Buffalo Bills ReviewBrian Moorman Hit – on YouTube
Brian Moorman takes a whollup and gets right back up and goes to tell Sean Taylor (who hit him) he thought it was a good hit… pretty funny.
Moorman is not only an amazing punter, and one of the best players on the Bills’ roster… he’s also a very likeable guy. Fun to root for guys like that.
NFL Super Ad | Hard to Say Goodbye
Here’s the Super Bowl Ad that fellow Bills fan Gino Bona won the right to have aired. A little different from the original pitch, but I liked the ending. 🙂
Here is the link to the Buffalo News article about Willis
Willis Has Worn Out His Welcome
Since that’s all I really have, I thought to fill space I would republish this pic I found on the internet that might be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.
-The John
The schedule started with a divisional bang, little did we know the results of that would be a preview of our divisional standings at the end of the season. A loss to New England and New York, and a win in Miami, then New England beating New York and everybody beating Miami because Miami was terrible.
So the losses in the first four games of the year were close which gave the young team some confidence going into their toughest test so far which was the Chicago Bears. Sadly that turned into bad news bears and the Bills were dealt a blow that would take them all the way to the bye week to recover.
Coming out of their mid-season week off, the team made some changes, mixed up the offensive line and was ready to turn some heads. Sadly this was the same point in time the community decided it had better things to do, like watch hockey.
The second half of the season marched on and the Bills made some surprising improvements. Again, nobody really noticed and some of the best, most exciting games in the NFL this year were ignored by what was at one time the most passionate fanbase in the NFL. JP came of age with two minutes left in the Houston game to win on the road, Ryan Lindell kicked a game winning field goal as time expired to upset the (then) playoff bound Jacksonville Jaguars, and long time rival Miami Dolphins went home with zero points on the board after dealing the same punishment to the Patriots the week before. Sadly, the community saw none of this.
With a fringe playoff berth in hand, the Bills had to beat the red hot Tennessee Titans to have a chance at the postseason for the first time this millennium. The Bills found themselves one point down, less than a minute left, a 4th and 5 and three yards out of field goal range. Dick did the responsible thing and went for it, only to have the play fail and the Bills lose to the Titans, ending their playoff chances.
The final week of the season brought the squad to Baltimore, and nobody remembers what happened in this game. We’re all pretty sure the Bills lost making their final record 7-9.
Although at this point four teams are still playing their 2006-2007 season (which is not a misnomer for them seeing as how they are actually playing in 2007), the Bills have entered the off-season. So far it is considerably calmer than last year at this time (see previous post), as the entire front office still has all their jobs. Which is a good thing for a rebuilding team, since after you lay the foundation you can’t grow if you rip it out and lay another foundation.
The same can’t be said for some of the players. Chances are good London “second best player on the team” Fletcher-Baker and Nate “moneybags” Clements are going to be wearing different uniforms. It is the growing hope of the community that Willis “not a factor” McGahee will be wearing a different uniform next year (preferably a janitor’s uniform [no offense to any janitors reading this, since you’d have to work with him]).
McGahee’s latest “running of the mouth” has probably been his worst. According to an interview he recently did with Penthouse, he said if Toronto was to get an NFL team than the Bills should move there, “case closed.” Also, the Miami Herald reported he is being sued by a the third woman in two years for paternity. It seems McGahee is proving way too big a headache for the below average production the team gets out of him. Good job Willis.
All in all it’s been an interesting year, one that leaves most Bills fans feeling positive about the future. Now it’s time to do the responsible thing and root for the Saints. Go Saints!
P.S. Next week I’m moving to the Boston area to start a new job, if the Patriots win another Super Bowl while I’m there I don’t think I could handle it. Any tips for support?
-The John
Well the Bills 2006-2007 season is in the books (and the name 2006-2007 is a misnomer since they never actually played in 2007). This year saw more ups and downs than Anna Nicole Smith’s bathroom scale, and like the adult film star-turned reality TV C-list celebrity, the ups were never really that up. Perhaps the best news is that many are saying the Western NY squad has a bright future. Well, what better way to prepare for the future than to understand the past, so here’s The John’s Year in Review (sort-of).
The year started off with fire, and by that I mean the firing of Tom Donahoe. Donahoe ruled with an iron fist and firmly believed that big names would draw a bigger fanbase, which would have worked if it wasn’t a terrible idea. Football isn’t like a lot of other sports where you can pay $50million and bring in a real good pitcher from Japan and expect him to carry your team. The big name players are only as good as the people around them.
Enter the biggest PR stunt in the history of the franchise, the Bills needed a change and Owner Ralph Wilson decided to bring some fresh young blood into the organization. Of course by young blood he meant young compared to him and thus 80 year old Marv Levy made his return to the Bills as General Manager. Levy’s philosophy was the exact opposite of Donahoe’s in that he believed it was better to be good than famous.
The fans, for the most part, liked the decision to bring their Hall of Fame headman back. However, there was one person who didn’t like the return of the former coach, and that was the current coach. Head Coach Mike Mularky (or MM for short, he’s the real slim shady) decided he didn’t like the direction the franchise was going (up) and resigned his position.
Evidently, MM doesn’t feel comfortable with teams on the rise, he left the Steelers because they were on the verge of winning the Super Bowl to take a job with the soon-to-be-a-disappointment-under-his-rule Bills, then accomplishing the demise of that franchise he jumped ship and took a job with the Miami Dolphins (who were on the rise until this past year). My cousin is a Dolphin’s fan (you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family) and he said it best when he said, “I don’t know why they (Miami) hired him (Mularky). The Dolphins play the Bills twice a year, so they must have known he sucked.”
The Bills found themselves in need of a head coach, perhaps a head coach that had actual head coaching experience (unlike the last several). Enter Dick Jouron. The former head coach of the Chicago Bears for a few seasons, and more recently the Detroit Lions for a few weeks, got the job. Sporting an image that resembled a lobotomized version of the He-Man villain, Skelator (“I’d get you He-Man, but I just don’t care anymore”), Jouron had to prove he was going to be the mind behind the new and improved Buffalo Bills.
Well the jury was going to be out for a while on “improved,” but things were definitely “new.” A bunch of new coaches, coordinators, and administrators marked a huge regime change in Buffalo. The front office refused to call it a “rebuilding year,” but I don’t know how else to define a complete regime, philosophy, scheme and player change.
The team then lost a couple hundred pounds when they went on the “No Mike Williams” diet, which was a huge success. But the team went a little overboard with the weight loss craze and slimed down the defensive line under the philosophy that smaller defensive tackles could penetrate into the backfield better. The problem with this was by the time the tackles penetrated into the backfield, the opposing team’s running back was no longer there, so the Bills were repeatedly gashed by backs you never heard of before, and will most likely never hear of again (see Detroit Lions).
The draft found the Bills picking strong safety Donte Whitner for their 8th overall pick. A decision that prompted Sports Illustrated to call Buffalo’s draft the “worst in the NFL.” Granted that was the same Sports Illustrated that picked Miami to win the Super Bowl so it’s clear they don’t really know anything about sports.
With the draft and free agency behind them, it was time to actually start working on football. JP Losman was named the starting QB after a very convoluted three-way QB competition that spanned most of training camp. Peerles Price returned to Buffalo after his “I’m a huge NFL bust” tour that spanned two cities, Willis McGahee decided it would be best not to lift any weights during the off-season and Takeo Spikes promised everyone through a T-shirt he was selling on his website that he was going to be a lot better this year (which shouldn’t have been that hard considering he couldn’t ever walk through most of the previous season).
So with camp behind them and a brand new season ahead the new Buffalo Bills were ready to prove they were no longer a laughing matter…
(To Be Continued…)
Well, we have 30 minutes of this year left, and I just wanted to write a quick post to the ol’ blog… for no particular reason. I hope to post a few more things once the family is in bed and the house is quiet. We’re just having a fairly “quiet” New Year’s celebration here at the Campbell home tonight (but you know how that goes with two boys ages 8 and 5…) 🙂
We got to watch FOOTBALL all day today. That was fun. Our Bills lost, which is never fun, but we’re already looking forward to next season! They should be a pretty fun team next year. And in the meantime, we’ve got the Sabres! Whoohooo!
It’s been an interesting year. Perhaps more interesting in this final month which saw a return to full-time singing (if only for a week), the loss of another baby (this time a little farther along, and quite unexpected), and some major pressure with an overload of business all at once (And somehow, a simultaneous bottom-dropping-out of the cashflow?) It’s been a rather long, hard month… which is a funny way to end a year.
Best thing about 2006? Has to be Julia Gayle. Born March 11, 2006… she’s just awesome. I love her a ton, and I feel like I barely know her. 🙂
I’ll see if I can put a little list of good (and bad?) things from 2006 up here in the next 24 hours or so. Seems the end-of-the-year sort of thing to do. 🙂
Hope you had a great 2006, and that you’re looking forward to 2007. It’s only 27 minutes away now… 🙂
I’ve posted some photos from our trip to The Ralph last Sunday. The one above is of our five year old son, Alex, who just had an absolute blast. I put a movie up of him singing the shout song, too. Mom & Dad & Ian (8) and Alex (5) got to go. We had a fantastic time. They’re not the greatest photos, but if you’d like to see them, just click on Alex’s photo above.
Nice! Steph LaBarge, our friend who sang the National Anthem at the San Diego game posted the video on YouTube! Sweet! Check it out! I think her husband, Dave did the editing… or at least some of it 🙂 He does great stuff too! (http://labargemedia.com)
St. Joe’s grad emerges as finalist in NFL’s “Pitch Us Your Idea For The Best Super Bowl Commercial Ever Seriously” contest
PORTSMOUTH, NH—When the NFL announced it would be sponsoring the first-ever “Pitch Us Your Idea For The Best Super Bowl Commercial Ever Seriously” contest, Gino Bona was determined to create a concept and get his 30 seconds of fame.
On November 17, Bona, born and raised in the Town of Tonawanda and a current New Hampshire resident, headed to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to present his concept. He was joined by several thousand contestants in East Rutherford as well as Dallas and Denver, the other audition cities.
Bona had ninety seconds to present his concept, titled “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye.” The concept comically details the imminent depression football fans experience once the Super Bowl is over. It even showcased Bona’s singing ability as he sang parts of the classic Boyz II Men ballad sporadically through his pitch.
The judging panel responded favorably to Bona’s concept and, last week, a league representative contacted Bona to tell him the good news: he was selected as one of 12 national finalists from thousands of entries.
The grand prize winner will be determined by an executive advertising committee and online voting at NFL.com. The site includes profiles of all 12 finalists as well as video clips of their pitches.
Online voting begins today and will run through January 7. The grand-prize includes a trip for two to Super Bowl XLI in Miami, and a chance to have the winning concept made into a commercial aired during the televised broadcast of Super Bowl XLI.
“I want to win so Bills fans can have something to celebrate during a Super Bowl,” said Bona. “We’ve waited far too long for that.”
For more information about this contest, please visit http://www.nfl.com/superad.
Hey everyone, I didn’t get to see the game this week so I’m not going to review it. However Greg and I were talking and decided to post some important links concerning the playoff hunt and the (as I have now lovingly dubbed it) “Levy Factor.”
What do you guys think?
The Levy Factor
-The John