JESSEFEFFER

I go to the casino with $50 to play. Maybe I lose it all or maybe I walk away up $35. But in either case I am not a big winner or loser. Actually I barely played at all. If you want to define the biggest losers tell us who made the biggest plays that WON'T work out. The big investments that don't pay off. But, to predict this you'd have to take a huge risk of being wrong and looking foolish.

The best football the Cardinals have played in decades came because they brought in Kurt Warner to be a "bridge" to the Leinert era. Whoever their next QB is will be hard pressed to play better football than Warner. Bringing in a guy like McNabb can give the Bills some good to excellent QB play while they try to find or develop someone good enough to take the job from him. That could take a long time.

IMO, Ross Tucker has about the most insightful "explayer" commentary in the business. A smart guy who was in the league long enough to have gained some pespective. Being a fringe player he does not have a legacy or connections to protect. Too bad he doesn't have a bigger forum. I must say that I don't quite understend the O-line comment. I have come to believe that the two most important units on a college team are o-line and d-backfield. If you aren't sound in those areas you will have a pathetic team. One with a dysfunctional offense and a defense that constantly gives up big plays. The perfect storm of bad football that gets you beat no mattter how good the rest of the team may be. This comes from wathcing 11 seasons of UB D-I football.

Wade can blame it on his decision to start Rob. He can blame it on DeHaven's coaching. It won't matter to me. No head coach with two brain cells and two balls sends the kicker out on a first down play with 20+ seconds on the clock to make that kick. It should have been done so as not to leave any time on the clock as we would see happen on any NFL Sunday. Wade panicked and it left time for a disaster to happen. For Wade to blame anyone else is extremely weak.

Not surprising that sources don't want to go on the record with OPINIONS. Unless your paid to express those opnions, there's no good reason to go on the record with them and you don't have to own them when they go bad. Hey GM of team X why has your team just lost to the Buffalo Bills for the 3rd consecutive time? Aren't they being run by the guy you said was a bafoon? What does that make you?

Here's another take. They had a run play called, the Saints show single coverage on the outside and Trent chooses not to audible to a pass play. By not changing the play he would be, in effect, "choosing" to run.

Conditioning, or lack thereof, is usually evidenced by muscle injuries. Broken bones and blown knees not so much. That's Poz, Leodis, Donte, Butler and Schouman off the top of my head. It's a violent, unforgiving way to make a living.

If you park at ECC it's $15, I think. It has lots of green, open spaces if you are going with a group that might have reason to make use of it. It's also easier to get out of there after the game.

I think there is more susceptibility to fumbles by ball handlers that do not get hit during practice/camp. Put the QB's a the top of this list and a KR/DB that saw a small amount of return work in the preseason while other guys were looked at.

This is an ultimate compliment in my book--Freddy reminds me of Robb Riddick.

One of my favorite Bills of all time is Robb Riddick. Freddy is showing many of the same attributes and is the football reincarnation of Robb. An out of nowhere carreer path with a complete package of skills well suited to all purposes. Blocking, open field running, short yardage running, finishing at the end by almost assaulting the tackler and great hands. He is a move the chains talent. Both Freddy and Marshawn run so hard that neither is suited to take all the punishment they create either in a game or for the entire season.

Most left tackles cheat in their 2 pt. stance. They must keep their right foot within a yard of the ball and can flex their left side further back. I'd be curious just how far off he actually was. He was very quick to setup for the outside move. Just a head fake and he was there, thus leaving himself off balance and unable to counter the inside move so he had to grab the guy rather than turn him loose. He might just have to slow his movement down a bit to match his opponent. He doesn't have to beat his man to the spot, just arrive there with his man and neutralize his momentum, maintain balance and lock him up.

The thing is we aren't really aware of the flaws the other teams have. What do you suppose the fans of the Bucs, Browns, and 'Phins are thinking about their teams today? NO gave up a bunch of points to a team one year removed from 0-16. The Bills get them in the Ralph. The Ralph will have noise and, almost always, wind. Drew Brees has not played many games in the NE without climate control.

POW! (PROBABILITY OF WINNING) Somewhere between 5 & 10%. Everyone thinks the season is going to be awful, mostly based on the preseason offense. I thonk their most probable record after 5 games is 3 & 2. What do you think the fans of TB and Cleveland think of their teams now? We get them at home. Miami and NO have their flaws as well. It's sort of like familiarity breeds contempt. As Bills fans we are contemptuous of their flaws but all teams have them and many have bigger ones. Go Bills!!!

With TB, NO and Cleveland at home and the Dolphins on the road, what do you think the chances are that the Bills are 3 and 2 after their first 5? I'd say it's like this: 5-0................. <1% 4-1................. 12% 3-2................. 43% 2-3................. 33% 1-4................. 9% 0-5................. 4% We'll know more by 10 PM tonight but if they are at 2 or 3 wins after 5 games, they are still in it with a chance to be getting better throughout the rest of the season.

I think TOP is too simplistic and misleading if one team is running a no huddle offense. A better stat is to look at offensive snaps in relation to turnovers. If you have more snaps and are not negative on turnover differential then you controlled play. Scenario 1: Run 50 20 yard sprints with 40 seconds in between each. Scenario 2: Run 50 20 yard sprints with 20 seconds in between each. Under which scenario is your time to run the 50th sprint faster? Under which scenario do you throw up sooner?

I always thought that he went out due to an illegal chuck so it was a fitting "no call' response. As for Fisher, I saw it as an experiment taking place in a situation where it wouldn't hurt too much if the play "blew up." Just when it could ever be used again is the question.

If you have followed UB football, you might have noticed that former Bull Trevor Scott, Raider 5th rouind pick, managed to get 5 his rookie year with Oakland in part time duty. He played on the left side when I was watching. That should be a benchmark for our 1st round guy.

I hate the preseason games. I hate how starters are treated with kid gloves like they have mastered something and then play like crap at the start of the season. I hate the excuses that we hear about how when they "game plan" they will perform better. I hate how much time and energy is devoted to determining the last 5 roster spots and how the NFL charges inseason prices to attend. I could go on but............... Not this year. There is too much at stake, lots of roster/position battles, and a chance to see if there is anything special about this year's draft. This could be the talent infusion that makes the difference. Is Maybin's quickness off the ball a game changer? A rare physical gift that can draw penalties and create turnovers? If they are as advertised, can the lighter, fitter, smarter, nastier offensive line grow into one that can let the skill players thrive? Everytime I heard some network B team commentator talk about the Bills' big and powerful o-line I cringed. Fat, dumb, and slow off the ball does nothing to get you a yard when you really have to have it. The secondary should start to shine. These guys ought to be one of the better units in the league. There is depth here and the training camp battle should settle the pecking order so the preseason play will be all the more meaningful. The emergence of a wlb from the crowd of candidates would be greatly appreciated. Most of the offensive skill positions are set and the playcalling will be vanilla so there won't be so much to see. But finding a backup QB that inspires some reason to believe that they have a chance to keep a playoff chance alive should Trent get hurt would be a relief. A playoff spot is likely to ride on it. I would also like to see a FB emerge that demands to be on the field more. A good fullback injects attitude into an offense right at the point of attack. I don't have too much optimism in that regard. I wonder what Sam Gash is doing. For the most part, watching the Bills the last two seasons left me in a surly, frustrated mood. UB football has been entertaining and uplifting by contrast. Sort of like anti venom for a snakebite victim. Going to Bills games often turned into guilty feelings about a wasted sunday watching poorly managed game situations and uninspired play. If this is going to change the evidence should be there in these August games. Call me a Kool Aid drinker if yoy like, but I am actually eager to watch them this year.

Chris Spielman. He is often assigned the lower profile college games but he is 1) enthusiastic, 2) knows the rules, 3) can speak to a player's performance with either praise or criticism (like the player's coach would), 4) doesn't fill the air with pointless babble, and 5) sees the entire play. This is a guy that spent ALOT of time in film study. Nothing like noticing the same little details that I saw during a play and then commenting about it to make me think highly of him. He and McDonough did a first rate job on UB's MAC championship game. Just like some coaches are best suited to the college game (I think he'd make a good one), he may not translate as well to the NFL but he'd still be better than most of the ones doing that job there now.