Matt in KC

So, is Bell inactive? The NFL.com list says he is: http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/09/07/seahawks-bills-inactives/ Sven, where does your list come from? I was suprised to see Bell inactive with Peters still out.

Great job...again Mike! I understand your desire to go "all in" on the Bills for the last game. I also recommend you hedge, but given how you feel, just a little. Make sure you at least cover your risk plus a nice gain. Specifically, it sounds like you're not thrilled with your day job. If it were me, I'd calculate how much time I spent researching, how much my day job pays, and make sure you get 10% more off your progress so far. Wouldn't that feel good? (If you spent a month non-stop researching then, um... nevermind.) When the Bills win, just consider the hedge bet a tip for the house.

Bills 23 Seahawks 16

Here's Lori's post linking Graham's blog yesterday. http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showt...p;#entry1118598 I agree with Lori, there's some pretty funny stuff in there as Tim and hordes of (mostly) Bills fans get slap happy, going on and on asking him questions, sometimes intelligibly. Here's his intro at the start of the blog:

Was there for the 31-0 beating we gave the Pats in the season opener - - it was awesome. My DirecTV was installed the next week and I've never been back....

Ditto (except I live in KC). <--- Our 2008 outlook just got a whole lot brighter. The difference between Peters and Chambers > the difference between Crowell and Ellison. (JP - KC) > (AC - KE) Go Bills!

Yeah, I think Mario could still play... special teams. Unfortunately, that's not where we're going to miss him. I don't think any magic can land us a starting level LB a this point in the year.

If I remember correctly it was something like this: Travis failed his test, then the league bungled something about the follow up, like ignoring his request for appeal (retest) that had always been granted to players previously. After he turned to the Players' Union, they granted a hair test a couple weeks later, he came up negative, and the punishment was dropped. As for the dumb azz part... yeah, pretty sure he tested positive for that, again.

I'd love any feedback. Personally, I'm thrilled with my team. QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, K, DEF/ST league with standard scoring (not PPR). 10 team league, I picked #3 Position - Name - Team - Round (overall pick) -bye wk QB - Tony Romo - DAL - 2 (18) - bye 10 QB - Eli Manning - NYG - 12 (118) - bye 4 RB - Brian Westbrook - PHI - 1 (3) - bye 7 RB - Jamal Lewis - CLE - 4 (38) - bye 5 RB - Earnest Graham - TB - 6 (58) - bye 10 RB - Fred Taylor - JAX - 15 (143) - bye 7 WR - Larry Fitzgerald - ARI - 3 (23) - bye 7 WR - Torry Holt - STL - 5 (43) - bye 5 WR - Hines Ward - PIT - 8 (78) - bye 6 WR - Dwayne Bowe - KC 9 (83) - bye 6 WR - Deion Branch - SEA - 13 (123) - bye 4 TE - Chris Cooley - WASH - 7 (63) - bye 10 K - S. Gostkowski - NE - 10 (98) - bye 4 K - Kris Brown - HOU - 14 (138) - bye 8 DEF / ST - Tampa Bay 11 (103) - bye 10 I'm thinking of dropping D Branch for Arizona defense. TB plays New Orleans week 1, Arizona plays San Fran...

Speaking of former Bills, (FA) LB Mario Haggan was just suspended. I wondered why we let him go when he was a solid ST contributer. http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8...mp;confirm=true Henry is old news....

Yikes! Thanks for linking that... I think. It's good to look straight at the truth periodically, even if it's much easier (and human nature) to look away most of the time. We like to think of football as a game, but there is a huge human cost paid for our entertainment. It's hard to understand how Merriman could choose to play after seeing/hearing what could lay ahead for him. The only thing that makes sense is something I learned in college Psychology class. We have the (healthy) tendency to not believe that very bad things can/might happen to us. Telling smokers they could get cancer does not make them smoke less. Telling them it gives them bad breath makes a bigger impact on behavior. Maybe someone should tell Merriman he might miss more games total by playing (instead of pionting out he may not walk again if he gets hit wrong).

Or he could just change his name again to Ocho Quatro....

Do you actually think those things are true, or are you just trying to piss people off (trolling)?

I think it's clear we were more interested in checking out our run blocking and RBs (Wright, Omon, Hall) more than any of the QBs or WRs. Edit: just saw eball's post before mine. Yeah, what he said!

I think it depends entirely how it happens. I just want to be proud of the Bills and have reason to hope things will be as good or better next year. If they lose at the beginning of the year because of rookie mistakes (by the young players) , play hard, and get better as the year goes on, then yes, this outcome might be enough. Of course I'd want better results, but I could likely be proud. Likewise, if they win despite injuries, misfortune, or lose playing exceptional opponents, I could be proud of them, and getting to the playoffs could be enough for me to feel like the year was a success. As a general line in the sand, I feel like they need to win a playoff game.

Where did that smilie come from!? I don't see it listed in the GUI.... Nice gem to pull out for the right post.... :kill: :maim: :slap:

I agree. Please don't let him teach our young players how to do it his way!

That's why I was asking if anyone saw signs that Preston was actually getting time in this role. And besides talking about roster spots, I'm also interested in how bad it would be if Neill got injured and had to leave a game. I was shocked they cut Schneck in favor of Neill because in general I agree with you. They did, I repeat DID cut our long snapper last year in favor of a backup that did not seem proven to me. At the time the only rationale that made sense to me was to save a roster spot because the new LS (Neill) could also back up DE, and Denney had just been hurt. Is Neill's one year of experience so hard to replace? Who was our LS before Schneck? If that was Preston, forget I mentioned this. I have vague alcohol-hazed memories of snaps going wildly high....

I think it's hard to justify keeping Ryan Neill. He hasn't shown up as a backup on the D-line since last year, which seemed to be the whole reason he landed the job in the first place. Has anyone seen Preston come in to long snap? (Duke is listed as the backup on BB.com.)

Okay, I'll add other examples of incompetence to the long list: Around the end of the first quarter they actually praised the Bills (specifically Jauron) for calling running plays that would wear down the defense and really pay dividends at the end of the game. Then, at the end of the half, they seemed to have a Jauron-bashing script that they read , even thoug the game in no way supported the attacks they had lined up. Okay, to offset the crap.... how nice was it to hear an announcer take some time to detail this about a Bills drive: 18 play, 93 yards, taking 10 minutes with us 4 for 4 on 3rd down! Of course the real credit goes to the offense, not the offensive announcing....

It looked like he jammed his thumb on the replay (no wrist issue). I think this re-aggrivated a lingering injury from a month ago. From July 29: Bills' Losman jams thumb on throwing hand, misses practice

bump. The Bills are Due (Amazon) Rob, This comes up as out of stock on Amazon (new). How many were printed?

My guess is the following make the team: Lynch Jackson Omon Wright Hall and Barnes cut. Unless Wright picks it up, I think he's at risk. With Omon playing at a similar level, it looks like he has more upside than Wright, who does not seem to be improving much. Wright has shown more decisiveness this year in PS, but it's impossible to overlook the fumbles. Two more strong PS games with no fumbles and I think he makes the team for sure. If Omon does not get many carries tomorrow, then I agree they may be hiding him for the PS. In the past they've cut some of these players in the first cut, I think so they don't receive as much scrutiny as those on the last cut.

I have no problem any team game planning for a pre-season game. You should practice whatever you need to practice. If that's the basics, then so be it. If you have young players or rookies who are going to start it may be a good idea to practice game planing with them so they can get comfortable with the rhythms of a regular season week (not that this applies well to the 5 day week they just had). The clearest example I remember of a team perhaps being inappropriate was 3(?) years ago when the Packers came and scrimmaged us before the first preseason game. We whipped up our new zone blitz and hammered them, something I'm sure they didn't really appreciate.

A 30 year loan at 6.0% would be a $18 Million per month payment.