Where Rumors Come From

[Ennjay]

Today's NFL Truth and Rumors on SI.com leads with this item:

 

"Injured star Fred Taylor is scheduled to intensify the rehabilitation work on his injured knee in the next couple of weeks. If it responds well, the Jaguars are set at the position and will be feeling good about making a serious run for a playoff spot this season. If it doesn't respond well, their interest in Buffalo running back Travis Henry probably will increase.

--Buffalo News"

 

I think Mark Gaughan wrote that in his Sunday notes column. Gaughan knows absolutely nothing whatsoever about what people in Jacksonville are thinking. He just applies a little logic (I guess) to the Bills' situation with Henry and comes up with something plausible that his readers will eat up on a Sunday: "If it doesn't respond well, their interest in Buffalo running back Travis Henry probably will increase."

 

So SI.com does what KFFL and so many other "sources" on the Internet do: it reads the local papers and runs an unresearched item.

 

But now the item has appeared at least twice (the News and SI.com), and KFFL may carry it, and maybe more reporters elsewhere who don't do their homework (how long before it's a PFW "the way we hear it" ?), and there will probably also soon be a thread in TSW beginning with "Sports Illustrated says Henry's going to the Jag's."

 

All based on something that a News sportswriter just made up.

[CoachChuckDickerson]

What about the "secret" visit Ty Law made to Buffalo when free agency started? The Bills wanted to keep in under wraps but thank god a poster here had an "inside source" over at One Bills Drive.