Lori

Not only did those recipes air, they even turned up on the WKBW website.... (But how the heck am I gonna fit a microwave in the trunk of my car with the grill and cooler already in there?)

Easy solution: if you're sick of season previews, avoid clicking on threads with titles like "2006-2007 BUFFALO BILLS SEASON PREVIEW". Thank you.

It's also a fact that sellouts don't always equal capacity crowds. The Jets sell out every game in 79,466-seat Giants Stadium, too... but that doesn't stop them from drawing "crowds" of under 50K to some of their games. Another fact: In 1991, in a much larger metropolitan area than Buffalo, five years after their first Super Bowl appearance, the Pats sold a grand total of 17,635 season tickets. The last time Buffalo sold that few? 1963. Better hope Krafty Bob lives to be 100 and never sells the team.

Good point.

Looking at the print edition right now; hopefully they'll post the majority of it on their site. Opened up to page 3 to find a story about "FANDEMONIUM" (Bills die-hard fans), featuring a six-column reprint of the photo BUFFALOBART took at the wedding a couple of years ago and a sidebar on 'Pinto Kenny'. (Hey Ken, Gaughan did get the quote right... ) More quotes from some familiar faces around these parts, and a good pic of Nick in England (and friends) on page 5. Pick it up if you get a chance...

Nobody knows -- we need to translate it into coherent English first.

BUFFALO BILLS at NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2006 – 1:00 PM EDT GILLETTE STADIUM, FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS TELEVISION: CBS PLAY-BY-PLAY: Jim Nantz COLOR ANALYST: Phil Simms DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket: Channel 709 RADIO: Buffalo Bills Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: John Murphy COLOR ANALYST: Mark Kelso SIDELINE REPORTER: Paul Peck Patriots Radio Network PLAY-BY-PLAY: Gil Santos COLOR ANALYST: Gino Cappelletti Sirius Sunday Drive: Channel 122 (Buffalo feed) / Channel 181 (NE feed) REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Patriots lead, 50-40-1. The Bills are 19-27 overall in Boston/Foxborough, 0-4 in Gillette Stadium. PLAYOFF RECORD: Patriots lead, 1-0. LAST MEETING: December 11, 2005 – Patriots 35, Bills 7 An ugly day in Orchard Park. Buffalo, reeling from the previous week’s meltdown in Miami and the suspension of Eric Moulds, was no match for the playoff-bound Patriots. The Bills were far more successful running for the bus than on the field; their 14 total rushing yards, ‘led’ by J.P. Losman (1 carry-7 yards) and Willis McGahee (8-3), marked the fourth-worst performance in team history. With no running game and no Moulds, Losman finished a dreadful 10-27 for 181 yards and 3 interceptions, including one returned 39 yards by James Sanders to give New England a 35-0 lead. Only Josh Reed’s spectacular 51-yard catch-and-run for a late touchdown averted the shutout. It didn't become official until January 2006, but anyone in the stands that day knew this game was the true end of the Tom Donahoe era in Buffalo. LAST TIME IN FOXBOROUGH: October 30, 2005 – Patriots 21, Bills 16 Buffalo outplayed New England for most of the game, but their inability to punch the ball into the end zone left the door open for a late comeback by the defending Super Bowl champions. Clinging to a 16-14 lead with 6:20 remaining, disaster struck when Rosevelt Colvin’s sack/strip of Kelly Holcomb gave the Pats possession at the Buffalo 23. A Brady-to-Branch hookup moved the ball to the one, and Corey Dillon scored his second touchdown of the night on the next play. The Bills had one more good chance to drive for a potential game-winning score, but on fourth-and-eight at the New England 40 Holcomb checked down to Eric Moulds, who was stopped for no gain. Aaron Schobel abused backup LT Nick Kaczur for two of his career-high twelve sacks on the season, the second time he’s hit double digits. (According to the 2006 media guide, Bruce Smith is the only other Bill to accomplish that feat… but digging deeper, Ben Williams’ 1980 and 1983 seasons add him to the list. Still impressive, though.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATRIOTS OVERVIEW (2005 RANKINGS) OFFENSE (#7 total yardage, #24 rushing, #2 passing, #10 scoring): Many football fans outside New England love to denigrate the talent of GQ coverboy Tom Brady, but there’s no denying this: only Roger Staubach (85-29, .746) has a better regular-season winning percentage than Brady (58-20, .744) among quarterbacks with at least forty career starts. (The playoff/Super Bowl W-L record is somewhat impressive, as well.) That percentage is even more lopsided against Buffalo – the 2003 season opener remains New England’s only loss in the series since Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in September 2001. (Incidentally, he hasn’t missed a game since then; his eighty-nine consecutive starts, including eleven playoff games, trail only Brett Favre and Peyton Manning among active QBs.) While Brady is a constant, the New England receiving corps is anything but that. David Givens (Titans), Tim Dwight (Jets), and Andre’ Davis (Bills) signed elsewhere in the offseason, disappointing Bethel Johnson was shipped off to New Orleans (where he was later cut by the Saints), and Deion Branch continues to hold out, leaving Troy Brown as the only returning WR to catch a pass from Brady last season. Brown and Reche Caldwell – who never lived up to expectations in San Diego – are listed as the starters on the current depth chart, backed up by recent acquisitions Doug Gabriel and Jonathan Smith. Second-round pick Chad Jackson is nursing a hamstring injury and didn’t practice Tuesday. Given the upheaval at wideout, Brady’s sure to be looking to tight ends Ben Watson and Daniel Graham to help pick up the slack. Watson has loads of potential as a downfield threat; he averaged over fifteen yards per reception last season, and only Branch had more touchdown catches. Battling injury, Corey Dillon’s production fell off significantly from 2004; his 3.5 yards-per-carry average was the lowest of his career. With Dillon about to turn 32 and nearing the end of his NFL shelf life, New England spent their first-round pick on Minnesota RB Laurence Maroney. The youngster looked good in preseason, averaging over five yards/carry; expect him to take over the starting job sooner rather than later. (He missed the last preseason game and is currently practicing with a brace on his knee, though, so his status for Sunday’s game is unknown.) Do-everything RB Kevin Faulk and Heath Evans round out the roster. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has to be pleased by the return of LT Matt Light and C Dan Koppen; both missed a significant chunk of the 2005 season due to injury. In Light’s absence, rookie Nick Kaczur had a rough time trying to protect Brady’s blind side. Kaczur, still recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the Patriots’ final playoff game, will compete with rookie Ryan O’Callaghan for the starting job at RT. (Expect O’Callaghan to get the call Sunday.) Stephen Neal and Logan Mankins are set at guard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEFENSE (#26 total yardage, #8 rushing, #31 passing, #17 scoring): Last season, New England sank to 4-4 while Richard Seymour missed time with a knee injury, then finished on a 6-2 run after his return. (One of those losses came against Miami in week 17, when the Pats rested most of their starters.) Coincidence? Pro Bowl voters apparently didn’t think so, rewarding him with his fourth consecutive trip to Hawaii. Fellow first-round picks Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren combine with Seymour to form one of the better 3-4 defensive lines in the league, allowing the linebackers to pile up the sack/tackle statistics. Warren has missed practice time recently with a shoulder injury, and his status for the game is uncertain; if he’s unavailable, Jarvis Green will start in his place. For the first time since 1993, New England will open a season without Willie McGinest on the roster. Underachievers Chad Brown and Monty Beisel followed McGinest out the door and free-agent pickup Barry Gardner broke his leg in the final preseason game, so New England signed recently-retired Junior Seau to fill the hole at ILB. The other starting inside ‘backer will be determined by the status of Tedy Bruschi’s broken wrist; if Bruschi hasn’t managed to heal himself by Sunday afternoon, steady veteran Mike Vrabel will probably move inside, with his normal slot filled by Tully Banta-Cain. (Other options include putting in special-teamers Larry Izzo or Don Davis at ILB, or using more 4-3 sets.) Rosevelt Colvin, the other OLB, led the team with seven sacks last season. Emotional leader Rodney Harrison returns from a serious knee injury that sidelined him for most of last season. His leadership ability can’t be overstated, but one has to wonder how much speed the injury, and his advancing age, has cost him. Eugene Wilson worked at corner for part of training camp, but is back in his usual free safety spot to begin the season. Last year, rookie CB Ellis Hobbs was pressed into service due to massive injury problems at the position; he played well enough to keep the job. Asante Samuel mans the other side, with Randall Gay and Chad Scott filling backup roles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL TEAMS: All-time franchise scoring leader Adam Vinatieri departed for a bigger paycheck in Indianapolis, leaving the kicking duties to rookie Stephen Gostkowski. The fourth-round pick -- who hit all nine FG attempts over forty yards in his senior year at Memphis -- chalked up a perfect 9-9 preseason, including a 54-yarder at typically kicker-unfriendly Giants Stadium. Josh Miller averaged over 45 yards per punt last season, the second-highest gross average of his career. The Patriots need to improve their coverage unit, though -- opposing returners averaged 9.6 yards/attempt in 2005. Rookie DB Willie Andrews got most of the KR/PR reps in the preseason, but could “Fast Freddie” Smith end up running back kicks against his former teammates this weekend? Don’t bet against it. Smith showed Bill Belichick what he could do when the Bills visited Foxborough in 2004; his 70-yard punt-return TD provided Buffalo’s only points in a 29-6 thumping. Faulk, Brown, and Gabriel also have experience as returners. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLOOK: Is this finally the season the Patriots reach the tipping point, and the playoff run ends? Given the continuing exodus of the veteran core of the team, an almost complete roster turnover at the WR position, and paper-thin depth in a linebacking corps that has always been the heart and soul of the defense, it could be more than just wishful thinking this time. (Junior Seau? Great player, surefire Hall of Famer… but his best days are about ten years behind him. How can this be seen as anything other than a sign of desperation?) I’m just not sure a young team with a new head coach, new coordinators, new schemes on both sides of the ball, and a quarterback making his first visit to the “Razor” as a starter, is in a position to take advantage of New England’s potential vulnerability; I’d feel a lot better about this game if it was scheduled for a month from now. I just can’t shake the feeling that Belichick’s gameplanning, combined with an amped-up Opening Day crowd, will pressure Losman into a bad decision or two… enough for the coolly efficient Patriots to add yet another win to their stellar Gillette Stadium record. I hope I’m wrong, and a fully healthy Takeo Spikes caps off the 'shocking upset' by picking off Brady for a touchdown. (Oh, and somebody earholes "Tom Terrific" during the return. Hey, if I’m going to dream, might as well make it a good one…) Go Bills. Links: Ourlads.com: Patriots depth chart Official team website: Patriots.com Patsfans.com

Check the most recent links on the TBD homepage; the Rochester D+C has a story about it.

Dan's got the link for the Wall; if you're looking for the main TBD homepage, look no further than my signature. (Be warned, though - while TBD/pda is optimized for mobile Web applications, the outside sites it links to aren't...)

Can't disagree there. For more information on how well spending multiple high draft picks on WRs works out, see: Detroit Lions.

Indeed.

Going by H_A's 3rd-7th round standard and the current NE depth chart, here's how the Belichick era looks: 2000: Tom Brady (6) 2001: no starters 2002: no starters 2003: Asante Samuel (4), Dan Koppen (5) 2004: no starters 2005: Ellis Hobbs (3), Nick Kaczur (3) Couple of o-linemen, couple of DBs. Sounds pretty typical. But then there's that name at the top of the list...

Buy that Roethlisberger jersey yet?

Amen to THAT. (Unless it's because Buffalo's quick-strike offense has built a sizable lead... )

<applause> Post of the thread.

You watched these two teams at the end of last season; based on that, where would you set the line? (Good thing this isn't last season.... )

Even with future Hall of Fame LT Willie Roaf missing six games, and the four-player rotation at RT? Am I the only one who remembers Aaron Schobel using and abusing Roaf's replacement, Jordan Black, for two of the Bills' six sacks in the game against the Chiefs? And yet, Johnson ran for 132 yards that day... and if Vermeil/Saunders had kept feeding him the ball instead of trying to force the passing game, the outcome of that game may have been very different.

Good point...

You're assuming the Bills plan on using enough two-back sets to need that second FB. Based on what we've seen so far in camp/preseason, I'm not sure that's going to happen.

At least he's consistent.

He feeds us. ABSOLUTELY a prime spot.

Agreed, but with a caveat. The only potential problem I see with BB.com coverage is, how much freedom does Chris have to cover the stories he wants to? (I'm pretty sure there was stuff he couldn't use under the previous regime; hopefully that didn't carry over after the management change.) While I enjoy the "insider" features in Bills Digest, there are still times when I miss Shout! magazine's independence. That said -- the upgraded BB.com, along with radio/TV webcasts and podcasts, have gone a long way toward filling the void left by Empire's demise.

You say that like there's something wrong with it...

Right on. I talked to Ethan Kilmer's family at the Cincinnati game (Penn State guy, late pick fighting to make the B'gals roster). Sure, they'd love to see him start someday, but just making a roster is pretty darn special in itself... Wings and beer for breakfast Sunday. Yum. Y'all have fun out there!