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Bills LT Peters frustrated with team's silence over contract

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Bills starting left tackle Jason Peters will be making his second straight Pro Bowl appearance after being voted in by his peers earlier this week. Whether that translates into a lucrative new contract remains to be seen.

 After holding out and missing all of training camp in a bid to renegotiate a five-year deal set to expire after the 2010 season, Peters reported to the Bills the day before their season-opening win against Seattle. At the time, the team told him a new agreement featuring a hefty raise from his $3.25 million base pay would soon be in the works.

With two games remaining in the regular season, the fifth-year pro is still waiting.

"No progress," Peters blurted when asked earlier this week if there was anything new on the contract front. "They just gave me an assurance that they were going to get it done. I haven't heard anything since Week 1, since I reported."

Peters said he's becoming frustrated "to a certain extent" as each day of silence passes.

"But all I can do is keep playing and doing what I can do," he said.

The Bills didn't respond to a request for comment.

Peters, Buffalo's lone Pro Bowl starter, became the first Bills offensive tackle to be selected as a starter two consecutive years since Howard Ballard in 1992 and 1993. Unlike last year, when he couldn't go because of a sports hernia, Peters is excited about heading to Honolulu in February.

"It is overwhelming," he said. "This is what you play the game for, to get to Hawaii. It is an honor."

Because of his holdout, Peters and the rest of the offensive line got out of the blocks slowly. That's why many critics question his selection, especially after he was so dominant last season.

The 6-foot-4, 340-pounder allowed only a pair of sacks in 2007, but allowed Buffalo quarterbacks to be dropped for losses six times in his first four games this year.

Peters said it took him about five weeks to get his legs under him, but after that he felt he was just as good as last year, when he emerged as one of the league's top left tackles.

"When I play in a game and a guy makes one play out of 60 or 70 plays, he had a good game," Peters said. "If you watch the play before that, I am dominating him. Once I get you, you are not going away."

Starting quarterback Trent Edwards agreed, saying Peters' Pro Bowl nod is not an accident.

"I think a lot of the people that criticized him had to do with him holding-out at the start of the season," Edwards said. "I think people were pretty critical of his play at times as well as they are with me. But the thing that people don't see too is that sometimes the quarterback is holding on to the ball, or sometimes the running back doesn't hit the hole at the right spot. I think that Jason Peters is well-deserving of going back to Hawaii."

With the trip to Hawaii in his pocket, Peters holds plenty of leverage for a new contract. But until he decides to use it, he'll just bide his time like he has since early September.

"I have just been taking it week by week, and letting it play out," he said. "I don't know what is going to happen."

Meanwhile, receiver/punt returner Roscoe Parrish left Friday's practice with a bruised knee and is questionable for Buffalo's game at Denver Sunday.

Edwards (groin), running back Marshawn Lynch (shoulder), and Peters (knee) are questionable as well, but all are expected to play against the Broncos.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

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