WhitewalkerInPhilly

You know, while the honeymoon is still ongoing with Marrone, I think we might have been ok with picking up Pettine instead. Of course, he probably wouldn't have wanted Manuel so early, so it's kind of hard to say. I do worry a little that if he does a really amazing job we might lose him when offered a spot for another team...of course, that would mean that the Bills are doing really well. I may take that. I sometimes like to bet against what I want to happen. MOW 'EM DOWN! Fair point, though I am going to give Pettine the benefit of the doubt for now. I'm happy about Bradham returning, and a big fan for swapping out Sheppard and Barnett for Alonso and Lawson. Mario was decent against runs to the outside last year. Whether this is an appreciable increase in talent, or if the scheme is sufficient to stop the run...I don't know. But I'm excited to see.

Oi vey...it feels like a waste, but I'm not shedding too many tears. To be honest, edge rusher is looking kind of stacked these days, and it looks like we can the same or better production out of some of the younger, cheaper guys so I'm not shedding any tears. Hairston being gone, however, is a bit disturbed.

I can respect the issue of getting injured in a franchise tag year...which is why I have even less respect for Parker. It's in his best interests to do what is best for his client, not leave him in the lurch because he feels he can add one million more a year. Of course, there is another question: what is Byrd sits out for the maximum amount of time, but gets hurt his first week back because he hasn't gone through conditioning? He'd have given up half a year of guaranteed salary, only to know that he's getting much less in this round of negotiations.

I'm a little shocked, considering the Patriot's situation at receiver. After losing Welker, Lloyd, Hernandez and Woodhead, and with Gronk possibly on PUP would have figured there were desperate. Hell, I would even say that the Bills have more talent in their receiving corps.

"It's going to be War."-Doug Marrone Ok, I think we finally have the right attitude going into the season. I'm a little surprised that he doesn't feel Rodgers will contribute much this season, but there is a big difference between "Immediate impact season 1" and "Talented player who needs more time to develop" so I would be ok with the latter.

I'm not sure if I adaquately phrased this...I severely doubt that such an event will occur. The Bills do have options, now, even if Byrd is still the best player. unless safety is the one position that makes the defense not work and top 5 money sounds entirly fair consideing what we've seen from the man.

I think there also is a very real question of 'will this equal a holdout'? the truth is, if Byrd wants the big bucks, it behooves him to sign the tender. Parker wants his client to be the best paid free safety in the league, and at this point the bills don't think he's worth that much. If he wants to shop for another team to pay that much, he's going to have to prove he's the next Ed Reed or Eric Berry. Byrd has been on one of the worst defenses in the league most of his career, so if he wants the money, he'd better hope Pettine is good enough to turn a talented group of underachievers into a top 5 unit. What's the other option, sit out, lose half your money and pray the defense is so bad that your presence is the only thing that can turn it around?

They probably have other things they're talking about right now... But I agree, suddenly that game is looking like a contest. Look at their top receivers from last year in order: Welker? Gone. Lloyd? Gone. Gronk? On his fourth surgery and questionable to play week one, never mind at full strength. Hernandez? Released and likely still in jail. Woodhead? Gone. Their two free agency pickups at WR have been Amendola (who I like matched up against Gilmore) and Donald Jones. Yes, our Donald Jones is now their z-receiver. While I liked him, I would never accuse the man of being a superstar. Brady might have the ability to play up other receivers, but his best tools are gone. Mike Pettine must be getting stopped in practice because he's drooling...and the players might have mistaken him for a rabid bulldog. This is a comparison I like. If the Bills show half the talent we're hoping from them, I want to see the Pats pass game shut down, and Brady getting hit like a pinata. When Brady takes hits, he starts losing it and you see those 4 INT games. I don't even need to imagine what that will be like. Does anyone remember Week 1 in 2009? For the first half, the Bills were pretty dominant on D, getting to Brady and getting a pick 6 and everyone on ESPN couldn't shut up about how Tom Brady was coming off his ACL. When they came back to win, no one talked about how McKelvin had fumbled the kickoff, it was all about how amazing Tom Brady was. I think this was where I really started to hate the Pats.

Sanchez: Come on, why does nobody take me seriously. They all seem to think that you only keep me around because you have have an unhealthy desire to keep me around. Rex: *quickly hits a key on his computer* Sorry, what was that Mark?

He is currently questionable to start the season, and that will depend on his rehab from his fourth surgery this year. He just had it a few weeks ago, so being ready for training camp is a question mark.

True. I think we also have to mention that Brady is, indeed, getting older. He's still very skilled, but he'll be 36 when the season starts. Favre was 37 when his last season with the Packers began and people were telling him that it was getting time to retire then, and especially afterwards. A younger Brady...I wouldn't have any doubts, but people are already whispering that Brady is seeing ghosts. Let's see how he is without Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Hernandez and an oft injured Gronk.

A deep and abiding hatred of the Patriots* coupled with surprise and happiness that a professional athlete is being held accountable for a serious crime.

Ok, I'm trying not to be having a little schadenfreude...and utterly failing.

Well, it's still young, and Beerball hasn't been through yet but Hernandez getting released is pretty breaking news.

Holy crap...maybe I'm just too jaded of players skating away most of the time for committing crimes, so Hernandez getting the boot is a bit of a shock. If the Pats are doing this with one of their best remaining players, it seems that they have real reason to suspect that Hernandez wouldn't be playing. Well, we're two for four, with Gronk still questionable for when the Bills play them (at home!) Week 1! Just imagine, Brady without those three facing Pettine's scheme fully realized.

People have, rightfully, pointed out that we thought that Wanny was going to be our savior on defense last year. I thought so, at the time. But out of curiosity, who can remember Wanny having anywhere even close to the energy Pettine has shown?Pettine isn't even that energetic, and I still think he beats Wanny. The man seems to have a grim determination at all times. Of course, it's way too early to say for certain but...well, come on we're going to do it anyway.

Dammnit Kraft...do you know hard it is for me to say "well done" to Putin? And for the record, the ring truly belongs to the shadowy mastermind of an organization that has succeeded with surveillance on visitors to their territory and questionable calls by sports officials...wait, you don't think...has anyone ever Vladimir Putin and Bill Belicheck in the room together at the same time?

You mean a group of 20-something males might want to pick up some video games for when they're in training camp? Hey, the more they're playing those games, the fewer DUI's they're likely to rack up.

This comes off as really, really odd, especially seeing how the defensive scheme has played out here recently. But maybe the answer is rather simple: Pettine has a different group of players, with talent frontloaded at different positions. The Jets had Revis, and whether you like him or not, he's a very talented CB, and they had a pair of very talented Safeties (Landry and Bell). Their talent was in their secondary, so it could be possible that Pettine felt he was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, which would explain why he would be willing to move to Buffalo where he could use Kyle and Mario Williams and Dareus. You mean the Bills avoided signing a group of linebackers on the wrong side of 30 and a safety who got paid much more than he was worth? I'm happier with who we got.

That's true about Kolb being injured. I mean, I hate to look at a guy and say "Yeah, he's going to be injured", but let's look at Stevie and Wood? Is it crazy to say that neither will be injured for any length of time this season? But it might actually work alright if Manuel has gotten a few weeks to get used to the pace, hold a clipboard and then get his chance to shine.

You know, going over some of those highlights, I have to say that Kolb is looking really good. I know people want Manuel to start, but if Kolb looks really good in training camp and starts winning, would we really object to him starting?

Apparently. See what happens when he works out in the offseason?

This just came over at Buffalo Rumblings and hadn't seen it yet: http://http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2013/6/13/4427056/buffalo-bills-stevie-johnson-had-fractured-back-per-report It's good to see him practicing now, but I guess it should silence some complaints about him being slow to get back into camp.

I've heard of him. Get 'er done Buddy...I mean Whaley. Man, that doesn't work quite as well. We need something new. But seriously, I don't really see anything here that would be really groundbreaking. Maybe Dallas Clark on the cheap to help fill in if Chandler has to start on PUP. I too would be waiting for camp cuts, since at that point the Bills might be able to peel off a few promising young players other teams let go.

Does it stream games as they're happening? If that's the case, I don't care about paying an extra $10 a month onto another expense I'm already paying as opposed to spending a couple hundred to get Sunday Ticket since I'm living out of town.