Buffalo Bills Review
I really can’t believe they did this! It should have been done long ago. That was obvious to most Bills fans. But I really can’t believe they actually pulled the trigger. Dick Jauron was “relieved of his coaching duties” today. Amazing.
Can’t wait to see what is next… it has to be better!!!
Short link to article here: http://tinyurl.com/nomorejauron
Last night I donned my JP Losman Buffalo Bills jersey (yes, I actually do have one thanks to my brother-in-law unloading it on me) in eager anticipation of the start of another football league. Certainly not expecting the same level of play as we see on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and the occasional Saturday in the NFL. However, the coaches of all four teams have quite recognizable names and many of the players do as well (to an avid NFL fan, I suppose).
As the game began, we were all excited to see if JP (a former player whom many Bills fans still root for, for some reason…) could have more success in this new “minor league” football league.
In short, I think the answer is no.
What we saw was the same JP. He gets spooked by the pass rush and leaves the pocket way too early (and quite chaotically) and he just missed throws. He was throwing high and/or behind for much of the night. He did throw two TD passes, and was an (on paper) mildly impressive 21-31 for 226 yards. But his receivers were definitely helping him out.
And what was the deal with everyone pronouncing his name “LOHS-min” (“los” like “close” as in, near by). Is he trying to get away from the “Loss”man baggage he acquired here? (Or, was it just minor league announcers? Although, it was fun that Doug Flutie, another former Bills fan favorite was doing the color commentary.)
In the end, thanks to sloppy play from the other team as well (dropped passes, poorly thrown balls, missed reads in the running game) the Las Vegas Locos (JP’s team) won 30-17. Not a bad debut. Catch the full recap from the AP here.
We’re still rooting for him… and glad for more football… but perhaps there is a reason that these guys aren’t playing in the NFL this year anywhere?
For more on the United Football League:
League Homepage: UFL-Football.com
Versus Coverage: versus.com
The Bills take on the Patriots in the first game of the Monday Night Football double-header tonight. The Bills had a lackluster preseason (that’s putting it nicely) and thus many Bills fans have given up on the team before they have even played a down!
I, of course, being a BIG Bills Fan have not, and spelled out some of the reasons why in an article I published today at my BleacherReport.com page. The title? Just Who Are The 2009 Buffalo Bills Anyway?
We’ll find out tonight, I think. I’m hoping they’re the really fun, high-scoring team they could be. I’m neither optimistic nor pessimistic about that… mostly curious.
And excited that Bills football is here!
Go Bills!
(And if you’re a fellow Bills fan, or even just an NFL fan, do click the link to the Bleacher Report article. Don’t make me post it twice…) 😉
Serious, folks. It’s almost here. This Saturday, the Bills will begin their training camp practices, and two weeks from Sunday they will play their first pre-season game!! (We’re excited!)
They made the surprising move of retaining the popular-with-the-players, but mildly unsuccessful head coach Dick Jauron, but then followed that up with some very intriguing moves (and, I’d say popular with the fans) including dumping somewhat subversive LT Jason Peters (dude was trouble… even admitted to taking plays off because he wanted more money.) and two more offensive lineman that were underachieving. Then they brought in Terrell Owens, who, love him or hate him, he has certainly boosted local and national interest in our team. Plus, another pretty good group of rookies, a few key free agents…
On paper it looks like it will be a fun year. But, talk to me again in November 🙂
For now, I leave you with a series of articles leading up to the opening of training camp. The BuffaloBills.com lead journalist, Chris Brown, has been posting the top 25 questions going into 2009. (And a couple other contributers.) All good stuff, will help get you ready for BILLS FOOTBALL!!!
Go Bills!
(They have been releasing these in reverse numerical order, but I decided to switch them around. Will add links to the last three as they are posted.)
1: Will O-line have enough time to jell?
2: Can Edwards handle added responsibility?
3: Do Bills have intimidation factor?
4: Will the Bills make the playoffs?
5: Who are the training camp sleepers?
6: Who will become a playmaker on special teams?
7: Can the Bills topple the Patriots?
8: Can Bills pass rush be reliable?
9: Will Lynch be fresher down the stretch?
10: Can Walker hold down LT?
11: Will Owens post double digit TDs?
12: Who will become a playmaker on offense?
13: Can Butler re-master right tackle?
14: How much will Sanders help the D-line?
15: Who will be the nickel CB?
16: Will Jackson see more touches?
17: How much will Owens help Evans?
18: Will Schobel return to form?
19: Who will be the strong side LB?
20: Can special teams still dominate?
21: Which rookies will start?
22: How often will no huddle be used?
23: Who becomes a playmaker on defense?
24: What will be the offensive pecking order?
25: Who will be the starting TE?
[See all BuffaloBills.com news articles]
Well, it was a great, great season, and a great run through the NCAA tournament for my Spartans, but last night, it came to a screeching halt. Not only did they lose the game, and not only did they lose it by 17 points, they were simply a shell of who they had been all season, and through the previous 5 games in the tournament. They had more than 20 turnovers, they were dominated on the boards (they led the entire nation in rebounding margin in the 2008-2009 season) and their shooting percentage was just horrible.
Still, they kept getting to within about 15 points for the last 10 minutes of the game or so. They were playing some pretty good defense, and started to catch up in the rebound column… but it was too late, and, well… you have to hit some shots! Sheesh! 🙂
It was a great season, though. Definitely fun to see my team get so far, do so well.
The Sabres on the other hand…
They played last night, too. Actually, they played Saturday night as well. Lost both times. Pretty badly. On Saturday, to their credit, they made a valiant attempt at redeeming an awful game. They got the score to 3-2 after being down 3-0 to start the third period. Dominated the third, but lost. And it was a key loss. Had they won it, they would have tied the team directly above them, and been very much “in the hunt” for the last playoff spot.
But they did not.
So, last night, they needed to win, well, pretty much the remaining four games in the season. Tough task against one of the best teams from the Western Conference, Detroit, but it’s what they had to do. It was 0-0 through half of the game, until they allowed a power play goal… then it just crashed and burned. They ended up losing 4-1.
They still have a slight chance at making the playoffs. They would need the three teams ahead of them to lose most or all of their games, while they win all three of theirs… right. Not going to happen.
The difference between the two endings is, even though MSU was not “on their game” they still kept their heads in the game, and were sticking around to the end. The Sabres… I guess you could say they are trying, and they are “sticking around” to the end, but it also seems pretty obvious that they don’t belong. I’d look for major player turnover in the offseason for the Sabres, while the Spartans will return largely the same team of guys… meaning it should be a good season next year, too!
So, my teams are done… time to start getting ready for Buffalo Bills football!!! 🙂
We were joined on the Buffalo Bills Review tonight by Bills starting strong safety, Donte Whitner! Was a fun (pretty short) conversation where we covered stuff like his being the 8th pick in the draft (and how that was such a surprise at the time!) and about his big playoff guarantee. Plus, he has a foundation that helps inner city kids and kids from single-parent homes in various ways. Cool stuff.
So, if you are a football fan, and forgot that I have a Buffalo Bills show… click on over and check it out. James Hardy (Bills’ rookie WR) will be joining us later this week on the Bills bye week. Stay tuned…
With football season in full swing, and alllll the other stuff going on around here in Campbell-land, it’s pretty hard to fit anything else in, but we were offered the good six-month promo price on digital cable so we decided to do it for the bulk of the hockey season. So far we have been rewarded.
I followed the Sabres’ offseason moves and was optimistic that we’d see a return to something more like the President’s Trophy season of two years ago. If you can extrapolate anything from only two games… we just may be!
The Sabres have won their first two games, one against the Eastern Conference champs from last season (with some great saves by our supposedly superstar goalie, as well as TWO goals in the shoot out – both of which didn’t happen much last year!) and the other in a blowout on the road – 7-1 over the NY Islanders today. If Miller plays as well as he did in the first game (and as well as he did in the previous few years other than last season) then we certainly can score goals…
Could be a fun year!
Could we have two championship teams in Buffalo this year??! (How crazy would that be??!)
So, busy here, but having fun.
Go Buffalo!
All kinds of people come into the Apple store. I get to meet and talk with people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities. That’s a pretty fun part of the job, actually.
A couple days ago, I got to meet a few guys that were even more fun to chat with, being a long-time (big) Buffalo Bills fan.
I was working in the iPhone section, and a couple guys came up to check out the phones. One of them was studying it, so I offered to answer any questions, and began chatting with him.
The weird thing was, his friend looked a LOT like Ashton Youboty from the Buffalo Bills. I took a couple glances, but kept thinking, “Nah… he’s too young… too small. But it sure looks like him… Maybe a brother?”
As I was talking with Ashton-look-a-like’s friend, another guy from the store came up and said, “So you guys from Ohio State?” They were both wearing OSU garb, so it was a valid question. The guy is a Purdue grad, so it was a Big Ten thing… I didn’t bring up my MSU affiliation, as I was trying to be helpful with the iPhone, not play on long-standing college rivalries, which are an important part of life amongst Big Ten schools… 🙂
The guy who was checking out the iPhone said they did attend OSU, and they played football there. That of course intrigued me, as I knew that Ashton Youboty played football at OSU. Now I was pretty certain this was Ashton’s brother or something. Well, as I was going to ask, he left to go check out something else, but I asked his friend… and sure enough, it WAS Youboty, and the guy checking out the iPhone was another young Bills player, Dustin Fox!
After he revealed his “secret identity” I paused for a moment, then said, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but… I just… thought you’d be bigger.”
He laughed and said, somewhat sheepishly, “Everybody does…”
We chatted a bit. Dustin said he’s the “team techie” and I showed him around to a few other toys in the store. They left and I was glad to have gotten to meet two of the (well, really just one) Buffalo Bills!
But the night was not over.
Much later in the night, I looked up at the big board that shows the names of people with appointments at the Genius bar, where we offer tech support on our products. One of the names on the board was Ashton Y. Now… there could be another person named Ashton. And perhaps even another Ashton with a last name starting with the letter Y. But, the likelihood of Ashton Youboty and this other potential Ashton Y. being in the same Apple store on the same night… not very likely. 🙂
So, apparently, Ashton was coming back.
And indeed… not long before closing time, Ashton (but not Dustin) and maybe four other friends strolled into the store. I was still manning the iPhone station, so I greeted them and helped one guy out, giving him an overview of what the iPhone does. Since they all came in together, I figured they were all Bills players, but honestly, I did not recognize any of them. Except Ashton, who was sitting at the Genius bar, getting some help from the Geniuses.
Well, as we were finishing up (it was just about closing time) the store cleared out – except for our Buffalo Bills friends – and I was no longer needing to stay at my station, so… I went over and introduced myself to Ashton. (Who, at this point, was just sitting at the Genius bar, waiting for something.)
“So, you’re Ashton Youboty,” I began. He nodded. “I just wanted to come say hello. I’m a big Bills fan, and your friend Dustin said you who you were when you guys were in here before.” I told him the story of how I thought they’d be bigger, and he said, “Man, I am bigger. I’m fat! The coaches want me to lose weight!” Then he added with emphasis, “It’s hard to lose weight!” Ha! He didn’t look like he needed to, but I’m sure his coaches know what they’re talking about. 🙂
After wrapping up a few other things, I had a moment to say hello to the other guys. I made sure that there were not other customers in the store, and that they (the Bills players) were not busy being Apple customers, and I finally got to say hello.
“So are you guys all Bills players?” I asked.
“Yeah.” (Their unified, hushed reply was a little less forthcoming than I had hoped…)
“Well, I have two boys at home, and they will want to know who I got to meet tonight, so… what are your names?”
The guy immediately to my right said, “Jabari.” I actually didn’t quite hear him, so I asked him to repeat and when I understood him that time I said, “Jabari Greer! Nice to meet you.” Ashton was next to Jabari, and then we went around the circle of guys and they all introduced themselves as I shook their hands.
“Reggie.”
“Reggie….” I said in a leading tone.
“Corner.” He smiled when he said it. Some of these guys are not really that outgoing… 🙂
“Reggie Corner! Nice to meet you.” (It really was. This was fun!)
We got to the last guy around the half circle, who said, “Jon Corto.” I heard him just fine, but I asked him to repeat it, because I had never heard of Jon Corto, and I know my Bills! So I probed a bit further, asking what position he played, and where he was from… still no luck.
As I was probing, Jabari said, “Well, tell us who you are!” So, I laughed and introduced myself. “My name’s Greg… Campbell. Actually, I have a Bills show…”
“Really?!” said Jabari, “Here in Rochester?”
I explained the Buffalo Bills Review, and actually, I thought I remembered that Jabari had been in the running for – or possibly won – an award from our show this past season, but that turned out to not be true. I did let him know that though, and he said, “I’m gonna have to check that out!”
In explaining the show, I mentioned that I grew up in Buffalo, and that’s how I became a big Bills fan. That’s when Jon asked where I was from in Buffalo. Turns out he is from Orchard Park – where the Bills play! So I talked with him a bit about that, how cool it is that he is from there and now playing for the Bills! Kinda living vicariously through that for a moment… 🙂
They didn’t stay much longer, but it was very cool to meet them all and chat a bit about Bills football, even the Buffalo Bills Review. When I started working at the Apple Store, never imagined that I’d get to meet five Buffalo Bills in one night! Was definitely a fun experience.
Wonder who will be coming in today?
I just posted an article on this to my Buffalo Bills blog, but wanted to also post here…
Brett Favre is a NY Jet!
Holy cow. That’s crazy. I won’t elaborate here (as I already did there) but suffice it to say, our division (the AFC East) has gotten significantly more interesting.
Bills first pre-season game in two days! Whooohoo! 🙂
OK, once again I’m a little slow on the draw here, but it’s been to crazy around here! AND, I actually do most of my NFL-related writing for our Buffalo Bills site (which we have beefed up a bit this year… if you haven’t been over there in a while, check it out! The articles page has a pretty decent list of contributers, and we’re going to be doing a lot of special/bonus shows this summer leading up to the regular season in just a MONTH!!)
We watched the official 2008 season opener this past Sunday… the Hall of Fame game. Sometimes this pre-season kick-off game is a joke, but honestly, this was a GREAT game! The ‘Skins and the Colts should both be pretty good this year. (I know… it’s only pre-season, but really… they both looked quite talented, and deep. Maybe especially the Redskins.) It was super fun to see football on our TV again!
The Bills play both of those teams this pre-season. First against Washington this Saturday (can’t wait!) Washington has a rookie QB from the University of Hawaii that set all kinds of records during his time there… and looks like he might do the same in the NFL! He’s got a crazy release… but it worked! He came in as the third QB of the game, and threw the tying and winning TDs! And I think he was something like 9 for 10 or so. Watch for Colt Brennan in the years to come. Should have a pretty decent NFL career! (If you can predict such things…)
So, if you’re into football… the wait is finally over. First official weekend of pre-season is this coming weekend, and we’re only a month away from the real deal! Whoohooo!