In the News - 9/9/10

[madness]

September 09, 2010
Bills a franchise at a crossroads
There are many ways to illustrate the differences between the fortunes of the Indianapolis Colts and the Buffalo Bills over the past 15 years. Win-loss record, playoff appearances, Super Bowls, Pro Bowls — you pick the metric, and chances are there will be a considerable favourable advantage for the team from Indiana over the one from Western New York.
nationalpost.com/Scott Stinson | Posted at 10:54 AM

Here's my preseason All-AFC East team
In February, the wait felt like it would be interminable. As it does every year. But we're finally here. The start of the NFL regular season is upon us. A meaningful game will be played Thursday night in the Superdome. Let's mark the occasion in the AFC East with a look at my preseason all-division team.
ESPN/Tim Graham | Posted at 10:50 AM

Bills vs. Dolphins: Discussing Two Key Matchups
The NFL returns tonight. The Buffalo Bills return to games that count on Sunday, when they'll take on the hated - yes, hated, Mike Harrington - Miami Dolphins. Now that it's Thursday, and the game is mere days away, we're going to start getting into the details of what is a vastly underrated Week 1 matchup.
buffalorumblings.com/Brian Galliford | Posted at 10:48 AM

Rumblings Book Review: Standing Tall - The Kevin Everett Story
"My body went numb. It felt like he ran straight through me." Kevin Everett raced down the field to start the second half of the Buffalo Bills season opener against the Denver Broncos on September 9, 2007. He was at full speed, having run untouched through the Broncos kickoff return unit when he slammed into returner Domenik Hixon.
buffalorumblings.com/Matt Rich Warren | Posted at 10:47 AM

Hardships, Gailey should serve Edwards well
Trent Edwards is only entering his fourth NFL season, but he’s experienced just about all the ups and downs possible in a young career. Multiple quarterback competitions, multiple offensive systems, multiple coordinators and the loss of the starting quarterback job in 2009.
buffalobills.com/Chris Brown | Posted at 10:46 AM

Byrd A Full Participant As Bills Prep For Dolphins
The preliminary injury report is out for Sunday's matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. Teams are not required to provide anything more than level of participation in practice this early in the week, and the Bills and Dolphins are both relatively healthy.
buffalorumblings.com/Brian Galliford | Posted at 10:45 AM

Spiller gets the nod as Bills starter
It took a few short months for Bills rookie running back C.J. Spiller to win the starting job and elevate expectations around town that Buffalo’s anemic offense just might have a semblance of a spark. The one thing Spiller’s careful of is to remind everyone that he can’t do it alone.
niagara-gazette.com/AP | Posted at 10:43 AM

Buffalo Bills' Fred Jackson optimistic about Sunday status
ORCHARD PARK — Running back Fred Jackson participated in practice Wednesday afternoon at windblown Ralph Wilson Stadium, and he said he expects to be playing in the opener against the Dolphins Sunday.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle | Posted at 06:10 AM

Buffalo Bills' C.J. Spiller set to start
ORCHARD PARK — There really was no need for Chan Gailey to play it coy regarding the depth chart at the running back position.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle | Posted at 06:09 AM

With front-loaded schedule of tough foes, things could get ugly early
A tough early schedule will be a huge challenge for the Buffalo Bills in 2010.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:07 AM

For starters, Jackson's disappointed he's not No. 1
Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson was both optimistic and disappointed after Wednesday's practice.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:06 AM

Improving the O-line is on front burner
When asked the key to a successful offense, Eric Wood's answer was the same mantra repeated over and over by football players and coaches alike:
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:04 AM

Edwards talks the talk, but ...
Trent Edwards is ready to have fun this season. Just ask him. Every time he opens his mouth, Edwards tells us how much he's enjoying his job. At Wednesday's opening media day, the Bills' quarterback used "enjoy" in one form or another no fewer than eight times.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:04 AM

Bills' troubles overshadow strengths in both backfields
You'd better have an efficient passing game if you want to make the NFL playoffs.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:02 AM

Sullivan: In climb back to contention, franchise needs to bottom out
This year, I was more relieved than usual to see the NFL preseason come to a merciful conclusion. Given one more encouraging performance by the starters, a lot of Bills fans would have begun making travel plans for the Super Bowl in Dallas.
Buffalo news | Posted at 06:01 AM

Bills' outside linebackers out to prove they can do the job
The Buffalo Bills' outside linebackers are expecting to be tested by the Miami Dolphins in Sunday's NFL season opener.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:00 AM

Nix is a football man with a plan
The first job Buffalo Bills General Manager Buddy Nix got in football was as a graduate assistant under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama.
Buffalo News | Posted at 06:00 AM

[madness]

Sparano expecting Bills Wildcat

By Chris Brown - Posted September 9, 2010 – 8:31 am
Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano, whose team was the first in the league to re-introduce the Wildcat formation, is fully anticipating the possibility of seeing a version of that formation from the Bills on Sunday.
“First of all, I know that Chan’s history is one that he’s done whatever he has to do to move the football and he has utilized his personnel as best he can,” Sparano said. ”That’s really what we did when we started the Wildcat thing. As far as them running it, I’ve seen everybody else running it so it’s not something new anymore. And most defenses are now having to prepare for it every day against their own team. Do I expect to see it this weekend? I expect to see a little bit of everything this weekend.”
Buffalo showed some Wildcat in the preseason game against Cincinnati with C.J. Spiller as the primary ball handler.



Thurs. player radio appearances

By Chris Brown - Posted September 8, 2010 – 5:22 pm
Here’s the rundown of player appearances on the Buffalo and Miami radio airwaves for Thursday.
CJ Spiller – Morning Bull; 103.3 The Edge @ 8:00 AM (listen online)
Paul Posluszny – Norton in the Morning; 97 Rock @ 8:00 AM (listen online)
Steve Johnson – Kiss 98.5 FM @ 8:10 AM
Roscoe Parrish – The Jorge Sedano Show; 790 The Ticket in Miami @ 12:35 PM
Donte Whitner – The Michael Irvin Show; WQAM 560 AM in Miami @ 12:45 PM



Dolphins injury report

By Chris Brown - Posted September 8, 2010 – 4:44 pm
Here’s the list of injured Dolphins for Week 1.
Did not practice
LB Channing Crowder (groin)
Limited participation
LT Jake Long (knee)
Full participation
C Jake Grove (shoulder)
Crowder hasn’t practiced since Aug. 17 due to a lower abdominal injury, so his status is very much up in the air for Sunday’s game. Most reports out of south Florida are indicating that Long should be able to play in the opener provided he practices more extensively Thursday.



Bills injury report

By Chris Brown - Posted September 8, 2010 – 4:41 pm
Here’s the rundown of the Bills injury report. As a reminder player status (e.g. probable, questionable) is not provided until Friday of each game week.
Did not practice
LB Antonio Coleman (hamstring)
LB Reggie Torbor (chest)
Limited in practice
LB Kawika Mitchell (foot)
Full participation
FS Jairus Byrd (groin)
To our knowledge Mitchell was 100 percent heading into Week 1. We’ll have to check in with coach Gailey on Thursday to see if Mitchell sustained an injury in Wednesday’s practice.

[justasportsfan]

Bills vs. Dolphins: Discussing Two Key Matchups
The NFL returns tonight. The Buffalo Bills return to games that count on Sunday, when they'll take on the hated - yes, hated, Mike Harrington - Miami Dolphins. Now that it's Thursday, and the game is mere days away, we're going to start getting into the details of what is a vastly underrated Week 1 matchup.
buffalorumblings.com/Brian Galliford | Posted at 10:48 AM

Brandon Marshall vs Terrence McGee

Marshall will be making his official Dolphins debut on Sunday, and you have to imagine the Dolphins are going to try to get him involved early and often in the passing game. Marshall has historically performed very well against Buffalo. In two career games, he has 15 receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown. McGee was a starter in both of those games (from '07 and '08), and though I'm not sure how many of those completions were against Terrence, I'd have to imagine Brandon got his fair share.

Wouldn't you rather put McKelvin on Marshall?

[Oldbillsfan]

The top story is Tom Brady's fender bender...cmon!

[madness]

Kawika absent

By Chris Brown - Posted September 9, 2010 – 10:15 am
Kawika Mitchell is absent from practice here on Thursday.
He was listed on the injury report Wednesday with a foot injury.
We’ll find out after practice if Mitchell was injured in Wednesday’s practice from head coach Chan Gailey.
LBs Antonio Coleman and Reggie Torbor are also not practicing.

[madness]

Wouldn't you rather put McKelvin on Marshall?

Absolutely not! I wouldn't even feel comfortable with Florence covering him.

[madness]

Kick return approach

By Chris Brown - Posted September 9, 2010 – 12:37 pm
C.J. Spiller sits atop the team’s depth chart at kick returner in addition to running back, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be the team’s return man this Sunday.
“I see that as a position with a lot of different options,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “We’re fortunate on this team to have good returners and depth so we’ll make a decision as we get closer to game time as to who is going to do it.”
Gailey indicated that one player will be tabbed as the kick returner for that particular week.
“We’ll probably decide on a returner and use him for that game,” said Gailey. “The good thing is one gets winded or something like that we have the option to use someone else.”
Listed behind Spiller on the kick return depth chart are rookie Donald Jones, Marshawn Lynch, Leodis McKelvin and Fred Jackson in that order, for what it’s worth.



Byrd feeling good

By Chris Brown - Posted September 9, 2010 – 12:16 pm
Bills FS Jairus Byrd is moving closer and closer to returning to Buffalo’s lineup.
Byrd practiced again on Thursday and believes he’s on the right track to return.
“It feels fine,” he said. “I’ve been out for a while, but it feels good.”
Head coach Chan Gailey is encouraged by what he’s seen from his starting free safety this week.
“He was out there and moved around really well at practice,” said Gailey. “It was an improvement over yesterday so I’ve very optimistic about him.”
If for some reason Byrd could not play George Wilson would step in for him.

[madness]

Dolphins injury update

By Chris Brown - Posted September 9, 2010 – 1:18 pm
Miami was again without one of their starting linebackers in practice Thursday and their starting left tackle is still gimpy.
ILB Channing Crowder missed his second straight day of practice with a lower abdominal injury that’s kept him out of action since mid-August.
Meanwhile starting LT Jake Long was limited in practice again on Thursday with a knee injury.
WR Brandon Marshall was added to the injury report on Thursday with an ankle injury, but participated fully in practice.

[EDS]

The Bills starting linebackers are Kelsay, Davis, Poz and Torbor.

Is there a worse group of linebackers in the NFL?