Rubes

Found out I need to go to a conference in Atlanta the weekend of the huge Phins game at home...the conference starts Sunday night at around 6pm, so I need to be there for that. Problem is, I'm going from Salt Lake City to Atlanta, and the two-hour difference creates a challenge. Do I: 1. Take the flight out of SLC Sunday morning at 6 freaking AM, so I can get into Atlanta by 11:30, with a little time to spare to get to a Bills bar in Atlanta 2. Take the 7:40AM flight out of SLC and arrive right around 1PM, so I'll probably miss the first half 3. Leave Saturday afternoon and blow my whole weekend, but be in Atlanta for an extra half day just so I can be available to find a Bills bar to see the whole damn game Wife doesn't care, she'll be out of town that weekend anyway. Anybody know a good Bills bar in Atlanta? The conference is at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead, whatever or wherever the hell that is. Thanks brethren.

All I can say is this: Last year, we really stunk. Bad. That team was painful to watch sometimes, maybe even most of the time. Sure the defense was pretty good, but the lack of turnovers was really pathetic, and really hurt us. The offense and special teams were dismal. Yet, as bad we were, we still managed 6-10. A few balls bouncing the other way and it's easily 8-8. I just refuse to believe we will be as damn awful as we were last year. And we won't be. The offense WILL be better. The defense WILL get more turnovers. The special teams WILL improve, at least some. There is reason to be hopeful, that is for sure. How hopeful, me not know.

Damn, that almost brought a tear to my eye. Be safe, stevestojan head!

I'm not sure, but my feeling is that one of those two (Pucillo or Sullivan) will stick. I don't think you can overstate the importance of having a backup OL who can come in at the drop of a hat. The real question is: has McFarland done well enough to earn a roster spot, or is he PS material? My guess is the latter. I think we will keep 9 linemen and the backups will be Price, Sobieski, Tucker, and Sullivan (since Sully can play either guard or tackle).

It's a tough choice, for certain. It looks like we'll be keeping 5 tackles and 4 ends. Ritzmann is just not ready for prime time, it seems, so that leaves the competition between Gildon and McKenzie. I haven't seen much of preseason play so far, so it's hard for me to comment. But I do think, unless McKenzie has really risen above Gildon, that Gildon has the edge since he can play two positions.

He has many books...I remember reading one some 10-15 years ago, and laughing so hard I was crying.

When the Dolphins sign a defensive end that even the Buffalo Bills cut, that's saying something.

an injury-free game

Good luck, man.

Where are his articles nowadays?

That was awesome. Looks like a great day.

Predicting the final 15 is proving to be really hard for me. I went through the roster and I could come up with only 6 that, for certain, will be released: Jasen Esposito Greg Zolman Drew Haddad Constantin Ritzmann Lauvale Sape Gerald Dixon That leaves 9 others that need to be released. I came up with this list of 11 potentials: Jonathan Smith Dylan McFarland Mike Pucillo Marques Sullivan Rod Trafford Joe Burns Ken Simonton Jason Gildon Mario Haggan Jabari Greer Pierson Prioleau But many of those are questionable. Trafford has apparently been playing well, but I see no way we release Euhus even if it's to put him on the PS. That would be for Trafford, I think. And I haven't seen enough of Haggan to know for sure if his time has come. I don't think we get rid of both Pucillo and Sullivan; we still need to keep bodies around for the inevitable injuries. My guess is Pucillo gets the boot since Sullivan can also play Guard if he has to. And who knows, maybe we end up keeping Joe Burns and ditch both Ken Simonton and Shaud Williams since Burns can play both FB and HB (although I doubt that will happen). As for Gildon, I haven't seen enough to know about him, but it doesn't sound like he will stick. Then again, maybe the coaches will keep him over Stamer, since Gildon can play both LB and DE? But a lot of this depends on what happens with Travis Brown and Lawyer Milloy. I agree with others here that, if Matthews looks decent and picks up the offense quickly, Brown should be cut. There is just no way to justify the extra roster spot. Is IR really an option after the team already said his injury is only a 4-6 week thing? As for Milloy, if he can be ready enough to play in the first or second week, then we don't need to keep Prioleau around, but if not, then we would need him for depth until Milloy comes back. It makes the final cuts very difficult to predict.

You're right. What were our coaches and GM thinking? Can't they see real talent when it's right in front of them?

Ugh...this started out so promising, and then....

I recall it sucking, but I can't remember thinking that it sucked that badly.

He's their backup (#2) running back. Are they billsfanone? Not that it matters to us, but this quote left me with the shivers:

Although I'm a huge nerd, I'm not all that sophisticated when it comes to computer specifics. Just wondering what some of the computer buffs here think of Intel's new milestone. Think this chip will actually ship in the next year, or will production or heat issues inevitably get in the way? Intel shrinks chips to 65nm

This is far too logical for this board. I suggest you get that crap out of here in a hurry. If people didn't get too emotionally high or low before the season started, then there might not be as strong of a market for prescription mood stabilizers. I'd be careful or some of the big pharmaceutical companies will be on your ass faster than Drew gets sacked.

And it did make me laugh.....

I disagree with MattyT. This thread is awesome.

Consistently relying on the pass, given a team with a proven and successful running back, an offensive line that couldn't pass block for stevestojan, a quarterback that couldn't avoid the rush, and the only high quality wide receiver completely emasculated for the season, pretty much says it all for the Gilbride philosophy.

Labatt's got it right on this one. While I agree with Mark that I'd like to see the Bills run, run again, and then run it some more, that will only work if we are actually successful running the ball. If we try our best to run it as much as possible, but can't get anywhere with it, we end up doing nothing but putting ourselves in 3rd and longs, and that's just a recipe for failure with the way this line pass blocks in obvious passing situations. Run blocking is definitely more of a strong point (or perhaps I should say less of a weak point) for this offensive line, but I'm not yet convinced that this line can make holes regardless of the defensive front. As they did last season, teams will stack the box and make it as difficult as possible to run it. I'm not so sure that continuing to try, when all we are doing is banging our heads against a wall, is the best approach. We need to be able to show defenses that we can pass the ball effectively at any time. If we can run the ball well, then everything else will come easy. But I agree with Labatt that it may take a good mix of runs and passes on every down to get there.

That much is true, we needed this guy a couple of weeks ago. But it is what it is. The next round of cuts is Tuesday, so I expect we'll wait until then before doing anything. Although the pickings are slim, I do think there is someone out there that will help this team through a couple of games if Drew has to come out.

Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I have never had any faith in Travis to come off the bench and lead this team to victory. If Drew went down this year and we were forced to go with Travis for anything more than a game, we were just plain screwed. Yes, he was playing better this year than in years past (perhaps), but this isn't a guy I was ready to place a lot of faith in. This injury, to me, is almost a blessing. It will force us to bring someone else in, probably someone with a little experience. He won't have much time to learn the system, but I really think anybody other than Travis will do as our #2.

True, even if JP's leg was still intact, he wouldn't get much chance to prove everyone wrong until next year anyway (at least). I'm still very much looking forward to that.