BobbyC81

Nate Clements will sign a free-agent contract with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Write it down and file it away until February. The Niners will have lots of salary cap room and CB is a position of need.

It's been interesting listening to local SF Bay Area sports radio with discussions on why the Forty-Niners still stink. One thing that surprises me is al the talk about how disappointing Jonas Jennings has been. It makes me wonder about the adequacy of some pro scouting and how much homework the Niners staff did on Jennings. They believed he was going to anchor their O-line at Left tackle for years to come. They seem surpised at his injuries and unwillingness to play with them. Head coach Mike Nolan was recently quoted as saying that Jennings needs to be 100% to be effective. Sure us Bills fans follow the team more closely than other people across the country but how could the Niners' management not know Jennings was injury-prone throughout his time with the Bills???

If you told me before the season that the Bills would be 2-5 at this point, I would have guessed the 2 wins were at home vs the Jets and the game AT Detroit. Since the Dolphins were expected to be very good, I counted that as a loss, along with the 2 New England games. Chicago was a no-brainer. Minnesota was coming off a 9-7 season so a victory, even at home, wasn't likely. Instead, it turned out to be wins vs the Dolphins and Vikes and disappointing losses vs the Jets and Lions. So, let's take a look at the rest of the schedule. I see strong chances for wins against Green Bay, Miami at home in December (Woohoo!!), Tennessee and the Texans. I also give the Bills somewhat of a chance vs the Jets, even on the road. So, they aren't likely to win all of the 4 games with the best chance of winning (maybe 3 ??). I say we're looking at a probable 5-11 record, which is about what many people predicted, whereas some of us optimists were thinking 7-9 or even playoffs (as Jim Mora said: "PLAYOFFS??!!!") I guess with all the changes, 5-11 shouldn't be disappointing, but I think it would be. That would mean no improvement over the Bills' 2005 record, despite a new head coach and staff that have seemd to have it "more together" than the prior staff, a promising rookie class, and an improvement by JP Losman. I guess it's not too early to start looking for mock drafts.

I don't remember too many plays i've seen in watching the NFL for about 36 years where a play is stopped without the ballcarrier being tackled because of a penalty. I wonder if the ref who threw the penalty flag IS the same one that blew the whistle on the WHitner INT. If not, then how could you stop the play if you didn't know who the penalty was on?? There were several blatant holding calls on whoever was trying to block Schobel that weren't called. To be fair, there weren't a lot of penanlties called in this game so there were likely similar plays with Bills' holding that also weren't called. That pass play to Graham, though. In live action, it looked to me like he reached over the line (the computer first down line) but to see the ref running from the sideline close to the yellow line then make a right turn to mark it several feet past the line. Then, when ball spotted, it's at the 48?? Oh well, enough spewing for today. At least Bruschi didn't play.

Sobieski is on the Niners roster and get this : Corey Hulsey is starting at center for the Raiders until their starter, True, returns from injury!!!

I'm still puzzled by some of the moves. Wendell Hunter started at OLB in 2 of the last 3 pre-season games and he is cut?? Sure he doesn't have much experience but was at least on the Bills' practice squad last season. If you think enough of a guy to start him, you'd think he's one your backups. Same with Rashad Baker. In the games Troy Vincent didn't play, Baker was the starter at FS. Perhaps the starts were auditions for the above 2 with this coaching staff and they both failed?? Some people touched previously on Anthony Thomas's connection with Jauron and were right on. Thirteen yards in 9 carries and he's the backup RB.

I don't think you can consider Thomas at FB, can you?? Rookies at backup tackle, MLB, FS, and DT??

And The Sporting News had them ranked 119th out of 119 Division IA teams. This win puts them at 118 and climbing.

I don't have HD. So, if it's HD is it only available for those that have it?? quote=AVP,Aug 19 2006, 06:35 PM] And that schedule shows a game being rebroadcast at 9 PM on Tuesday as voted by the fans as being the best game on NFL.com. Let's start voting, just in case the 12 PM doesn't happen. 747623[/snapback]

And that schedule shows a game being rebroadcast at 9 PM on Tuesday as voted by the fans as being the best game on NFL.com. Let's start voting, just in case the 12 PM doesn't happen.

Anybody have any info on a broadcast for non-HD ?? Direct TV had it as scheduled late on Friday, then today, but it ended up being the Eagles both times. I did a search and nothing comes up for Bills until next week's game, shown the 1st tim eon Sunday.

I don't know how much this has been discussed here but I couldn't believe in Saturday's game that a team that hasn't been winning in the last couple of seasons plays the guy they now say is the front-runner for the starting QB job for most of the game then pulls him with 3 minutes left and a chance to win the game in favor of a guy who isn't going to make the team. I know this is only a pre-season game but you should play to win. Nothing helps a team's confidence more than winning games. Imagine what it could've done for Losman and this team had he led them down to win the game. I've watched the Forty-Niners for 25 seasons now. They always play to win. In a preseason game where they may be playing the 3rd-stringers, they're still out there trying to win the game and they have. I've seen the rest of the team going nuts on the sidelines pulling for the players that are in. Despite the Niners record the last couple of seasons, I guess that shows the difference between a winning organization and a losing one.

that either Losman or Holcomb had a severe injury and the Bills signed Kerry Collins. Doh!!!

The escapades of Thomas and the Knicks takes the Bills out of the national news as a laughing stock organization. Draft a 2nd round prospect with the 20th pick?? Make a big deal about getting Larry Brown then dump him after one season?? THis makes Ralph and Marv look quite a bit better.

Flutie!! Flutie!! Anyone want to buy my box of Flutie Flakes?

Plus, there's his attitude with not showing up for the OTAs. C'mon Marv, get rid of all those slackers!! McGahee, Vincent, Villarial, Schobel, Clements!!

I still had to laugh though when watching that movie, Buffalo 66, when, like 3 years later, the Anjelica Huston character is watching a tape of the game acting as if the kick might be good this time.

The 2005 season ended in early January. They've had over 4 months to vacation and do other things. At least there are no Bruce Smith's around. I remember one year when he waited til right before training camp to have a minor surgery.

Perhaps Bennie Anderson is looking to just get cut now??

Fletcher will have new responsibilities in the new defense. Would be better to get a start on them now. He has been decent in pass coverage before, but it would be good if he was in there. They say, well they can pick it up in training camp. Players, especially starters, that aren't participating in these OTAs will slow down the learning process come training camp. Because it'll be new to them, they won't understand things or make mistakes they might not make if they knew the system better. ANy vets that have been there will have their progress slowed by the "slackers".

Exactly. Look at the stats. He'll have a game against the likes of Houston with 3 sacks and another game of a couple. The rest of the season he doesn't provide much of a threat. Other than the sacks, he doesn't provide a consistent pass rush. He generally is also handled one-on-one. He doesn't require a double-team.

You can actually look at the Peerless trade in two ways. First there is the trade to get a 1st round pick. I think that turned out to be a great move. Some may say you need to evaluate what was done with that 1st round pick. I say weigh just the trade and take the use of the pick separately. Thatbeingsaid, the use of the pick is still up in the air to me. It was used in a risk on McGahee. He has recovered from that knee injury but the overall package he provides still has yet to be determined. I'd want a couple more years to evaluate that choice. The 2004 season was not enough to evaluate. If he can have a comparable season in the next two, then the pick was a good one.

Maybe he was a Magic Johnson-type point guard (i.e. wide body)??

He sure isn't off to a great start in grabbing hold of the starting position based on what I've been reading about the OTAs.

Yes, the Bledsoe move has set the Bills back. I'd say failure to sign Pat Williams as 2nd. His loss led to major drop of the defense in 2005 but can be corrected with the offseason moves and change of defense. Quarterback position is still a mess.