DonInBuffalo

A few things to keep in mind: Maybin is very young. Some of the other rookies on the roster are more than 2 years older than him; most of them are more than a year older. There's a good chance he'll be able to put some more weight on his frame in the upcoming offseason(s). Since one of Maybin's strengths is his explosive first step, wouldn't it make since to line him up on the LOS most of the time? Generally speaking, in the Bills scheme, the DEs are "undersized". Schobel is listed at 243, Kelsay 261. It's not unreasonable to think that Maybin could be at about 260 by the start of training camp 2010, and ready to fully compete for a starting job. In today's NFL, especially on passing downs, the distinction between OLB and DE has become mostly a semantic one. It's not uncommon for a 4-3 DE to lineup in a 3 point stance and drop into coverage. He's about the same size as a 3-4 LB, and doing the exact same job. (rushing some of the time, dropping into coverage other times) Good coordinators develop schemes to exploit the talent they have available, as opposed to trying to shoehorn the talent they have into the system they want to run. Hopefully the coaches saw enough of Maybin in the OTAs to get some ideas on what kinds of alignments and stunts they might want to design to take advantage of his skill set.

Actually, what's happening is the moderators are closing threads that are duplicating discussions already going on in different threads. There are at least 10 separate threads discussing Vick on the first page. That's absurd. It clutters up the forum and makes it difficult for people to find the legitimate discussions.

Keep in mind that it's not only the first preseason game, but it's really hot and muggy there. They'll probably rotate players at some positions late in the game just to make sure people don't get too fatigued.

Channel 2 just came back on

Yes, that stadium is used for high school games. Today's game is a homecoming of sorts for Reggie Corner. He played all of his high school home games in that stadium.

Here's another good link: http://www.cantonchamber.org/football/schedule/index.asp I read elsewhere (probably Buffalo News) that Ralph is going first and Bruce is last.

I used to live in Ithaca and agree with this. The local media never treated the Bills or anything Buffalo like it was "theirs". For example, if you watch TV sports on Sunday night, or read a paper on Monday morning, the Bills generally wouldn't get any more coverage than any other team. The NFL going out of it's way to extend the blackout zone to include Syracuse probably didn't exactly help win over any fans, either.

The Grand Jury didn't indict Pierce. What exactly should Goodell suspend him for? Using poor judgment?

This post looks familiar.

What am I missing here? Vick has been suspended for almost 2 years now. He's getting 4 more games on top of that, right?

Coincidentally, I saw someone in Tops the other day wearing a Mike Williams #68 jersey. Apparently it was laundry day.

IMO the weakest links are depth at certain positions. The one that really stands out is OLB. We can argue all day long about the merits of Ellison, but if either starting OLB gets hurt, his replacement will be a unproven rookie. OT is another depth concern. If per chance Levitre isn't ready to start the season, and Chambers wins that job, our #3 OT will be Bell, who IIRC didn't dress for a single game last season.

The article I read said that the judge suspended the 90 day sentence. That means he doesn't have to go to jail.

The game that was broadcast with no announcers was in 1980. I have a specific recollection of where I watched that game, and I only lived in that apartment for less than a year, so it had to be in 1980. If they wanted to do something like that with today's technology, it might work. The multiple feeds idea is good in theory, but pragmatically wouldn't fly. Too much bandwidth. What they really need to do is get to the point where they can use tomorrow's technology to do it right. They need to get to the point where the feed consists of various "layers", some of which are optional and the person watching can change using their remote. Possible examples of layers: - Out of town scores and fantasy stats. If I don't want those, I should be able to remove that layer, so I can see more of the field. All the network is doing is throwing that on top of the image anyway. - Play by play. I'm watching the !@#$ing game. I know which team has the ball, what the down and distance are, and I can see the numbers on players so I know who just caught/threw/whatever. I don't need some idiot chatterbox telling me crap I already know. Let me filter that out if I want to, and/or give me an option for a text version, either on the screen, on my PC, or both. Common sense tells me this is do-able, but we're probably at least a few years away. People would have to agree on a protocol for a layered format, and the TVs would have to be programmed to recognize that format. Things that I find really annoying about today's broadcasts: - Constant repetition of the same commercials during games. This has gotten really bad in the last few years. You watch any game on any network, and easily 75% of the commercials are about a handful that get shown over and over. - On-screen ads for upcoming programming, usually non-sports, during the live telecast. I was watching a Bills game on FOX last year, and missed part of a play because the promo was still running after the ball was snapped, and it covered the part of the screen where the ball was thrown. - Commercials that are noticeably louder than the rest of the telecast. I think ESPN is the worst offender in this category, but I might be mistaken. - Not showing replays of the TD until after the extra point, often not until after the commercial break. Watching a PAT attempt doesn't exactly have me riveted to my chair with anticipation. Why not show replays of the TD, with the PAT attempt in a small box in one of the corners? - Commercials after kickoffs when no plays have been run. I hated this when they started doing it a number of years ago, and still do.

One point that hasn't been mentioned in this thread: At the Ralph, the stadium is typically about half full when the 2nd half kickoff occurs. Lots of people are still finishing their cigarettes and other halftime tasks. The stadium is noticeably less loud compared to the rest of the game. There is a tangible advantage for the visiting team to get the ball to start the 2nd half. I'm sure many other stadiums have similar conditions. That's one reason most coaches defer.

This is what I can't figure out either. It really isn't that complicated. If Ralph really wanted to insure that the Bills stay in Buffalo after he dies, he should sell the team before he dies. That way, he has at least some control over who purchases the team. If for some reason (presumably financial) he wants to wait until after he dies for the team to actually be sold, it's possible something like that could be worked out. But the important thing is that everything would need to be in writing ahead of time. It's formal contract or nothing. "Working agreement" or "Agreement in principle" wouldn't be good enough, because once he's dead, there's very little incentive for those sorts of deals to be honored.

Not everyone likes Duffs. Their wings tend to be relatively dry/crispy. If you like your wings like that, then you'll probably like Duffs. If you like your wings more saucy, you might not like Duffs. Lots of places in WNY have good/great wings. I haven't been to Hemmingways downtown in many years, but every time I had wings there they were big and great.

Would an umbrella policy cover expenses incurred as a result of criminal activity? Somehow I doubt it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4270311 Goodell suspended Stallworth indefinitely. It's very possible that he won't be able to apply for reinstatement until after his 2 years of house arrest has been completed. I don't have any problem with that.

It took me less than 5 minutes looking at housing listings to determine that the listing at 42 Woodthrush was the only house that matched the criteria of the article: - in Orchard Park - about 4500 square feet - built fairly recently Since Orchard Park has a population of about 3000, there probably aren't very many new housing development projects going on there, so anyone with even a modest amount of common sense could figure out there's a very good chance the house he rented was on that street or very close by.

I'd be surprised if that was the actual house he's leasing. You would think he would have finished searching all the listed homes that meet his criteria a long time ago. That listing just gives us a general idea of how big the house is and how much he is paying.

This is the only house listing that matches that description: http://hfe.buffaloniagarahomes.com/propert...operty_type=RES

This article sheds some light on the Costanzo cut: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...?storyID=809360 The Bills are going to keep 6 or 7 LBs on their final roster. Barring injury, we know they're going to keep Poz, Mitchell, Ellison, and DiGeorgio. If the coaching staff decided Thomas, Bowen, and Palmer were all above Costanzo on the depth chart, it makes sense to cut him now, to give him the best chance to catch on with somebody else. It's pretty mean-spirited to hang onto somebody for an entire training camp "just in case somebody gets hurt".

They always hold some seats for potential season ticket purchasers, so it's not false advertisement. It's quite possible some games are already sold out for this season. IIRC, last season, most of the games were sold out before tickets went on sale to the general public, and all of them were sold out within a few days of public sales.

Of course they don't want to RENT to him. What do they do if he trashes the house? Even if there's a security deposit to cover the damages, you still have to deal with the hassle of getting everything repaired. Seriously, there are a lot of really nice houses on the market in Orchard Park in the $250-$300K range. Why doesn't he just buy a house? This is probably too close to the stadium: http://hfe.buffaloniagarahomes.com/propert...operty_type=RES This is about 5 miles away, probably just about right: http://buffalonews.re.adicio.com/propertie...amp;qSearchTab=