The Bills had a players-only meeting today to try to get their bad start turned around. Linebacker Reggie Torbor was the main speaker a day after the Bills fell to 0-5 with a loss to Jacksonville. Said Torbor: "As far as specifics, I'd rather keep it between us. I think some things don't need to be put on display. It kind of loses its meaning once it goes from something that was heartfelt to something that was for publicity. And I don't want it to turn into that. But I will say it was something that I felt I'm one of the older guys here, and for the first time in my career we don't have those. Michael Strahans and Jason Taylors. I kind of woke up this morning and, whoa, I'm one of those guys now. I've been fortunate enough in my career to play with Hall of Fame guys and guys who have done things the right way. I'm not even talking about on the field. I'm talking about off the field. I've learned from them and just relayed some of those messages that I've learned over the years to them about just being a professional. Coming to work every day and not taking this for granted. Everybody thinks they'll play 10 years in this league coming out of college and it just doesn't work that way. You never know what day is gonna be your last. ... So having a young team I thought that was important." Said RB Fred Jackson: "We did have a team meeting where it was just players only. We kinda talked amongst ourselves on what we needed to do to get things turned around. I don't think it's negative around here. We're not happy with where we are. But I think we're focused on trying to turn that around. ... Reggie Torbor was one of the main guys talking. He was just talking about being on that team with the Giants and how they had to turn that around. A lot of guys took a lot out of it. This being the bye week I think we'll get some good work in. ... It wasn't just a negative meeting. It was a positive meeting, too. ... We have to prepare even this week like it's a game week." Said QB Ryan Fitzpatrick: "We had a couple of the older guys step up and get some stuff off their chest. I think it was good just to clear the air a little bit. We've got a bye week. We've got to refocus and re-evaluate where we are right now. ... It's one thing to listen to the coaches talk but to hear some of your peers talk and really from the heart. Guys that have been around it for awhile, kind of pouring out their feelings and what they think it's gonna take to turn the thing around." Torbor was part of the 2007 Super Bowl winning Giants team that rebounded from a poor start to win the title. Said Torbor: "More important than my last year in New York was my first year. People look at us winning the Super Bowl and think that that happened overnight. My first year was 6-10. We lost seven of the last eight games. People just all of a sudden see the benefits of the hard work we put in and say how’d we do it? We’d been doing it for three years. We come in here. This organization hasn’t been where anyone wants it to be but it’s not going to happen overnight. It takes time. Once you put in the hard work and you reach the playoffs and win the Super Bowl you can look back and say remember when we started 0-5. Source: Buffalo News
Always nice to see a player like Reggie start to bring his experience and understanding of how a professional prepares to a new team. He's growing into really being a 'Veteran' with all the good things that should come with that term.
