Archives for August 2016

'Head coach Rex Ryan indicated that starters would see very little time on Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts during the Bills preseason opener. Maybe a quarter. Those out include Glenn, Incognito, Sammy Watkins, and very little Bush and LeSean McCoy will be seen.'

'“There are a lot of supporters out there still. Sometimes negativity has a lot of volume, but at the same time you have to remember there are a lot of people who believe in you and at the end of the day you have to believe in yourself. That alone will help, that’s what I learned,” Manuel said.'

'The collision took place during a team drill. Both players stayed on the ground before eventually walking to the locker room under their own power. Lewis appeared to be holding his right arm as he walked to the locker room.'

'"It's crazy," Smith says when reminded of the nationwide attention she's drawn — including a retweet by Chelsea Clinton — in the eight months since Rex Ryan promoted her to be Buffalo Bills special teams quality control coach.'

'Reddick has been sidelined by a knee injury, and the Bills initially put him on waivers with the injured designation last weekend.'

'The immediate concern for Williams was his neck. He injured his neck last year in week two against the Patriots, then returned to the field week five at Tennessee, only to re-injure it again and be shut down for the season.'

'What I’ve always wondered, is it easy to excel in this defense? Thurman said, “If you’re versatile and you like doing multiple things and you’re a mental guy, you’ll enjoy playing in this defense because we’re going to ask you to do different things at different times. We’re not going to ask guys to do things that they can’t do, we want you to play to your strengths, but there may be a time where we ask you to do something that you may hedge about it, but it’s best for the overall defense, so you have to be somewhat unselfish to play on this defense.”'

'"Of course recently they've been there a couple of time, but when I was there we were never able to make it that far," Gronkowski said. "It's gonna be exciting, for sure, to be there for the first time."'

'The major change to this roster projection is the inclusion of undrafted free agent rookie Eric Striker on the 53-man list. Simply put, I don't think you can cut a player that has that much speed, bend, and ability to get after the passer as he does. Even if he doesn't see the field on gamedays, Striker has proved throughout camp so far to be playmaker, and you can't get rid of that in today's NFL. '

'“Yeah you have to be comfortable. You never know when your number might be called. When your number is called you just have to go in and play. You have to know your playbook,” Brown said of his comfort level in taking over the starting job. “Some of the greats started off as a backup. When their number was called they came in and they did what they had to do.”'

'"Well, it would be a blow, but hopefully, you know, everything will be fine," Bills coach Rex Ryan said Saturday of Ragland's injury. "If that’s the hand that’s dealt, then we'll adjust to it. We’re fortunate. We picked up Zach Brown in the offseason, you know, so we’re fortunate there. Randell Johnson’s done a nice job for us also. And we’ll see, we’ll evaluate things as it goes.'

'“He’s really hurt by it,” coach Rex Ryan said of Ragland. “He wants to play and show everybody the kind of player he is. … He knows he’s an outstanding player. He wants to prove he’s the best linebacker in that draft class, but more than anything he wants to be a part of this team and help this team and I think that hurts him more than anything.'

'After one play, safety Aaron Williams told someone – maybe even himself – to "get your (expletive) right!"'

'Bad news obviously of today, you know, was Reggie, Reggie Ragland. He is going to have surgery on a torn ACL. He’s expected to miss the season, and you know very unfortunate. But, we have some guys, like I said I feel good about the guys that we have. I think, you know, Zach Brown has been doing a good job and then the addition of (Brandon) Spikes and (David) Hawthorne along with Randell Johnson—I think we have good depth. We have better depth this year than we did last year at that position. So you know, it’s really unfortunate for the young man and for our team because we know he’s a fine player, but guys will step up.'

'“It’s a shame when such a great young man works so hard and was going to have such a vital role for us … to see a guy like that go down, you just feel terrible,” said defensive assistant coach Rob Ryan. “In this business you’ve always got to have a replacement ready to go, and we’ve done a great job of that. It’s just unfortunate for him personally.”'