My Buddy?

I'm not sure how I should greet the news of the Bills hiring Buddy Nix. When I first got the email from the Bills that they were hiring from within, I almost spit out my lunch. I wasn't happy at all! Then I thought about where Nix has come from. Normally when you hire a new GM, the guy is usually the second in command of another organization. Nix being the assistant GM for the Chargers for six seasons is a great accomplishment. Had it been last year and Buddy Nix wasn't yet on the Bills payroll, I'd like the move maybe a little more. However this move still reeks of a status quo within the franchise.

Nothing like cleaning house and promoting someone from within as your GM. It still tells me that Ralph Wilson is scared to work with someone he is not familiar with. It kind of sounds like the Marv Levy hiring all over again. I'm already hearing fans being happy about the hiring because Buddy is a part of the 90's tradition. Honestly, from Thurman Thomas and Jim Kelly owning the team to Levy being the GM, I'm sick and tired of fans and this organization trying to dig up skeletons from the old 90's closet as an answer to the fan's prayers. Now is it a better hiring than Levy? Of course. Hiring Tom Donahoe again would be better.

This is nothing against Buddy Nix, his resume isn't bad at all. Seven years with the Bills from 1993-2000 as a scout, then going to San Diego to be an assistant GM till 2008. The problem I have with it is that the Bills didn't even go out of the organization and interview other potential candidates. Not even a phone call to Floyd Reese or a two day meeting with Greg Gabriel in Chicago. Nothing! To make matters even more peculiar was the fact that John Guy and Tom Modrak were finalists in the GM search. Are you kidding me?! Those guys should be cleaning Wilson's toilets or scouting Division V schools. Why on earth would you be talking to them?

It just tells me that this team isn't serious about making as many changes as fans would hope. It tells me that the Mike Shanahan talk was nothing more than damage control by the Bills organization. Further more, what took you so long to decide to make this decision? Promoting from within shouldn't take you two months after Dick Jauron was fired.

This move is all on Ralph Wilson. It also proves the notion that Russ Brandon is nothing more than Wilson's puppet. What president would want to hire from within after a decade of losing? Hell, was Brandon even at the press conference today?

There's also the problem of who exactly is going to be calling the shots, is it Brandon? Wilson? Modrak? Nix? Larry Quinn? It's one thing to have too many cooks in the kitchen, it's another to have cooks who will burn the kitchen down. Something tells me that this is it as far as front office moves go. If that's the case, it means that the Bills are going to be putting up with the same brain trust they have had for the last four years.

If there's a silver lining in all this, it's that he's better than Marv Levy and Russ Brandon. I would get more on board with this move if the Bills were to fire Modrak and Guy. It also wouldn't hurt Nix if he can somehow convince Marty Schotenheimer, who worked with him in San Diego, to take the Bills head coaching job. If all of this happens then sign me up. However, that's a lot of "what ifs."

Do I like the move? Eh, it's incomplete as of now. If the Bills do the moves I mentioned above, then maybe I could live with it. If it's the same situation when Levy became the GM and had Donahoe's flunkies (Modrak and Guy) making personnel moves still, then it's going to be another long decade.

BTW- Nice call from the Bills on making the decision on New Year's Eve. Call me a cynic, but having the press conference today means less media coverage because of the Holiday. In other words, less time for backlash from the media.

Wednesday Thoughts

-So there's a report out there that Bill Cowher may be interested in the Bills coaching job. Sorry folks, but didn't we already go through this with Mike Shanahan? To me, this is nothing more than a ploy by Cowher's people to up his leverage for money from other teams. If Cowher was that interested in talking to the Bills, he would have done it by now. Again, the fantasy of Cowher coming to Buffalo would be great. His blue-collar work ethic would go hand in foot with all of Buffalo. At the most, I think it can materialize to a meet and greet-

-People can bitch and complain all they want about the Bills not spending a lot of money on their team, but when you can sell out a game against the Colts back-ups, what makes you think the Bills are going to have whole sale changes when they keep filling up the seats. I've said it before, you want to sell an event in Buffalo, just add some beer. I'm sure if the Bills decided to adopt the tailgating rules in Toronto, fans would be sitting at home with some Genny Cream Ale (Yuk)-

-I've been very critical of people comparing this year's Sabres to the 2005-2006 season, but last night's game was a clear copy of that season. The game was a gut check moment for the team. After getting shelled in the first 25 minutes of the game and the Penguins running Ryan Miller to the bench, the Sabres were able to score four unanswered goals. It wasn't even about the Sabres dominating the Penguins, because Pittsburgh didn't really play that bad. It was about the Sabres being able to finish their scoring chances-

-Anyone want to start a Patrick Lalime fan club? Enough of the back-up goalie talk. It's mind boggling to even hear WGR talk about "Are you on board with Lalime yet?" To me, the topic was much a do about nothing. I hated the talk because the back-up goalie spot was the least of the team's worries. Hell, who was Martin Brodeur's back-up when he was winning Stanley Cups? The whole dam topic was about fans (mostly girls) wanting to see the triumphant return of their favorite son, Marty Biron. Sorry, but Biron has my vote as the most overrated Sabre this decade-

-The best player for the Sabres was Drew Stafford. Mr. Festivas was able to play his best game of the season. It's about time that an underachieving player got the message from Lindy Ruff. We all know that Stafford was benched for the St. Louis game, but was able to come out last night like a bat out of hell. Two goals and one assist. Maybe Lindy should think about benching a top 6 forward every other game?-

-Look, everyone keeps asking why are the fans so nasty towards the Sabres. It's easy and it's the same reason it has taken me a while to warm up to them. A lot of fans are still bitter towards the team because of what happened with Briere, Drury and Campbell. I know it's taboo to mention that to Sabres apologists, but it's the truth. Those happenings are equivalent to your wife or husband cheating on you. Sure, you'll take them back, but you're not really sure if you can love him/her the same way. That's the problem in a lot of people's eyes. Of course, having your top two lines not playing up to a Stanley Cup contender may add to the fans worries or how the Sabres play a pretty boring style-

-Have to love how the MSG telecast decided against showing Ryan Miller's temper tantrum during the game. That's as bush league of broadcasting as you can get. Then you wonder why people don't take the Sabres broadcasters seriously about the state of the team-

-As far as where the Sabres go from here, I keep saying talk to me at the trading deadline. This isn't 2005-2007, when the Sabres didn't have that many holes in their game. The Sabres need scoring, pronto. I don't want Bob Corkum or Dominic Moore. I'm sick of talking about the Sabres getting guys in the 1.5 million range. Spare me with the small market crap. This is the NHL. Everyone is small market. The Sabres sell out and do great TV ratings wise. Enough, make a deal. I'm not going to cry if they package Chris Butler and Derek Roy for a goal scorer. If the Sabres aren't active in March, I'm going to be typing a lot of venom-

Tuesday Thoughts

-Why in the world is Perry Fewell thinking of starting Ryan Fitzpatrick again? Sorry Perry, but your interview is over and the Bills management (whoever it is) should be telling him to take a look at Brian Brohm once again. What's a win going to do for Fewell or the Bills anyways? Their playing against a Colts team that will be playing Drew Willy and their back-ups by the 2nd quarter. Sorry, but that's not exactly a victory that will springboard the Bills into 2010. Play Brohm again and see what he can do with another week of preparation-

-So the Bills are now officially going to start their coaching search. Um, what the hell were they doing the last 2 months? Figuring out how they can get a refund on the Terrell Owens contract? Maybe they were trying to work out a sponsorship deal with Kinkos, so they can do a better job in cropping out Dick Jauron in the team photo. Something just stinks about this coaching search. The Bills have to clean house! Fire everyone who was interviewed by Marv Levy and Tom Donahoe. Right now, Russ Brandon needs to find the next GM or football operations czar. Once the grand poobah is found, then they can start the search for the coach. The fact that Brandon hasn't really given much thought about finding a GM tells me that he's going to be the one who makes all the personnel decisions. If that's the case then the Bills should just bring back Jauron-

-I've already stated that my dream GM would be Floyd Reese. As for my next head coach, I'd like to give it to Jason Garrett, offensive coordinator for the Cowboys. First, you have a coach who is use to coaching in the pressure cooker that is Dallas. Secondly, under his watch he has developed players like Tony Romo and Miles Austin. If the Bills want to go in the offensive direction, then Garrett is your guy. So there you have it, my dream team is Floyd Reese and Jason Garrett. What you think?-

-OK, I know I'm going to get hell from hockey purists for this, but I'm not as smitten about the Winter Classic as everyone else is. All I keep hearing is how this year's classic won't ever match the first one. Well, if I'm the NHL I would hope that's the case. I went to the original classic and to be frank, it was a total snooze fest. Come on, you're going to tell me a 2-1 Shootout, where chunks of ice were scattering across the ice is entertaining? I'm just not the type of fan who gets all into a sporting event atmosphere that doesn't match the on the field product-

-It's going to be interesting to see how Ryan Miller plays against the Penguins tonight. Remember, Miller didn't play against the Penguins the first time around. I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays against the offensive monster of Pittsburgh-

-Lots of talk about Thomas Vanek and how fans feel about him in Buffalo . Here's the deal with Vanek, I don't buy into the notion about how much money he is making as a reason to not like the guy. My biggest problem with Vanek is how he was drafted 5th overall, and even if he wasn't making 7 million a year, I'd still be hard on him because players drafted that high should be cornerstones. Hell, we all give crap to Donte Whitner and Marshawn Lynch because they were drafted high. I don't know what gives with Vanek. At the start of last year, Vanek was on pace for 30 goals in 30 games. I think he's battling confidence issues. You can tell when Vanek messes up, he gets really hard on himself. People who normally get too hard on themselves, tend to be not sure of themselves-

Monday Thoughts

-Look, I've liked Perry Fewell for the most part during his tenure with the Bills. But all you had to do was watch him coach yesterday in two separate plays, to know that he's nothing more than Dick Jauron's cooler brother. Sure, he may be better, but their still from the same blood. First, you had the Bills facing a 4th and 4 at the Atlanta 37-yard line, down 10-0. Your play selection is a punt? Are you kidding me!? You have a kicker who hit a 56-yarder against Miami in Buffalo just 4 weeks earlier, and you're in a dome!? Perry, I thought you were going to be this aggressive coach! Hell, I'd be happy if you decided to go for it on 4th down, but to punt it? That's coaching scared, and if you're scared, the NFL will eat you alive! But that wasn't even the end of his passiveness. It's the 4th quarter and you're down 24-0 and you decide to try to kick a field goal? Um, hello! You have nothing to lose and you're down by 24! I'm sorry, but does losing 31-3, instead of 31-0 make you feel better about yourself?-

-Thanks, T.O.! Thanks for all the memories you have given Bills fans this season. Sunday was just another bitter pill to swallow in this awful signing that has not yielded any sort of impact on the field. First, Owens, decides to file his nails on the sideline. Was he getting ready to go out on the town in Atlanta to check out a Hawks game? Did he want to be able to claw his eyes out better if the Cowboys won the division? Oh, lets not forget his amazing effort on trying to break up an interception in the back of the endzone. This isn't the first time Owens didn't give all of his best effort when a ball wasn't exactly thrown in his hands. I don't even think it's about effort, it's about being arrogant. "How dare you not throw me a ball directly over the top? You think I'm going to make an effort, if yours isn't that good?" Don't let the door hit you on the way out T.O.-

-Is it safe to say that this could be the worst Bills season ever? Think about about it. In a world of 24/7 sporting news and the Internet, everyone knows the problems the Bills have had this season, and I'm not talking about the fans. I'm talking about NFL players and coaches. Big named coaches don't want to come here to put up with a team that is cheap. I'm sure when T.O. leaves Buffalo, he's going to tell all his boys in the NFL that the Bills franchise is a complete joke. So you'll have coaches and players not wanting to come to WNY. I wonder had the Bills decided to fire Jauron in January, like they should have, maybe a big named coach would have wanted to come here. Wishful thinking, I know. But lets be fair, the Bills are 20x worse now than they were in January to the general football public-

-Charlie Weis as your next Bills head coach? Eh, I'm not exactly thrilled with that prospect. First, I'm not buying the Bill Belichick family tree. Every coach that has left him has been nothing short of a disaster. Secondly, Weis was a complete failure at Notre Dame, which I'm sure will work for Bills fans, since there's a large contingent of Irish fans here. Here's what I don't get, why aren't the Bills looking for a GM first? I understood them going after Shanahan, Holmgren and Cowher first because they would have their say in who the GM would be. I doubt Weis would have the clout to request a GM, like Shanahan would. It's as if the team is doing this completely backwards. It tells me that Russ Brandon is afraid to give control to a football guy in the organization and that's why he's finding the coach first. Whose to say Brandon won't fire John Guy and just find another scout to find him players. There's just something fishy about Russ.

-Good for Patrick Lalime to win three of his last four games. It was really all about a better team effort in front of him that has made him more of a doable back-up. I don't want to say I called it, but I did. I'm very happy that Lalime is breaking the hearts of the Marty Biron fan club-

-I'm not as big of a fan of having an abundance of grit players for the Sabres like others, but I'm all for having Mike Grier on this team. He's got grit, leadership, and whenever he has a scoring chance, which are all far in between, it always seems like he makes the most of it and buries it-

-Since everyone is all about judging the Bills for the decade. How would you judge the Sabres for this time period? I'm sure if you asked a bunch of hockey apologists they would term it a success story, but was it really? By the numbers, you would say that the 90's were more successful. The Sabres missed the playoffs once in the 90's and made the Stanley Cup Finals in '99. As for this decade, the Sabres have only made the playoffs three times, two EC finals, and a President's Trophy to show for. I wouldn't call it a complete failure, but it wasn't exactly successful if you ask me. There's also some black eyes that have happened during the decade. The organization decided to break the hearts of all Sabres fans by not resigning Briere and Drury. And lets not forget they had a owner who went to jail for stealing money. Hell, I haven't even mentioned the lockout and the NHL owning the team for a year. I'll say this about the decade, it was definitely a rebirth for hockey in area. However, if you had been here since the 90's, like I have, I'm not exactly being blown away. Call me a cynic, but I term this decade as a C+

-So Mike Schopp thinks it's really cool that he didn't watch yesterday's football game. Look, anyone can turn the channel if they're sick of watching games, but when you're making good money to cover sports, you owe it to the community to watch all the games. Hell, you work what? 4-5 hours a day and you're too cool to watch. It's your job! Hell, I'm some crappy blogger who feels that I should watch every single Sabres game so I can write about them. If I feel that way, then so should Schopp-

Quick Random Bills thoughts

-So much for getting a great look at James Hardy, Steve Johnson and Brian Brohm. Like I've written all season, you can't develop any sort of talent when the environment is this bad. Do I think these kids can play? How the hell should I know?! Their playing with undrafted rookies as tackles and guys from CFL practice squads-

-Whatever the Bills do next season, I believe they need to take their best step forward and find a top tier quarterback. I don't care if it's drafting or trading. If you're lucky enough to find a good quarterback in the NFL, you'll be in the playoff talk year in and year out. All you have to do is look at the teams who are making the playoffs this season. Guys like Matt Ryan, Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb and Payton Manning have all resurrected their inept franchises over the years-

-Lets be honest, no one really cared about Sunday's game. But the big news that came out this weekend was how Mike Shanahan decided to take his name out of the running for the Bills head coaching job. I'm not going to say I was entirely shocked by this development. Looking back, we can all assume that Shanahan used the Bills for leverage to get the Redskins to fork up as much money as possible. It's no coincidence that Shanahan's crony at ESPN (Adam Schefter) decided to leak out what it would take for the Bills or any team to sign Shanahan for 10 million bucks. It's not like he leaked out if Shanahan wanted to come to Buffalo or not. It was all about how much money was needed. Don't think that the Bills were playing the innocent patsy in this either. The Bills were doing their best damage control to make all the fans take them serious in getting a big named coach. It doesn't hurt for Ralph Wilson to spend 400 dollars for Russ Brandon to take a flight to Denver and pay for a lunch with Shanahan. The Bills can now at least say "we tried," which isn't good enough in my book-

-Last thing on the Shanahan talk. He wanted to go to a team that was willing to spend tons of money on its players. The Redskins are perfect for that. They don't have a cash to the cap philosophy like the Bills do and won't sign converted safeties as their starting linebackers. They spend millions on players and their coaching staff. That my friends is why no established coach wants to come to Buffalo. The funny part about the Skins job is how they are just as bad as the Bills are on the field. They have no quarterback, a terrible offensive line, an old linebacking core, and a running back who is on his last legs. But at the end of the day, the Skins have the money to at least try and put a good product on the field. It's like Bill Parcells said once in his time in New England: "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries." Problem with the Bills is they do their shopping at 7-11 and no established coach is going to put up with that. That's why Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren aren't coming here-

-If you're one of those Bills apologists who believes the team did everything they could to get a big named coach, realize this: If the Bills were willing to spend 50 million dollars on Shanhan for five years, then you would think they could now take that money and put it in their offensive line or quarterback play. If the Bills are status quo in the offseason with bringing in the Larry Triplets of the world, then I think it's safe to say they just did this coaching search to just appease the fans. If that's the case, then you should all feel like fools-

Christmas stocking stuffers

-So Aaron Schobel is thinking about hanging up his cleats and going back to the ranch in Texas. To be honest with you, I'm hoping that happens. I've never been a fan of Schobel. During his career he has disappeared way too many times on the football field. Yes, he's had a decent year, but for the 49 million dollars the Bills paid him, he's not worth that kind of money. Schobel's never been good against the run and the fact that he thinks sacks are overrated, has always rubbed me the wrong way. Whether he retires or not, I think the Bills should either trade or cut him. He's getting up there in age and by the time the Bills can compete again (don't hold your breath on that), Schobel will be way passed his prime-

-It's good to hear that Brian Brohm looks to be the starter for Sunday. At this point, it's not even about just seeing what the kid can do, it's about the quarterback position being so bad for the Bills, that Brohm may give them their best chance at winning-

-Great, first, Jim Kelly wants to own the Bills and deport any California quarterback who comes to Western NY. Now Thurman Thomas says that he's going to be involved with the Bills. I'm sorry, but I'm NOT one of those guys whose into former Bills greats having input on what the team may do for the future. If Thurman and Jim want to help recruit and tell a free agent or a coach that Buffalo is a great city, and show them the night life on Lundy's Lane, go for it! But when they start having input on who gets hired and drafted, that's where I draw the line. In the NFL, coaches and personnel people have to pay their dues and start out as scouts. Sure, Thurman and Jim may be better than what the Bills have now, but what other 31 NFL teams would let their former players call the shots without any experience?-

-I was listening to WGR today and almost drove off the road in my Dad's truck, when I heard the hosts say that you can't put Jason Pominville in the category of a player who got paid and has become lazy. Can someone explain to me why that isn't the case? I mean does Pomer still drive around in a Ford Taurus? Does he live with his mother and hasn't bought a 2.5 million dollar home? Bottom line is the guy hasn't been worth the money the Sabres paid him. His goals have gone way down since he got his big fat contract extension. I'm not sure what sort of hints he has been giving to the media to show he hasn't become complacent, but there has been too many games where he's disappeared-

-It's still way to early to assess which teams match up well with the Sabres in the playoffs. History shows that it really doesn't matter what the Sabres have done against teams during the regular season, only to meet them up in the playoffs. Valid point; The Senators dominated the Sabres in 99' and 06', only to lose both playoff series to the Sabres, 8 games to 1. In 2001, the Sabres were swept by the Flyers in the regular season and couldn't score a goal to save their lives against Roman Cechmanek. Things changed though in the playoffs when the Sabres owned Roman and chased him out of game six in the series clincher. Of course this realm of thinking has doomed the Sabres as well. In 2007, the Sabres won the season series against the Senators, only to get shut down against them in five games in EC Finals. All I'm saying is that if there is one sport that you can just throw out the regular season head-to-head in, it's the NHL-

Happy Holiday!

Vacation time

Dear Readers,

I'll be going to Buffalo for Christmas and New Years, so I won't be posting as many stories. I should be able to get some up every couple days. Just wanted to give you the heads up. Thanks for clicking on my blog. Happy Holidays.

Joe

Joe from NYC endorses Flyod Reese

I think it's safe to say that we can lose the dream scenario that the Bills are going to get a big named coach. There's just too much smoke with Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan flirting with other hot teams, only to have the Bills sitting in the basement playing solitaire. Hell, if the Bills did this flawed interview process just to get fans hopes up, consider them the girl who decided to wear a lingerie on prom night, only to walk out the door saying they were saving themselves for marriage.

With all those metaphors, it's time to turn the page on that fantasy. I give to you my first choice for the Buffalo Bills, Floyd Reese.

The Bio on Reese goes like this, he was the GM for the Titans/Oilers from 1994-2006. Prior to that he served as the assistant GM for the Oilers from '90-93. He has drafted guys like Steve McNair, Eddie George, Derek Mason, Keith Bulluck & Albert Haynesworth. The biggest thing going for Reese is that he's a rebuilder. Twice during his reign with the franchise, the Titans/Oilers had to endure a rebuilding process. Reese, with help from Jeff Fisher, was able to weather the storm and guide the team back to contention.

Another thing going for Reese is that he's use to working for an old school, hands-on owner. His boss in Tennessee was Bud Adams. This is the same guy who flicked the birdie to the Bills sideline and moved his team from Houston.

Unfortunately for Reese, he lost his job due to a power struggle with Jeff Fisher at the end of the 2006 season. I'm sure a lot of Bills pessimists are thinking it could be Tom Donahoe and Bill Cowher all over again. Well, Mike Holmgren had power struggles in Green Bay and both parties turned out fine.

Currently, Reese is working as a the senior football advisor for the Patriots. Hey, If you can't be them, may as well join them.

Bills vs Patriots Recap

There's always two types of Bills vs Patriots games. The Bills either get blown out or just blow it. I'm not sure if this game belongs in one of those categories. Maybe it represents a new era of Bills vs Patriots? Remember last year how the Bills lost to the Patriots by only 10 and 13 points. The Patriots aren't the same Patriots from years back, and the Bills are just..the same Bills.

But what all these games have in common is that the Bills always find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. A drop pass by Josh Reed and a stupid ass penalty by Aaron Maybin will go in the history books with McKelvin bringing the ball out of the endzone and Drew Bledsoe's naked boot-leg.

The stats and scoreboard show that the Bills were in it. However, if you watched the entire game, you would know it wasn't as close. I'm sure if the Bills tied the game, the Patriots would have just done what they did in week one. Get pissed off and realized they were playing the Bills. The drive for 7-9 is on life support, but does it really matter at this point?

Random Thoughts:

-I'm really glad that Aaron Maybin was able to convert his god awful rushing technique to special teams. The guy couldn't look more out of sync on being offsides in nullifying a Bills onside kick recovery. I'm sure if the play counted, Maybin would have bronzed his helmet for being on the field for his only defying moment of this season. How many rookies would you rather have playing in Buffalo that were picked ahead of Maybin? Pretty much everyone who was drafted from Texas or USC -

-You always hear the cliche that the stats don't tell the whole story. You could have made that case with the Bills secondary versus Tom Brady. I never thought that Brady passing for zero and eleven yards in the 1st and 4th quarter, would make me take issue with some of the defensive backs. First, Donte Whitner has absolutely no clue how to cover anyone. He played the Randy Moss pass interference play as bad as you can in the NFL. Secondly, are Maybin's celebrations a bad influence on Drayton Florence? Seriously? You have to do a Ralph Wilson Stadium leap after you knocked a pass away? My god, if Maybin gets a sack or Florence gets an interception, call the NFL, because I'm sure they will be fining the duo for excessive celebrations-

-I didn't mind Perry Fewell benching Ryan Fitzpatrick for Trent Edwards. He was looking for any sort of spark, which of course happened after Edwards was injured after getting sacked twice on his only four plays. Of course, the spark (more like a flashlight) was from Fitzpatrick, who played better in relief of Edwards. Even with a better 4th quarter performance by Fitzpatrick, I've seen enough of him this season to know that it's time to bring in Brian Brohm. As far as I'm concerned, Perry Fewell's audition is over. It's time to see what we have with some of our younger players. Is Brohm the answer? I don't know. I sure as hell know that Edwards and Fitzpatrick aren't-

-You want to pick an offensive player of the year for the Bills, It's Fred Jackson. Jackson had a nice 1st half against the Patriots, rushing for 73 yards and averaging almost 7 yards a carry. Those stats made the Bills abandoning Jackson in the 2nd half (only gaining 7 yards), even more mind boggling. Why would you decide to shy away from Jackson? You have the Green Bay practice squad on one half of your line and on the other half are guys who just got their playbook on Wednesday (Exaggerating? Yes, but you get my point). Ask any lineman what they would rather do, run or pass block? They will all say run block because it's easier. The coaching staff should have made it easier for the offense -

-I was going to write at some point last week that the Bills haven't been getting as many penalties under Fewell. Glad I shelved that article. An NFL season-high 104 yards in penalties came in the first half. Maybe they should have practice indoors? -

-As far as T.O. and his amazing two catch performance goes, I'm done with the guy. Time to put James Hardy or Steve Johnson in. Owens isn't making the team better and isn't even making an effort to help. It has taken me a while to come around to the idea of benching him, but after his Ferris Bueller type day off on Friday, it's time to cut his snaps.

-BTW, can we even get someone to ask Owens why the hell he was in Toronto, instead of being in bed with a thermometer in his mouth? Then you wonder why Buffalo fans always complain about the media not holding people accountable. If this was NYC, they'd have the paparazzi at his house-

-Seriously, I don't think Santa Claus could handle the Bills Christmas list for next year. Besides running back and some of the DB's, the Bills need an overhaul on every single level of their football team-

PS: Who in the blue hell is Andre Ramsey?

Penguins vs Sabres recap

I won't be foaming at the mouth like Mike Robitaille was after tonight's game, but the Sabres played a smart defensive hockey game against the high-powered Penguins offense. Unfortunately for the Sabres, they continue to struggle with the powerplay and were unable to cash in on 8 PP opportunities.

Besides the PP problems, the game could be summed up like this; both teams had a ton of scoring chances and both teams blew those scoring chances. I guess you could look at the game as being one where neither team should have lost. But when you can't score 8 times on the PP, it's kind of tough to just waive the moral victory flag. But if you're suppose to be one of the best teams, you have to beat the best. Did the Sabres play well tonight? Yes. Was it a Moral victory? No. Still room for improvement offensively? Yes.

-Even though the Sabres only scored once, you can tell that the Sabres players were really into this game. Moving their feet and being aggressive. If they can just somehow find a consistent way to score goals, I'd feel a lot better about them-

-It's pretty impressive that the Sabres were able to shut down the duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Besides a couple of scoring chances from the Penguins superstars, the Sabres defenseman were stellar in frustrating the duo. Malkin especially looked like he was more into ripping someones head off than trying to score. That's not a good game plan for the Penguins-

-I wrote yesterday that I wasn't a big fan of the Sabres starting Patrick Lalime against the Penguins. However, the silver lining that I looked at was if Lalime played a good game like he did against Chicago, we wouldn't have to hear the Marty Biron fan club making the back-up goalie spot into a position of dire need. After tonight, everyone needs to take notice that Lalime is just fine. He was outstanding tonight and has only allowed two goals in his last two games against arguably the two best teams in hockey. The biggest difference between the Lalime of the last two games and the one from last season is that the Sabres are in the zone when it comes to playing defensive hockey in front of their goalie-

-One more thing about the Biron factor: fans should be careful for what they wish for. Remember, the Sabres brass aren't stupid. If they sense this huge pull by fans for wanting "cheap" Marty to come back to Buffalo, they'll do the trade just to make those fans happy and to give them an excuse to not make any other moves. Hey, this is the same franchise that considered the Tim Connolly resigning their big trade addition last season-

-I know morel victory is on the minds of a lot of Sabres fans, and it should be, but there were still too many scoring chances that the Sabres couldn't cash in. Even though the Sabres are a little better in scoring as of late, they are still ranked 22nd in the NHL in Goals. I'll be saying it until the trade deadline, the Sabres need to add more scorers. Fans have to remember, when the playoffs start, the games are going to be a lot more tighter and the scoring is going to go down. I'm not sure you can win in the playoffs by just scoring 1 to 2 goals a game-

-Before I watched the game tonight, I went to go get a haircut and started reading ESPN the Magazine while waiting. They had an interesting article on the art of shootouts. One of the players they interviewed was Ryan Miller. Miller spoke on how sometimes the most difficult players to face in shootouts are defenseman and guys on the third or fourth lines. The reason being is you're not sure what they are going to do because their normally not playing in a shootout.

I really wish Lindy Ruff would have read that article before the shootout tonight. Those were some ugly ass shootout attempts by Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and Drew Stafford. I'd have really like to see Lindy throw in a defensemen or someone who normally doesn't get a shootout attempt. Shouldn't surprise the Sabres that Kris Letang, a Penguins defenseman, scored on Lalime-

-Man, is Harry Neale becoming the Van Miller of the Buffalo Sabres? You remember Van in his latter days with the Bills.

Van Miller: And there's a fumble on the play, and the Bills have It!
John Murphy: Um Van? someone lost a helmet on the play.

Someone needs to have Harry watch some Sesame Street with "The Count." I think he must have mentioned the word "secondly" at least three times on "The Whip." Good for Rob Ray to call him out on it-

-Overall, it was a great effort by the Sabres and proved that they can hold their own against the best in the NHL. However, I'd still like to see the team light the lamp a little more-

T.O. can't get enough of Toronto

So Terrell Owens is following in the footsteps of former Bills player, Willis McGahee, with their unshakable love for Toronto. However, I doubt McGahee ever went to Tornoto the same day he was unable to practice because of the "Whine Flu" that Terrell Owens must have caught.

According to Allen Wilson from TBN and Terrell Owens tweets, T.O. decided that he couldn't get enough of Toronto, by taking a field trip there for the day. Last I checked, the city of Toronto hasn't found the cure for the common cold.

Owens was taking in an autograph session at around 4:30pm at Sears (Couldn't you at least go to JC Penney?), and then concluded his adventure in Canada by taking in a Raptors game at night. Thank goodness the Leafs were playing in Buffalo and the Blue Jays are in offseason selling mode, or Owens may have made the day into a triathlon of sporting events.

I'm sure we all know that T.O. hasn't practiced the last two days because of an "illness," but felt good enough to take an hour and half drive or Chopper, who knows at this point with this egomaniac, to Toronto.

Look, I've said it before about T.O. and his frequent flyer mile trips across country, if he's playing well, he should go away on his off days. However, if he's not on the same page with his quarterback, how about once in a while coming in on a Monday to look at film.

This situation however is pathetic! Lets reset the situation for a bit. On Wednesday coach Perry Fewell decided to have the first 20 minutes of practice outside. From what I heard, it was pretty dam cold in Buffalo and T.O. was colder than his reality show's ratings. He made no bones about his displeasure with the weather and practicing outside. I should warn you that most of his comments about it sounded very tongue and cheek.

Then came Thursday and Friday, and he couldn't practice because of a mystery "illness." Some members in the media cried foul and wondered if this was just T.O.'s way of bailing out of a cold practice.

I'm not saying T.O. was pretending to be sick. Hell, he could have felt like garbage Thursday and got a little better Friday morning. I'll even give him being sick and practicing football is totally different then driving to watch a game.

However, what I do have a problem with is how this clown decided not to drive to practice and at least watch it. Maybe watch some film, pollish some footballs, take a pass from Brian Brohm. You know, try and be a member of this football team. Now if Owens decided to play hooky, which wouldn't shock me considering he milked the entire preseason with a toe injury, the he's completely dead to me.

Not showing up to practice for a pleasant "how you doing" to fellow players, is not being a good teammate. That's just you doing your own thing because you are completely over being a Buffalo Bill.

Not only that, he's showing up the team and his coaching staff by twittering that he's in Toronto signing autographs for T.O. fans (Sorry, but there's about 10 Bills fans in Toronto these days). Owens twittering his fun adventures, is like someone at the office working his tail off, only to have some jackass worker text you that he's having a Ferris Bueller type of a day. It's going to tick you off!

Perry Fewell, If you really want to get the people of Buffalo really behind you; Bench this clown! Show your boldness. You think Bill Parcells or Bill Cowher would be cool with a player missing practice because he's "sick," only to travel to Toronto for a game? I'm sure T.O. wasn't watching game film in his limo on the way there. He probably was watching reruns of his stupid ass reality show.

Now look, I'm going to play a little Devils Advocate. Would I be as pissed off if Terrell Owens decided to watch the Sabres play against the Leafs? Yes. This is about not being at practice in any form. If T.O. goes to practice and watches, and then decides to leave for Toronto or a Sabres game, or take a private shuttle to the moon, maybe I would be in a better place with it. But showing up his team by not even attending practice is completely unacceptable.

Perry, I know you want this Bills job, but take it from me. You're better off benching the guy and showing the organization and the league that no player is bigger than the team. You can be the first interem coach to ever say enough to Terrell Owens. Hell, it worked for Mike Singletary when he cursed out Vernon Davis and sent him to the locker room during a game.

Forget beating the Patriots, Perry. Show the NFL landscape what other defenses have been doing to Owens, shut him down.

Sabres vs Leafs Recap

So was it a good effort or just really bad goaltending?

-I hope you Sabres fans didn't miss the first ten minutes of the second period, because you wouldn't have seen much after or before that time period. The Sabres were abysmal in the first period; played better in the second while witnessing a breakdown by the Leafs goalie, and played an average third. As good as the Sabres have been this year, those periods represent what you can get from the Sabres on any given night. It's a roller coaster ride that normally ends with a thrill for Sabres fans-

-If there's anything you can say about this game, it's that Vesa Toskala couldn't be the goalie for Argentina in the Olympics. He was god awful. The guy was more rattled than a baby's toy. Toskala gave up four goals on six shots in the second period, two of them being ugly goals. When you're playing against goaltending like that, you can eat in Ottawa every night of the year and win-

-There were some players who had a good game tonight, mainly Ryan Miller, Mike Grier, Tim Kennedy & Drew Stafford. Besides Stafford, you can always count on Kennedy and Grier giving an honest effort every single night. After them, there are still too many Sabres who are just showing up every other night. I know, their winning..but the majority of their victories are about Ryan Miller. Seriously, can you name me a game in which the Sabres bailed out Miller this year?-

-Speaking of Miller, he was outstanding again tonight, turning away 40 shots. The one thing I'm noticing in a lot of Miller's games is how a lot of the opposition are over thinking their shot selection. It's kind of like what we saw with Hasek years ago. Once you get in the goal scorer's head, it's over-

-I don't know about you, but I don't get why you wouldn't run with Miller against the Penguins tomorrow night and just have Lalime play on Monday against these same Leafs. Makes absolutely no sense! I don't want to hear about how Miller owns the Leafs, because everyone OWNS the Leafs! Are the Sabres trying to do their best Joe Mesi with Miller, by not letting him go against the top tier of the NHL? OK, that's harsh. But why in the world wouldn't you want to be at your best, against the best?

-The only reason I'd be for Lalime tomorrow night is if he beats the Penguins. That way I don't have to hear fans or media members talk about the need for Marty Biron to come back. Fans, if you love Marty so much, then start a fan club-

-Look, a win is a win, but if the Sabres play anything like they did tonight against the Penguins, it's going to be rough night. So bring your "A" game boys, because you're going to need it-

Random Friday Thoughts

Why wouldn't Mike Holmgren consider coming to Buffalo? I'm sure you all know that the Bills reached out to Holmgren and were rebuffed, because he wanted to be a GM, not a coach. Well, why wouldn't the Bills or vice verse entertain the thought of Holmgren running their football operation and then hire his own coach?

I know a cynic Bills fan would say it's because the Bills are so terrible and unappealing to a big fish (or walrus) like Holmgren, which may be true. But are you going to tell me that the Browns franchise is better off? Are you going to build your team around Josh Cribbs? The Browns this decade have been just as bad as the Bills. I think Russ Brandon is not as big on the house cleaning as some fans may believe.
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Speaking of big name coaches, I just read that Mike Shanahan told the Bills during their initial interview, that he wanted Bruce Allen as a part of his regime in Buffalo, if he decided to go there. Well, Allen is now in Washington running the football operations. Typical Bills.

If the Bills were really serious about getting Shanahan, wouldn't they have called Allen up? Maybe they were just waiting for the cost of flights to go down after Christmas to fly Allen in? In the competitive nature of the NFL, you have to be swift. The Bills are about as swift as an Anchor. To me, this is just another sign that the Bills were just talking to big name coaches so they could get the morale of the fans up. Pathetic.

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So now Lindy Ruff is saying that it was 4-5 players that were infected by the bad food in Ottawa. I wonder if the Sabres will call the health department or better yet, have one of their health care sponsors provide a testimonial about the impact on eating Canadian food.

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It didn't take a genius to realize that the media apologists (WGR mainly) would give the Sabres a pass against the Sens. I mean, Patrick Lalime being sick was sooooooo key in the loss. I don't know about you, but doesn't it seem like WGR avoids talking about the Sabres after a loss? For two straight days, all we heard was how the Sabres resembled the 05-06 season. Now the topic has changed to picking the all-crappy Bills team for this decade. Hmmm.

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As far as the Pat Kaleta hit goes, what did you expect? This is the NHL! The league that decided to float a mystery memo after "No Goal." The same league that had a work stoppage for over a year. All of these issues have everything to do with why the NHL has no clue what they are doing in any aspect of their business. The NHL is completely unsure of themselves. Do we allow fighting or not? Do we want high scoring games or defensive hockey to appease the old schoolers? More is lost by indecision, then by wrong decision.

The NHL polices themselves as much as the LAPD do it in South Central. I seriously think that Gary Bettman sits in an office with the executive producer from Versus and TSN, and asks if they really want to showcase this specific player on television. In other words, the NHL doesn't care about the well-being of a guy like Kaleta, that's why Ruutu didn't get suspended.

Bills vs Pats preview

Since everyone knows the last time the Bills beat the Patriots in Buffalo, I'm going to spare you with the history lesson of how bad this one sided rivalry has been. The Bills have lost every imaginable way possible. What makes the series more of a riddle is how the Bills can't put on a good effort in front of the home crowd. In the last five home games against the Patriots, the Bills have been outscored by 13, 46, 22, 28 and 10 points. Well, at least their improving.

-What is with all this "Randy Moss wasn't trying" hoopla? It's not exactly breaking news here. I find it funny how the ESPN talking heads were all over Moss on Sunday and Monday, then Merrill Hodge comes out and says he reviewed the tape and concluded that Moss showed good effort against the Panthers. Um, isn't that like Tiger's mistresses coming out and saying we didn't sleep with the dude. Anyways, Moss has owned the Bills. In five games with the Patriots, Moss has 33 catches for 450 yards, and 6 touchdowns. I think this is the wrong week for the Bills to play against a pissed off Randy Moss-

-I've been one to speak highly about the Bills secondary this season, but I can't help but notice how the Bills defensive back's shinning moments have come against the likes of Matt Cassel, Mark Sanchez & Jake Delhomme. Lets not forget that Brady passed for over 300 yards in the season opener. Whenever the Bills have contained a big time passer like Brees or Schaub, they would always give up almost 200 yards rushing-

-I think in order for the Bills to have a chance against the Patriots they have to be able to run the football. The Patriots are ranked 16th against the run and the Bills are at their best when they can run the football and take pressure off the passing game. It also seems that Fred Jackson may have the Patriots number (OK, I'm exaggerating about the number). Jackson has rushed for almost 200 yards in the last two games against New England, including a 136 yard effort last December-

-I know fans only remember the season opener for the McKelvin fumble, but the reason the Bills were in control of that game was because they were able to blitz Brady effectively and stifled the Patriots defense with running screen passes. Then the Patriots got pissed off and realized they were playing the Bills, and outscored them by 14 points in the last 2:10 of the game-

-Speaking of running backs, if you are in need of a waiver wire pick-up in fantasy football for this week, pick up Laurence Maroney. Don't believe me? Just ask Ryan Moats, Mike Bell & Jamaal Charles-

-It will be interesting to see how much of Bill Belichick's ego will get involved in this game. Everyone knows that the key to beating the Bills is running the football down their throat. But we all know the Hoodie isn't one to do something so common place. Look for the Patriots to unleash the passing hounds of hell on the Bills. Belichick is all about winning..and humiliating opponents-

-I find it funny how Perry Fewell keeps telling the media that the reason why Brian Brohm isn't in his plans is because he's still learning the playbook. Um, OK. Didn't the Bills start Kendall Simmons and Chris Draft the same week they signed them? We all know that Fewell isn't about developing a player, considering he's coaching for a job next season. But when does the idea of Ryan Fitzpatrick being the best option to win, start to fade away? His job has to be in somewhat jeopardy after passing for less than 100 yards in the last two games. The thought of Belichick game planing against Fitzpatrick tells me that this may be Fitzpatrick's last hurrah.

-During the Buffalo News video preview of the game, Mark Gaughan mentioned how the Bills beating the Patriots wouldn't duplicate the energy of ending the "0 for the 70's streak" against the Dolphins. I think Mark has to realize that these Bills fans are a lot different from the fans of the early 80's. Buffalo fans have been trained to look for the silver lining in anything and then exploiting it. These are the same fans who have sold out Ralph Wilson Stadium every year and threw two rallies for players coming to Buffalo (T.O. and Bledsoe). Trust me, if the Bills beat the Patriots, it's going to make a lot of fans feel that Perry Fewell is the answer to their prayers. Again, it doesn't take much to feed the average Buffalo fan's appetite-

Prediction time: The Bills have been bad against the Patriots this decade, but have been worse against the Pats the second time around in a season; being outscored 192-29 in their last six 2nd time around games. That's what happens when Belichick has film to dissect the first outing and the rest of your games. Something tells me the Patriots will be ready for the Bills screen passes this time around. Patriots make it 13 straight.

Patriots: 34
Bills: 14

More on foodgate

Look, we all know that food poisoning is not a laughing matter. God knows I've used the excuse about five times in order to miss work and family functions. But from what I've heard, it's pretty bad to get.

But I have to wonder which of the Sabres happen to feast on some bad Canadian cuisine. I mean, if Adam Mair, Patrick Lalime and Nathan Paetsch got sick, should it really have mattered how the food poisoning affected the Sabres?

Well, John Vogl was able to give insight to my question. Vogl posted a blog on Sabres Edge noting which players were in attendance for Wednesday's morning skate.

Tim Kennedy, Paul Gaustad, Nathan Paetsch, Thomas Vanek, Clarke MacArthur, Jason Pominville, Andrej Sekera, Matt Ellis and Ryan Miller.

Vogl also included a few of the players who played a lot of minutes, who more than likely weren't infected.

Tyler Myers (28:32 of ice time), Derek Roy (21:28), Henrik Tallinder (21:33) and Tim Connolly (19:41).

Vogl also went through the list of players who didn't play as much ice time.

Patrick Lalime (who skipped the morning session), Toni Lydman (13:41 of ice time) and Drew Stafford (12:38).

OK, by my count that's about 12 players (excluding Paetsch because he was scratched) that weren't affected by the bad food. The number consists of 5 of your top 6 forwards and your two best defenseman.

As far as the sick bunch goes, it consists of Patrick Lalime, Adam Mair, Mike Grier, Craig Rivet, Drew Stafford, Steve Montadour & Pat Kaleta. Obviously Lalime is a wash and Kaleta was knocked out in the first period. Besides Grier, this isn't exactly the French Connection under the weather.

I know what you're thinking, here's d#$khead Joe, being Mr. Negative. But the fact that Lindy Ruff would mention it in the post game, "that we aren't making any excuses, but I was waken up at midnight and told that seven players were sick," reminded me of last year.

You remember, "We don't want to make any excuses, but we should have made the playoffs if Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek didn't get hurt." This is what pisses me off about the Sabres, they pull the we don't want to make excuses and then they make one.

It's not just injuries or food issues. "We don't make trades because of the market; We don't go HD for road games cause viewers don't own HD Televisions." (OK, I made that last one up)

I can already hear Mike Schopp and Sabres apologists, pointing to the food poisoning for the reason the Sabres lost. Now, did the food poisoning have something to do with losing? I guess. But judging by the players who were infected, it should have been overcome. The Senators aren't that good and were missing Jason Spezza. But I doubt we would hear Sabres apologists mention that.

I know, I'm just stirring s#$t up, but I think I have a point. Please tell me if I don't.

With that, I'll leave you with what might have happened to those seven players last night.

Sabres vs Senators Recap

Since everyone is all about comparing the Sabres of today to the Sabres of 05-06, I'll just follow along. Just like during the regular season then, the Sabres just can't beat the Senators in Ottawa.

-I think the biggest reason the Sabres have problems against the Senators is because the team doesn't play well against an opponent that doesn't rely on just one line. The Senators are kind of built like the Sabres, because they roll out four lines that consist of speed and grit. When you take Miller out of the equation, the Sabres play their best when their 3rd and 4th lines outplay the opponent's second tier lines. The Senators latter lines match-up well against the Sabres, and when your top six forwards are as inconsistent as the Sabres are, you're going to have problems. It's not like playing the Capitols or Hawks, who have only one or two lines you have to deal with-

-The Sabres PP is ranked 21st in the NHL, but the way they have played this season, you'd think they were ranked 21st in the AHL. It's as if the PP unit is just throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing if it will stick. One rush, they try to dump it in. The next rush, they try and carry it in. Then the last rush, they get a penalty. I mean when you can't set up the power play game in & game out, what's the point of talking about over passing and getting pucks on net?-

-I don't know what is up with Thomas Vanek, but if the rumors about him nursing injuries have anything to do with his below average year, maybe the Sabres should consider resting him for a game or two. I just don't see the same burst or aggressiveness that we are use to-

-A night like tonight is where the Sabres need to make a trade for another scorer or at least someone that the opposition is afraid of. Besides Miller, there isn't any other player on the team you have to prepare for.

-We all know who the Sabres best player was tonight. This was arguably Ryan Miller's best effort of the season. If it wasn't for him, the Sabres would of lost 9-0. He made some unbelievable saves and kept the Sabres in it throughout. A big difference between last year and this year for Miller is that he doesn't give up as many big rebounds.

-How do you get ZERO scoring chances in one period?-

-I just hate it whenever a Senators player scores at home. First, you get the annoying ass out of tune horn blasting for like 20 seconds. Then you get cutaways of fans in the crowd, who always look like they should be modeling in Christmas cards, and then clap as if they are at a Broadway play. Finally, you get the Star Trek theme song blaring. Man, Canada is so not cool-

-Did someone forget to pack the mic cube for Kevin Sylvester's intermission interviews? Love using a stick microphone without the cube, very college style-

-WGR reported that seven players on the Sabres had suffered from food poisoning prior to the game. Oh, well that changes everything. The Sabres would have won by at least four goals. I'm sure the Sabres PR will quickly release stories of the team hurling chunks of poo-teen and other Canadian delicacies during the intermissions, as reasons for the club struggling tonight. Phew, now we can keep on talking about how this team resembles the team from 05-06...I kid, I kid-

Kawika Mitchell isn't happy about Incognito

Well, I guess you can count Kawika Mitchell amongst those who must have voted for Richie Incognito as the dirtiest player in the NFL for Sporting News. Get a load of these tweets from the Bills injured starting linebacker about the Bills newest addition.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT THIS YR. THE GUYS A BUM. DIRTY AND ALWAYS WILL BE. REALLY WISH I WAS PLAYIN RITE NOW. SERIOUSLY... I KNO WE'RE N NEED OF OLINE BUT THIS GUY SUKS BALLS.

Dam! I guess Incognito must of done some serious wrong in some of the dog piles with Mitchell.

Mitchell did have a little bit of a retract soon after, but it was mostly about him not airing his problems with Incognito in public because he was injured.

Couple wks ago I said 1 thing I miss is earning the rite 2 talk ish by playin. Since I'm not playin rite now I shouldn't b sayin shit. I was wrong 4 startin sumthin. Shouldve saved it.

So you're telling me if you were healthy, it would be OK for you to say that a new teammate sucks testicles. Who needs T.O. to start controversy, when you have a guy like Incognito.

Bills sign Richie Incognito

ESPN is reporting that the Buffalo Bills have acquired guard Richie Incognito, a day after he was placed on waivers by the St. Louis Rams.

Incognito was let go after getting two personal fouls in the Rams' loss to the Tennessee Titans and getting into a verbal confrontation with coach Steve Spagnuolo on the sidelines.

Mind of Joe
I love this signing! Why? Because it gives me an excuse to play this clip. I wonder if Richie Incognito is related to Homer Simpson's double, Guy Incognito. See for yourself.



So much for the Bills valuing character. But who are we kidding? When the team has to dip into the well of the Green Bay Packers practice squad so many times, you're going to be limited in your options. Incongnito (God, I love saying that name) was voted in the Sporting News by NFL players as the dirtiest player in the NFL. Sounds like a soon to be fan favorite for Buffalo.

Random Thoughts

-I wasn't going to dedicate a post to JP Losman, but I wanted to write about something, and Losman going to the Raiders seemed to be the hot topic on a pretty slow news day for the Bills. What is with the large contingent of Bills fans who really want the guy to play well. I don't know if it has to do with hoping to pile on the Bills for not only making a bad pick, but giving up on a guy way to soon. Maybe it's because JP lived in downtown Buffalo and had that "Save a tree day" in Buffalo a few years back. Like I've said before, if you want to make it in Buffalo as a sports figure, live in downtown Buffalo and talk about the architecture, and then have your own foundation. Personally, I don't care how the guy plays, he wasn't very good here, and unless Jim Fassel was able to do a brain transplant with Joe Montana, things won't change-

-I don't want to predict what will happen in tonight's game, but why have the Sabres always had problems with the Senators? Besides the playoff series from 2006, the Senators have owned the Sabres the last four seasons. The biggest reason has been because of goaltending. Ryan Miller for his career is 8-11 with a 3.09 GAA against the Senators. Not only do the Sabres have the Senators past going against them, but also the unlucky number five. Twice this season the Sabres have won four in a row, but have failed to extend the streak to five games-

-Great, so now this Sabres comparison to the 2005-2006 team is getting out of hand. Mike Schopp dedicated a couple of hours yesterday comparing today's team to that season. It's no surprise that WGR would try and dig up ghosts from that team because they were such a cash cow for ratings and jersey sales. Sure, the records are the same, but the styles are completely different. The Sabres today are all about defense and solid goaltending. The team from 05-06 had a ton of balance and could beat you 2-1 or 6-4. Don't believe me? Go look at that team's schedule. I've said it before, this team is exactly like the late 90's version of the Sabres with great goaltending and inconsistent offense. Of course, someone actually called Schopp and told him that, and the host decided to scoff at that notion. Maybe it has to do with trying to shove the rhetoric that the Sabres most popular team ever is like today's version, so they can try and duplicate the ratings from that time period-

-I'm sick and tired of hearing about how Russ Brandon is some sort of marketing genius. The NFL sells out in almost every single city. Why does Brandon get all the credit? Because he decided to have Tops & Cellino and Barnes as team sponsors? It's not a difficult sell to people to have five hours of drinking for free in the parking lot and having the cheapest tickets in the NFL. Especially in a city that doesn't have that much to offer. The marketing geniuses are the people at ESPN and the NFL offices in NYC-

What's left for the Bills?

I can't recall a season that I wanted to end as quickly as I do now. This season has been a train wreck. Hell, this year has been a natural disaster. From Marshawn Lynch and Donte Whitner's run-in with the laws to the jettison of Jason Peters. Dishonorable mentions go to Turk Schonert being fired, Langston Walker getting cut, and the rebirth of the no-huddle offense. And that was only in the offseason!

So with the Bills season run to a 5-11 mark almost concluding, what exactly should a fan look for besides cheering their team to win or lose? Here's a couple of Bills who still have a lot to gain for next season.

Fred Jackson or Marshawn Lynch
I'd like to see one of these backs really try and separate themselves from the other. As of now, I am more of a Fred Jackson guy because he has played the most consistent of the two. However, Marshawn Lynch seems to finally be shedding his early season slump, rushing for almost 6 yards a carry over the last two weeks. Lynch has three weeks to prove to the Bills that he's a better back than Jackson. The Bills backs do play against some mediocre run defenses in New England, Atlanta, and Indianapolis. However, those teams possess the type of offenses that could force the Bills to play catch-up for the entire game. Personally, I'd like to see the Bills trade one of the two backs and bring in a speedster who would be able to bring a certain kind of diversity with one of the other running backs.

Aaron Maybin
In the 20 years of watching Bills football, I can't think of a Bills rookie under this much scrutiny as Aaron Maybin. Even when the guy makes a play, fans and media (myself included) get all over the guy for celebrating as if he just recorded his 100th sack. He has had a rookie year to forget. If the guy can get a sack or better yet, a hit on the quarterback, it would at least give the impression that he is making some strides.

Donte Whitner
Put Whitner under the same category as Marshawn Lynch. Whitner has a lot of competition with the strong play of George Wilson and Jarius Byrd. If Whitner doesn't show an eye for the ball over the next three games, the Bills would be foolish not to entertain the thought of trading the former first round pick. Whitner is going into the last year of his rookie deal. I doubt the Bills would entertain the thought of extending Whitner, so the pressure on him to perform is on.

Steve Johnson and James Hardy
With all the talk about the Bills benching Terrell Owens for either Johnson or Hardy, how about benching Josh Reed, who has been completely invisible this year. Reed is a FA and is as good as gone for next year. Why not start Johnson or Hardy off slow, and put them into the third wide out spot.

Perry Fewell
Fewell is 2-2 as the Bills head coach and could very easily be 3-1 or 4-0. However, the schedule is going to get a lot more tougher than his first four games. The Patriots own the Bills. If Fewell can somehow muster up a victory against New England, some fans may look at it as if it's 1980 all over again, when the Bills beat the Dolphins for the first time in 10 years. We all know fans love nostalgia. If victory on Sunday brings the fans to that, it could be the momentum from the public, that Fewell needs for the brass at One Bills Drive to realize he could be their answer at head coach.

Shawn Nelson
With Derek Schoman and Jason Fine on IR, Shawn Nelson is the lone tight end standing for the Bills. Nelson only has 13 catches on the season and I'm still not convinced that he is the long term solution for tight end for the Bills, which makes him having a good close-out to his season very important. We all know the Bills hierarchy doesn't care much about the TE spot, so maybe they are already counting on Nelson being their guy.

Jerry Sullivan not wanted by the Sabres?

Hey, I didn't open up this can of worms, the man that resembles a skinny version of Newman from "Seinfeld" did. Concluding his weekly chat last Friday, Jerry Sullivan told his chatters that he was about to go do an hour with "Schopp and Bulldog," and asked rhetorically for someone to call the station and ask why he can't go down to the arena for their show (WGR is at the Arena on game days), instead of having to travel to their Amherst studio. Good question, considering that TBN location is about two blocks away from the Arena, and driving to Amherst takes about 20 minutes. I think I may have the answer.

The Sabres brass doesn't like Jerry Sullivan. Don't think for one second that a sports team doesn't have any pull when it comes to having their games broadcast on a local radio stations. Cause they do. Rumors persisted that the reason why "The Coach" Chuck Dickerson was fired from his job was because the Sabres, who had just reached an agreement with WGR for the rights to their games, didn't want him. Dickerson wasn't known for is hockey credentials, as he spoke out that he wasn't a fan of hockey.

If that doesn't make you smell a rat, how about this. Every time Sullivan is on WGR, the Sabres are hardly ever brought up to him. Yesterday, Schopp and the Bulldog were bringing up baseball for god sakes. By the time they got to hockey, Sullivan was about two minutes away from wrapping up his hour with the duo.

It's strange, considering how much WGR shoves hockey down the listener's throats. Why wouldn't they want to get the lead columnist of the Buffalo News to share his opinions about the Sabres. Maybe it goes back to why the Sabres didn't like Dickerson, because Sully has been outspoken about the Sabres, and has been skeptical of their fast start. He's also the same columnist who hasn't let go of the Sabres contract debacle with Drury and Briere, and hasn't shared too many nice views of Larry Quinn and Tom Golisano. I don't think WGR would want to hear Sully make those kind of statements on the air.

So Jerry Sullivan, if you are reading this, that's the answer to your question. Hope it helped.