Lori

Umm... me?

Milestrip - California - Southwestern is the way I come in from Amherst, when I'm parking at Hammer's lot. If you're planning on parking on the south side, Big Tree is a better option.

Correction: they have good skill players on offense. The o-line, not so much. Over/under on Bills sacks against Carr should be around 4. But then, I seem to remember the Bills losing the last time they played the Texans - so taking ANYBODY lightly probably isn't a good idea....

REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: 3-3-1 PLAYOFF RECORD: none LAST MEETING: October 27, 2002 - Buffalo 24, Detroit 17 With 1:58 left in the game and the Lions threatening at the Buffalo 20, London Fletcher stuffed Lions RB James Stewart on fourth-and-inches to preserve the Bills victory. Drew Bledsoe threw for 302 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown pass to Peerless Price. Eric Moulds (123) and Price (101) both topped 100 yards receiving, and Travis Henry had a pair of 5-yard touchdown runs... BILLS O vs. LIONS D: Detroit's defense is decidedly average. They're not bad against the run; DTs Shaun Rogers and Dan Wilkinson add up to over 700 pounds of bulk clogging up the middle of the field. But they gave up 29 TD passes in 2004, and only Houston, Oakland, Minnesota, and Carolina were worse at stopping teams on third down. LB Boss Bailey returns from a season on injured reserve; if he's back to full speed, coordinator Dick Jauron will welcome his playmaking ability. Dre' Bly and Fernando Bryant are solid at CB; DB R.W. McQuarters and hard-hitting SS Kenoy Kennedy were signed in the offseason. I was happy to hear Mike Mularkey say he plans on leaving the starters in for a while Friday night - they look like they could use the practice. (I reserve the right to change my opinion on that decision, though, if anyone gets nicked up as a result...) Most of the Bills roster should be set, but there are still a few spots up for grabs: - #2 FB: Looks like it's down to Joe Burns vs. rookie Jon Goldsberry for the last RB slot, depending on what happens elsewhere on the roster. We'll see which one Bobby April likes better on STs. - # 4-6 WR: Josh Reed's last chance? Reed, Sam Aiken, Drew Haddad, George Wilson, and Freddie Smith are battling right down to the (waiver) wire. One catch - or drop - might make a BIG difference here. Don't forget to watch them on running plays, too... for a "smash-mouth", run-heavy offense to succeed, everybody has to block. - # 9-10 OL: Starters should be Williams - Villarrial - Teague - B. Anderson - Gandy, although Bennie's Penalty-of-the-Week deal is starting to annoy me. Ross Tucker, Duke Preston, and Jason Peters are on the team. That leaves one, maybe two spots open for 60 Jasen Esposito, 61 Greg Jerman, 73 Justin Geisinger, and 79 Dylan McFarland to fight over. I wouldn't mind seeing Esposito take a few snaps at tackle; none of the others has impressed me so far. BILLS D vs. LIONS O: New Lions OC (and former Bills receivers coach) Ted Tollner was hired to open up the Detroit passing attack, and he's got a lot of weapons in his arsenal. Detroit's projected starting offense includes no fewer than six former #1 draft picks - seven when they go to a 3-WR set - and they also added former Colts TE Marcus Pollard via free agency. Looks great on paper... but so far, not so good on the field. After three preseason games, the first-team O has yet to score a touchdown. No more excuses for Joey Harrington. He threw more TD passes than INTs for the first time in his career last year, but still hasn't shown the accuracy needed to run the West Coast offense successfully. If he gets off to a lousy start this season, Jeff Garcia will be playing sooner rather than later. Against Buffalo, Harrington might be wise to toss up a few jump balls to Terrence McGee's side of the field - Detroit WRs Charles Rogers (6'3"), Roy Williams (6'2"), and Mike Williams (6'5") all tower over the 5'9" McGee. RB Kevin Jones came on strong at the end of his rookie season; he averaged 134 yards in the last six games, tops in the league. He's a good cutback runner, so the Bills LBs are going to have to watch their tendency towards overpursuing plays. FB Cory Schlesinger is still out with a broken leg, so old friend Shawn Bryson will probably get some reps at both backup RB and FB. Despite starting two former #1 picks (RG Damian Woody and LT Jeff Backus) and adding Colts LG Rick DeMulling this spring, the offensive line hasn't looked that great. They're having real difficulty picking up blitzes, which might just be a problem against a Jerry Gray-coached Bills defense. Good time to find out what Ritzmann and Gause can do against the starters, and I wouldn't be disappointed to see the starting LBs take most of the night off, either. LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS: Jason Hanson is as dependable as ever - he was 19-20 on FGs inside the 40 last season. The punt/kickoff cover teams are decent. And despite a shoulder injury which cost him the last five games of the season, PR/KR Eddie Drummond tied a league record with four return TDs and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Following a holdout that lasted into training camp, the Lions coaches were hoping to get Drummond his first playing time on punt returns last Monday night. Somebody forgot to tell the Detroit defense, though - they never forced a Rams punt until fewer than four minutes remained in the game... BILLS SPECIAL TEAMS: Interesting to hear that Tom Donahoe was shadowing Rian Lindell at practice the other day. Wonder if they're bringing anyone in for a tryout this week? As for kickoff/punt returns, we already know what McGee and Clements can do. Might as well give the players trying to nail down the last roster spots all the reps... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- See you at the game... and I'll probably have at least one extra ticket with me. If you're looking for one, stop by Lot 1/Pole 5.

As JSP already noted, he pointed out (and I backed him up) that the Bears D > the Packers/Colts Ds Buffalo did move the ball on. Of course, we were then slammed for "making excuses". To MadBuffalo's Colts game mention - Bears not only shut them down, they absolutely throttled 'em.

Based on just about everything we heard and read from him at the end of his last season here. Remember the hissy-fit he threw when he found out Moulds made the Pro Bowl and he didn't?

Hey, he started it.....

Welcome back, Mark, and congrats!

Look, it's the doofus from the NFL.com commercials! "Nice pick, Cowah'...."

Everett or Thomas were both injured before camp started; that's what the "Physically Unable to Perform" list is for. Players can't be placed on the PUP list if they start training camp on the active roster, so no, Parrish wouldn't have been eligible.

Typical Western Pennsyltucky boy - remember his cousin, Mitch?

Y'all are forgetting, Price doesn't want to be a perfect #2. That's why he wanted out of here in the first place, because he wanted to be the #1 guy and Moulds was in the way here. Unless he decides being a #2 WR is probably a better deal than finding a REAL job....

Just paperwork, really. That means neither can be activated until after week 6. Also - CB Therrian Fontenot released.

According to the current NFL fact/record book, the Saints play on the same brand of fake grass used at the Ravens' open-air nest. Wonder how different the installation process would be? Although I'm sure the Superdome people didn't plan for weather, seems like they'd have to have some kind of drainage system...

Tweaks duly noted. JMO - I like the reshuffle. Makes sense - not many bugs left. As for the WoF, it does need the update. (And don't forget to add "SDS" when you do that....) BTW, did you get my PM? Just checking...

Agreed. Scoreboard.

Source?

I remember those Weis arguments over at patsfans.com. Many thought the first SB was won in spite of CW, not because of him. We'll see. As for the Jets - the way I see it, they haven't adequately replaced Kareem McKenzie, and they burned a #1 pick trading for a TE who can't/won't block. Curtis Martin may find the rushing yardage a little harder to come by this year. And if teams can get a good rush on Pennington, his numbers go south in a hurry - Bills have won two of the last three Jets games by doing just that, and might well have swept last year's series if the offense had decided to show up before the fourth quarter of the game at the Meadowswamp.

You mean there are actually people on TSW that weekend? Hmph. Who knew?

Closest thing to a blocking TE on the roster, plus can back up Shelton at FB (note that KH's roster only goes one deep there), plus plays STs. Kinda like a utility infielder/pinch-hitter. Although if Everett hadn't shredded his knee, he probably would have knocked RN off the roster....

Yup. A #2 pick for a #3 QB. Nice. (Wonder what we could get for Matthews?)

re: Haddad- 2000: Bills/Colts PS 2001: Colts active roster (three games)/IR 2002: played in one game with Colts, active for six others 2003: out of football 2004: Bills PS/active roster/PS The way I understand it, neither of Haddad's stints on the Colts active roster were long enough to count against his PS eligibility. Also: I sincerely doubt we see Kevin Everett on the field this season. CD: Although Trey Teague snapped for FG/PAT attempts in 2003, Dorenbos handled them last year.

Wow. Weather Channel just had Jim Cantore on the phone from Gulfport MS - they've evacuated into the upper floors of the vets home they were sheltering in. Since the building is 27' above sea level, and they've got approx. 10' of water, he calculates a 37' storm surge - possibly the largest recorded in North American history.

Ah yes... the memories.... "We don't have a #1 and #2, we have #1 and #1a." If you have two starting QBs, you essentially have NO starting QB. And Sage Rosenfels is probably better than either of them.....

There's a two-season cutoff on PS eligibility. Trafford spent the last part of 2003 on the Bills PS, then split time between the Eagles and Bills last year. At this point, I'm hoping TD and Modrak are scanning the waiver wire for depth at T, because outside of Peters' potential, I'm not thrilled with any of ours. Keeping only two QB is rollin' the dice, especially with JP's playing style. Nope. "PUP—physically unable to perform—status is used by clubs to protect a player who is relatively seriously injured but who may recover soon enough to play again that same season. It is similar to major league baseball's 60-day disabled list. Contrast this with injured reserve status, where the player is ineligible for the remainder of the season. A player who is put on the PUP list before the preseason's first roster cutdown (from 80 to 65 players) must remain inactive through the sixth week of the regular season. At that point, he has a three-week practice "window" before he must either return to the 53-man roster or end his season on injured reserve."