American Football: Bills place Brown on IR; release 14 others

Backup quarterback Travis Brown's season is over after he was placed on injured reserve by the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The move comes a week after Brown sprained his left knee in a preseason game. And it came as a surprise after Bills president Tom Donahoe indicated last Monday the team was going to keep Brown on the roster heading into the regular season because he was expected to miss four to six weeks.

Before he was hurt, Brown was expected to take over as Drew Bledsoe's backup.

It's the second straight year Brown has been placed on IR, after he sprained a finger on his throwing hand with the Bills last preseason. Buffalo thought highly enough of Brown to re-sign him in December.

Brown is a four-year NFL veteran who spent the past three seasons with Buffalo, where he appeared in three games, all as a backup.

With rookie quarterback J.P. Losman expected to miss at least the first half of the season with a broken leg, the Bills signed 11-year veteran Shane Matthews last week. Matthews performed well in his preseason debut, finishing 7-of-10 for 104 yards in Buffalo's 20-17 loss to Detroit on Thursday.

Losman, who remains on the active roster, was selected 22nd overall and is being groomed to become Bledsoe's successor. The Bills will open the season with just two healthy quarterbacks after also releasing undrafted free agent Greg Zolman on Sunday.

Linebacker Jason Gildon, offensive tackle Marques Sullivan and defensive end Keith McKenzie were among the notable players released.

Gildon, who holds the Pittsburgh Steelers' record with 77 sacks, was cut six weeks after the Bills signed the 10-year veteran in hopes of bolstering their pass rush. Gildon, however, was used sparingly during training camp and in preseason, even when the team experimented in converting him into a third-down lineman.

Sullivan was the Bills' fifth-round pick in the 2002 draft. He had 22 starts in 32 games with Buffalo.

McKenzie is an eight-year veteran who appeared in six games last season, his first with Buffalo. Running back Ken Simonton, who appeared in two games last year, was also released, losing out to undrafted rookie Shaud Williams.

The Bills released two draft choices from the 2003 class: guard Ben Sobieski, a fifth-round pick, and defensive tackle Lauvale Sape, a sixth-rounder.

The Bills released one rookie draft pick, receiver Jonathan Smith, the second of Buffalo's two seventh-round selections last April.

Also released were linebacker Dominique Stevenson, Buffalo's seventh-round pick in 2002; cornerback Gerald Dixon; offensive lineman Jasen Esposito; receiver Drew Haddad; fullback Luke Lawton; and tight end Rod Trafford.

does every team make huge cuts like this, dolphins with 20 bills with 14

Yeah, in order to get to the magic number 53