Archives for August 30, 2008

‘A big shout-out, of course, goes to Adrian Montgomery, general manager of the Bills Toronto Series. Touchdown!’

‘”The coaches will decide who makes this team and who doesn’t,” Youboty said after Thursday’s preseason finale against Detroit. “I have no say in it, so all I can do is go out and let my performance speak for me.”‘

‘Despite the competition from NBC’s Olympic coverage from Beijing for two games, the four preseason games carried on Channel 7 averaged more than a 16 rating. Even Thursday night’s snooze-fest without starters – in which Detroit beat the Bills, 14-6 – averaged a 15.1 rating and hit as high as a 17.6.’

‘Jauron is staring at a serious numbers crunch in the secondary. There were 10 DBs on the roster last year and there might be again this year, too. Youboty made a strong case for a job at cornerback, and it will be interesting to see whether he can beat out veteran free-agent signee Will James for a spot. Rookies McKelvin and Corner seem to have earned jobs behind starters Terrence McGee and Jabari Greer, though Corner might end up on the practice squad if Youboty makes the team.’

‘Now, if you point the finger at owner Ralph C. Wilson, you are starting to look in the right direction. It IS all about the money, but the NFL must come up with a better plan. Either continue with four games but charge less, or play one or possibly two of the preseason games as regular season games.’

‘Meanwhile, afterward Jauron was disinclined to apologize for the personnel he fielded before a sellout crowd that was generously listed at 70,138, though the effort clearly disappointed him. “It was a game where we had to look at an awful lot of young people and there were a lot of decisions that were on the line that need to be made tomorrow and the next day,” he said of Saturday’s cutdown from 75 to 53 players. “We got to see a lot of those guys and we got to see them for a lot of plays. Now we have a lot of tape on a lot of young guys we need to answer questions on.”‘