Bruce and Ralph, Welcome to Football Immortality

-Coast

The Bills of the 1990s continue to get their due. Kelly, Thurman, Lofton, Marv and now Bruce and owner and founder Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Bruce Smith was a lock, a no doubt about it first ballot hall of famer. Ralph getting in this year came as a bit of a shock to me.

Bruce Smith: Defensive End, 1985-2003 (1985-1999 with the Bills)

• Bruce Smith is the best defensive end to have ever played in the National Football League. The Bills drafted him number one overall in 1985 out of Virginia Tech. From that day forward, the dude was a straight up beast. He amassed an NFL record 200 career sacks, 159.5 of which as a Bill. Excluding his rookie year, his final year as a Bill and his injury shortened '91 season, Smith had at least 10 sacks in every season. The Bills defensive line this year, as a unit, had 7 and as a defense had 22 total. Bruce had a career high 19 himself alone in 1990. Smith forced 43 fumbles in his career and eclipsed 100 tackles twice in his career. Aaron Schobel had 54 tackles in his best season. Bruce was named the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice, in 1990 and 1996. He made 11 pro bowls and 8 times was named a first team all pro. These are just staggering numbers. It begs the question...if Bruce suited up for the Bills right now, would he still be their best defensive end? Bruce Smith also played in 20 playoff games. In those games he had 14.5 sacks. He had the famous sack of Hostettler for a safety in super bowl XXV, although he gets criticized for this play for his failure to force a fumble. Bruce Smith could possibly be the best Bill of all time. He after all was the best player to ever play his position.

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., Bills founder and owner 1960-present

• I don't have much to say about Ralph Wilson...lately I know a lot of Bills fans, including myself, have been real fustrated with the decisions he has made. After all, he drove Bill Polian out of town, allowed AJ Smith to go, hired Tom Donahoe, left the football decisions to Russ Brandon, and retained Dick Jauron. But, in the grand scheme of things, Ralph has done a lot for this city. Without him, there would be no team here and never would have been probably. He brought football to Buffalo in 1960 and the team has been here since. Wilson's first choice ironically was Miami, who would later become the Bills biggest rival. Miami turned him down and finally on October 28, 1959, the Bills became the 7th AFL franchise. Wilson helped preserve the AFL before the merger by loaning money to the Oakland Raiders to keep them afloat. Ralph Wilson has done so much for the league and for the city of Buffalo, I just hope he finds a way to set something up so that the Bills remain in Buffalo after he passes away.

The Bills will represent 1/3 of the 2009 hall of fame class. The inductions are August 8, 2009 in Canton at 7 PM. I'll be there, no doubt about it.

Bruce and Ralph inducted

by Steve

Aug 8th, Saturday, be there. Wait did you know it costs money to be at the speech and shit? $28 for stadium seating and $60 for floor seats.. WTF am I lost cause I dont know it costs money to go to Canton or is it an outrage it costs so much. Who knows, I might be there, hopefully I am. The bills play the Titans in the first preseason game there also.

Bruce Smith is the greatest Bill of all time. Easy. Dude is and was a beast. Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce, wow I miss those days. A d-end people feared and had to game plan against. Rare. Hopefully we see a lot of 78's that day, myself included. But no one is shocked by him getting inducted, he was a lock. He does have the most sacks in NFL history...

Ralph C Wilson Jr getting in is a different story. The dude has never won a Super Bowl, he runs all his smart football minds out of town. He replaces them with cheap leftover scraps. He gave us the 90's so I'll take it. He has kept the team in town so I thank him for that. But is it so tough to just find a new owner once you die? Can we not just have some succession plans christ. I don't give a fuck about your ego. Get the ball rolling on a local investment group please. I beg of you. Congrats on getting in. Not exactly sure why though. Was it the merger? The Raiders loan? The sub mediocre product for 65% of the teams existence?

But hey, two Bills going in at once, woulda been insane if Andre got in. He deserved to, Buffalo deserved it, but I guess it was just Bob Hayes' time. Who ever the fuck that is.

Wait $28 ?!?? c'mon..


Buffalo to Canton
Estimated Time: 4 hours Estimated Distance: 234.30 miles

Lynch bowlin 'N other news

• Marshawn will be headed to the Pro Bowl Bills running back Marshawn Lynch is headed to Hawaii for the 2009 Pro Bowl. The second-year back will be replacing Tennessee running back Chris Johnson, who had to pull out of the game due to a high ankle sprain suffered in the Titans playoff loss to Baltimore on Jan. 12.
• Ex GB d-coordinator Bob Sanders has been brought as the Bills new d-line coach. Hopefully this dude eventually replaces Fewell, cause Fewell blows
• The Bills made a pair of future free agent signings Tuesday signing center Marvin Philip and receiver P.K. Sam.
• Greer wants to stay"I definitely want to get something done with Buffalo," said Greer, who will turn 27 next week. "It's a spot that I have so much appreciation for. I appreciate the opportunity that they gave me.

UB hoops continues to roll

UB won a close battle at MAC west rival western michigan 74-71 in a nail biter

why these games are not televised i'll never understand..

UB goes to 5-1 in the conference 13-5 overall. (5 straight wins in the MAC) and now has wins over three of the better teams in the conference.. This team might be for real.

don't forget they play on ESPN2 at home saturday at noon

Eye on the draft

Options @ eleven

chris brown:

Though the 2009 NFL draft is still three months away, the prospects at the Senior Bowl have kept draft talk on the front burner. The good news is at pick 11, Buffalo is virtually guaranteed to land an immediate impact player, and will likely have close to the pick of the litter at a few need positions.

There’s little debate that the Bills need a big boost for their pass rush. With a limited free agent market for pass rushing talent, the draft is the next logical place to turn. Often NFL teams have to grab a pass rusher early if they want an immediate impact, and after just 50 sacks over the last two seasons Buffalo has to address the need.

Fortunately in the pick 10 to 15 range it’s likely that two to three of the best candidates will still be on the board. NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock believes teams in need of pass rush help in that range of the draft will benefit from some junior eligibles.

“(LSU’s) Tyson Jackson is a defensive end that could play in either scheme,” said Mayock. “At that level he’s a logical guy. Brian Orakpo is going to probably be a top 10 or 12 pick. Then you start getting into some of the underclassmen. I don’t think any of the other seniors are going to go that high as far as defensive ends.”

Mayock has Orakpo currently ranked as his best defensive end prospect followed by Florida State’s Everette Brown and then LSU’s Jackson.

In all likelihood the Seminoles’ Brown will be off the board not long after Orakpo, and likely followed by Jackson. Jackson isn’t the pure pass rusher that Orakpo or Brown are, but would be a powerful and disruptive presence at left defensive end and should be among the top 20 selections according to most draft “experts.”

Making the need for a pass rusher more interesting is the fact that San Francisco (10th pick), Washington (13th) and Houston (15th) are all looking to improve their pass rush as well. If some of these teams do not believe all of the aforementioned prospects are top 15 choices, jockeying for position on draft weekend could get very interesting.

A playmaking tight end is also an area the Bills would likely want to address at some point in the draft. Whether that comes at pick 11 is up for debate. If it is a position Buffalo wants filled early, Oklahoma State’s Brandon Pettigrew is widely considered the best all-around talent that the draft has to offer, and has put in some good work at the Senior Bowl this week.

“Brandon Pettigrew has just been dominant at the tight end position here,” said NFL Network draft analyst Charles Davis. “He can run and catch. We watched him in a blocking drill and he won every rep that we saw. We saw three reps against high quality linebackers coming at him off the edge on the line of scrimmage and they played run blocking and pass blocking and all three situations that I saw it wasn’t even close. He also looked very good running. He was a lot more fluid than people might understand. When he runs I think he’ll surprise people with his 40 time. He’s the total package.”

Other top prospects at the tight end position after Pettigrew on Mayock’s list are Florida’s Cornelius Ingram, Rice’s James Casey, Wisconsin’s Travis Beckum and Missouri’s Chase Coffman, though none of these prospects are considered to be first-round possibilities by the so called draft “experts.”

Linebacker is another position where the Bills have a hole to fill. With Angelo Crowell an unrestricted free agent and still working his way back to full health, addressing that position in round one is not out of the question.

However, it would likely require Buffalo to trade down in round one to land a prospect of proper draft value. The only linebacker considered worthy of coming off the board in the top half of round one is Wake Forest’s Aaron Curry, who is expected by many to be a top five pick.

In the second half of round one a worthwhile outside linebacker prospect is USC’s Brian Cushing.

“Brian Cushing? Oh my,” said Mayock. “Is he going to be an outside linebacker on the strong side? He can play that. He can play inside linebacker in a 3-4. The kid is unafraid of anything, he’s very instinctive. I love the way he plays. He will light you up. To me his best football is ahead of him. When healthy he’s one of the top guys out there.”

“To me Brian Cushing is the prototype 4-3 SAM which means he’s a strong side linebacker, can play over the tight end, can set the edge, also has the ability to drop back in coverage,” said Davis. “A lot of teams think he can play the inside in a 3-4. Cushing provides scheme versatility because of what he can bring.”

Another candidate expected by the “experts” to come off the board in the second half of round one is Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis.

“Laurinaitis is one of the most consistent linebackers in the country,” said Mayock. “He’s instinctive, he’s smart, he’s tough and he doesn’t make major mistakes. I believe he could play all three positions in a 4-3. He’s not as explosive as Maualuga and doesn’t have as many big hits as some of the other big name guys, but what gets lost in that is his consistency. He’s durable, tough and smart and going to be a top level player.”

Obviously a lot will happen between now and the draft, most notably free agency, which will likely shift the priority of the positional needs for the Bills and the other NFL teams drafting around them in round one. But at 11, Buffalo is sitting in a good position to greatly improve their overall talent level.

UB hoops pwns?

by Steve

Can we say statement game? UB dismantled the top team in the MAC East today @ Miami (OH) 76-64. They controlled the game throughout. It was a joke. This could propel them to national prominence. Or at least respectability once again in the MAC. Any question yet as to whether the last year or so is the year of the University @ Buffalo?

UB is now alone in the MAc East at 4-1 and have already beaten both Miami and Ohio who are both tied for second at 3-2 in the division. UB is now 12-5 and the team is starting to gel nicely. Another great test will come Tuesday when UB goes at MAC West division leader Western Michigan. Rounding out the week, UB comes home Saturday for a match up vs Toledo at noon on ESPN2.

It is impossible to predict where the season is headed, but things are looking great right now. I left Reggie Witherspoon for dead after the last few years of futility. Then I gave the team another chance this season, well, because Uconn was coming to down. They didn't dissapoint. Well actually they did, losing a heart breaker they were winning for 30+ minutes.

See ya saturday at nooooooooooon

Sabres will be televised next week

I had a feeling these games wouldn't be blacked out, turns out I'm right. And it turns out the fans do have some say, if they complain enough

The Buffalo Sabres reached a deal today with MSG Network and the National Hockey League to televise four road games that were previously scheduled to be aired only on the radio.

Minority owner Larry Quinn struck a deal that calls for the Sabres and MSG to split the costs of having the NHL Network's feed during the upcoming four-game road trip to Edmonton, Calgary, Phoenix and Anaheim. The games will be aired on MSG or one of its alternate stations.

The decision to get the games on TV was, in part, a reaction to the backlash from fans. Sabres fans who have grown accustomed to watching every game were angry about them taking the road trip off of their TV schedule. The agreement was completed before the NHL board of governors meetings in Montreal as part of All-Star weekend.

"When you start looking at the All-Star break and the whole next week, without the Sabres out there for that long, was probably a mistake," Quinn said. "I'm glad that fans were mad that we weren't going to be on, and I'm glad that we're able to accommodate the fact that they have that much passion for it."

The Sabres initially had an agreement with MSG for 74 games, and four others were set to be televised on Versus. The team was looking to save money on production costs for the other four games that are played later in the evening and typically have a smaller audience.