fergie's ire

The 6 horse in the 7th race looks good.

Anyone else getting racing from Saratoga instead of the end of the game?

I've thought that the Bills should hire a coach who is nothing but a screen specialist for both offense and defense. For the longest time they have sucked at running and covering the screen.

I've been thinking the same thing for a while...but wasn't sure this could be worked out on a rookie deal. However, I heard someone mention doing this, so I guess they can. I honestly think the best thing for Cook is to go to free agency and get as much money as anyone will pay him. Running back careers are usually short and he should try and maximize his value. If he does that, the best thing for the Bills would be to let him go. Ideally, he and Bosa have great years and get paid a ton of dough, which sets the Bills up in comp picks. The problem is this year. I think the Bills can do well with Davis and Johnson...but would be better with Cook and since they have a great chance to go to the Super Bowl this year, I'd love to have him on the team and happy.

If he is still having nagging injuries and if there are not other semi-major injuries to players between now and then, I wonder if they use one of the 2 pre-season IRs on him. He's expensive to cut and stashing him on the IR keeps him on the roster but doesn't take a roster spot. Use Moore in that role for the first part of the season and see how it works out. If he's great and/or Samuel is still struggling with injuries, you could cut him down the road but only keep 5 WR on the roster for the initial 53.

I think that Josh underwent a major mechanics re-set prior to 24. I remember he talked about how his mechanics got messed up post injury in 22 and he had spend the offseason before 24 getting right again. This season he can build on that re-set...get back his upward trajectory in his place which will also be helped by being in the Brady system on more year. There's the potential that he could have an unreal season this year.

Yes, that's it. There was a controversy about this last season (clearly the reason for the ban) when cameras caught someone being given smelling salts after being hit and showing some concussion signs. Many in the media were claiming that if he was taking smelling salts, he must be concussed, but then others pointed out that the ground is littered with the packets after a game...that some players take them before every drive. NFL didn't want the bad look of covering up for concussions so banned them.

I've been waiting 50 years to break that insult out again.

Also, they certainly don't want to play Bosa in preseason, and Rousseau only a bit (if at all)....maybe not even AJ the way he has been playing. They don't want to play the rookies the whole game, so they need some bodies.

So is a cold. According to Reid he had fluid in his ear. Common after a cold and/or ear infection.

Your mother wears combat boots. Yeah. I had the same reaction. I've always heard it the other way round....but then thought it must just be me.

Again, a weird NFL distinction. As long as VPG does not practice all training camp, they can PUP him, which means he doesn't count as an IR to return. They could still IR to return two others before the 53 man cut down.

I think that since he has practiced, Hairston can't go on the PUP list and return. However, he could use one of the two pre-season IR to return slots. I do think the Bills were certainly use those two slots and since Hairston is on crutches now, it probably makes sense for him to start the season that way. Since VPG is on the PUP list I almost wonder if makes sense to keep him on it until the season starts if he is having injury problems anyway. That would keep one more roster spot open.

Or put 2 on IR to return.

Haason Reddick last year.

Agree. The Bills brought in Ryan Nielsen who likes to use a lot of stunts and wants to have mobile penetrators, not stationary boulders that plug up the middle. The picked up three DTs in free agency and the draft and not one is a "true 1 tech." They are 3's who can play 1. They are talking about Carter as a 3 who can play 1. So, either they just couldn't find any true 1 techniques or they decided that that is not what they want. I think with that many selections, it has to be the latter. The tea leaves are suggesting that they want to attack, attack, attack...which I would love to see. Also, the Bills were one of the best in the league in getting pressure but it did not translate into sacks. They were killed by quick passes. One way to combat that is with better press DB coverage, but the other is by having rushing linemen get their hands up. When they're all over 6'5, it can be hard for a QB like Tua to get a quick pass off.

I think a possible reason that he deleted is that One Bills Drive does not want players releasing information until they make a formal announcement. It may be that not all the tests are in so that "confirmed ACL" is a lie...but still possible he has an ACL. As some have pointed out, it took Von 10 days to get the diagnosis. He may be annoyed at people posting information he knows is wrong but Bills mgmt is annoyed that he would post something until all the facts/tests are in.

I hope you're right...but sometimes people like to remind themselves of their blessings when facing adversity. But he is smiling...so hopefully it is because of good news. But you might have to wait a bit to hear from McD as there's no practice today.

I think someone threw Ed in the dryer even though he is dry clean only.

I'd heard reports that he seems to have hurt it early Sunday. He was seen off to the side practicing pelvic thrusts and was heard muttering "If I only get two, I'm going to make them count."

I've been wondering if the new training staff has the approach of dealing with minor injuries before they become a problem. Seems we have seen a ton of players sitting out (at OTA and training camp) and here that the injury is minor. Maybe they figure if they have a minor tweak it's best to rest and heal rather than play through and hopefully this will allow them to ramp up slowly and be stronger when the season arrives? Just a theory, but there have been so many, I wonder if it is part of a plan.

I also want the Bills to be playing on natural grass for injury reasons. It's possible to have natural grass if the roof or the field is retractable, but either is expensive. I think the new stadium has the best of both worlds. There should be next to no wind, the field is natural but also heated so it won't be hard as a rock. Also, just inside the 15 year window is Lumen Field which replaced an indoor stadium. In Seattle, fans didn't like going indoors if the weather was nice because being outside in good weather is such a rare opportunity in Seattle. Sure, they're dealing with rain and not freezing cold, but being outside at a game in the fall is a wonderful experience so being comfortable in cold weather games comes with the trade-off of losing that outdoor fall experience.

Yes, and, for example, he throws the best low arc deep pass I've ever seen. It's not on a line, exactly, but just has a little hump back trajectory. I think he threw one over Derrell Revis...to Hollins, I think, but he can get it over a DB even when a receiver is covered and he can throw those 40 or 50 yards...but what we are talking about is that high arching pass that drops in that Russell Wilson has been so good at and that Jayden Daniels was so good at last year.

The most promising description I heard about yesterday's practice was on Cover 1. They described a play where a receiver went in motion and as he did, Bernard yelled to Hairston who then relayed the message to someone else and repositioned himself and at the snap of the ball everyone was in position and picked up the play perfectly. Their focus was on Bernard, but, to me, it's amazing that Hairston is doing this first practice. I remember seeing Elam on the field and though I think it was still his rookie year, it was late in his rookie year. Poyer was yelling at him to get in the right spot pre-snap, and he seemed annoyed that Elam didn't know where he should be. If Hairston is picking this stuff up already and he has the mental ability to match his physical ability, he and Benford could make an amazing duo for the next several years.

Not really. It dropped the "He" and "that" before and after "notes" but such ellipsis is not uncommon in condensed speech like tweets.