Lori

Hutchinson? You sure? Ya never know, you might just be better off with Orton (probably not right away, though) or Blake anyway. What's the latest on Ced Benson out there, anyway? Kid needs to figure out that Jones is a decent runner, and if he doesn't sign a deal soon he might just find himself glued to the bench if/when he does report. BTW, welcome aboard.

Not likely. The "first month of the regular season" matches what I've heard; don't expect #11 on the field until October. Then again, that's coming from the media, not directly from One Bills Drive, so who knows? Think back to last year and the "maybe this week" Troy Vincent Watch.....

And that leaves Dallas with a rookie 6th-round pick starting at RT, with a UDFA backing him up. And Dallas opens the season on the road at San Diego, a 3-4 defense. Somewhere around here I've got the stat on Drew's record vs. 3-4 defenses. Hint: it's not very good.

Peyton probably doesn't fit under the Bills' cap, though. Neither does a premium LT like Ogden. But you know who might? Someone like Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez.

3-4 rush LB in Houston, 4-3 LB here. That's part of it. Simon will tell you about all the things he does wrong, and I respect Simon's knowledge of the game. Could we upgrade the position? Perhaps. Could we do it and still stay under the cap? Not so sure about that. Posey has made a few big plays here, though... 2003: -Led the Bills with 4 forced fumbles, and finished second on the team in sacks (5.5) to Schobel. -One of those FF was a sack/strip of David Carr in the Texans' end zone; if Big Sam had managed to recover that ball, the Bills probably win that game. As it was, Buffalo got a safety out of the play. -He also had a sack/strip on Billy Volek that Pat Williams returned for a TD vs. the Titans. 2004: -His only INT in a Bills uniform stopped the Jets from icing the game in the Meadowswamp; their first TD drive in that game immediately followed his pick. Three potentially game-changing plays, out of 32 games. (Not a good ratio, I'll admit.) But if even one of those games had ended up in a Bills victory, the general impression of Posey might be a tad more favorable....

Just like Stram - it shouldn't have taken the seniors committee to set things right. Both should have been in long ago. For those of you who think ten years isn't a long enough career, that's how long Bill Walsh and Vince Lombardi were head coaches. Some guy named Belichick is currently in his tenth year - if he were to quit today, do you think he's got a shot someday? Just maybe? A few current HOF coaches: George Allen (1966-77): 116-47-5, .712; playoffs 2-7 Joe Gibbs (1981-92, 2004): 130-70, .650; playoffs 16-5; 3 Super Bowl wins Vince Lombardi (1959-67, 1969): 96-34-6, .739; playoffs 9-1; 5 NFL titles, 2 Super Bowl wins Earle "Greasy" Neale (1941-50) 63-43-5, .590; playoffs 3-1; 2 NFL titles Bill Walsh (1979-87): 92-59-1, .609; playoffs 10-4; 3 Super Bowl wins John Madden (1969-78): 103-32-7, .759; playoffs 9-7, 1 Super Bowl win I'd say Madden compares well. As noted, his Raiders took out the SuperSteelers once (and it should have been twice). And don't forget the absolute hose job of all hose jobs that sent the Broncos to Super Bowl XII, or else 'Snake' Stabler and the boys would most likely have back-to-back rings instead of just one.

Rabble-rouser..... www.dallascowboys.com

Depends - if the team is REALLY bad, throwing a rookie QB to the wolves might be a good way to screw him up. David Carr took a horrific beating in his rookie year, setting a league record by being sacked 76 times. With all the $$$ the Niners have invested in Smith, they may just be better served by letting Rattay serve as the crash-test dummy until the rook can fend for himself a little better. I think that's what Coughlin tried to do with Eli at the beginning of last year - everyone knew Kurt Warner was never going to be the long-term solution there.....

Either an upcoming FFL draft, or maybe he's deciding whose jersey to buy? Hey, as long as they both go over 1,000 yards - along with Willis' 2,000-yard rushing season, of course - I'll be happy. (That's probably statistically impossible, but it sounded good. )

Interestingly, no. But Eli's big brother and that year's #2 pick, Ryan Leaf, DID both start in game 1, year 1.... as did Bledsoe, at Rich Stadium in September 1993. (I was at that game, and I still remember Bruuuce chasing him all over the field. Bills smoked the Pats that day, but you could tell the kid was going to turn out OK.) Looking a little further - Carson Palmer and Daunte Culpepper sat their first year. David Carr and Tim Couch didn't. I think Jeff George started his first game - but didn't finish it, thanks to Cornelius Bennett.... Aikman and Elway were two other #1s thrown into the fire right away. Overall, I'd guess the ratio isn't far from 50:50 - and it doesn't seem to correlate to whether or not that QB turns out to be a bust. I'm with lawnboy, though - if Smith believes the 49ers can "win now", I'm thinking he's been partying with Randy Moss and Ricky Williams up there in NoCal......

IIRC, he's been at the OTH since at least '73 or '74, and at a local radio station for a time before that. Didn't know until he told me - he majored in broadcasting, not print journalism. Never would have guessed. I'd love to see him write a book someday about his time covering the Bills, because he's got some GREAT stories to tell...

Just my opinion, I'd certainly rather see them keep McFarland... but if anything should happen to BigMike, I wouldn't be confident in either one of them starting for any significant amount of time. And I don't mean to scare anyone, but BigMike hasn't played a 16-game season yet.....

Where did he come from? Miami cut him. *strike one* Three years in aqua-and-orange, 11 games played, one start (at RG). He's been ... there ... in camp; the first practice I caught, I honestly thought he was one of the UDFA rookies until I looked up his number. Not much to write home about; certainly not an eye-opener like Duke Preston. Amen to that. I wonder if Price's knee ever got any better? IIRC, that was an arthritis-type problem, though, so probably not..... Like I said before Saturday's game: after Tucker and Preston, just exactly what DO we have? And watching Tucker stretching his back out on the bench during the game, I'm hoping we still have HIM for most of the season. The night #89 and I talked to him at SJF (asking him about throwing down with Big Sam), I said something like "we were kind of worried about your back, with him trying to lay on top of you like that." His response was, "So was I..."

Difficult call, since I don't see enough of the print version of the D+C. I'll abstain for that reason, although I'd have to say due to sheer numbers the News gives the most complete coverage .... (Gaughan and Wilson on the regular beat, Sullivan and DiCesare providing commentary, McKissic chipping in from time to time) But as for the best? Maybe I'm biased, because his point of view seems to agree with mine more often than not. But column for column, I'd still rather hear from Chuck Pollock than from anyone else on the beat...

That makes three out of the last four seasons down the drain for Buckhalter. Gotta feel for the kid......

Ummm... no, they're not. Saw you rip Jerman. Checked my game notes - direct quote: "Greg Jerman SUCKS." And yet, today's BuffNews lists him as one of their training camp surprises. The pertinent quote: "Is in a good position to land the No. 2 right tackle spot because of his agility." I'm thinking more along the lines of, "Is in a good position to land the No. 2 RT spot because Lawrence Smith shredded a knee, Marcus Price wasn't resigned, and the other backup tackles are even worse." What say you?

Dear MadBuffaloDisease, In response to your question: sometime between now and the end of the season. Or not. A definite maybe. But we're not telling. Sincerely, Bills Management -------------------------------- To stop being silly for a second... The injury happened August 10th; if he's ready to go in week 4 - the New Orleans game on October 2 - that would put it in the middle of a 6-8 week timeframe. Seems like that's roughly the same amount of time Lawyer Milloy missed last season (although his was a broken forearm, not a wrist...)

Bingo. Or a library down there that would have newspaper archives on microfilm. Better yet, hook up with a local-to-the-area genealogical researcher. (Online genealogy resources like ancestry.com are only good if you already kinda know what you're looking for, like SSDI records. And with your father being a first-generation immigrant, doubtful he'd show up in very many databases.) With a name and approximate date of death to work from, and the fact that it was a homicide, odds are there's an article somewhere. I still don't know if you'd end up with the *whole* story, but you never know.... Good luck with your search, and you have my condolences for never having had the chance to know your father.

Dunno. Any fan-based attempt - e-mailing the networks, etc. - would probably be met with "oh, it's just those lunatic Bills fans again" and be summarily dismissed. Perhaps a dumb-but-memorable soundclip, something like "if your team's playing against the Bills you can chalk up a LOSS, man!" Hey, is Tom Sartori back from Vegas yet? The Bledsoe song is a little outdated anyway; maybe he can work something up....

Yup. Even for those of us former Empire addicts who get the Buffalo networks (and their 3 minutes of sports news at 6:22 and 11:25), WGR and the BuffNews are the best means left to feed our cravings. That's why, when I get home from work at 8 tomorrow morning, I'll be sitting in the car (since I have crappy AM reception in the house), reading the sports section and listening to a few minutes of Howard and Jeremy before grabbing some shuteye........

Wasn't there already one of those from the first game? Dunno. With Jacob Rogers done for the season, the right side of the o-line isn't looking so good. (Not that Rogers was any great shakes to begin with.) Starting a rookie 6th-round pick at RT tonight, and our old friend Bryce Fisher should be lining up across from him.

If you're watching tape of the GB game, note that at least twice, part of the line blows the snap count. On one play in particular, Anderson never gets out of his stance before a GB defender is through the line. That doesn't help, either.....

Wyche was getting ready for practice, so this must have been taped a couple hours ago.... JP is a little better every time he goes out, makes a play out of a busted play (Montana was mentioned briefly here)... but like a lot of young players, he's still got a lot to learn. Wyche compared it to telling a kid "don't touch that stove", knowing they're going to touch that stove anyway (and learn the lesson the hard way)... Has to control his scrambling, go through progressions. Like a lot of QBs with good mobility, there are times when he's too quick to rely on his feet. Hard worker, smart, studies hard, puts in extra time - "he's got everything going for him". Asked about the o-line's reaction to swapping a pocket QB like DB for a scrambler like Losman - it gives them some confidence that even if they miss a block, the QB might be able to get out of the way and still make a play. Compared his mobility to Steve Young/McNabb. At one point, SW started to make a point about the 13-second play in Saturday's game, then stopped and asked "who did we play? Oh yeah, Green Bay" or words to that effect. Eisen ended the interview by reminding him that the Bills play the Bears this week - to which Wyche asked, "are we home or away?" Since this was on Total Access, infinite rebroadcasts will follow. To catch the Wyche interview, start watching approx. 10 minutes before the end of the show....

recap to follow.

I'm not sure which member of the Bills scouting staff is responsible for us signing Greer and Baker, but I hope they got a little extra at Christmas time! 414788[/snapback] Indeed. I happen to think that even if Kevin Thomas hadn't gotten hurt, Greer would have been pushing him for the #3 CB job this year.