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ORCHARD PARK, NY – Week one of the NFL was filled with the unexpected, but perhaps the top story of the week was former league MVP Tom Brady suffering a season ending blow from Chief’s safety Bernard Pollard to his left knee.

The Patriots were led to a 17-10 victory by garbage-time all star Matt Cassel who has not started a game since high school. This has led many in Pats nation to question their previously unquestionable dominance in the AFC (the “F” is for Farve) East.

Some of Brady’s teammates suspect foul play. “That hit looked dirty.” Said a laughably uninformed Randy Moss who was rethinking his large pay cut to play with a high-school quarterback.

“So Pollard gets tripped while trying to make a play is awkwardly pushed into Brady and people say that’s a clean hit?” Said village idiot and Dirty Players Association president Vince Wilfork, “I dive between two linemen at knee level and deliberately stick my elbow out at an opposing QB, or deliberately poke someone in the eye or … and I get labeled dirty? What’s up with that?”

Players all around the league have shown support for the mediocre-supermodel dating signal caller.

“You hate to see an injury like that to a player of that caliber.” Said Brett “better to be lucky than good” Farve of the New York Jets when asked about Brady, “It unfortunately forces people to talk a little less about me.”

“I cut my chin, wanna see?” Said a jubilant Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys. “I hope it scars.”

A list of quarterbacks invited to work out with the Pats has been released to the media Monday morning, among them, free agent Chris Simms.

“You thought my dad was a Patriots homer before?” Said Simms on a conference call Monday morning, “He’s going to be shameless.”

Perhaps the most interesting person on that list is Buffalo Bills punter Brian Moorman. Moorman was the only player in the NFL this week to have a perfect passer rating.

Pats coach and advocate for “Losing coaches right to blow off the post game congratulations” Bill Belichick said he was always impressed with Moorman saying, “I was always impressed with Moorman.

“His excellent punting skills always helped our offensive numbers by adding even more to our already impressive total yards for the day.”

Moorman has, however, declined the invitation saying that there are too many stars on that team and he would be underappreciated.

While Moorman is unquestionably the best football player ever, he has found a home in Western New York. He believes in his team and the coaches.

“Any team that can run a wishbone formation in the NFL and still win a game has got to be good” Commented Mooman about the offensive scheme Sunday. “Seriously.”

Stay tuned to the Buffalo Bills Review for more on this developing story.

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My friends ask me why I spend the entire weekend driving to sit in ugly weather and watch a football game. Bills 34, Seahawks 10, that’s why.

1. Complete victory. It was total domination. The defense imposed it’s will on the Seahawks, the offense moved the ball efficiently and made big plays at big times, and the special teams were, well, they were special. I know Bills fans everywhere kept watching the clock and imagining how the Bills could blow this lead, but the reality was that they could have played that game for three more hours and Seattle wasn’t going to get back in it. They were beaten.

2. Start with Lee Evans, the man who wants a new contract and reported for training camp every day anyway. Start with the block on Marshawn’s touchdown. That’s the play that tells what kind of player Lee Evans is. He engaged his man early and stayed with him, pushing and shifting his feet to keep his balance, blocking his man for nearly the last 20 yards of Marshawn’s run. When Marshawn hit the 10-yard line, it was clear it was a touchdown, because even if the defender slipped his block, Marshawn would find a way. It wasn’t necessary. Lee never gave the guy daylight to even TRY to make a play.

Nobody catches the deep ball better than Lee.

100-yard day to start to the season.

3. Marcus Stroud. Oh, my goodness! He’s a factor in every play. That man can MOVE. Pretty impressive how he chased Hasselbeck out of bounds. He beat his man several times and showed nice closing speed going for the sack. He was the disruptive force we all hoped he would be, and then some. Plus, he’s into the experience. He often was asking the crowd for more noise. He was talking to his teammates, one time walking into the defensive backfield to talk with Donte briefly before returning to his spot in the line.

4. If you’ve seen the replay of Roscoe Parrish’s punt return, I don’t have to say more. If you haven’t, go find it. In the postgame interviews, Roscoe agreed with a reporter that it was dangerous cutting back into the middle deep into a return, because the entire coverage team is coming down field to help, and that’s exactly what he did. Still, he cut to the middle and still managed to avoid the last wave of tacklers.

The fake field goal was a wonderful comic moment in a thoroughly enjoyable game. I didn’t see Denney standing out there until the ball was in the air. Delightful.

That play was followed immediately by the fumble and recovery on the kickoff, Lindel’s second big play on special teams, after his saving tackle earlier in the game.

Wendling nearly got the block when we jumped the line of scrimmage on the first Seahawks field goal.

Special teams bottom line: Opponents will spend more time preparing for special teams play against the Bills. The Bills sent a message – if you can imagine it, Bobby April is going to try it.

5. The rookies really weren’t a factor. Hardy got on the field for a few plays here and there but wasn’t a factor. McKelvin was in for a few dime packages.

6. The Bills defense was stifling. Schobel, Kelsay, Williams and Johnson all made plays, and all pressured the quarterback. Mitchell’s sack was simply amazing, and his tackling is gorgeous. Poz was solid. Greer and McGee had good coverage all day, and Youboty – remember that guy we all were excited about when the Bills drafted him three years ago and so many people wanted to cut after last season? – was making a lot of plays.

7. The offense, and Trent Edwards particularly, was putrid to open the game. Totally ineffective. It looked like 2007, or was it 2006? 2005? Anyway, it was bad. It might have been the rain. If I had to guess, it was simply a young quarterback and his offense needing to develop some feel for the game, and over the first 30 minutes, that’s what happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if Van Pelt was in his ear on the sidelines, calming him down and letting him know that our chances would come.

After the slow start, he showed great presence in the pocket and began delivering the ball all over the field with great accuracy. You could see it in the deep out pattern to Reed and the touchdown to Royal In both cases, he had the protection, read the play, waited and gave the receiver a ball he could catch.

8. Kirk Chambers needs a nod. I didn’t watch him a lot, but Kerney did not spend the afternoon in the Bills’ backfield, as many of us had feared.

9. The news of Brady’s injury swept the stadium like news of Achilles at Troy. Everyone knew minutes after it had happened.

Injuries are the only thing that’s wrong with this great game. Injuries are cruel. They can rip the heart out of a team and its fans. But they also can rally a team to something great. Don’t count the Pats out. I wish Brady a complete recovery.

10. Was the Bills game perfect? Far from it. Trent was ugly early, as ugly as I’ve seen him. The running game was barely adequate. The offense wasn’t a scoring machine. The coverage teams coughed up several big returns. Kawika could have been better in pass coverage. Whitner stays with his man but has trouble breaking up the completions.

Still, for a season opener, it’s hard to find much to complain about. This was a complete win against a veteran team, a win where most of the things the Bills hoped they could do they did do. The Seahawks had some injuries; it’s hard to know how much impact that had on the game. But the Bills lost their starting weakside linebacker in mid-week, and they were playing with a makeshift offensive line. They had their own adversities to overcome, and they did.

In the coming weeks, big number 71 will work his way back into the lineup, and the rookies will begin to contribute.

There’s a lot to look forward to.

Final note: The Ball Burglar had himself a fine day, too. In the days before the game, a lot of fans joined the gang. The Burglar’s bounty right now stands someplace around $250 per takeaway, and he’s only just begun. The Burglar rewarded the fans for their support with two big takeaways, the game-changing fumble recovery, and McGee’s acrobatic catch that simply was icing on the cake.

Word is that the Ball Burglar made onto the Fox pregame show, too.

If you haven’t joined, what are you waiting for? A buck a ball is all the Burglar wants from you. Join today. www.Ballburglar.com. Thanks.

I’ll see everyone at McFadden’s in Manhattan on Sunday. Can’t wait.

Man! How long have we waited for this?! Even with the disappointment of the last three games of 2007, I was ready for the season to start in June. Instead, we had to wait until now.

Welcome to 10 Things I Think. It’s a column I write after most Bills games – regular season and playoffs – and occasionally during other times of the year. I go to most home games, and I watch the others in sports bars near my home in Connecticut or, when possible, at home. I try to write without having listened to or read much commentary about the games, so you get what I think about what I saw.

In previous years, 10 Things I Think has appeared on the message board at BuffaloBills.com, and last year it also appeared at BallBurglar.com. This year, I’m happy to post 10 Things at BuffaloBillsReview.com. I hope you enjoy it.

Okay, here we go.

1. The plan Marv Levy and his staff put in place when they took over is now completely clear: Clear out the older players and the me-first players, and begin a complete rebuild. Keep the best younger players from the old regime, draft high quality guys, and sign good, young free agents. Do it year after year. Some of the players who had to go were gone in 2006, the rest in 2007.

The 2006 free agency and the draft was a start. The team actually played better than I expected. The Bills made more progress in 2007, but they still had holes. The defensive line needed help, the linebackers were weak or untested, and the receiving corps needed an upgrade.

Now the basic rebuild is done. For the first time in recent memory, the Bills come into the season without glaring holes and with some quality depth. There’s more to be done, of course – young players like McKelvin, Hardy, Posluszny and others still have a lot to learn, and there will be more upgrades during the off-season. But now we have a team that should be able to stay on the field with anyone.

It’s a good time to be a Bills fan.

2. No holes? Well, one: an unplanned hole at left tackle. The Peters saga is perplexing; we probably will never know the entire story. The Bills undoubtedly are weaker across the line without Peters; the important question is “how much weaker?” We’ll begin to find out on Sunday. Walker is a good player, and Chambers has potential. The Bills can’t count on Bell. The best solution is for Peters to report, get game ready and knock some defensive ends on their rear ends.

3. Trent Edwards is the starter. Some fans talked during the off-season about a quarterback competition. Against the Colts JP showed, as he has on occasion in the past, that he has a lot of what it takes to be a starter in the NFL. Still, Dick Jauron has been totally clear that Trent is the starter. He talks as though he’s just waiting to get John Elway back into the lineup. That makes me think that Trent must really have the goods. We’ll see.

4. Marshawn Lynch has been the forgotten man this summer. We haven’t seen much of him, and he isn’t talking. What’s he thinking about? The offensive line. Wouldn’t you?

5. Hardy’s already had a bigger role than I expected early on. He won’t be a star in September, but now I’m looking for him to be a factor early and all season long.

6. 2008 will be a big year for the defense. No one says much about Marcus Stroud, but they all say the same thing: powerful. Poz will be a big upgrade over DiGiorgio in the middle – DiGi had a lot of trouble getting to and controlling his gap last year, and it hurt the Bills. Mitchell, too, will be an upgrade, the corners are solid and eventually McKelvin will assume a bigger role, Simpson’s return will help, and there’s better depth all around. This is a defense that will put pressure on the other team. What it needs is the opportunity to play with a lead. That means that the offense has to move the ball and put points on the board.

7. As good as McGee and Parrish are, McKelvin has to return punts or kickoffs or both. He’s special.

8. As always, takeaways will be the key to the season. One way to get more takeaways is to buy them. The Ball Burglar already is promising to pay more than $100 for every takeaway the Bills get this year. When the Ball Burglar’s bounty goes over $1000 per takeaway, Ralph Wilson Stadium will be louder than ever before. Add your buck or two or five to the Burglar’s bounty at BallBurglar.com. Thanks.

9. The coaches are on the hot seat this season. They have players who can play. The coaches have to give the players the plays, the plans and the opportunities to win.

10. Obviously, the fans are expecting great things. Season ticket sales are up, and there’s a lot of buzz about the Bills. The national media are starting to take notice. Everyone who’s paying attention can tell something’s happening in Western New York. The competition is fierce in the NFL, and the Bills really haven’t been competitive for ten years. Finally, it looks like things have changed. All that’s left is for the Bills to do it on the field.

GO BILLS!!!

The Buffalo Bills are in a situation that many teams, including the AFC Champion Patriots would envy. They have more quality cornerbacks than they know what to do with: Terrence McGee, Jabari Greer, William James, Leodis McKelvin, Ashton Youboty, Reggie Corner, Dustin Fox and Kennard Cox. Only Fox and Cox are likely to see their names on the cut sheet this week although each has made a fairly strong case on Special Teams. Buffalo has a history of keeping strong special teamers, but special teamers lose out to players who can perform on defense. Especially when the six guys ahead on the chart are so good.

They say you never can have enough good corners in the NFL and it really showed in 2007 for the Buffalo Bills. When injuries came the Bills had to go deep into their backup pool and it showed. In the off-season, Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell and Head Coach Dick Jauron made sure that they wouldn’t get caught short handed again by loading up the roster. They added Leodis McKelvin and Reggie Corner in the draft (along with Kennard Cox who will likely be on the Practice Squad) and picked up William James in free agency. Seeing the writing on the walls, Jabari Greer and Ashton Youboty have really stepped it up in camp. Greer is building on what turned out to be a breakout campaign in 2007, but since he came from obscurity he still has something to prove. Youboty has mostly disappointed coming into 2008 but has looked great in the preseason.

All six of these players are talented and it showed last night when the Bills Defense made a mockery of Indianapolis’s 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks when Jim Sorgi showed up limping to the game. Given the situation you would expect the Bills defense to force some turnovers, but the Bills came up with 5. Youboty and Corner are clearly number 5 and 6 in the Bills’ current lineup but each came up with athletic, leaping interceptions. Making huge plays when the coaches are thinking about possibly cutting you is a good thing! Leodis McKelvin made a few dramatic leaps to break up passes, but most impressively boxed out the Indianapolis receiver on a deep route that made the commentators “ooh and ahh”. He was in perfect position to make it impossible for the receiver to make a play on the ball. A less intelligent player would have just run deep and tried to swat at the ball at the last moment.

These corners have hands. Terrence McGee also made a nice play scooping up a fumble recovery and taking off with it, and nobody can catch McGee. Opponents will not want to throw against these guys. They will be cutting off routes and leaping in front of receivers. This defense will be exciting to watch. Especially considering the team has great depth at safety and linebacker also. With Marcus Stroud making a mess up at the line this could really be a top 10 defense. An injury to stroud is probably the only spot where the depth is not strong enough to endure the loss and it would be devastating.

So what do the Bills do? They can’t carry 6 corners on the roster can they? I say they can and do. Both McGee and Leodis McKelvin will be returning kicks as well and Corner and Youboty will find plenty of work on special teams. The Bills will not have as many “special teamers” on the roster this year. In fact they have already cut most of the guys that fit that description. Overall its a sign of improvement on the team. Hey its only preseason, but if you consider that the Redskins were playing their 2nd preseason game to the Bills 1st (a big advantage) and the Bills Defense has smothered Pittsburgh and Indianapolis who both have strong teams, the Bills are looking pretty good. Its only the preseason, but its better to look good in the preseason than bad. Its never bad to play well, and the Bills defense is playing well. If its totally meaningless, why did the Indianapolis players look so agitated towards the end of the game? Because the Bills routed them good and a route always hurts.

Do we need Jason Peters to make the playoffs?

Personally I think Peters should fire his agent. He has completely bungled the handling of the situation. Peters is coming off a pro bowl season and certainly has a strong argument for a new contract. He was signed as a prospect right tackle when he signed his current contract. switching to left tackle justifies a bigger pay check especially when you go to the pro bowl in your first season as a starter at the position!

The problem is that Peters didn’t talk to the Bills about a new contract. He made a media stink and has been sitting out of all team activities. This doesn’t exactly build his case for the Bills management who could arguably say that Peters 2007 could have been a fluke. I think he is the player we saw last year though and the bills know it. The problem is that they cant sign him as long as he is sitting out because it sends a message out to other players that this is actually an effective way to negotiate.

If Peters gets tired of being fined and shows up at camp, he will find the team quite willing to renegotiate. But as long as he acts like a fool, he won’t see any change in his contract, just a lot of fines eating away at it. You hold out when you try to negotiate and the team says no way. Peters never negotiated, or his agent didn’t. its just stupid misguidance on his agent’s part. He is apparently bungling in the same way with another client in minnesota. Peters needs to show up to camp and he will get a new contract. In the mean time it gives the Bills an opportunity to explore their depth at left tackle. Uh oh, what depth? Peters needs to be on the field.

There is a lot of BS being spread around that the Bills are not letting Jason Peters absence be a distraction. Management is taking a move on approach. Drake says this is dumb…

I know this doesn’t really qualify as news, or an “announcement” but, I figured I’d post it here anyway, along with some thoughts on the first officially scheduled Buffalo Bills games for 2008.

The Bills released their 2008 pre-season schedule, which includes of course the first of the eight-game series to be played in Toronto over the next five years. The team selected for the first game of the “Toronto Initiative” is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bills commented on how there is a “good rivalry” there. (Right! So why don’t we play in their division, along with Cleveland and Cincinnati??) And obviously Pittsburgh will be a nice draw as a well-known, well-liked NFL team nationally and internationally.

But really… this is just pre-season football. This game won’t matter much at all. The regular season game will be a different story, but they could have played any team for this pre-season Toronto game.

That said, there is some significance to it being the first of the eight-game series played north of the border.

The game will be played on August 14th at 7:30pm, and will be carried locally in Buffalo on channel seven.

The Bills also are featured on an NFL Network nationally televised game for week three of the pre-season against the Indianapolis Colts, playing in their new stadium. That game will take place on August 23rd at 8pm, and will also be broadcast locally in Buffalo on channel seven. This game might actually sort of interesting as the third week of pre-season is usually the game where starters play at least the first half, and sometimes into the third quarter.

The Bills open the pre-season at Washington (date TBD) and they close it at home (their real home, Orchard Park) with their annual game against the Detroit Lions. This is the kids’ night game as well. (Very cheap tickets for kids accompanied by an adult.)

It’s still just pre-season, and really doesn’t matter at all, but you can’t help but be excited when you can actually put Bills games on the calendar again!

The regular season schedule will be announced within the month! Stay tuned!

BILLS PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE
Aug. 7-10 @ Washington TBD WKBW-TV
Aug. 14 vs. Pittsburgh 7:30 pm WKBW-TV
Aug. 24 @ Indianapolis 8 pm NFL Network
Aug. 28 vs. Detroit 6:30 pm WKBW-TV

Bills fans tell us what you think of the Bill’s off-season moves…

J.P. Losman made things easy for Dick Jauron. Prior to the Jacksonville game, Losman publicly announced that Sunday’s game would be the most important of his career and that his job was on the line. He then barely showed up in Jacksonville and put on a typically sloppy performance. For the record, I think Losman has the talent to be an NFL quarterback, but he seems to fall apart under pressure. The only time he has played well and with consistency was in the second half of 2006 when it was made clear that his job was not on the line. 2007 started well for the young quarterback in the pre-season until Edwards started out-performing him in the pre-season games and the talk started. Losman clearly couldn’t keep his head in the game and struggled mightily.

When Losman injured his knee in New England, Edwards came in and had a horrible performance that was over-shadowed by one solid drive (his first series of the game). Edwards completed a paltry 50% of his passes in the game for 97 yards (55 of which came on his first possession). His attempt to go deep to evans resulted in an interception. The following week Edwards came out of his shell a bit and had a strong performance against the lowly NY Jets. His high completion percentage was impressive at 78.6% but resulted in only 234 yards. He had his only touchdown as an NFL player in the game, but also threw an ugly interception. The result was a 3 point victory over one of the worst teams in the NFL. The following week he had another impressive completion percentage game at 74.2% but the result was for fewer yards despite an additional completion (176 yards). The Bills defense forced 6 turnovers and scored twice as did the special teams, but the Edwards led offense only mustered 3 points. The Jets and Dallas games were by far Edwards’ best and between the two he averaged only 9.1 yards per completion. His play fell off significantly in his 3rd start, completing 52.4% of his passes for 153 yards and one interception. With some help from Marshawn Lynch and the defense, the Bills still managed to pull off a win against the Ravens. At this point Bills fans were singing Edwards praise as was much of the national media, despite his overall unimpressive numbers. He then started the second Jets game where he was pressured and generally looked pretty ineffective against a terrible football team. Edwards then hurt his wrist and Losman stepped in and easily handled the Jets late in the game.

With his starting job gift wrapped and handed back to him, Losman had an impressive performance against an unimpressive Bengals defense and then went back to his inconsistent and sloppy play. The pressure of each game possibly being his last clearly was not good for Losman. The fact that the pressure was too much also doesn’t bode well for Losman’s long-term sustainability as a quarterback in the NFL. Regardless, Losman will get another chance with another team next season and if he is lucky, he will have a better offensive coordinator that will call plays that work to Losman’s advantage. Losman can excel in an offense that utilizes the shotgun more, play action passing and no-huddle. Assuming he can focus enough to avoid over-throwing his receivers etc.

So fans are excited that Edwards is back as the starter, and he does show a lot of poise under center. However, he is a rookie and so far has mostly looked like a rookie when he has played. He is good for an ugly interception per game and 1 touchdown pass every five games thus far. So don’t expect him to step in and throw for big yards and make the Bills offense come to life. It won’t happen this season (possibly in 2008 though). The main reason why Edwards will not set the world on fire is that he, like Losman, has almost no one to throw the ball to. He also is at the mercy of a horrendous offensive coordinator who tries to force his players into a system instead of building a system around his players. The receivers coaching is terrible also as is the offensive line coaching. McNally gets a lot of praise but has not earned it. The expensive and talented offensive line on the Bills is “Big but has poor footwork” according to the Ravens. This reflects on the coaching again.

One thing I have noticed regardless of who is at quarterback, when the Bills throw the ball short to a receiver, the Bills’ receivers just don’t seem to know how to run after the catch for a first down. If the Bills need 7 yards on 3rd down and throw to a check down, its almost guaranteed that he will get 5 yards and they will punt. Josh Reed doesn’t have the best hands on the team but he is one of the only receivers with any run after the catch ability on short routes. Roscoe Parrish is mis-used constantly. Lee Evans is better deep but since the Bills have no other significant receiving threats, he faces constant double coverage. The coaching staff is too conservative to try to force things to go Evans’ way so the whole passing game suffers.

The Bills started the season with lots of young potential at Tight End but most of their Tight Ends are injured and/or on IR. In fact, the whole Bills roster reads like the lineup in the fourth quarter of a pre-season game. Fred Jackson is the starting running back this week. D’giorgio, Greer, Wilson (all depth players) are starting on defense. Its really pretty amazing that the Bills are 5-6 considering the injury situation. This is why Dick Jauron and his Defensive staff should keep their jobs while cleaning house on Offense. Afterall, no one ever said that Jauron was an offensive minded coach, he needs a great offensive coordinator and he clearly doesn’t have one.

Luckily for the Bills, they face the Washington Redskins who are reeling from the fact that their pro-bowl safety was murdered this past week. No this doesn’t help “inspire” the Skins. This, as the Redskins players have said, makes it hard to think about football. When there is a moment of silence at the beginning of the game, all focus will be lost for the home team. The Bills offense will still be awful, but good enough to win another snoozer Buffalo 14 Washington 7.

Send your comments to bplewak@yahoo.com