Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘So, in a year when the Bills have high expectations and firmly believe they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender, they are entrusting the kicking duties to a rookie who has never faced the pressure he’ll be under in the NFL, especially if the games are indeed massively important.’

‘“I’ve said this plenty of times before; Josh is a guy that has come in, has worked hard and aims to improve every day, and he has done that every day since he’s been here,” said Daboll. “I have total confidence in him as a player and as a person. He just needs to keep grinding out, we all do, keep grinding out to get better. He’s a hard-working quarterback, he’s a hard-working player, and he’s a good leader. He’s the leader of our football team.”’

‘“The thing that I noticed is the decision making,” Frazier said Friday. “It’s what you thought it would be going into his third season. He’s grown so much in that area, protecting the football and making good decisions.”’

‘The two kickers were fairly close in terms of accuracy during training camp, but Bass’ leg was clearly superior, especially on kickoffs. On Thursday, Bass drove two kickoffs into a stiff wind for touchbacks, he made both of his extra point attempts and a 41-yard field goal, then missed a 55-yarder. Hauschka came up well short of the end zone into the wind on a kickoff and missed one of two extra points.’

‘“I can tell you that I thought about it, we thought about it from the administrative side,” coach Sean McDermott said of postponing the scrimmage. “We’ve had, and will continue to have, ongoing conversations about things that are going on in our world and the result of those things.”’

‘Meaning, the Bills will be in full uniform, and the practice will contain not only live periods of real football – the kind where players actually hit each other – but the coaching staff will build in several scenarios that one would expect if the Colts were actually standing on the other sideline.’

‘And yet, with Stefon Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley entrenched as the starting three, and versatile Isaiah McKenzie still an integral part of the offense, the Bills are going to have a tough time finding snaps for Gabriel Davis and Isaiah Hodgins.’

‘The Bills’ letter read as follows: “We hope you and your family and friends are staying safe and healthy.”‘

‘“I’m happy that it happened now instead of come season time,” said Allen. “If this were to happen on Saturday or Sunday, who knows if I’d be playing. It sucks that I was kind of the guinea pig and whatnot, and part of that process, but I’m glad it wasn’t then, I’m glad it was now and we’re able to kind of move past it.”’

‘This is the tendency in sports, falling in love with the new guy, and in Moss’ case, it’s easy to understand why that would happen. With his unique talent for being able to mix bruising runs with ones where he’s elusive enough to make defenders miss, the 2020 third-round draft pick and native south Floridian looks like he’s going to be a fun player to watch this season.’

‘“We control what we can control,” McDermott said on a Zoom call Monday morning. “I think it’s honestly ridiculous that there will be … what appears to be a playing field that is like that. Inconsistently across the league with the different away stadiums. We control what we can control. That’s gotta be our mindset and that’s how we attack it.”’

‘Due to some irregularities in results from COVID-19 tests on Saturday that were processed in a lab in New Jersey, several teams that use that lab cancelled their practices Sunday.’

‘“I had my girlfriend, when I was out in (California) the whole time, helping me read out some plays, doing note cards,” the third-round draft pick said recently. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I know a lot of guys that were just doing a very good job of taking everything that we learned from the (virtual) meetings and then going out and just finding even our family, or you know, high school quarterbacks, college quarterbacks, whatever, and just asking them to help us learn the playbook.”’

‘“That’s a challenge when you’ve got four,” McDermott said. “It’s good to have four, don’t get me wrong, but we have a limited amount of reps. You have to find a way to get them all enough reps to evaluate them. And I think all four of them have done a nice job.”‘

‘“I was going to college in Australia, originally, and we got bored one summer and found an American football at my buddy’s house and we went down to the field and started throwing it,” Edwards began. “Back then I couldn’t really throw it so we just started punting it because I played Australian football and that’s how we moved the ball down the field, we punted it.”’