ElMarko

Actually, the space is being made for T-McGee. They have to get his contract extended before Monday.

The team was 3-0 with Walker starting at LT last year. The league stats show that he "gave up" 3 sacks ALL SEASON - primarily playing RT (12 games). Moreover, the team was able to run LEFT with more consistency when Walker started on the left side. Will he perform up to needed on the left die for a whole year? It remains to be seen, but posts would be much better if they started with the FACTS - rather than opinions.

The Losman fumble play against the Jets was a CALLED PASS TO THE FULLBACK. Losman saw the FB blocking a full out blitz and rolled right ON HIS OWN. And I may add that he probably was hoping that our All-Pro LT would be able to get a piece of the blitzing corner on the outside left. As we now know, the corner treated Peters like a parking meter and ran right past Jason's whiff. After the game, Turk said JP should have thrown the ball away quickly because it was a busted play. Turk called the play - not Jauron Get yer facts straight.

The most troublesome aspect of our running game last year was running to the LEFT. We just couldn't do it - especially in short yardage situations. I could never figure that out, since we did have the best left tackle in pro football. Also - ever notice how our QB sneaks go nowhere? Once again, so odd, since Jim McNally said we had the most dominant blocking tackle he ever seen, after coaching Anthony Munoz. You'd think we could sneak a yard to the left at least once. I thought we had our franchise LT with Peters - and believed the hype as long as I could. But sitting in the upper deck and focusing on our line play sure didn't reveal this. Granted, our center position level of play was a joke, but still...

It looked legal to me until I saw Channel 7's field level reply on their half-hour show at 11:30pm last night. It seemed quite obvious to me that the kicker hit the ball with his leg BEFORE it traveled 10 yards - as he was trying to "guard" it while running next to the ball. The exact play - but with the correct call - happened during a bills game years ago. I believe it was Steve Christie who touched it while running next to the kick. The ball touching his leg made it move just enough to knock it out of line while heading toward the Bills player (Corto, I believe) If there were multiple angle cameras being used on that play, there may have been an option for a Juron replay. This is why the replay is biased against "bigger" games during the week. The networks use more cameras for the "national" games (i.e. Sunday night, Monday night, etc.) so... Still - it seems odd to be outplayed on Special Teams... and still win. The Roscoe punt return (which essentially iced the game) at the end made up for it a bit.

The key point on this is that the Miami regular season game is also not sold out yet. If that game were in Orchard Park - it would be completely sold out RIGHT NOW - with all that money in the Bills bank account earning interest. I realize that the team is making more money from the lump sum payment they are getting from Rogers, but as a long time season ticket holder - watching this happen truly suks... especially when I had a beer with an old friend (who moved to Washington 5 years ago) last night, and had to tolerate the "Toronto Bills" nonsense for at least an hour. Oh yeah, viability. I have to remember... it's all about "viability."

This IS NOT a post to defend Lynch. If he broke the law - punish him as any other person would be punished. That being said - has anyone tried to drive around Chippewa at that time of night (morning)? It's actually quite amazing - and sickeningly funny to watch. But more importantly, DRUNK PEOPLE DO NOT WATCH WHERE THEY ARE WALKING! While stone cold sober, I almost took out a group of 4 guys who didn't even look at traffic. I have been saying there will be carnage down there someday. People stumble out on Delaware against the green light and EXPECT cars to stop for them... even if going 30 mph with a head of steam. Jaywalking, the taunting of cars, fights rolling into the street... Funny side note - the guys who walked in front of me had some great beer muscles going on that night... they ran after my car for a few hundred yards. I kept slowing down too keep 'em running. Drunk people are easy to mess with.

We were originally told that the lottery was for Bills' season ticket holders as well. Then one morning we all get an email from Rogers - saying tickets are on sale NOW - here's your password. No warning - no mention of the aforementioned lottery. Then the password didn't work for Bills season ticket holders for several hours - only for Argo's season ticket holders... who promptly only purchased a few thousand seats - mostly the cheapest seats available - because they were all gone by the time my password worked. I'm just surprised that none of this ticket snafu information has ever made the press and that no one on the boards seems to even care. I have my tickets - and I plan on using some of them, thanks - but it all seems so "seedy" to me.

I don't get this ticket deal at all. As a season ticket holder, I was told of this "lottery" as well... but then as most of us seem to know, we we're given this password protected Ticketmaster site to buy through a few weeks ago. Which I promptly took advantage of. Even though the $65 tickets were gone, I was able to purchase corner, upper endzone seats for $85 each. (including all fees) for the 8 game package. And still, the Buffalo News reports about this "lottery" happening? A single regular season ticket in Toronto - FIVE years from now - at $85 per seat - seems like a no-brainer buy to me. Either way you slice it - this Toronto ticket deal has been a cluster...

What we need to be told as Bills fans is the definition of "viable." That is the word said over and over and over again by the Bills brass. Viable? Isn't a business that profits in the millions of dollars and grows tremendously in net worth EVERY year the very definition of viable? Smart football minds say a strong product on the field is the best way to make your team more viable. Certainly making your team play an extra "away" game once per year - in the very season (i.e. outdoors in winter, in Buffalo) where your home field advantage helps the most, doesn't help the team on the field. I have been a strong supporter of Ralph Wilson over the years - but this boils down to him being upset over not making as much PROFIT as Jimmy Jones or the other big-market teams. As a long time season ticket holder - and Erie County tax payer - I'm severely bothered by this. I do understand that a football organization is a business and is allowed - and should - make a profit. But many other business decisions can be made to make this team more viable. Making your team play an additional away game - at a time when you are experiencing 95% sell-outs at your real home - just doesn't make sense. Especially putting the game in a city with the most fair weather fans ever. Go to mid-week Blue Jays game next week - you'll have about 15,000 empty seats to choose from.

So the only "real" home game in pre-season is on a Thursday night?

A full 50% of SPORTS fans in Toronto couldn't care less about american football. The majority of people in that city were born in other countries and are FAR larger supporters of the "other" football... soccer. If the corporations don't buy the seats, the Toronto-played Bills "home" games will quickly go from a novelty to a joke up there. If anyone has ever spent time in Toronto during the World Cup - you'd understand.

Buy a ticket and stop complaining. When U2 sells out an arena, no one else gets to watch it for free on TV. I'm so sick of hearing this blackout nonsense. 2-12 2-14 7-9 12-4 8-8... Doesn't matter... I'm there.

Funny - someone criticizing and calling someone a moron because of word usage- and then using the drastically incorrect word "irregardless." The correct usage is "regardless." "Irregardless" is a double negative - an incorrect combining of words. And for my 2 cents - the original post is a heartwarming one, even if the worker was from the neighboring region. NOW - LET'S WIN SOME FOOTBALL GAMES.

Haggan was not "yanked" He moved over from the outside to fill Spikes' spot and Ellison went in on the outside LB spot.

Beer should not be about quantity - but quality. Any imported by these guys would work just fine: http://www.sheltonbrothers.com For late September afternoon, I'll probably go with the Mönchshof Schwarzbier (Black Pils) or perhaps Mahr's Ungespundet Lager. Both handcrafted in the heart of Bavaria.

Most of the pressure I saw was coming up the middle. But to be fair - there were many, rapid fire subsitutions on the lines and it was hard to keep track of the interior linemen numbers. one blitz that I remember seeing work was London Fletcher up inside the guard. McCargo, Anderson, Tripplet were not standing out as much as Ryan Denney... he made at least three "soft" tackles on running plays. Oh - and the running game itself seemed to do much better going right over Peters than left over Gandy. I'm really surprised no one has picked up on the McGahee deal though - he looked more than winded... he seemed to be really dealing poorly with the tempo and heat of the day. A few folks even said out loud that Willis was supposed to like "Miami-like" heat! At one point - he was the only player (out of almost 90) who was on one knee. I'm looking forward to the pre-season games though - we've got alot of "talent" that needs to see some game ation before we make our line-up choices.

Camp notes from today - Monday, July 31st: McGahee - although he looked good while running plays - was exesively exhausted and drained after each play in his rotation. One time it looked like he almost fell over taking a knee. His facial expression showed pain and fatigue badly. He was taking lots of water and seemed to miss some reps because of his "state." At the end of practice, he was one of four players that the coaches had running "sprints". Willis looks thinner - but he certainly doesn't look in "wind" shape at all. The other thing of note is that they are using Parrish as a wide-out ALOT... either going deep or slanting over the middle. I guess they feel he gets too lost to the QB when bunched in the slot routes. Reed was at the second WR spot and Price was coming in as the slot receiver in most 1st string settings. WR has some SERIOUS competition... even that free agent Denney (wearing 14) looks good. Thing is, the OL was having quite a time containing the pass rush. Misc.: Moorman's punts were fantastic on natural turf field. Sam Aiken made two nice sideline grabs. Robert Royal was motioned out to flanker twice. Lionel Gates looked VERY quick to the hole in running drills - enough to stand out from the RB crowd. It was freakin hot out there!

I've heard Juron is a good sideline coach. I didn't think Mularkey was awful - but he did make mistakes as most rookie/2nd year head coaches do. And that hamburger deal... does anyone actually think he wanted that to become such an issue? I'm not here to defend this guy - but c'mon - you can't blame a coach for doing something small like that. We fans get way too much info sometimes. Hands down, however, Chuck Knox was the worst clock manager we've ever had. I believe Chuck thought you could save up timeouts for the end of the season.

Not to mention the fact that if you wanted to really hurt people at the stadium - with the least amount of risk - all you would need to do is lob nail bombs into those huge pile-ups of people at the gates, backed-up because of the patdowns themselves. They offer large, tightly packed groups of people - with easy access to run-away and blend into a crowd or jump in a waiting vehicle. I'm all for safety and understand that it's not a RIGHT but a PRIVLEDGE to go to a football game, - but the pat downs DO NOTHING to improve safety. All it does is stop beer smuggling. And if the team wanted me to drink less once inside the stadium, why did they replace the 12 ounce Heineken cans (from last year) with 24 ounce cans right next to my tunnel entrance? No way I'm drinking draft beer in that joint.

The Losman sneak on 4th down should have never happened. The 3rd down play to Shaud Williams resulted in an OBVIOUS first down gain, but the referee messed up the spot by almost a yard. If you watch the play on tape, the ref walks around a Falcon player and then spots the ball at least a full yard behind where it should have been. The refs in the NFL are overwhelmed by the speed of the game. If you are at an NFL game and watching from above - it is painfully obvious. They are often out of position, not looking in the correct spot and cannot keep up with the pace of play - especially in hurry-up situations. This is why they often make a call by the "ending conclusion" (i.e helmet rolling off, QB playacting and holding his head, etc.) NFL refs - BY FAR - are the worst in sports. The only thing is you'd think it would all even out... but Buffalo always seems to be on the sh** end of the stick (in hockey too). It makes me sick because I pay big money year after year for season tickets - and it's only getting worse. Someday a SuperBowl is going to get screwed up by a ref - that will be the only way things will be forced to change.

With his 5 for 5 effort on Sunday, Rian Lindell just became the most accurate kicker in Buffalo Bills history.

Although he did get better as he gained some experience, I see him as the weakest spot on our defense. Especially with all the good receivers that will be thrown at him this year.

If you have Adelphia On-Demand service, the NFL On-Demand channel now has 15 minute replay recaps for just about everygame last year. Sat and watched them all last night - in these days of so little happening with our team. Three GLARING things that stand out from watching a 2004 season recap: 1. McGee got burned quite a bit last year, with Clements being on the other side, he was picked on by both experienced and yound QB's - if you remember, he must have fell down 4 or 5 times when making a cut in coverage; 2. The defense got considerably better when Milloy came back from his injury; 3. And obviously, our Special teams just about won us 3 games singlehandedly. On-Demand is excellent stuff. Fast-forward, rewind, pause...