Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘“I think me and Tremaine (Edmunds) definitely have to step our leadership roles up this year with him being out of here,” Milano said. “And the addition of A.J. (Klein), another older guy coming in, so I think he can step into that role as well.”’

‘Now that the White will-he-play-or-not drama has passed, the focus will go back to the other side where Norman and Wallace will battle it out to start. No matter what happens, the Bills have a solid top three. Johnson needs to stay healthy, and if he does he should nail down the nickel spot. Jackson, the seventh-round pick, will likely struggle to make an impact with no offseason practice, so maybe the practice squad will be his destination. As a seventh-rounder, the Bills should feel relatively safe that he won’t get signed elsewhere.’

‘With Jon Feliciano out perhaps half the season or possibly more due to a torn pectoral muscle, Winters would seem to be the frontrunner to step into his starting position.’

‘Further, no other players chose to sit out, so the Bills will now move forward minus just two players who decided to opt out – defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and cornerback E.J. Gaines.’

‘“Oh man, it’s a night and day perception from, you know, one of the worst to one of the best,” Norman said Thursday. “It definitely has changed its face for sure. Who has the biggest change of a franchise? Buffalo’s got to be at the top, without a doubt.’

‘“I’ve got until tomorrow,” White said. “But, you know, I just wanted to come in and kind of see like how it was going to go, how the season was gonna go as far as like moving around in the locker rooms, how the day to day operation is. At the end of the day, no matter what, my family is always going to come first. My kids are always going to come first.”’

‘“I’m super excited,” Diggs said Wednesday when he was asked about finally getting to practice and play with the Bills quarterback now that training camp has begun. “I’m looking at him as a quarterback who’s got a big arm, a big quarterback, a lot of heart, he runs around, he’s mobile, can extend the play. He can do a lot of things extremely well.”’

‘“While we’re on the field it’s all walk-through tempo but you get out there, you see a man across from me and you get those competitive juices flowing,” Allen said Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Coach is constantly telling players to slow down but I will say I’d rather have him telling us to slow down than to speed up.”’

‘“I had my mom out there and she was just killing us, but it was all for the better,” he said with a smile. “We were out there with a mission to get better. We told each other we don’t know what’s gonna happen, but we’re gonna be ready when the time comes, so we stayed pushing each other.”’

‘In just his second game for the Bills, he set a team record for passing yards with 463, a mark that still stands, and his third touchdown pass of the day, a 48-yarder to Peerless Price in overtime, produced a thrilling 45-39 victory.’

‘“While we’re on the field it’s all walk-through tempo but you get out there, you see a man across from me and you get those competitive juices flowing,” Allen said Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Coach is constantly telling players to slow down but I will say I’d rather have him telling us to slow down than to speed up.”’

‘“Guys have been in this system for a little while now and know the expectation that Sean puts on us and the expectation that (defensive coordinator Leslie) Frazier puts on us and we understand what is expected of us when we walk into the building,” he said.’

‘“Our expectations are always high,” he said. “This is going to be a different camp, a camp like no other. But I think at the end of the day we have to still hold ourselves to a high standard and Sean and I aren’t going to sit here and say, ‘It was the COVID year, we didn’t make the playoffs, so be it.’ Nothing’s changed here; we expect playoff-caliber practices. That’s why the pressure is on us all to stay healthy and to do things right so that we can have the best 53 guys out there and not have 10 guys on the COVID list come mid-September.”’

‘“Nobody wants to sit in an apartment or a hotel room all the time, but this is the year that we’ve got to do whatever it takes, and we’ve got to find a way to keep ourselves healthy. Hold each other accountable. Our veteran leaders peer pressure, peer leadership … I know some of those guys spoke up on a call the other day and they did a great job of stressing to everyone on the call that we can’t let our guard down.”’

‘“He’s a quick player to react, what we call ‘pull the trigger’ in terms of how he keys and diagnoses things and finds the ball,” McDermott said. “That’s what stood out probably the most in Florida. I would say he plays a free style of football that’s rugged, it’s physical, it’s nasty. That’s to me what jumps off the tape. He pulls the trigger and then plays a physical brand of football.”’