015 season.'

'"Incognito’s off-field reputation preceded him heading into 2015, but he has always been one of the better guards in the league, and his signing always seemed a shrewd piece of business by Rex Ryan from an on-field perspective," PFF's David Aitken writes. "It would appear the year out of the league did him a world of good, as he never had a season as strong as 2015 with Buffalo. Baltimore’s Marshal Yanda held the top spot in PFF’s guard grades for the second straight year, but right behind him was Richie Incognito, buoyed by an excellent performance in the run game."'

'The Bills held the No. 3 pick in that year’s draft – going 4-4 in the final eight games of the season after an 0-8 start. Denver held the No. 2 pick, and had both Luck and Newton been in the draft, would have had a big decision to make. The Broncos still had Tim Tebow, a former first-round draft pick, on their roster. At that point, he only had made three career starts. Would they have taken Luck or Newton and cut ties with Tebow without ever really giving him a chance to start? It became moot after Luck returned to school, but it’s hard not to think about when Newton is playing the way he did Sunday.'

'Wood started all 16 games for the Bills in 2015 and helped pave the way to the Bills having both the top rushing attack in the NFL in yards (2,432) and yards per carry (4.78). The Bills also had three rushers surpass the 500-yard mark – McCoy (895), Taylor (568), and Karlos Williams (517) – for the first time since 1962. Wood is the first Bills center headed to the Pro Bowl since Kent Hull in 1990.'

'Incognito and Wood were part of the Bills' much-improved offensive line. Incognito, who was suspended by the Miami Dolphins in 2013 for his role in a bullying scandal and did not play in the 2014 season, was signed to a one-year deal for 2015. He is now a free agent.'