Archives for May 2016

'After missing the final five games of last season through a brutal bout with Crohn's disease, Henderson underwent two surgeries to remove all infected areas and reattach his intestines. The most recent surgery was about a month ago. The Bills' medical staff, Herman assured, does know that Henderson has been recovering in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic and that it's been the tackle's plan to report back to Buffalo June 1 all along.'

'When asked what the odds are that Henderson is even on the team next season, one teammate responded, “Nobody knows.”'

'Humility is not part of their vocabulary. No matter the results, neither can resist the urge to boast. Rex has not had a winning season since taking the Jets to the playoffs in 2010, going 34-46 over that span. In his 12 seasons as a coordinator, Rob’s defenses have been ranked 20th or worse in points and yards allowed eight times. So says Rob: “I am great.” I’d love to hear his definition of mediocre.'

'While Williams certainly took his complaints to a different level and teammates weren't thrilled with it, it is also true that when Ryan listened to his players at the end of the season it helped the Bills defense.'

'Henderson is penciled in to be in a three-way battle for the starting right tackle job this season with Jordan Mills and Cyrus Kouandjio. All three started at least one game at the spot last season.'

'While Ragland can certainly play the weakside linebacker position, his best fit in Ryan's defense is the spot that Brown will play in the beginning of the season.'

'Now being coached by his professional mentor, Ed Reed, from his time in Baltimore, Graham’s ability and recognition skills have the chance to do quite well in 2016. He does not have the starting job locked up, however.'

'“By leaps and bounds we’ve improved just because last year was a new defense, so any time you have all that going in, you really have to understand that’s a lot of verbiage that we kind of have to relay between amongst all 11 players,” said Jerry Hughes. “Now being in our second year in the system, actually having the same defensive coordinator, same head coach back, really helped us out a lot tremendously.”

'Otherwise, I don't know who in the building would be giving off that much of a vibe of not buying in. The Bills are spending as freely as at any point in their history and pretty much give Ryan whatever he wants — including the permission to introduce a presidential candidate at his rally'

'"But I've covered Rex for a long time. He never puts things out there without sort of a plan. And I think there were some things they wanted to clear up. They wanted to get their side of things, whether it be what happened in New Orleans last season or Rex's opinion of why they'll be more successful in Buffalo this season. Whatever that was, they wanted to get their version out there."'

'The Bills have had better months … OK, 28 days if you’re being picky.'

'At 22, Miller felt his world collapsing. His mother was everything to him. She was, as he posted on his Twitter account, his "black queen mamma." After her passing, he tweeted, "RIP my angel … I appreciate how you raised me and all the extra love you gave me."'

'“Going hard every play,” Allen said. “I don’t take any plays off and just working. Go out there with a blocking mentality. Running each route, going across the middle — some people don’t like going across the middle.”'

'Many reporters covering the Bills on a regular basis would rather not stand on the sidelines for two hours to watch players stretch, run around and play catch and learn about offensive and defensive plays. The media doesn’t need a Bills fix. It provides a fix for NFL junkies who can’t get enough.'

'A torn groin greatly hindered Woods through all of his 14 games last season. While he never mentioned a word of it at the time — the receiver didn’t want defenders taking shots — Woods couldn’t truly open up and get separation. It felt like his leg was “pulling” behind him. In mid-March, Woods was finally able to start running and now the Bills will count on him.'