Web Rumblings: Buffalo Bills News, 9/15

Bills' season-ticket sales worst in 10 years - Yahoo! Sports
"That was the sobering picture painted by CEO Russ Brandon on Wednesday in confirming the team has sold 37,555 season tickets prior to its home opener against Oakland this weekend. It’s the lowest total since 2001, when the Bills sold just over 36,300 season tickets. It’s also 6,500 short of last year’s total an ends a string of eight straight years of selling 42,000 or more season tickets."

Bills to implement enhanced pat-down procedure - BuffaloBills.com
"The new procedure is a recommendation from the NFL in accordance with the league’s Best Practices policies. Specifically, the enhanced portion of the pat-down is for the area from the knees to the ankles."

Behind the Mic - Long: Bills underestimated, defense making strides - SI.com
Howie Long talks up the Buffalo Bills and their new defense.

Bills Roundup: Ruvell Martin, Reggie Corner Return - BuffaloBills.com
"Two players made their return to the practice field on Wednesday, hoping to fill the void of a couple of injured players, while the Bills offense is prepping for another physical battle this week."

Bills re-sign Corner; Eddins to I-R - BuffaloBills.com
"With veteran cornerback Terrence McGee sidelined indefinitely with a hamstring injury, the Bills re-signed a free agent cornerback that intimately familiar with Buffalo’s defensive scheme. Buffalo signed Reggie Corner on Wednesday."

Inside The Bills | Bills O-line gets weekly award
"Sunday afternoon the Bills offensive line played as a cohesive unit, controlling the line of scrimmage and paving the way for their key offensive players to do what they do best, score touchdowns," said the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "This offensive line has established a core group of guys with Wood, Levitre and Bell."

Inside The Bills | Why Corner was necessary
"The Raiders do not employ nearly the number of spread sets of the Patriots, whom the Bills face in Week 3 or the Eagles, Buffalo’s opponent in Week 5. Knowing rookie corners are often tested, having an additional vet like Corner helps to fortify what Buffalo has on the back end."

Inside The Bills | Easley taking 2nd yr of I-R hard
"Easley was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with an undisclosed illness. Head coach Chan Gailey would not describe the nature of the illness, nor address whether it is career threatening. But he did reveal that he had a conversation with Easley Tuesday and that the young wideout is having a difficult time with the latest setback to his career."

Inside The Bills | Moats back
"Arthur Moats has returned to practice this week."

Inside The Bills | Troup planning to practice
"Troup missed last week’s opener with a tight lower back. He did say his hand, which was broken in training camp is fully healed and ready to go."

Inside The Bills | WR Martin number change
"Martin will wear jersey number 82 on Sunday provided he’s active for the home opener against the Raiders."

Inside The Bills | Spencer working with OLBs
"On Wednesday Johnson worked with OLBs coach Bob Sanders and rest of the OLBs. During training camp Johnson along with Alex Carrington worked some with the OLBs."

Inside The Bills | Moats update
"It felt good, my conditioning was good," Moats said. "It was better than I thought."

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Week 1 Quick Reads
"Since Brees and Rodgers played Thursday night, Fitzpatrick was actually the most valuable quarterback to play Sunday. Let that sink in for a moment. The secret lies in Fitzpatrick's red zone performance. Inside the 20, Fitzpatrick went 4-of-6 for 24 yards and three of his four touchdowns."

If the season ended today… | Goal-Line Stand | Blogs | theScore.com
"Coach of the year: Chan Gailey, Bills - I’ve been hard on him (and the entire team) in the past, but that was an amazing performance on the road to start the season. Despite a fairly severe lack of talent, the Bills were the most dominant team of the opening week."

NFL.com Blogs - Fitzpatrick leads Playbook’s all-unheralded team
"QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills: Despite being on a 4-12 team, the Bills’ signal-caller showed tremendous poise and courage for his team last season, even with a meager offensive line and an inexperienced receiving corps. With his intuition, accuracy, and ability to throw to open receivers, he should only improve on his 3,000-yard campaign in 2010. And after his impressive 2011 debut, he has proved he is more than capable of turning Buffalo into a contender." Kyle Williams also on the team.

McGee's injury opens door for Corner's return - The Buffalo News
"How much time he's going to see, I don't know," Bills coach Chan Gailey said. "I think that probably depends on what they play offensively. I could see him being in some of our dime packages if they end up creating dime situations. How much of that, I don't know."

Bills' Barnett lets the chips fall - Jerry Sullivan
"I always think I'm underestimated," Barnett said. "I've kind of got a Napoleon complex about everything. You've got to play with a chip on your shoulder."

Ruvell Martin rejoins Buffalo Bills | Democrat and Chronicle
"I was surprised," the wide receiver admitted Wednesday afternoon. "Just because I made it on Saturday (when the roster was trimmed to 53 players on Sept. 3), then the weekend goes by and you're thinking 'Well, they can still make some changes off waivers.' But Monday hits, you go through the game plan and you're involved, and then Tuesday came and it's like 'OK, forget all that other stuff, you've got to go.'"

Buffalo Bills coach Chan Gailey 'hurts' for Marcus Easley | Democrat and Chronicle
"It's hard for our football team, but it's hard for him," Gailey said. "After what he went through last year, and then to be right on the cusp of being there this year and not being able to do it. We sat and talked yesterday and it hurts him, and I hurt for him."

Introducing the Sanchez-Henne-Fitz Watch - AFC East Blog - ESPN
"Introducing the "Sanchez-Henne-Fitz Watch." Each week, the AFC East blog will keep an updated scorecard on the three quarterbacks, grade each performance on a variety of factors, and determine who's better at the end of the season." He might be last in the name, but he's first in the standings.

Video: AFC 411 - AFC East Blog - ESPN
"James Walker, Paul Kuharsky and Bill Williamson deliver analysis on the AFC."

Bills sell out two games, but season tickets drop - The Buffalo News
"The Bills have sold 37,355 season tickets so far this year, a drop of almost 15 percent from last year's figure of 43,925. In the last two years, the team has lost almost 33 percent of its season-ticket base, which stood at 55,308 in 2009."

Despite early sellouts, Bills still having trouble selling tickets | ProFootballTalk
"If the Bills continue to play well, those tickets won’t last. If the Bills stumble, there’s a chance that some games will be blacked out."

Bills Wilson Says They Must Play Team Defense - WGR 550
Wilson said, "All 11 guys on the field were on the same page. We were playing calls that we were confident in playing that we knew inside and out and guys could just line up and play the game without doing a whole bunch of thinking and major adjustments based on what the offense was giving us, so it's off to a good start, but we have to do it again this week with just as tough test in the running game."

Bills put former BSU player on injured reserve | The Star Press
"(The Bills' medical staff) told me it's something that would keep me out for a few weeks," Eddins said. "They said they had to put me on IR because of a numbers thing. That's how the business goes."

Former UConn WR Marcus Easley Out For NFL Season With Heart Ailment - Courant.com
"Stratford native Marcus Easley, a former UConn receiver now with the NFL's Buffalo Bills, has been placed on injured reserve with a heart ailment and will miss the remainder of the season. The Buffalo News, which first reported the story, said it is unclear if the ailment is career-threatening."

TE Chandler's drive paying off for Bills - Yahoo! Sports
John Wawrow reminds us that earlier this offseason, Scott Chandler drove from Iowa to Buffalo to practice with his teammates.

Merriman, Bills at risk of losing low profile - Yahoo! Sports
"Given the way he and the lightly regarded Bills stormed through last Sunday’s season opener in Kansas City, a 41-7 dismantling of the defending AFC West champion Chiefs, Merriman’s low profile may soon be compromised."

Bills vs. Raiders
Raiders Head to Buffalo to Face Bills - Raiders.com
The Raiders website previews the game.

Podcast: Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick - AFC East Blog - ESPN
"Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on The Doug Gottlieb Show talked about Chan Gailey's offense, Steve Johnson, Buffalo's upcoming game against the Oakland Raiders, C.J. Spiller and more."

Gailey: Raiders run tougher - The Buffalo News
"They’re trying to run the football and throw it vertically down the field," Gailey said of the Raiders. "That’s who they are. Last week (the Raiders' win over Denver) was evidence that they look like they’re very good at it. Last week was a challenge in the run game; this will be a bigger challenge in my opinion."

Bills' Alumni Weekend to revisit Stratton hit - The Buffalo News
"Special remembrance of that play, one of the most famous in Bills' history, will be just one of the features of the Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation's America's Heroes — Wounded Warriors VIP Gala on Saturday night at the Seneca Niagara Events Center in Niagara Falls."

Moorman, Lechler to lower the boom - The Buffalo News
"The two best punters in the NFL over the past decade will be fighting the field-position battle Sunday when the Oakland Raiders come to town for the Buffalo Bills' home opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium."

Inside The Bills | Bills injury report
Terrence McGee was the only non-participant. Moats and Troup were limited.

Inside The Bills | Fitz on home field edge
"I think the fans are a little more excited now than they would’ve been had we lost," he said. "We’re looking forward to the home opener. We hope this place is going to be rocking. We know it will."

Ryan Fitzpatrick Wednesday Press Conference - BuffaloBills.com
"The Bills quarterback talks about the loss of Marcus Easley, the play of Scott Chandler, and facing a challenging Raiders defense."

Chan Gailey Wednesday Press Conference - BuffaloBills.com
"The Bills head coach talks about the strengths of the Raiders defense, the challenge of facing the Oakland running game, and the recent additions of Reggie Corner and Ruvell Martin."

2nd act for Bills run 'D' just as imposing - BuffaloBills.com
"Coming off a 41-7 whipping of the league’s number one rushing offense in Week 1, Buffalo’s run defenders had to feel good about their debut performance, which included holding Pro Bowl back Jamaal Charles to just 56 yards on the ground. The task of stopping the run gets no easier this Sunday however, with the number two-ranked rushing team from a season ago coming to Ralph Wilson Stadium this weekend."