San Jose Bills Fan

http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2012/06/12/jaws-on-fitz/ Ron Jaworski on Fitz: “I broke down every pass of Ryan Fitzpatrick from last season,” he said. ”I watched every ball Ryan Fitzpatrick threw. You see a lot of great plays, a lot of positive plays. But the negative plays, the majority of them are based on mechanics. Improper mechanics hurt him… In talking about having David Lee as his quarterbacks coach, Fitzpatrick mentioned how no other coach he’s had at this level really schooled him on the proper mechanics of throwing. When asked about this Jaworski was not surprised. “I’m not trying to bad mouth NFL coaches. They’re as committed to their work as anyone, but I’ve always said that the quarterback position is the worst coached position in the NFL. What happens is you have a lot of prima donnas that make a lot of money and you’ve got a coach that’s making $200 thousand that’s supposed to be tough and disciplined on them and a lot of times players don’t buy into that because of their stature.”

Awesome, WSS! For those interested in attending but possibly hesitant due to crowd behavior, I would say that Candlestick is probably no worse or no better than any NFL stadium. One policy that was implemented after last year's preseason debacle between the Raiders and the Niners (which was stupidly scheduled as a night game) is that cops are assigned to the game (and off duty cops are encouraged to attend) and dress as fans of the visiting team. Anyways, going to an opponents stadium while flying the colors is never for the faint of heart when it comes to NFL football. But our group is gonna be loud and proud! We'll be in lower reserve section 19, row 17, seats 6-15!

One more thought… the Visitors Sidelines on are on the east side of the stadium (more or less). The game is a scheduled 1:15 PST kickoff and the sunset for that day is supposed to be at 6:43 PST. That means that it's possible that later in the game and depending on where exactly you're seated, that the sun might come into play as far as getting into your eyes… I would guess it's not gonna be a factor unless the game goes into overtime. Just thought I would add that to the discussion.

Hi everyone. I've been real busy lately but wanted to update all of you on the Bills-Niners ticket situation for the week five game at Candlestick on October 7th. 1) The Niners have sold out their allotment of season tickets and tickets are available only on the "secondary market." 2) The NorthStar Cafe in North Beach, home to the San Francisco Bills Backers will not be doing a ticket package this time. They plan to have a pregame party and busses down to the game but again, as far as tickets go, you're on your own. 3) Niners season ticket holders can re-sell their tickets on NFL Ticket Exchange and this is where I bought my block. Here's the website: http://www.ticketexc...012?PID=1274065 Note that you can click on the section and the page automatically brings up all tickets available in that section The Bills/Visitors sideline is clearly marked on the stadium chart and as I recall in 2004 when Bledsoe and Co. demolished the Niners 38-14 (one week prior to losing to the Steelers backups in the final week, thus squashing our playoff hopes), most of us Bills fans got tickets on that sideline. There seemed to be a particular large cluster of us in lower section 25 and 27 and lower box 19. Here's a really nice site which has photo field views from all sections (I would open two tabs/windows so you can see the views while you're shopping for you seats): http://www.seathound...tml#section_map I just purchased 10 seats together in section (lower reserved) 19 and with taxes and fees the tickets were just under $150 each. My advice would be to get your tickets now. If anyone with more experience going to games at "The Stick" have any useful suggestions or thoughts, please post them here. Have a great Sunday, Bills Brothers and Sisters.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bills-dt-williams-cleared-resume-200938233--nfl.html This was interesting: "The best part is that he no longer has to drill a big hole in the back of his left cleat, as he did last year, to relieve the pressure of the injury that had been nagging him for much of his six-year NFL career." Also this: Williams' recovery is a little bit ahead of schedule after being cleared for practice last week by both team doctors and specialist Robert Anderson. It was Anderson who performed the operation in November to remove bone spurs that were tearing at the player's Achilles tendon.

Placekicker Potter, punter Powell. Powell does the punting, Potter place kicks, John is the kicker, Shawn is the punter, thanks for confusion, Buddy Nix.

Oh man, Plenzmd. Death eventually visits each and every one of us but some leave earlier than they should. I'm terribly sorry for your loss. Your brother's passing certainly makes one hope for an afterlife… especially one in which we can still enjoy our favorite things. Deepest condolences, Bills Brother.

Yes. That was ridiculous.

My take on it is that I seriously doubt that there's a conspiracy. But it is definitely a bit of an unfortunate group of circumstances. I sure hope the Bills don't miss the playoffs by a whisker due to this epically unfair scheduling. Of course life isn't fair. On a related note I love "stiff upper lip" people but I always wonder if these "no excuses" people hold themselves to the same standard to which they hold their favorite football team.

Like yesterday, you're taking my statement too far and reading into it things that I haven't said. My point is that the Bills made the playoffs in 1998 and 1999 during the period in which Flutie and Johnson both staked a claim to the starting QB position. By all accounts their time together was anything but harmonious. In spite of that, they were a winning team. Moreover, one miracle play does not invalidate the fact that the team played well in spite of the quarterback controversy. And nowhere in my post did I even suggest that Fitz and Young split practice time. Here's my point boiled down to its simplest essence: You let guys compete… you don't fear competition… and if you have a strong team and a sound organization, there's no downside because everyone knows that when the best man wins, it's for the betterment of the team.

It's the same reason that Forte is faster than Freddy!

For those who don't want to click the link (numbers in parantheses are mine): After (1) playing what is expected to be a physical contest with the 49ers in San Francisco in Week 5, the Bills then (2) face the Cardinals in Arizona in Week 6. The Cards will have the benefit of three extra days of prep time for Buffalo as their Week 5 game is on Thursday night. The very next week (3) when the Bills play host to Tennessee, the Titans will also have three extra days of prep time for Buffalo because they’re playing on Thursday night the previous week as well. The Bills look to get a break as they’ll have a bye week in Week 8 to get two weeks to prep for the Texans in Houston. But that extra prep time will be a wash because (4) Houston also has their bye in Week 8. Finally (5) while the Bills are battling the Texans in Houston, the Patriots will be on their couches watching at home while their head coach grinds tape for two weeks to prepare for the Bills who travel to New England in Week 10 as the Pats have their bye in Week 9. That’s followed by (6) a second division game in five days against Miami on Thursday night in Buffalo. The only advantage Buffalo will have in terms of extra preparation all season will be the extra three days coming off that Thursday night game with Miami to play Indianapolis 10 days later… on the road.

I dunno either… but I think it's pretty close. They're both long striders with deceptive speed.

I remember hearing that Freddy had the most plays of over 25 yards in the league last year… or something to that effect. I don't agree with your view that Forte is faster than Freddy. But they are very similar football players for sure.

Attention alliterative authors… postings of poetic pronunciations possibly pending.

This is what I think about job competition in general and as it relates to the Bills quarterbacks: Please keep in mind that I'm a huge Fitz fan and have supported him (and continue to support him) unequivocally. I have a job and every day of my life it's a competition. It's a competition to get better at what I do. It's a competition to get my stuff in before the sheet metal workers, the plumbers, fitters, sheet rockers, and ceiling guys do. It's a competition with the other guys in my company because when work gets slow and they're deciding who to keep and who to let go, they're gonna look at production. It's a competition because life is competitive and every person who considers themselves to be a professional should be striving to increase their skills and get better every day. While the working world I live in is not professional athletics, it is a work place based on production and merit. You're only as good as your last job or as they commonly say, "one oh crap erases 100 attaboys. I show up for work every day sober and alert, and take my work home with me. I do a lot of professional development. I have dozens of certifications and treat my job as a construction electrician as if I was a nuclear engineer (In truth if I was a quarterback I probably would have hired a personal coach to work with me on my mechanics). I think nothing of spending my money on tools and books relating to my trade. These NFL players are professionals working in an uber-competitive industry filled with sharks. They make enormous amounts of money and endure high levels of media scrutiny. They're already under a good deal of pressure. In this context I don't believe in coddling guys or making them comfortable. I think it's an artificially contrived comfort zone. Yes, guys don't need to be looking over their shoulders but they also have to perform so they already put pressure on themselves. My take: this is the real world. It's competitive. Man up. Everyone is always playing for a job except for a small percentge of these guys. It's implicit in the depth chart. If you can't do your job, they'll find someone else who can. As a coaching staff or an organization you might not want to overplay the job competition aspect but IMO you don't have to pretend that it doesn't exist because it certainly does. This is what I feel about a "quarterback controversy:" There are teams with strong leadership and teams with weak leadership. There are rosters that contain a lot of character players and rosters that don't. There are teams filled with lots of prima donnas and teams filled with lunch bucket guys. Then you have players involved in quarterback controversies (ie- Fitz and Young) who are team players or who are not team players. Some of these guys will divide the locker room, become toxic, manipulate the media, stir the pot, and make things worse. Some of these guys are team players who will preach that they support whatever is best for the team. I think I know how a "quarterback controversy" would play on the Bills. If the Flutie-Johnson controversy resulted in wins and good performance in spite of the reported tension and in-fighting between the two, why would we expect that a competition between Fitz and Young would damage this team which Nix and Gailey have carefully built?

That's a great anecdote, CGF. To me it's awesome that the kids, their parents, and their school understood that both extracurricular activities are important and should be treated as such. I love that the value system held both music and athletics equally important.

Anyways Big Cat, the Gaughan article basically is a more in-depth version of Chris Brown's article on the same subject, the addition of David Lee and the effect this will have on Fitz' mechanics. Here's the topic: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/146538-a-little-something-to-ponder/ And here's Chris Brown's piece: http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Fitz-already-improving-mechanics-under-Lee/b7a3494c-e52a-4e0e-88e8-9076dd90aefe Many people are incredulous that Fitz has not had this type of instruction yet in his football career… either provided by his team of by himself.

Special day? I kinda hope not! I'd go with milestone… Regardless, congratulations!

I know. It goes against so much of what we were led to believe years ago. Bill Parcells famously crowed after beating the Bills in the '91 Super Bowl, "Power football wins championships." In recent years you hear coaches talk a lot about chunk yardage. It must have something to do with the risk/reward of taking shots downfield as opposed to taking a "plowhorse" approach to offense. I think this goes along with the "bend but don't break" approach to defense which is predicated on the belief that if you make an offense run many plays to move the ball downfield that the drive will eventually fail more often than not. Someone here will be able to explain it.

I'm not a statistician and I slept in my own bed last night (and the night before) but if I were to try to explain it I would say that the ability for a team to run the ball effectively is not a very important competency in the NFL right now as far as team success goes. It's probably more important than net punting average for instance but much less important than passing efficiently, defensing the pass, protecting the QB, pressuring the oppositions QB, etc. Not sure if that helps.

I'm talking about the criticism on this forum… and it hasn't only been in this thread.

This is NOT the link I was referring to but it pretty much corroborates what I said: On what he has seen from LB Kelvin Sheppard at the middle linebacker position: I think physically he’s a 4-3 middle linebacker. He’s not a 4-5 guy that’s going to play on the edge but he is a backer that can play inside from tight end to tight end. He’s athletic enough to cover tight ends and backs. Last year you’ve got to go back and we didn’t have OTAs. We didn’t have any of the camps and then he shows up at training camp and he’s about 20 pounds overweight and he pulls his hamstring the first day or two. He had no pre-season games then he started playing halfway through the season. You talk about players and how quick and how much you expect them to develop. He’s one that I really expect to benefit from the offseason program, the mini-camps and training camp. This is a defensive scheme where our middle linebacker should make a lot of tackles and you’ve got to have a guy that’s near capable of it and he is. On Sheppard coming in this season lighter: He is. He showed up in great shape and his attitude’s good. I think he’s excited about the scheme. http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-2/Transcript-Dave-Wannstedt-and-Mark-Anderson/a1ba9712-9bf4-4054-9828-a5987d528da3 FYI, Sheppard is listed at 248 pounds…

Kudos to the Buffalo Bills. I'm glad you and your boy had such an unforgettable experience together. Sounds like it was priceless.

LOL. The only snapping he'll be doing is towel snapping in the boys locker room at the middle school he'll be coaching at.