San Jose Bills Fan

S for Spencer Johnson… T for Torrell Troup, F for… I don't get it…

I think this sentence really says it all. All the rational discussion about this issue (optimism/realism/pessimism) on both sides is really just window dressing. A lot of people are emotionally scarred/scared and it strongly affects how they view the Bills. I personally tend to be an optimist but from a coldly objective standpoint, I simply don't understand how people cannot be extremely excited and optimistic about this team. As I've said before, when you've been a sports fan long enough it's pretty easy to spot teams that are on the rise. It's too bad that emotional hedging prevents people from enjoying the excitement and anticipation of what will undoubtedly be a very good season.

Pictures are good. Thanks, Kick.

Why couldn't the Bills place him on IR?

1) You didn't post a link 2) You mis-read the article… it doesn't say what you are saying it says.

I thought it was all about arm length.

Terribly sad story. Here's a few interesting facts about the deceased, O.J. Murdock. His name is actually Orenthal James, obviously named after O.J. Simpson. He was 25 years old and was born in 1987. O.J. Simpson became infamous when he was accused of the double murder in 1994… meaning that Murdock was named for O.J. Simpson before Simpson's fall from grace. The second interesting fact is that Murdock spent two years at South Carolina where he was teammates of Kenny McKinley, the Denver Broncos wideout who committed suicide in 2010.

Seriously though, I haven't yet seen the baby but I have seen the sonograms and I can tell you that this baby is looking good!!! (and I'm not even one of the parents)

No thanks. I'd rather have some concern about it right now.

That's a really weird exclamation point, Howard.

The one thing more than anything that jumps out about Peter King is the effort he puts into his profession. It is unmistakeable and should be a lesson to everyone. King is proof that a guy with average talent can get near the top of his profession through hard work

Galliford's piece was pretty good. I would add that players are usually pretty loyal to the incumbent vets… especially if that vet is fighting for his career, is the leader of special teams kick coverage, and has played out of his skull so far. Yeah that TD catch CMac caught was a busted coverage but he had to extend to make the catch and then showed excellent speed down the field. I'm sure all of his teammates are cheering for him to win that spot. Players can sometimes be supportive of younger players, if those younger players are very talented and can help the team win games. If they're unproven players struggling to find themselves, you can be sure the veterans are pulling for their fellow vet… and you can bet that the coaching staff is fully aware of that.

That's correct. In '98 and '99 Flutie was 20-8 and Rob Johnson was 1-3. It was definitely all the defense.

I wasn't crazy about Keuchly… don't think he's anywhere near the player that Urlacher was. Urlacher played safety in college and was taller and heavier than Keuchly when he came out. I like the LBs we took although I would have loved if the Bills had taken Miles Burris, the kid from San Diego State. I think ultimately that you can simply never have enough cornerbacks and that Gilmore is an excellent one. With the switch to a 4-3 defense and with the predominant use of sub-packages, I think that linebacker remains (generally speaking) a position of low value. I personally did not view Keuchly as being an exception to that rule. But we shall see. Keep this up and your handle might not be so damned ironic.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned our rangy, tall, athletic safety, George Wilson. His int against the Patriots in week 3 last year was textbook… trail coverage on Gronk and Brady couldn't get the ball over "The Senator."

In where? The muff? So many great artists have died in anonymity…

This team keeps drafting guys with great work ethic and zero character issues… and talent.

McKillup will have a dogfight on his hands in his competition with Chris White. White was dominant on special teams last year before getting injured and was spoken of glowingly by Bills scout Shawn Heinlein. I believe the Bills coached him at the Senior Bowl too. It will be a close decision.

Number One song on the day they were born: Advantage Sukay ??????? "Bobby Darin's version (of Mack the Knife) reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Black Singles chart, and earned him a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Frank Sinatra, who recorded the song with Jimmy Buffett, called Darin's the "definitive" version. Darin's version hit #3 on Billboard's All Time Top 100. In 2003, the Darin version was ranked #251 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. On BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, pop mogul Simon Cowell named "Mack the Knife" the best song ever written." I get that you'd rather go on a date with Debbie Gibson but her song is a short fart in the wind of eternity compared to Bobby Darin's version of Mack the Knife. That said, another fun, well-conceived post.

Yeah, well we're both in that group of people who'd like to see the Bills run more often. In my opinion it's just 2-3 plays each game where he's been dialing up a pass instead of a run (where he's been wrong). When you factor in the size of this offensive line, it makes even more sense.

http://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/ And the interview with Gailey: http://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/#?id=b291d7f4-1363-47c7-abaf-dc129b279366&channelName=Recent

Thanks Figster! I try.

From CB's "Inside the Bills" blog: "Shawne Merriman is limited in his return to practice. Merriman is not doing any team work after participating in individual position drills."

From CB's "Inside the Bills" blog: "Shawne Merriman is limited in his return to practice. Merriman is not doing any team work after participating in individual position drills."

If I'm reading the transcript of Gailey's interview after tonight's (Sunday's) practice, Merriman participated in practice… not sure to what extent: "On DE Shawne Merriman not taking an extra day to rest the ankle that kept him out of yesterday’s practice: He wanted to be back out here. He would not stay out. And that is great. That is the attitude you hope they all have. But he wanted to be out here."