Bills Insider

A lot has gone on this week.

I was in the facility the day that coach Jauron was fired, so I heard as word traveled around the building.

I think everyone was in a state of shock just because of the timing of it and everything.

I can tell you this though: everyone respects the heck out of coach Jauron, and we were definitely sad to see him go because as a player you definitely feel partly responsible when your coach gets fired. But at the same time we have to move on and focus on Jacksonville this Sunday and keep playing.

With all the rumours flying around the team, you just have to go about your business and not worry about anything you can’t control and just take everything in stride.

It’s life in the NFL.

On Wednesday I was named the team’s starting quarterback and I’m very excited by the opportunity.

We’ve underperformed as an offence for a variety of reasons this season, but we’ve got seven games to try to get back on track and use all the weapons we have and try to be productive.

The biggest thing will be keeping the offence on the field and doing a better job with third-down conversions.

We’re also going to try to get the running game going. We have two of the most talented backs in the league (Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch), so we’re going to try to get them as many touches as we can.

When it comes to the receivers, I think it’ll be important for me to spend extra time with Lee (Evans) and Terrell (Owens) and Josh (Reed) to talk about plays and where I expect them to be. When you go from the backup to the starter, you’re now the one in there so you have to be on the same page with everybody, so the communication that comes out of practice means a lot.

Lee and T.O. have said some nice things about me in the press and those are the guys I need to feed the ball to, so maybe they’re being nice because they want more catches, I don’t know (kidding).

I obviously have the utmost confidence in them, and I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t.

My job is simple: to find a way to get the ball into those guys’ hands.

Other than that, I don’t have to be a rah-rah guy or change my personality just because I’ve been named the starter.

As for the game on Sunday, the Jags are going to bring a lot of pressure. They like to blitz guys and it’s hard to figure out where it’s coming from at times.

They’re going to try and keep pressuring us, so how we handle that pressure, and how we react to it, is going to say a lot.