Last Guy on the Bench

I'm in Montreal and I'll surely be at Champs tomorrow. "Marc in Montreal" also lives here (obviously) and he's always at Champs as well unless the game is on one of the broadcast channels (unusual, unless we're playing the Pats). There are usually a few other Bills fans at Champs on any given Sunday, though no one else that frequents the Stadium Wall as far as I know. Cheers.

Bump. Anyone?

Help me out. The Bills training camp program(D&C production I think) and the official depth chart (not worth much right now) list Stamer as the strong side backup (Posey's position), Crowell as the weak side backup, and Haggan as the MLB backup. I've seen three practices and some video and I could swear that when I've been paying attention I've always seen Haggan on the TE side, Stamer on the weak side, and Crowell in the middle. Am I crazy? I watched the scrimmage last night, but forgot to look at where they were all playing. The reason this matters a lot right now, is that Stamer is playing out of his shorts and Crowell has looked pretty good too. I'd much rather see Stamer pushing Posey (who is a real weak link in my mind - whenever I focus on him, he looks bad - and he never makes big plays). Stamer will never get any real time behind Spikes, barring injury. I'd also like to see Crowell backing up Spikes, as he's got some good speed, and Haggan in the middle where he can be pushed by Ezekial for a key backup/future starter spot. I like Haggan as a special teamer and a give-your-starter a breather guy. But I don't think he plays fast enough to start. Maybe he'd be a decent SAM, but Stamer looks a lot better at this point. Anyway, where the heck are they playing right now? Is the official info right (making me an idiot)? I hope so, because I would love to see Stamer take over that SAM spot by opening day.

Look, I'm no trekkie, and I have only seen a handful of the modern episodes. But . . . this poll is ridiculous. It's like asking who's a better football player, Bruce Smith or Aaron Schobel. We're talking about Captain James T. Effing Kirk, for God's sake. The man could handle klingons, green chicks, goofy sound effects, shaking cameras, and polyester-clad, overacting crew members all at the same time without breaking a sweat. There are only a handful of television characters that even come close to the Kirk level of pure, nut swinging cool. In fact, I can't think of one right now. And seriously, I don't even like Star Trek all that much.

I am serious, though possibly stupid. Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen it. Probably because the idea of going to New Orleans just popped into my head, so I hadn't been paying attention to threads of people who were already going. Just assumed they had tix already. Not sure if our plans would work out quickly enough to order with that group, but thanks again for the pointer.

I head back from Montreal to Buffalo once a year to join my Dad for a game at the Ralph, but this year I was thinking it might be fun to meet him somewhere for a road game. I've never been to New Orleans, but it's one of his favorite cities. Anyone know how hard it is to get tickets - or for that matter what the best way to get them is? Thanks in advance for any advice.

They were high school athletes, for what it's worth. And I agree it doesn't mean he'll be a good QB. But it does mean that he is pretty different from your average young star athlete. He's an interesting character, like him or not.

Wasn't that in the official press conference? That's what starts playing when you click the link, but if you click on audio and on the 3/4 link, you get the radio station interview, which is much looser. It's pretty idiotic as well, but in a more entertaining way.

That's what Mularkey said, I think. But Donahoe was much more effusive, and made several comments. Don't have the exact quotes, but you didn't have to read deep between the lines to see that Matthews was their first choice, but that he was still pondering family issues.

Yeah, he really sounds high on Shane - basically if he wants to play next year he's the Bills' first choice.

I don't know. I don't think teams routinely make depth chart decisions before they've even had mini-camps, unless those depth charts decisions also have roster implications. If they're going to keep DB and JP at their current prices, I'd imagine they'd at least practice through the spring before making some big depth chart announcement. I could be wrong I guess. Cinnci might have made their Carson Palmer announcement last year pretty early. I can't remember when they did it.

I think that when you take into consideration the "We will make a decision at QB in the next couple weeks," which he apparently said on the radio, he is clearly asking DB to take a pay cut or contemplating cutting hiim outright. (My guess would be the former.) Otherwise, what "decision" is there to make? There's no decision to be made on JP. He's on the team. They're not going to name a starter in February. So unless you think he's talking about the big Shane Matthews decision, he must be contemplating some sort of immediate change re: DB (whether $ or roster status) to have made that comment.

What are you, in third grade? I'll keep a look out for your classic "four-eyes" posts. Might as well throw in a "fairy" post too. Despite his team-swapping ways, I think T-Bone looks lilke a pretty fun guy in that pic.

Isn't Darren Howard a free agent this year too? If so, he would get plenty of action, I would imagine.

The second round is a great place to get an athletic outside linebacker. Seems like a few good linebackers always drop, or get overlooked for one reason or another. I could definitely see an LB with our pick, especially if we end up with two 2nd rounders.

So it is. Color me double dumb. And as for the basement . . . priorities, man, priorities. ((JK. Thanks a lot for doing these DVDs. Can't wait to get some.)

Thanks, Jack. Didn't think to look there.

Fez, can you list the games you have available on DVD again along with contact info. I'm planning to order a bunch (complete with generous!! tip) and have mainly been waiting for that Sounds of the Game (or whatever it was called) from NFL Network that you were thinking about doing. Thanks!

Hey, it's just as hard to pick four losers as it is to pick four winners. Congrats. I just found your certainty entertaining. Hopefully your Patriots prediction will fare equally well next week. My own prediction is that the Colts break the Foxboro jinx and smack the Pats around. But I am "freaking wrong" more often than I'm right when it comes to football picks, so take it for what it's worth.

Rico, meet your mirror image T-Bone.

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. That catch was subtle, but downright amazing when you look at it. I think it was against the Jets.

Well, that will help us. The team who acheived the same record against a weaker schedule is presumed to be worse and thus drafts higher (meaning before the team with the stronger schedule - people use higher/lower in all sorts of ways when talking about the draft).

Teams out of the playoffs only draft before teams in the playoff within a given win group. In other words, an 8-8 team will always draft before a 9-7 team (unless the 8-8 team gets to the Super Bowl). If there are two 9-7 teams, and one makes the playoffs and the other doesn't, the non-playoff team will draft first in the first round. It will rotate after that just like any of the other tiebreakers (e.g., strength of schedule). Basically, the playoff/nonplayoff thing is the first tiebreaker within a given win group, followed by strength of schedule, and then, I think, the normal divisional/conference tiebreakers. http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/draft/update

Stranger things happen in the NFL every week. No guarantees, and the odds may be against us, but not insanely so. There's nothing outrageous about Kerry Collins having hot hand at home against Jax, or Bulger firing enough TDs at home to put the Rams in the playoffs against a solid but hardly spectacular Jets team. I wouldn't put a lot of money on it, but I wouldn't bet a lot of money against its happening either. I'm just psyched that there is no way we can be eliminated next week if we beat San Fran. The Pittsburgh game WILL mean something as far as we'll know at the time (unless of course one of the "stranger things that happen" is that we lose to the 49ers. Always possible)

It's around 9 degrees F here in Montreal (-13C) with a windchill of -6F (-21C). I guess I should put some pants on.