Alex Tanney wants to be an NFL quarterback and there are no tricks up his sleeve to make that happen.

Tanney, a YouTube sensation for being the “Trick Shot Quarterback,” is taking his NFL tryout with the Buffalo Bills very seriously and knows it will take more than being able to throw footballs into moving vehicles or hitting a crossbar from 50 yards out from his knee to make the roster.

“I’m here to play football and not throw trick shots,” said Tanney, one of 21 players trying out for the Bills this weekend during the team’s rookie mini-camp.

Tanney holds the NCAA record with 157 touchdowns passes in five seasons at Monmouth College and completed nearly 69 percent of his passes with only 30 interceptions. However, Tanney is known most for his YouTube video in which he throws footballs through basketball hoops from across the court and once through a hallway from the floor of a gymnasium and into a trash can sitting on a track — without looking at the can.

“Everybody gives me grief about the video, but I just accept it,” said Tanney. “I posted the video and it went viral and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Tanney’s video has more than 1.1 million hits in the 16 months it has been online and turned him into a national celebrity. In fact, Tanney even appeared in an episode of “Stan Lee’s Superhumans” on the History Channel to show off his incredible accuracy.

Still, Tanney is thinking only about football and how he can make a career as an NFL quarterback.

“I’m trying to pick up as much as I can and learn the offense as best as I can,” said Tanney. “There are other guys who have had success lately from smaller schools. Teams are starting to look at the lower-level guys now and all I’ve ever wanted is an opportunity to come to camp and compete.”

Tanney, a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder from Normal, also holds the Division III record with 14,249 career passing yards.

While he’s not yet known for what he did on the football field, Tanney is hoping that changes someday very soon.

“We didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did,” Tanney said. “It was just me and my buddies fooling around after working out.

“I grew up around the game and I’ve played quarterback since I was a kid. I just started doing it, spur of the moment, and it took off.”

Tanney actually agreed to attend rookie camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers at first, but when the Bills came calling he changed his mind. Tanney said the Bills were one of the first teams to contact him before the draft with interest and is even familiar with Buffalo’s quarterback coach, David Lee.

Tanney actually had a chance to show off his incredible accuracy live for the team and the media during Friday’s opening day of camp. Running a normal throwing drill, Tanney had two big nets 20 yards down the field with little pouches cut out.

Tanney dropped balls right into the pouch dead center over and over, showing his video is no trick.

Now, he hopes his chance to play at the highest level is all genuine.

Alex Tanney wants to be an NFL quarterback and there are no tricks up his sleeve to make that happen.
Tanney, a YouTube sensation for being the “Trick Shot Quarterback,” is taking his NFL tryout with the Buffalo Bills very seriously and knows it will take more than being able to throw footballs into moving vehicles or hitting a crossbar from 50 yards out from his knee to make the roster.
“I’m here to play football and not throw trick shots,” said Tanney, one of 21 players trying out for the Bills this weekend during the team’s rookie mini-camp.
Tanney holds the NCAA record with 157 touchdowns passes in five seasons at Monmouth College and completed nearly 69 percent of his passes with only 30 interceptions. However, Tanney is known most for his YouTube video in which he throws footballs through basketball hoops from across the court and once through a hallway from the floor of a gymnasium and into a trash can sitting on a track — without looking at the can.
“Everybody gives me grief about the video, but I just accept it,” said Tanney. “I posted the video and it went viral and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Tanney’s video has more than 1.1 million hits in the 16 months it has been online and turned him into a national celebrity. In fact, Tanney even appeared in an episode of “Stan Lee’s Superhumans” on the History Channel to show off his incredible accuracy.
Still, Tanney is thinking only about football and how he can make a career as an NFL quarterback.
“I’m trying to pick up as much as I can and learn the offense as best as I can,” said Tanney. “There are other guys who have had success lately from smaller schools. Teams are starting to look at the lower-level guys now and all I’ve ever wanted is an opportunity to come to camp and compete.”
Tanney, a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder from Normal, Ill., also holds the Division III record with 14,249 career passing yards.
While he’s not yet known for what he did on the football field, Tanney is hoping that changes someday very soon.
“We didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did,” Tanney said. “It was just me and my buddies fooling around after working out.
“I grew up around the game and I’ve played quarterback since I was a kid. I just started doing it, spur of the moment, and it took off.”
Tanney actually agreed to attend rookie camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers at first, but when the Bills came calling he changed his mind. Tanney said the Bills were one of the first teams to contact him before the draft with interest and is even familiar with Buffalo’s quarterback coach, David Lee.
Tanney actually had a chance to show off his incredible accuracy live for the team and the media during Friday’s opening day of camp. Running a normal throwing drill, Tanney had two big nets 20 yards down the field with little pouches cut out.
Tanney dropped balls right into the pouch dead center over and over, showing his video is no trick.
Now, he hopes his chance to play at the highest level is all genuine.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix didn’t have any difficulty assessing Vince Young’s attributes Friday after agreeing to a one-year contract with the free-agent quarterback.

Strong arm. Great mobility. And then there’s his winning record as an NFL starter.

But when it came to projecting the quarterback’s role with the Bills, Nix didn’t offer any guarantees except to say the starting job already is taken by Ryan Fitzpatrick, leaving Young to compete with Tyler Thigpen for a backup spot.

“We’re looking always to try to improve our team,” Nix said. “It’s a competition for the backup quarterback job and not the starter … he knows it. That’s the way it is.

“The guy’s been to two Pro Bowls, he’s 31-19 as a starter in this league,” Nix added. “We think he can do that again. If he has to play, he can give us a chance to win the game or at least this: He will make Tyler better.”

The sides reached a deal a little over one week after Young worked out for the Bills at their facility. Citing a league source, ESPN.com reported the contract is worth $2 million, with another $1 million available in playing-time bonuses.

Young’s publicist, Denise White, said the quarterback is scheduled to arrive in Buffalo either Sunday night or Monday morning. White also released a statement from Young, who said: “Thanks to Buddy Nix and Coach Gailey for giving me the opportunity to come in and play and compete. I am looking forward to playing with the guys and helping where I am needed.”

Young, who turns 29 next week, has been biding his time to determine the next step of his career, which started in 2006 as a first-round draft pick by the Tennessee Titans. He struggled last season as Michael Vick’s backup with the Philadelphia Eagles, finishing with four touchdown passes and nine interceptions in six games, and he was sacked eight times in six games, including three starts.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eric Berry has his own opinions about whether the Buffalo Bills were out to hurt him in last season’s opener, when a deliberately low block resulted in a season-ending knee injury.

The Chiefs’ safety knows better than to reveal what he’s really thinking, though, instead telling people to watch video of the block and “make your own opinion.”

Berry was in the open field and running toward the ball Sept. 11 when wide receiver Stevie Johnson dove at his knee from the side. Berry was upended near the goal line and ultimately left the game, and the full extent of the injury was revealed a couple of days later.

Although the open-field block was legal, Berry tweeted last month: “Sometimes I sit n wonder if they had a bounty out on me … oh well … who cares. Either way u can’t hold me down.”

Berry said that the tweet, sent after revelations of bounties being paid out by the New Orleans Saints, was “pretty much a joke.” But pressed about whether he thought the hit was intentional, the Pro Bowl safety gave the impression that he still wonders about it.

“They got the tape out there, you can make your own opinion,” Berry said. “I mean, my opinion is my opinion. People are going to take it how they want to take it anyway.

“To me, that’s in the past,” he said. “It is what it is.”

Berry, who was at the Chiefs’ practice facility Tuesday to participate in the team’s offseason program, said his knee has mostly healed — he spent time rehabbing with tight end Tony Moeaki and running back Jamaal Charles, who sustained the same injury to the same knee in consecutive weeks. All three are expected to be ready by the start of training camp in July.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) – The Buffalo Bills will open their 4-game preseason schedule by hosting the Washington Redskins.

Buffalo’s other home game will be against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3, according to the schedule released by the team Wednesday. Their two road games will be at Minnesota in Week 2, and at Detroit in what’s become an annual preseason finale against the Lions.

Dates and times of the games have yet to be determined.

Both of Buffalo’s preseason home games will be at Orchard Park.

The Bills were originally scheduled to play a “home” game at Toronto this summer as part of their 5-year series of playing games north of the border. But a scheduling conflict at Toronto’s downtown Rogers Centre led to organizers returning the game to Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PALM BEACH, FLA. – By signing Mario Williams and Mark Anderson, the Buffalo Bills sure created a lot of buzz around the NFL.

It has been a long time since people talked in glowing terms about the Bills defence. Last year it was third worst in the league in points allowed (434).

But with the signing of those two defensive ends — especially Williams, the $96-million man — the focus of conversation between Bills head coach Chan Gailey and reporters Tuesday at the league’s annual meeting centred on that side of the ball.

Exactly how much can those two help improve the sad-sack defence, and the entire team’s fortunes? More than you think, Gailey said at the annual AFC coaches breakfast.

“Yes, you can measure it. There is no statistical measure. But when you add (general manager) Buddy Nix’s years in the league, and my years in the league, you come up with two old guys with a lot of years. And we know the effect that pass rush has on the game today. We’ve seen the game evolve. We’ve been in it since the ’80s. And pass rush is a huge part of this thing.

“You hope that you’ve got a viable pass rush with four people (making) our football team better. And you hope that (the opposing quarterback) feels like he has to get the ball out quicker, and maybe that makes him rush something. And if he rushes something, maybe he throws it to us instead of to his own guy.”

Williams is the big-buzz acquisition — the premier free agent on defence this year. As for Anderson at the other defensive end, some wonder if he’ll have much impact because he is a pure pass rusher.

“He’s capable of playing all three downs, I think,” Gailey said. “And the thing about it is, all three downs in the league today are more passing than running. We’re a different animal than we were 15 years ago.”

Gailey also talked up inside linebacker Nick Barnett, whom the Bills picked up last July after the Green Bay Packers released the then-eight-year man. Barnett starred for the Bills, racking up 130 tackles — third most of his career — along with three sacks, five pass knockdowns and a forced fumble.

“Nick Barnett played extremely well,” Gailey said. “If we’d have won more football games, he probably would have been in the Pro Bowl, because his statistics matched up with a bunch of the guys who went to the Pro Bowl.

“He got his feet wet, so to speak, in Buffalo. And I think this year he’ll have a better year, maybe, than he did last year … He’ll feel a lot more comfortable about a lot of things this year.”

All of which has caught the attention of the whole league, especially the Bills’ AFC East division rivals.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday he figures one of the reasons the Bills loaded up on pass rushers is to come “after our boy, No. 12″ — quarterback Tom Brady.

“Well, he’s right. He’s exactly right,” Gailey said. “That’s what we feel like we’ve got to do — you’ve got to rush the passer in our division. That’s the first thing you go after is your division.”

Is New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan scared? Yeah, right.

“They are a talented football team, no doubt,” Ryan told QMI Agency. “But we’ll see. We certainly don’t fear anybody. We’ll bring it on.”

john.kryk@sunmedia.ca