ORCHARD PARK, N. .Y. -- Doug Marrone came to the conclusion that three was a crowd in the Buffalo Bills quarterback competition. Though the rookie head coach was nowhere near naming a starter on Tuesday, Marrone said itll be easier to evaluate who wins the job now that its down to rookie first-round draft pick EJ Manuel and veteran free-agent addition Kevin Kolb. "The more reps you give them, I think its going to be easier to tell it apart," Marrone said, a day after the team released veteran backup Tarvaris Jackson. "I believe that well be able to see it at training camp. I think the players on the team are going to be able to see that separation. And thats the most important thing." Marrone and the Bills got their first glimpse at the pared-down quarterback rotation in opening a three-day mandatory minicamp. Its the teams last spring session until training camp opens July 28. On Tuesday, Kolb and Manuel evenly split the practice time, with undrafted rookie Jeff Tuel getting limited snaps at the end of each series of sessions. Thats a significant switch from the Bills first 10 spring minicamp practices, when Kolb and Jackson split the starting duties ahead of Manuel and Tuel. Manuel welcomed the added practice time. "Your body continues to stay warm. You get a lot of continuity on offence, and you kind of get in a groove," he said. "So its a lot better." Manuel also understood he has to continue improving to show hes capable of making the immediate jump from college to NFL rookie starter. "I dont think thats anything I have to remind myself of," said Manuel, selected 16th overall out of Florida State. "Im still trying to learn, still trying to get a great feel for my teammates. Im still trying to earn the respect of the veteran guys as well as the rookies." Kolb said the additional practice time benefited him in building a better rapport with his teammates in running the newly installed game-plan. "Nobody likes when stuff like that happens," Kolb said, referring to Jackson getting cut. "But sometimes you have to. And I can already see a difference today." Jackson, a seventh-year player, was the odd-man out. He was acquired by Buffalo in a trade with Seattle in September, but spent all of last season as the teams third-stringer. The quarterback competition is attracting the most interest in Buffalo on a team thats undergoing yet another top-to-bottom transition. Marrone was hired in January after Chan Gailey was fired following three consecutive losing seasons. The Bills have gone 13 seasons without a playoff berth -- the NFLs longest active drought. And many of their troubles can be pinned on a quarterback position thats been mostly unsettled since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired following the 1996 season. Manuel was the only quarterback selected in the first round of the draft. At 6-foot-4, hes a strong-armed mobile player, who went 25-6 in four seasons with the Seminoles. Despite Manuels success, questions were raised over his decision-making skills. He finished with 47 touchdowns and 28 interceptions, which were the result of him occasionally forcing throws. Marrone is being careful to ease Manuel into the job. "We just want to make sure that were taking it at a natural progression," Marrone said. "Hes not seeing the same type of things that Kevins seeing out there right now. And were just working ahead and building him up." Kolb has the edge in experience. Hes entering his seventh NFL season after failing to secure the starting jobs in Philadelphia and, most recently Arizona. He has a 9-12 record as a starter, but his career has been hampered by a series of injuries. Kolb signed a two-year contract with Buffalo in April, eager for the shot to prove himself as a starter, even though he was aware the team was going to draft a quarterback. Kolb can appreciate why Manuel can be considered the front-runner for the job because of where he was drafted. That doesnt mean Kolb has to accept it. "I dont buy whats being sold, I guess," he said. "I just listen to what they tell me to do and roll along with it." Kolb noted he was in a similar position in 2007 after being drafted in the second round by Philadelphia. Expected to eventually succeed Donovan McNabb as the Eagles starter, Kolb was injured in the 2009 opener and eventually lost the job to Michael Vick. "Ive seen it from a lot of different perspectives, so I have an open mind about it," Kolb said. "Ive been through a lot of these, and I look forward to the challenge. "Obviously, it started anew today." [url=http://www.worldsocceronlineshop.com/Argentina-Gabriel-Batistuta-Jersey.htm... 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Spurs are two points ahead of their north London rivals, who play their game in hand against Wigan on Tuesday, after Adebayor tapped in Clint Dempseys low cross in the 83rd minute. Dempsey had equalized for Tottenham at Britannia Stadium in the 20th after Steven Nzonzi opened the scoring in the third minute for Stoke, which is still not mathematically safe from relegation. . - Andrew Driver scored in the 56th minute to lift the Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday night.AVONDALE, Ariz. - Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. "We just beat Kyle Busch!" he yelled. Gordon did much more than that. He was headed back to Victory Lane, the longest winless streak of his career finally in the rearview mirror. Overcoming a slew of potentially disastrous incidents, Gordon passed Kyle Busch with eight laps left and stretched his lead from there, ending his winless streak at 66 races Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. "It feels so amazing. I cant tell you how amazing this feels," Gordon said. "Its been a long time, I know, and Im going to savour this one so much." PIR has been the place to end long winless streaks lately. Ryan Newman halted a 77-race checkerless streak at PIR in the spring and Carl Edwards stopped his run at 70 races without a win in the fall. Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champion, was mired in a drought that seemed inexplicable for one of NASCARs most successful and popular drivers. Even in ending it, it wasnt easy. Coming off a disappointing Daytona 500, Gordon struggled in qualifying and started 20th. Early in the race, he was knocked into the wall by Edwards and later had to avoid a massive wreck that led to a 14-minute red flag. He also had to pull behind another car to shake loose a piece of debris from his grill and fight his way back to the front after a slow pit stop late in the race. Gordon still managed to lead a race-high 138 laps and was able to pull alongside then bump Busch out of the way to win for the first time since April 2009 at Texas. It was his 83rd career victory, tying him with Cale Yarborough for fifth all-time. "He was on a mission today, thats for sure," said Busch, who held on for second to fall just short of winning all three NASCAR races in the same weekend for the second time in his career. "When Jeff Gordon has a good car and hes got the opportunity to beat you, hes going to beat you, theres no doubt about that. Hes my hero and Ive always watched him and what hes been able to accomplish over the years, so its no surprise that he beat us." Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five in a 312-lap race around PIRs mile oval, the last on the current surface. The quirky old track will undergo a US$10 million repaving and reconfiguration project before the fall race, a move that isnt popular with many of the drivers. The old bump-and-crack-filled surface held up well in its final weekend with a flurry of records. Clint Bowyer set the qualifying mark in trucks on Friday, then Busch did it in Nationwide on Saturday. Edwards set a new Sprint Cup qualifying record at the track, hitting 137.279 m.p.h. to barely edge Kurt Busch on a dayy when 15 drivers eclipsed the previous record set by Edwards in the fall. [url=http://www.officialroyalsteamshop.com/Mike-Moustakas-Royals-Jersey/]Mike Moustakas Royals Jersey. Conditions were a little different for Sundays race. A big storm came through the Valley of the Sun overnight, leaving a dusting of snow on the mountains above the track and washing away all the rubber that had built up on the track the previous two days. That meant a change in setups for all the teams, more grip for the tires and, fitting for the way the weekend went, more speed. And it seemed the extra speed was hard to handle, leading to numerous early cautions, including one that took out Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne. Edwards never got much of a chance to make it two straight wins at PIR. After leading several laps early, his No. 99 car got sent to the infield grass around Lap 60 when Kyle Buschs car got loose and hit him on the right side. Edwards tried to keep going, but smoke started billowing out of the left side of his car and he was unable to turn, slamming into Gordon and sending both of them into the wall. He returned to the track later and finished 28th. "I watched the replay and I think Kyle was just having a little trouble with his car," Edwards said. "He was frustrated about it and didnt give us the room we needed. It just worked out in the absolute worst case for us." A few laps later, the big wreck hit. It started with Matt Kenseth bumping Brian Vickers coming out of Turn 2. Vickers tried to correct his slide, got loose and started a chain-reaction wreck that involved 13 cars and brought out the red flag, not to mention several wreckers -- the kind of aggressive racing not normally seen early in the season or early in races. "They were driving like it was the last lap!" said Clint Bowyer, who was a part of the wreck. "Man, if we keep this up, well only have four cars to end all these races." Once track officials finally cleared the track, the drivers were treated to a series of long runs. Tony Stewart, Gordon and Johnson traded leads after that, with Gordon getting the longest stints. He seemed to be in control down the stretch, but lost the lead on a slow pit stop during the final caution. Gordon quickly worked his way back through the field and caught up to Kyle Busch, who had passed Stewart for the lead. He stalked Busch for a few laps, then made his move and stretched the lead to take the checkers for the first time in a long time. The fans in the grandstands savoured the moment, nearly all of them rising as he crossed the line, and Gordon had a raucous celebration in the pits with his crew, owner and teammate Mark Martin. "We were the only one to beat Kyle Busch this weekend and hes so tough to beat," Gordon said. "What an awesome, awesome feeling to have a car like that." And to win like that, finally. ' ' '