gdabillsfan

By all accounts from the out of town folks I spoke with who watched on NFL network, they all said that the Chicago announcers were better than Detroit's the week before, but still were homers. They spent most of the first quarter making excuses for the Bears poor play. Now, listening to Catalon/tasker, if I were a Bears fan, I would of said the same thing about them.(sometimes I think Tasker gets drunk during the games, a la Dandy Don, turn out the lights ,Meredeth.) On Basham; He did play well, although as you said it was against their 2's and 3's. He did make mistakes and, is by far an unfinished product at this point. He would look lost against a good team, however he exudes a ton of potential. I think he will need a year or two to get up to speed and gain experience in the NFL, which is fine considering he was a late round 2 pick. McD, loves these kind of hybrid players that can play inside or edge, and that's what I think he projects to be. Rousseau on the other hand looks really good for a rookie, I know it's preseason, and I'm probably exaggerating his abilities (as a good hometown fan would), but I think his potential is off the charts. If he continues to progress I believe he has what it takes to be a star in this league. Just a quick thought about drafting players; Beane has done a remarkable job, finding these guys, as we improve as a team, this only gets harder, as The better you are, the later you pick.

Nice, I appreciate your thoughts. The bull rush by Epeneza was against their starting LT #70 Too bad you got the Chicago announcers, you missed a gem from tasker describing tackling Gilliam, he said "tackling him is like trying to catch a fire hydrant, being thrown out of a moving pick up truck" I told this to an out of town friend and he spit out his coffee lol.

Interesting topic.My Nephew has lived in Ma. for the last 15 years or so, and he says the same thing about the Bills getting love from the folks up there now. It used to be (when we fielded poor teams) we were just looked at as 2 easy wins on the schedule. Of course the relevance here is we are good again, and being hyped by the National media, so as that goes, we gain respect. I think as NE improves their roster, rivalries will heat up (as long as the Bills remain good), and maybe it will be like Miami/Buffalo rivalries from the past.

I think it's great that our team is so deep this year that we are debating about guys to make the team that may be inactive game days, but could be coveted on other teams

Obada was one of my cuts, (as some one said above, Addison should be cut in exchange for him), I agree with that, however McB, values him higher than than Obada ( I know they offer different skill sets). I never had Breida as a cut, he's insurance for Singletary and Moss.

I got a phone call today from an old friend, who is also a big Bills fan (in both girth and exuberance), and we talked for about 2 hours about this year's team. We put our heads together and I thought I would post our conclusions BTW when two old bald guys put their heads together it forms a perfect )( but I digress. First of all, He is as stoked as I am about the Bills chances this year, so we covered all the topics from the final 53, game to game predictions, the expectations for individual players, and even the future of the Bills (new stadium)in Buffalo. so here's what we came up with for our final 53 roster and thoughts on each position. Offense (25) QB: Allen, Trubisky The Bills keep 2, with Mitch being a major upgrade from Barkley, and either Fromm or Webb on the PS. WR: Diggs, Beasley, Sanders, Davis, McKenzie, Kumerow. We keep 6, it was a tough choice to cut Stevenson, as he has shown promise in the preseason, he'll be on the PS if he can clear waivers as will Hodgkin's, and possibly Powell and/or Gentry. RB: Singletary, Moss, Breida, Taiwan Jones (HE gets cut initially to stash someone on the IR and then resigned) We keep 4, 5 if you count Gilliam here, I have him in the TE group though so 4. Williams to the PS. TE: Knox, Hollister, Sweeney, Gilliam We have major upgrades here over last year, gaining Hollister, and losing Kroft and L. Smith, and getting Sweeney back from his heart issue. We keep 3/4 depending on how you count Gilliam with him being the 4th. *Interesting tidbit, my friend is from out of town, so he watched yesterday's game on the NFL channel, who had the Chicago announcers. So, I told him what Tasker said about tackling Gilliam "it's like trying to catch a fire hydrant thrown from the back of a moving pick up truck" and he spit out his coffee. 😆 OL: Dawkins, Feliciano, Morse, Ford, Williams as the starters, and Brown, Boettger(sp), Bates as reserves. We will also keep another tackle maybe a vet that's cut or Doyle for a total of 9. A couple of the rest (maybe Andersen or Lamp) for the PS Defense (25) DT: Starr,(can't spell his last name) Oliver, Phillips, Zimmer We keep 4 with Butler as the odd man out. A better group from last year, just because well have a true 1 tech this year, instead of playing 3's there.Possibly Butler to PS if no one signs him. DE: Addison, Hughes, Epeneza, Rousseau, Basham, Johnson. We keep 6, Obada is the odd man out if we stay with Addison, which is a shame because someone will probably sign him. It would be nice to be able to stash him somehow, of all our cuts I am most worried about him not making it to the PS. Johnson stays for his prowess on ST, and he seems to be improving with his defensive snaps as well. Big improvement this year with this group with our losses being only Murphy and Jefferson who were just ok at best. LB: Edmunds, Milano, Klein, Matakevich, Smith, Dodson We keep these 6 with Giles_Harris,and maybe Lee to the PS CB: White, Wallace, T. Johnson, Jackson, Neal. We keep 5 like last year, the only loss was Norman, who I thought should of been cut early last year anyway (too old and slow). Wildgoose, Lewis and either Griffen or McCloud to the PS S: Hyde, Poyer, J. Johnson, Thomas or Hamlin with which ever is cut to the PS. We keep 4. *I liked Marlowe last year, but don't consider his loss a net loss, because Hamlin and Thomas both show potential, and have younger legs. ST: Bass, Haack, Ferguson Interestingly we swapped our left footed punter, for another lefty. I think Haack might have a bit more finesse to his game to pin our opponents, but Bojo sure could punt the hell out of the ball. Bass I'm sure is happy for a holder who knows which way the laces go, Bass o matic. Other Musings and prognostications We disagreed on wins and losses on the year, with my friend predicting a 14-3 campaign, and losses to KC, TB, and NE (at Foxboro) I think we start out 4 and 2, with losses to KC and Tenn. going into the bye. We rebound well but suffer a last minute loss at TB .The loss sucks but we never lose again going 14-3 on the regular season We both agreed: The Bills will make a deal with EC and NYS to build a new open air stadium in OP with the state and county putting up 1 billion towards the totl cost of 1.6 billion. I know PSE predicts the total cost at 1.4 B, but nothing gets built in NY without some kind of cost over run.☹️

Never heard of OP grass, but I've smoked some good OG, Not to be a wise guy, but don't we play on turf? 🤔

That play made me jump out of my chair.

I don't usually watch preseason games much past the 1st half, but this game was exiting enough to keep me watching to the end. Bills are going to have some tough cuts. Loved Epeneza bullrush and stiff arm on the LT, and hit on Dalton. (Made me jump out ofmy chair)Our DL looks much improved from last year. A lot of our cuts will be signed elsewhere

Wow, 2 posts in the same day for me after years of none. I must be feeling loquacious, so here goes. FANDOM FROM CASUAL FAN TO DIE HARD (And no, I am not shouting) Anyway, just like you Shaw, I loved the Bills when I was a kid growing up in Rochester. I moved to Phoenix in the late 70's, and then to Anchorage,Ak., and back to Phoenix, where I stayed until the 90's. I was for the most part a casual fan then, catching a game whenever the were on national TV (which wasn't very often) I started to seriously get into the Bills again in the very late 80's, early 90's because my Dad would always talk them up every time I would call home during football season. I moved back to Rochester in 94, to be closer to my mom, as Dad had passed away in 91, and she needed the help. It was around then I found the BBMB, and really became a diehard, and thanks to posters like Shaw, Wyo,and many others I learned more than I ever knew about the Bills and other things (thanks again Shaw for the Rockpile Review and for all the hard work you put in with the Ball Burglars). Some of the discussions on that board were the greatest threads, especially when they were talking Oline strategies,etc. I relocated here after BBMB shut down, and really don't post hardly at all, but I read these boards everyday and believe these forums are one of the best ,as NFL message boards go, but I digress. I must be above average, when the Bills are on, my wife, the dogs and some of my neighbors all run away. Go figure.

@Virgil thanks for your thoughts posts, I truly enjoy reading them (along with Shaw's Rockpile reviews). I rarely post, (it's been years since the last time), but I read these forums daily and have a few thoughts also. 1. Bills memories; I haven't always been a Bills fan either. I originally was a Packers fan as a little kid. I idolized Bart Starr and wanted to be just like him. (Yogi Bear too, but I digress), so while watching a Bills game with my Dad, and my brothers, I was astounded by the Bills new running back, none other than OJ Simpson. I couldn't believe that he was so good. I was hooked, and I have been a Bills fan ever since. Although there have been many other memorable moments, and some not, through the years, I still am a Bills fan 50 some years later. 2. Dedication. In the early 90's, I attended a Bills/Jets game in late December, and although I expected it to be cold it was brutal.( I think it is the second coldest game on record at Rich Stadium. It had the record until the next game, I believe against Oakland , which thankfully I watched from the comfort of my living room in balmy Arizona.) So, the night before the game Buffalo got like a foot of snow and though they did the best they could there was 6 inches of ice stuck to the seats. The temp was hovering around zero, and the wind was blowing at around 30 mph. We (my brothers and I) endured that for the whole game, with the only bonus being that we got on tv with my brothers sign which was a giant thermometer and read "NEVER BEEN COLDER Can't wait to get back to balmy Anchorage" (He was in from Alaska, for Xmas and the game) 3. I am also wrong often, my wife will confirm that I'm sure. 4. "....shuffling off to Buffalo...... What a long strange trip it's been " 7. Favs; Fergie, Cribbs, Smerlas,Talley, L.Smith, A williams, Fitz, Lee Evans (he is a super nice guy, I was fortunate enough to meet him once.) Pat Williams, and so many more. 9. Again thanks for your posts. I have over the years been trying to inspire young fans to cheer for the Bills, with most of them now Bills fans too. My newest project is my great grandson, he's 2 1/2, and this will be his 1st season as a Bills fan, if I can get him to sit down long enough to watch.

1.) the title to the song is Sister Mary Elephant found on the album "Big Bambu" which featured an album cover made to look like a giant pack of rolling papers with 1 paper remaining (left for the real Cheech and Chong experience) 2.)class, .....class, ......CLASSS,.... SHADDD-UPPPPPP!!!!!!