Crowell Out, Peters In

First, on the Crowell situation, putting him on the IR for the season for an injury/surgery with a known short recovery time is shady.  It reminds me of what the Sabres did to Tempo Numinen last year.  Both teams are within their rights, the players (Tempo and Crowell) should have taken care of their problems well before the start of training camp….not right before the season starts.  Professional athletes being irresponsible with their time off.  Maybe they need babysitters during the offseason.

Peters ending his holdout without a new contract is good news, but COO Brandon says that they will renegotiate during the season see how he plays to see if he is deserving of an extension at that position.  I think its great that he is coming back, the O line could really use him, its too bad he couldn’t do it in time for the Seattle game.  Now lets see if he can pass his physical.

Crowell to miss Seahawks Game

Knee surgery is going to make Crowell miss the Bills opener.  Is this going to start a trend of players going on the injury list like last year?  Lets hope not, because that was one of the factors in last season ending the way it did.
According to an article on buffalonews.com its unclear how bad the knee is, and how quick Crowell will be back on the line.  Lets keep our fingers crossed that this is a quick recovery.  Losing to the Seahawks in week 1 is not damning evidence that suggests the Bills have opened another doomed season, but why shouldn’t we think the worse if we lose game 1 and are already a third of the way into a really deep hole.

Player Predictions

As we are days away from opening kickoff, I came across this blog predicting big names for fantasy players in the AFC East.  Stu Arl had some good things to say about starting quarterback Trent Edwards:

I’d like to see a little more but Trent Edwards might be developing into one of the top young quarterbacks in the league. He has a big arm, decent mobility and the right level of confidence to be the team leader. That said, he’s not yet ready to put up big stats.

I don’t think its Edwards fault that he is not ready to put up big stats, I place the blame on poor, unaggressive coaching, and an inadequate front line.  If the frontline can plug the holes and protect Edwards, see him put up adequate numbers and have a better rating than Losman ever could maintain.  All Edwards needs to do is grab the Buffalo, er….Bull by the horns.

Edwards may not be a great choice for your starting quarterback in your fantasy league, but he may be a viable backup.

Neat Idea

Ok Bills fans.  Truth time.  How many of you out there still have t-shirts, sweatshirts, towels, etc. from the glory years of Kelly, Thomas, Reed, Smith, etc.  You know what I am talking about, the four years where we sat atop the AFC and almost the world.  Stop being shy, every Bills fan still has a t-shirt or two (or four) kicking around.  So what do you do with your nostalgic, iconic, old and probably fading memories?  Your wife is obviously looking to make you get rid of the shirts you haven’t warn in years, so upgrade them.

http://www.tshirtquiltstexas.com/

At Timeless T-Shirt Quilts they will take your old sports shirts, towels, etc. and turn them into a high quality machine put together (yes a distinction is necessary, according to my wife).  It can get expensive depending on how big you would like your quilt…but for some…no amount of money is too great for their beloved Bills.

T-6 days ’till Kickoff

So we are inside a week until the 2008 season begins.  Who else is nervous because our starting quarterback still admits he had some shaky practices leading into the buildup week for Seattle?  We know the kid can play, now we need to get his confidence level up.  Edwards has the athletic ability.  Edwards has the quick thinking and the post-game swagger in front of the reporters.  Now we just need him to stand on the field and lead the Bills to victory.

No surprising cuts at the deadline Saturday - although I would not have minded seeing one more guy cut, and that guy being JP Losman.  Are you all done throwing things at me?  This is Edwards team.  Keeping Losman around now is like getting divorced, but allowing your ex wife to live in the house with you and your new girlfriend(s).  The announcers during the final preseason game alluded to how much Edwards likes and goes to Hamden for help, so cut Losman, move Hamden to the number 2 spot, and your saving money that could be used else wear.

It doesn’t look like Peter’s will be wearing Red, White and Blue this year.  It’s a shame too, as much as the line has improved they would have been much better with him on it.  It sounds like the coaching staff has moved on from the issue and will address it only when Peters shows up…hopefully the players can as well.

Bills vs Lions

I know, many of you are going to look at the time this was published and realize I posted it at the 2 minute warning of the first half.  SOrry, I was not going to suffer through the second half of the fourth preseason game where the Bills were playing their third string quarterback.  Much better things could be accomplished in that 2 hour block of time.

A few notes about what I did see.  When the BIlls were aggresive, they looked like a team that could win a decent amount of games.  The mistakes being made were preseason mistakes that were being made by fringe players at best.  That, coupled with the amount of laundry being done on the field, made for a very dull game.  Hamdan looked impressive.  I actually liked him alot on the BIlls opening drive.  His inexperience showed as the Lions brought the pressure.  It didn’t help that the line folded folded up in front of him like an old nasty lawn chair.

This is the biggest thing I saw though.  Granted, it still is only the preseason, but I saw two teams that ended last season well on the outside of the playoffs with 7-9 records.  What I saw tonight were two different stories.  On one side of the ball I saw the Detroit Lions, attempting to get ready for the regular season by attacking their oppenents and showing the teams around them that they are going to contend this year.  The Bills are showing that they need more time to practice, and could probably benefit from two or three more weeks of training camp.

New Schedule Format

On my way home from work today I was listening to WGR550; and the topic of discussion was shortening the post season by two games, and adding the games to the regular season.  I think this is a great idea.  The preseason is four games too long, but I could never see the league eliminating it completely. Here is how I would make the eighteen game schedule.

You would still obviously play the teams in your division twice.  For the other games, make it completely random.  Hire one an impartial, third party moderator, and have the teams schedule picked at random.  Take the Bills for example.  Off the start you would have two games against Miami, New England, and the NY Jets.  That would be six of eighteen games.  For the last twelve games, you could have a lottery style machine that selects at random 12 opponents, only allowing each non-divisional team to be selected only once.  So the Bills when selected for scheduling would draw say, VIkings, Giants, Buccaneers, Ravens, Browns, Texans, Cowboys, Broncos, 49ers, Saints, Jaguars, and Colts.  Each of these teams would then have the BIlls added to their schedule by default.

Another option they can do is to not only have the division rivals, but regional rivals as well.  My first option really opens the scheduling up, because you have absolutely no idea who your twelve non-division games are; on the other hand keeping games regional will help increase rivalries.

Face of the Franchise?

So Tim Graham from ESPN  lists Jim Kelly as the readers choice as the all time franchise player so far in Bills history.  I would have to agree with him.

Kelly would definitely get my vote.  Not only was he the face of the Bills while he was starting QB - but he was also the face of the community.  The same thing could be said now.  With the Hunter’s Hope charity that Kelly started and the other charities he assists with, Kelly has really made himself a name in the Buffalo area.

Another reason I liked Kelly….he didn’t use the players union.  Who can forget playing TECMO Super Bowl and having QB 1 as your starting quarterback.  You won’t find a modern quarterback not in the players union.  I am not one against unions, but I do not think they have a place in sports, where players are obviously paid and treated well.   But thats a topic of another discussion.

I’m interested in hearing from other fans though, who is the all time franchise player to date and why?

BuffaLowdown | A Blog For Buffalo Bills Fans 2008-08-27 14:57:03

Bills X-Factor

So as I was actually searching for something else to write about today when I came across this video. I have to agree with Jeremy Green, the Bills offense should be exciting to watch this year. I enter into the season with cautious optimism however, because it is the first year under this new offensive system. If the preseason is any indication, the offense seems to be clicking and should be able to be quite capable of producing touchdowns, something they were lacking this year. A few things to note:

The Bills need to mix it up better than last year. They have some lethal tools in Hardy, Evans, Lynch and a decent quarterback in Edwards to put it all together. If the Bills can be unpredictable in their run and pass schemes they should be able to contend for a wild card spot.

From what I saw of Edwards last year he would telegraph some of his moves, and he seems to be a checkdown passer - these are things that Alex van Pelt needs to work on to turn this young QB from a mere apprentice into a journeyman contender who fills a number one spot for years to come. He seems eager to learn and more importantly eager to win.

The Bills are not going to make waves in the AFC East this year, but look for them to sneak into a wild card spot with a 10-6 record. If they can hold on and learn with this group of guys I can see them challenging New England for the division title in as little as two years.

Should the IOC consider another Olympic Sport?

So as I was getting ready for bed I recieved an email guiding me to a blog that says Peyton Manning is spearheading an effort to get the IOC to admit football (American) as an Olympic sport.  I would say this is about as good as idea has having Kabul or Baghdad has winning the host city bid for the next winter Olympics.

But should American football be part of the games? In 2012, baseball and softball will be dropped from the Olympic roster, and it seems the IOC owes America at least one event, football or otherwise, in which the U.S. would be among the gold medal favorites.

Why would we want to include a sport where one country would dominate?  I am all for the United States owning the gold medal stand at the Olympics, but is that truly what the Olympiad has become?  I for one vote for more parady in the sporting world and include events where more countries have a chance.  Here are my votes for what should be considered an olympic event, and what shouldn’t, starting with the list from the blog @ http://www.asylum.com/2008/08/21/barroom-debate-should-there-be-olympic-football/

American Football - No.  Yes I know, there is the NFL and NFL Europe so it does have international flavor, but can you really see any country fielding a football team like the United States and Canada can?  Whose rules do we use, CFL, NFL, or will the IOC come up with Kenyan friendly rules to protect 120 lb linemen? (American Football so far has 41 percent of the vote at asylum.com)

Lacrosse - This is the one I voted for on the asylum.com site (second place at 22 percent).  I wouldn’t mind seeing lacrosse played at the Olympic level, I mean we have field hockey…why not just make the nets smaller and had nets onto the tops of the little crooked sticks?

Ultimate fighting (nineteen percent of the vote).  I don’t see this one being included for its sheer brutality. Nothing to spark an international incident like a cube fight club.

Golf - this would be my second choice if I got to vote twice.  It has a large enough international following and the author (James Taylor) makes a great point - most nations already have great courses already built.

One percent of the vote of 2689 voters was for nascar.  This must have been the one trailer park in Alabama wired for the internet (sorry folks, this is a Bills Blog site and thats my opinion of NASCAR right there).

Some honorable mentions as I see them:

Bowling - why not….has both team and individual medal capabilities.

Rugby - gaining popularity here in the United States and played more worldly than American Football is.

Dodgeball - give me a reason why not to include this as an Olympic event - if table tennis and badminton are actual events and asylum.com can think of suggestion NASCAR, then call the IOC out of dodgeball.

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