Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘How Allen’s Bills respond this year is one of the most intriguing aspects of the NFL season which gets underway in Los Angeles Thursday night with Buffalo playing the defending Super Bowl champion Rams.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 33, Los Angeles Rams 24.’

‘“There is no weakness. I can’t sit here and say, ‘Well, if you do this …’ It’s Aaron Donald, he’s the greatest football player that I’ve ever played with. And he’s one of the greatest football players that ever played this game and that’s counting all the greats and all the football gods that have come through here. Aaron Donald is one of those.”’

‘“I always wanted to be a quarterback. Just imagine me playing quarterback, the same Von Miller I am today. Same personality. You just take the five off (his old uniform number 58 in Denver), or you just take the eight off … ”’

‘Martin was a fifth-round draft pick of the Lions in 2013 and spent the first seven years of his career in Detroit, meaning he got an awful lot of work. For the last two seasons he has been with the Broncos.’

‘So no, none of the moves the Bills announced Tuesday were all that shocking. General manager Brandon Beane had said heading into the preseason finale at Carolina that probably 50 of the 53 spots had already been decided, and pretty much every reporter who published a 53-man roster projection nailed almost every player.’

‘“I expect to be out there, as long as there’s no setbacks,” Poyer said. “It feels very good right now, just continue to work every single day to try to get to 100% for the first game. It felt good to be back out there these last couple days with the guys and playing football.”’

‘The Bengals have a punter competition. Chrisman had a 65-yard punt in the final preseason game and may have taken the lead in the battle as he tries to unset veteran Kevin Huber. The Cincinnati native was the top punting prospect in the country out of high school. He played at Ohio State and was a second-team All-Big Ten member with a 45.0 punt average as a senior in 2021. He was supposed to compete for the job last year but suffered an injury. Chrisman is getting another shot with the Bengals.’

‘Doing the only thing they really could, the Buffalo Bills released punter Matt Araiza Saturday night after learning more about the allegations that came to light in a lawsuit filed Thursday regarding his involvement in a gang rape of a 17-year-old female.’

‘Again, there’s really nothing to discuss here because it was cut and dried. The only thing that could happen would be the Bills cutting Jones in order to get another player on the roster, for instance, wide receiver Marquez Stevenson.’

‘With no other punter on the roster, third-string quarterback Matt Barkley handled the duties and, if nothing else, the Bills have at least found someone on the roster who could do the job in the unlikely event their punter – whether it’s Araiza or someone else – were to get hurt in a regular season game.’

‘McDermott fielded 25 questions from the media including one about the game, which he declined to talk about given the gravity of the off-the-field situation surrounding Araiza.’

‘At least on the surface, the Bills – who made the right call and did not dress Araiza for Friday night’s preseason game in Carolina – are trying to make us believe they did not know of the alleged incident when they used a sixth-round draft pick on the punter nicknamed Punt God four months ago.’

‘O.J. Howard’s contract, and the dead cap the Bills would have to absorb (about $3.2 million), makes cutting him an ill-advised proposition. That’s why I think he will make the team, as well as locker room favorite Tommy Sweeney behind starter Dawson Knox, though I also think Beane could be working to find a trade partner which would at least save the Bills his $1.9 base salary.’

‘The game can be streamed on NFL.com, the NFL mobile app and the NFL’s new streaming service, NFL+.’