Lori

..and then promptly proceeded to spit the bit against a 5-5 Cincinnati team playing their backup QB. And I wanted to like Rutgers -- what Schiano's done is a great story -- but you're making it damn hard. Pretty arrogant for a guy whose school hasn't won a bowl game in, like, EVER, and who had a 25-game conference losing streak just a couple of years ago. (Thank God for Temple, eh?) Win ten games more than twice in school history, then get back to me.

Better yet, Channel 2 ran a story about it on their 11pm newscast last night.

Dunno, Rock, but that seems to be the trend. The Redskins' and Pats' new digs are the only recent stadiums I can think of that are significantly larger than their previous venues, with some teams (Soldier Field rebuild, for one example) taking the downsizing route instead. Probably thinking with such a limited supply of ducats, they can inflate prices without diminishing demand. Early 90s, you mean. Murph just ran some interesting stats on the 6pm sportscast: 42% of all Bills home games in the 1990s were blacked out.

Allrighty then, I can see you want to get back to dusting your Faulkner collection. If you ever deign to set aside your cultural elitism for a moment and join us common mortals, however, I suspect you'd actually enjoy PKD's writing. He does, after all, deal extensively with alternate versions of reality...

No doubt. Rolled up to Lot 1 Pole 5 in a freakin' Escalade last year. Man travels in style...

Dude. Been waiting for that broadcast date/time ever since the opener. Thanks!

Really? Wow. Never heard of such a thing. (Actually, Ken is the only one with the consecutive-games streak. Jacksonville was #208. And knowing him, he probably would've laughed at chknwing's joke...)

Thanks for the headwear suggestion, but I think I've got a couple old National Champions hats kickin' around here somewhere. Carry on...

One more time: PFW (Pro Football Weekly) does NOT equal PFT (profootballtalk.com).

Because that's the way it works. Build up your resume at a mid-major, then work your way up the food chain. Need proof? All right, name the last time a current Big East football team played in a national championship game. ...waiting...

Yeah. Why would you want to read anything by a Hugo Award-winning SF writer? Ever see Blade Runner or Total Recall? Both movies were based on PKD's work. But yeah, judge the guy's work based solely on his last name. Makes perfect sense. Carry on...

Not entirely true. The kicker is kicking from a chosen spot (assuming the wind isn't bad enough to affect the snap), and the goalposts are relatively stationary... but once Kaeding stands on that field for the first time in his life, stares directly into a 20mph breeze, and sees the streamers on top of the scoreboard-end posts blowing in different directions, we'll see just how good he is. Lindell, as previously noted, has kicked in RWS often enough to know how the ball is likely to react... and to tell Jauron/April whether or not kicking into the scoreboard end is feasible. Just checked weather.com; they're currently forecasting 30mph N Friday, 20mph W Saturday, 10mph W Sunday. While the west wind sets up the scoreboard-to-tunnel "windtunnel" effect, 10mph is on the light side. Still, something to keep an eye on... Sidenote: Joe Namath once went 2-25 in a "wind" game at Rich. Fergy completed exactly ZERO passes that afternoon, but the Bills won. And that game was in SEPTEMBER. Fear the Hawk.

Whitner and Youboty are Ohio State guys, and Whitner's from Cleveland. Have to figure they've seen snow. (Of course, San Diego also has their share of Big 10 players, including four of five o-line starters and their kicker...) Ko Simpson (South Carolina) and Kyle Williams(LSU)? Not so much. And hopefully Roscoe is beyond the hiding-when-the-ground-turns-white stage. Honestly, I'm watching the wind forecast more closely than the temperature. Guarantee Rivers hasn't met anything like the "Hawk", unless NC State happened to play a game during a hurricane while he was there. Bills special teams should have a definite advantage if the breeze picks up >15 mph, because they're familiar with the RWS wind patterns.

Interesting.... very interesting...

Is there any other way to watch a home game? It's been so long, I've forgotten... See y'all tomorrow.

With a five-states-in-four-days itinerary, I thought about taking the week off... but when I ended up in the back seat of the car on a three-hour trip to Ohio, I was glad I'd brought the laptop along. So, if anyone's still around to read this, or needs one of the links, here you go. Seeya at the stadium tomorrow...

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (6-4) at BUFFALO BILLS (4-6) SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2006 – 1:00 PM ET RALPH WILSON STADIUM, ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK CBS: Ian Eagle, Solomon Wilcots ***NOT AVAILABLE IN BUFFALO*** DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket: Channel 709 (no HD) RADIO: Buffalo Bills Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: John Murphy COLOR ANALYST: Mark Kelso SIDELINE REPORTER: Paul Peck Jacksonville Jaguars Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: Brian Sexton COLOR ANALYST: Jeff Lageman SIDELINE REPORTER: Dennis Evans Sirius Sunday Drive: Channel 181 (Buffalo feed) / Channel 155 (Jacksonville feed) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Bills lead, 3-2, but Jacksonville is 2-1 at Rich/Ralph Wilson Stadium. Buffalo’s only home win came in 1998, when they eked out a 17-16 victory on Doug Flutie’s last-play bootleg. PLAYOFF RECORD: Jacksonville leads 1-0, winning a 30-27 wild-card matchup in 1996. That game remains Buffalo’s only home playoff loss since the AFL/NFL merger. LAST MEETING / LAST TIME IN BUFFALO: September 12, 2004 – Jaguars 13, Bills 10 The Bills led for the first 59:59 of the game, but couldn’t put the Jaguars away when they had the chance. On the final play of the game, Ernest Wilford brought down a desperation heave by Byron Leftwich in the back of the scoreboard end zone to stun a sold-out Kickoff Weekend crowd at the Ralph. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ JAGUARS OVERVIEW (2006 RANKINGS) OFFENSE (#15 total yardage, #4 rushing, #23 passing, #10 scoring): Veteran Fred Taylor combines with second-round pick Maurice Jones-Drew (UCLA) to form a potent tandem at running back; both players are averaging well over four yards per carry. With Jones-Drew to spell him, Taylor has managed to stay healthy this season, and the rookie is merely leading the team with seven touchdowns. Byron Leftwich’s ankle injury has given David Garrard the opportunity to claim the starting quarterback job. Garrard isn’t as polished a passer; his 69.0 rating includes a four-interception game against the Texans two weeks ago. He brings an added dimension of mobility to the Jacksonville attack, though, and (other than the Houston loss) does a decent job of managing the game. His overall record as a starter is 8-4, 3-1 this season. Despite Leftwich’s statuesque pocket presence, Jacksonville has only given up fourteen sacks in the first ten games. The offensive line is anchored by center Brad Meester, right guard Chris Naeole and right tackle Maurice Williams; the veteran trio has combined to miss only five starts since the beginning of the 2003 season. Following the off-season retirement of five-time Pro Bowl WR Jimmy Smith, Jacksonville has no true #1 receiver; six different players (including tight end George Wrightster and both RBs) have more than twenty catches, nobody more than thirty. They do have plenty of size at the position, which could create matchup problems with the Bills secondary: Reggie Williams and Ernest Wilford are both 6-4, and Matt Jones is even bigger, weighing in at 6-6, 238lbs. Add in 6-6 tight ends Kyle Brady and this year’s first-round pick, Marcedes Lewis (UCLA), and Leftwich isn’t far off when he says, “We look like the Miami Heat when we get off the bus.” DEFENSE (#3 total yardage, #6 rushing, #5 passing, #3 scoring): Tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud, first-round picks in back-to-back seasons, provide a formidable example in the linemen-versus-skill-players argument. Even though Stroud has missed time with an ankle injury, Jacksonville is once again among the league leaders in run defense. (In fact, their weekly press release contains an entire page showing various top-five defensive rankings from 2003-06, including fewest rushing TDs allowed, 100-yard rushers, etc.) No team in the league has given up fewer red-zone touchdowns, and opposing QBs have combined for an NFL-low 31.9 passer rating in red-zone attempts. The defense carried the day in Jacksonville’s last game, holding the Giants to 25 rushing yards in a 26-10 win, but lost SS Donovin Darius for the season with a broken leg. He joins fellow starters DE Reggie Hayward (torn Achilles tendon) and LB Mike Peterson (torn pectoral muscle) on I.R. Bobby McCray, Hayward’s replacement at left end, leads the team with seven sacks. Paul Spicer starts at the other end, backed up by a familiar face, Marcellus Wiley. Rob Meier has started several games, and can play either end or tackle. Daryl Smith shifted inside to fill Peterson’s spot at middle linebacker, and leads the team in tackles. Clint Ingram, a third-round pick, takes over for Smith; Nick Greisen (free agent – Giants) is the other OLB. Cornerback Rashean Mathis’s six interceptions tie him with Bears CB Walt Harris for the league lead. In only his fourth season, the ballhawking Mathis already holds the career franchise record with eighteen picks. Brian Williams (Vikings) was signed to man the other corner slot. Nickel back Terry Cousin has missed significant time with an injury, with second-year CB Scott Starks taking his place. Deon Grant, the free safety, hasn’t missed a game since 2000. In Darius’s absence, Gerald Sensabaugh is the probable starter at SS. SPECIAL TEAMS: Josh Scobee has hit his last fifteen field goal attempts, and nineteen of twenty-two overall. Punter Chris Hanson is having an off-year – both his gross (41.9) and net (34.8) averages are the lowest since his rookie season, and seven of his fifty kicks have reached the end zone for touchbacks. Jones-Drew handles kickoff-return duty, with a respectable 23.3 yards per attempt; backup running back Alvin Pearman is averaging just shy of ten yards per punt return. The kick-coverage team is good, the punt-cover squad not so much. (Their 10.1 yards-against number includes an 82-yard touchdown.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUTLOOK: If you swear by the “run and stop the run” mantra, the Jaguars are your kind of team. They haven’t been very good on the road this season, but if the Buffalo defense couldn’t hold Wali Lundy and Samkon Gado under six yards per carry, I’m not sure I like the matchup against Taylor and Jones-Drew. On offense, rushing yards will be tough to come by, so the newly-discovered passing attack needs to continue showing progress for the Bills to pull this one out. Either way, I’m expecting a close, low-scoring game. (Cue the 45-42 shootout.) See you in Lot 1 Sunday morning, and Go Bills. Links: NFL.com: injury report / Jaguars depth chart / Jaguars team stats / Bills depth chart / Bills team stats Official team website: Jaguars.com

Absolutely WAS a Jets game. September 23 1979, 46-31 Bills, to be precise.

hahahaaaaa... sounds like the Texans fans in front of us who started celebrating when they saw the flag, then didn't believe us when we told them "dudes, that one's on YOU!"

Sorry if Harriet's post didn't meet your standards. You'd rather everyone just create more threads bitching about how bad the team is or complaining about players we didn't draft? Jeez, dude, let some sunshine into your life once in a while. Harriet, seeya Sunday. And BART, if you need a replay, I should be able to burn a DVD for you before then...

Ummm, the selling-the-Monet line was a joke. (For that matter, so were some of the huge signing bonuses given to second-line players during the Butler era.) After 1998, Ralph personally made the decision to honor the playing-time bonuses in Flutie's contract even though Flutie didn't hit them, and I seem to recall that TKO made out all right WRT his signing bonus when he came here in 2003. Whether or not RCW and Marv WANT to hand out ten-figure signing bonuses is a different story, but I kinda doubt he'd have to mortgage the fieldhouse to scrape together the cash to pay one out.

Shoulda been here, JSP. The two hundred or so people at the post-game tailgate certainly weren't in a complaining mood.... Hey y'all, just dropping in for a quick check-in. Sure, there's stuff to complain about, second-guessing to be done, etc., etc., but right now I have a party to get back to. Catch ya when I get home...

BUFFALO BILLS (3-6) at HOUSTON TEXANS (3-6) SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2006 – 1:00 PM ET RELIANT STADIUM, HOUSTON TEXAS CBS: Don Criqui, Steve Beuerlein DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket: Channel 707 (no HD) RADIO: Buffalo Bills Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: John Murphy COLOR ANALYST: Mark Kelso SIDELINE REPORTER: Paul Peck Houston Texans Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: Marc Vandermeer COLOR ANALYST: Andre Ware SIDELINE REPORTER: John Granato Sirius Sunday Drive: Channel 152 (Buffalo feed) / Channel 186 (Houston feed) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Bills lead, 2-1, and are 1-0 in Reliant Stadium. PLAYOFF RECORD: none LAST MEETING: September 11, 2005 – Bills 22, Texans 7 preview J. P. Losman’s first NFL start, in front of a sellout Kickoff Weekend crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium, was a qualified success. While the Bills only managed one touchdown – a Losman-to-Jason Peters one-yard pass that gave Buffalo a 19-7 lead just before halftime – Losman managed a total of six scoring drives without turning the ball over. J.P. was helped by a solid 22-carry, 117-yard performance from Willis McGahee, and Rian Lindell nailed all five of his FG attempts, four from outside forty yards. The Bills defense was the big story of the day, though, stuffing the running game and harassing David Carr into a horrid 9-21-70 yard, five-sack, four-turnover (three INTs/one fumble) afternoon. With Andre Johnson blanketed all day and nobody else he could trust to catch the ball – one memorable pass bounced off the nameplate on the back of Jabar Gaffney’s jersey, when Gaffney missed a hot-read – Carr ended up either throwing into double-coverage, scrambling, or getting sacked. LAST TIME IN HOUSTON: October 13, 2002 – Bills 31, Texans 24 Down 17-3 at one point in the first half, the Bills used two fourth-quarter Drew Bledsoe touchdown passes to take the lead, then withstood a last-minute Texans drive to come away with a hard-fought victory. Travis Henry turned in one of the best rushing days of his career with 159 yards and two touchdowns, but his fumble early in the fourth quarter handed the Texans the ball at the Buffalo eight-yard line; a halfback option pass from James Allen to Billy Miller two plays later gave Houston a short-lived 24-17 lead. They couldn’t stop Bledsoe, though, as the Bills sandwiched two touchdown drives (the first one aided by two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties on former Bill Jay Foreman) around a Texans three-and-out to take the lead for good with 4:02 left in the game. Houston had one last chance to score; after a Chris Watson interception was negated by a roughing-the-passer call on Chidi Ahanotu, the Texans managed to drive to the Buffalo 12 before turning the ball over on downs. Three Bledsoe kneeldowns ran the final 0:26 off the clock, and the Bills escaped Reliant Stadium with a tougher-than-expected win to even their record at 3-3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TEXANS OVERVIEW (2006 RANKINGS) OFFENSE (#23 total yardage, #28 rushing, #19 passing, #t28 scoring): You have to feel some sympathy for David Carr: after the Texans made him the #1 overall pick in their inaugural season, his main claim to fame has been setting sack records behind some truly bad offensive lines. Consider this: Houston’s current #20 ranking in sacks per pass play is their best rating since joining the league in 2002. Given the pounding he’s absorbed – including a league-record 76 sacks in his rookie season – Carr has been amazingly durable, only missing four starts in his four-and-a-half-year career. He was knocked out of the Jaguars game with a bruised shoulder and is listed as questionable, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't suit up on Sunday. (Sage Rosenfels is in Houston now, so he'd get the call if Carr isn't ready.) Carr spent most of last season trying to force the ball to 2004 Pro Bowl WR Andre Johnson, mostly because there weren’t any other decent options available downfield. Old friend Eric Moulds may have been ready to move on from Buffalo, but he instantly became the best #2 receiver the Texans have ever had; the proof shows in Johnson’s league-leading numbers, now that he’s not being automatically double-teamed on just about every play. There’s still not much depth behind #3 wideout Kevin Walter, though. Fourth-round pick Owen Daniels (Wisconsin) vaulted past veterans Jeb Putzier and Mark Bruener to start at TE; he’s got the speed and pass-catching ability to create matchup problems downfield, and leads the team with five touchdown receptions. There's been a complete turnover in the RB corps: two-time thousand-yard rusher Domanick Davis is sitting out the year while trying to recover from knee surgery, and not one of the backs currently on the roster was in Houston last season. Sixth-round pick Wali Lundy (Virginia) seems to have locked up the starting job for now, with Samkon Gado (trade-Packers) and Ron Dayne (FA-Broncos) available for backup/short-yardage duty. When the Texans needed to convert a crucial fourth-and-inches against Jacksonville last week, they chose Gado over the smaller Lundy. FB Jameel Cook (FA-Buccaneers) won’t get many carries, but is a decent check-down option out of the backfield. Seems like the Texans have been cursed with bad luck on the offensive line ever since they selected All-Pro tackle Tony Boselli with the first pick in the expansion draft; Boselli never played a down in Steel Blue before retiring with shoulder problems, and Houston has been looking for a left tackle ever since. They thought they’d finally found one when 2006 third-round pick Charles Spencer (Pitt) won the job in preseason, only to see Spencer break a leg in the second game of the season. To make matters worse, RT Zach Wiegert joined Spencer on I.R. earlier this week after tearing an ACL against the Jaguars last Sunday. Journeyman Ephraim Salaam gets the start on the left side, while third-rounder Eric Winston (Miami/FL), moving into Wiegert’s spot, will make the first start of his NFL career against the Bills. New offensive line/assistant head coach Mike Sherman – yeah, that Mike Sherman – probably had some say in bringing former Packers center Mike Flanagan to Houston. Left guard Chester Pitts has started every game in franchise history, including more than one stint at LT. Steve McKinney and Fred Weary have split time at RG; Weary’s status for this game is uncertain following his arrest during a traffic stop on Tuesday afternoon, but he’ll probably play. (Pulled over for a lane-change violation, a missing front license plate, and ‘acting suspiciously’, Weary ended up being Tasered during the arrest and spending several hours at the police station. Read into that what you will, but I’m not going there until we hear more details regarding the incident.) DEFENSE (#27 total yardage, #26 rushing, #20 passing, #22 scoring): One of the first moves new head coach Gary Kubiak made upon arrival was to scrap Dom Capers’ beloved 3-4 defense for a traditional 4-3 set. But with 2005 first-rounder Travis Johnson joining fellow DT Seth Payne on I.R., DE Antwan Peek scheduled to miss a couple of weeks with a sprained MCL, and #1 overall pick Mario Williams playing through a painful case of plantar fasciitis, the Texans are scrambling to fill holes on the defensive line. Former Redskin DT Cedric Killings was signed on Tuesday; he joins a rotation that includes Lional Dalton and former practice-squadder Anthony Maddox. DEs Anthony Weaver and N.D. Kalu can also shift inside if necessary. (In fact, Weaver started several games at tackle earlier in the season, with Jason Babin filling in at left end.) Houston was roundly mocked by the ‘experts’ for not using that #1 pick on Reggie Bush, but anyone who spent much time watching the team’s poor excuse for a pass rush – Jeff Posey’s eight sack-season in 2002 remains the franchise record – understood the emphasis on improving a defense that ranked near the bottom of the league last season. Williams got off to a slow start at RDE, but is starting to show signs of his massive potential; his team-leading 4.5 sacks include takedowns in three consecutive games. Fellow rookie DeMeco Ryans has made an immediate impact from his MLB spot; he’s a playmaker who leads the Texans in both tackles and QB pressures, and a popular early choice for team defensive MVP. Last year’s starter at MLB, Morlon Greenwood, shifted to the weak side to make room for Ryans. Shantee Orr starts at SLB, and veteran Kailee Wong was recently activated from the PUP list. Dunta Robinson became an instant starter at the beginning of his rookie season, and it looks like that’s not about to change any time soon. Lee Evans can expect to see plenty of Robinson’s #23 across the line of scrimmage on Sunday. On the other side, Lewis Sanders started the first few games while Demarcus Faggins recovered from a foot injury. Faggins is back, but now Sanders is on I.R. with a broken hand; Dexter McCleon is the most likely candidate to fill the nickel role, and the team signed former Colts DB Von Hutchins to fill Sanders’ roster spot. Glenn Earl is a stereotypical hard-hitting strong safety who’ll play this week despite a dislocated finger; he had two of the team’s league-low seven interceptions in 2005. C.C. Brown has more of a SS skillset, but showed enough to beat out veteran Marcus Coleman for the free safety job last season. Jason Simmons and Guss Scott fill out the depth chart. SPECIAL TEAMS: After missing two field goal attempts (including a 32-yarder) against Jacksonville, kicker Kris Brown is rumored to be on a short leash; Todd France, who kicked for the Eagles and Bucs last season, was brought in for a tryout on Tuesday. Brown is 11-15 for the season, 7-9 from inside 40 yards, with three of his misses in the last four games. Punter Chad Stanley could also be on his way out: his gross average ranks dead last in the league, although he’s not bad at keeping his kicks out of the end zone. If this game evolves into a field-position battle, Buffalo has a definite advantage thanks to Brian Moorman, who leads the league in net punting average. Pro Bowl KR Jerome Mathis has yet to see the field this season following offseason surgery for a broken ankle. The Texans have tried several options to replace him; the latest is Dexter Wynn, signed shortly after he was released by the Eagles on Halloween. He’s adequate on kickoffs and is averaging a respectable 10.2 yards per punt return, but he’s no Mathis. The kickoff-coverage team is average, but the punt-cover team ranks fifth in the league despite giving up a 53-yard touchdown return to Pac-Man Jones two weeks ago. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUTLOOK: This game features two 3-6 teams both battling injuries and inconsistency. The Texans have shown signs of improvement as of late, although losing Wiegert and Johnson has to hurt. The Bills should have some success running the ball, but with yet another shakeup on the line due to Chris Villarrial’s season-ending ankle injury, that’s no guarantee. With no clear-cut mismatch on either side, Houston’s home-field advantage may well end up deciding the outcome. See y'all in Houston, and Go Bills! Links: NFL.com: injury report / Texans depth chart / Texans team stats / Bills depth chart / Bills team stats Official team website: HoustonTexans.com Unofficial (but good) team website, including the Post Patterns message boards: HoustonProFootball.com

Well, he DID spend most of the Fiesta Bowl throwing to the guys in the blue jerseys...

Note that Jauron said "when" it breaks down, not "if"... Waitaminute. That isn't funny...