The trivia idea seemed to have been well received, so it is going to become a Tuesday morning staple. The only problem I think I had last week was that I made the questions way too easy. Well I think that has changed. This time not only will there be 4 players that you have to identify, but there will be at least  1 extra credit bonus question for you to ponder. So with out further ado...

Player 1:

-         I was drafted by the Bills, and played for the Dolphins as well during my short career.

-         While playing at Virginia Tech, I won the Lombardi and Bronco Nagurski awards.

-         I was the first player ever to win the Big East defensive player of the year award two years in a row, and the first to do so unanimously, which I did in ’98 and ’99.

-         I recorded a record 17 sacks in’99 and finish with a total of 31 over the two year span, from ’98 to ’99.

Player 2:

-         I set the combine record of 52 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press, a record that still stands.

-         I spent 2 years as the head coach and general manager of the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League.

-         I have authored several children’s picture books.

-         I spent 3 years in the USFL before joining the Bills in 1986.

*EXTRA CREDIT*

Name the two teams that I played for in the USFL.

Player 3:

-         I hold the record of the longest play from scrimmage that didn't score a touchdown: 98 yards.

-         I was a two time All-American at the University of Oregon where I played wide receiver and running back next to teammate Dan Fouts.

-         I was selected to 4 straight Pro-Bowls from 1978-1981.

-         I was the fourth overall pick of the 1972 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Player 4:

-         I was the first ever AFL player to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season in 1962 earning MVP honors.

-         I set the record for most rushing yards in a game with 243 vs. the Jets in 1963.

-         I am the only athlete to turn down being enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame because of perceived racism and exploitation by management.

-         I was signed to a pro contract out of high school by Paul Brown, which was against NFL rules, so I left to play in the ORFU for the Sarnia Imperials.

*Extra Credit*

What does ORFU stand for?

What's more fun on a Monday morning in May - from a football perspective, at least - than attempting to predict which 53 players from your favorite team will be lining up in front of your eyes this coming fall?  That's exactly what we'll do this morning.  With position-by-position breakdowns of the Buffalo Bills' 2008 roster just around the corner, I thought it would be prudent to take a look at the overall picture first, then break it down in the coming days.

So this is how I see the 2008 roster shaking out.  Keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things, this exercise means very little; it is a topic that should, at the very least, bring about some interesting philosophical discussions, however.

Here's the positional breakdown.  We'll avoid doing this depth chart style for now since, ultimately, I was playing a numbers game here.  (It's not hard to figure out the depth chart, however.)  Feel free to offer your own alternatives, pick apart my ideas, or ignore this exercise wholly. :)

Quarterback (3)
Starter: Trent Edwards
Reserves: J.P. Losman, Gibran Hamdan

Running Back (4)
Starter: Marshawn Lynch
Reserves: Fred Jackson, Dwayne Wright, Xavier Omon (R)

Fullback (1)
Starter: Mike Viti (R)

Wide Receiver (6)
Starters: Lee Evans, James Hardy (R)
Reserves: Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish, Justin Jenkins, Steve Johnson (R)

Tight End (3)
Starter: Robert Royal
Reserves: Courtney Anderson, Derek Fine (R)

Offensive Tackle (3)
Starters: Jason Peters, Langston Walker
Reserve: Kirk Chambers

Offensive Guard/Center (5)
Starters: Derrick Dockery, Melvin Fowler, Brad Butler
Reserves: Jason Whittle, Christian Gaddis

Defensive End (5)
Starters: Aaron Schobel, Chris Kelsay
Reserves: Ryan Denney, Chris Ellis (R), Ryan Neill (LS)

Defensive Tackle (4)
Starters: Marcus Stroud, John McCargo
Reserves: Spencer Johnson, Kyle Williams

Outside Linebacker (5)
Starters: Angelo Crowell, Kawika Mitchell
Reserves: Keith Ellison, Blake Costanzo, Alvin Bowen (R)

Inside Linebacker (2)
Starter: Paul Posluszny
Reserve: John DiGiorgio

Cornerback (5)
Starters: Terrence McGee, Leodis McKelvin (R)
Reserves: Jabari Greer, Ashton Youboty, Reggie Corner (R)

Free Safety (2)
Starter: Ko Simpson
Reserve: George Wilson

Strong Safety (3)
Starter: Donte Whitner
Reserves: Bryan Scott, John Wendling

Kicker/Punter (2)
Starters: Rian Lindell, Brian Moorman

Notable Cuts: FB Darian Barnes, TE Teyo Johnson, TE Derek Schouman, OT Matt Murphy, OT Demetrius Bell (R), OG Duke Preston, DT Jason Jefferson, DT Corey Mace, CB William James, CB Kennard Cox (R)

Hey, Rumblers!  With the off-season upon us in full force, Buffalo Bills news scarce, and a slow Sunday ahead of us, I figured now would be as good a time as any to talk about some of the new features of Buffalo Rumblings 2.0.  We've been blogging on our shiny new platform for nearly three weeks now, and y'all seem to have settled into our new surroundings rather comfortably.  I'd like to discuss this platform in a little more detail this morning to help y'all get even more into the awesome features that 2.0 provides us:

Community Guidelines
First thing's first - a few days before we officially made the switch to 2.0, I implemented a more formal set of community guidelines to govern over posting behaviors at Rumblings.  Those of you who have been with the site for a few months know what I do and don't allow as far as posting anything goes; I'd appreciate it if everyone gave these a quick skim, however, but especially if you're relatively new to the site.

One of the key new features in 2.0 is the ability to "flag" comments that you take issue with, or you feel go against the community guidelines linked above.  To flag a comment, simply click "actions" under said comment and click "flag".  Only myself and the triumvirate will see flags, so you're working under anonymity - so please use this feature to its fullest extent.

Aesthetic Features and Profiles
Got a wide-screen monitor with a whole bunch of gray space on either side of the blog itself?  Try wide view!  On the blog's home page, directly under the site logo and the user menu, there are two buttons labeled "narrow" and "wide" - it's pretty self explanatory from there.  I love the wide feature on my MacBook, and use it for all SB Nation sites I visit that are on the new platform.

Be sure to create a free account and set up your ultra-cool SB Nation user profile as well!  Here's my profile as an example - you get all the basic personal info, favorite teams, and blogs joined, but the coolest feature is that you can also see all of the FanPosts and other assorted postings that you've made on all SB Nation blogs - it literally is your very own blog within the SB Nation network.  Curious to see how this works?  Check out the user blog of our very own kaisertown - some quality stuff there.

The Comments Section
The coolest and most innovative feature to 2.0 is the comments section - and if you were with us over draft weekend, you've seen exactly how that works.  Nowhere else on the Internet can you find comments features like this - with auto-refresh capabilities and easy keyboard cruising, a very fast, chat-like atmosphere is created.  It's really rather fun.

To scroll through the comments of a given thread using your keyboard (you must be logged into your account for this to work), press C.  To mark a comment as read, press X.  To do both at the same time (move to next comment and mark as read simultaneously), press Z.  I am absolutely addicted to the Z button, and find myself pressing it when sifting through e-mails every day.  To reply to the comment that you're currently on, press R.  Get commenting, lurkers - I guarantee you'll enjoy the experience. :)

FanPosts vs. FanShots
I appreciate the fact that y'all have not only for the most part discerned the difference between these two features, but have kept both of these sections chock-full of fresh content.  It's made my life much easier during my college finals, that's for certain.  Keep up the good work!

For those of you newer to the site - FanPosts and FanShots are the two sections on Rumblings for your thoughts (other than the comments section, of course).  Looking to put some of your own thoughts down in a more lengthy blog post?  That belongs in a FanPost - the network tech gurus have implemented a 75-word minimum on these posts.  Using kaisertown as an example again, his FanPost yesterday on run defenses was exemplary, and a fantastic example of what a FanPost should be.  They certainly do not need to be as long as kaiser's, but you get the idea - these are original stories created by y'all, as opposed to a...

FanShot, which is a section for "quick hits", as the techies have called them.  If you've found a link, quote, video, online chat, or image that you'd like to share with everyone here, but don't want to necessarily expound on it much in a FanPost, then throw it up in a FanShot!  If you see posts on the front page with a light red background hue, that's a FanShot that has been promoted to the front page.  Posting FanShots is quick, easy and very helpful in keeping this site updated with all relevant information; click through to the FanShot section and drag the bookmarklet to make sharing links with us even easier!

Miscellaneous Features to Keep in Mind
You may have noticed that along with the new commenting and posting features came rosters, stats and schedules, like any other traditional site has.  Yes, we are aware that the rosters are not up-to-date and we are currently working with our sports data providers to rectify that issue.  Stats will also not be available until the '08 regular season begins.  But be sure to check out the roster's player pages (Trent Edwards is a good example) to see how stats and blog data are integrated - it's awesome.  And if you're looking for one page to keep you up to date on all of the blog news as well as team news in general, click the "Bills" tab in the nav bar right under the blog title.

New as of this morning (at least from what I can tell) is a powerful new search feature.  Seriously, try this - type "Panda" into the search bar at the top right of this blog, again under the blog title (right above the ad box where Michael Scott makes frequent appearances).  Stories, FanPosts, FanShots and comments with "Panda" in it are easily navigable from that screen - but it doesn't stop there.  Using the tabs right under the site logo on that screen, you can search "Panda" not only on Rumblings, but on all NFL blogs and even the entire SB Nation network.  Be sure to try PowerSearch as well, as you can extend your search by date and user.  Very cool stuff indeed.

One last thing - please, please, please start recommending FanPosts, FanShots, stories and comments.  For stories, FanPosts and FanShots, simply click on the story's headline, scroll to the area immediately following the main text (right above the comments section), and click "rec".  This is a great way for y'all to promote your favorite work on Rumblings, rather than me or anyone else telling you what the best work is.  If a story/FanPost/et al gets more than 5 recommends, it will show up in the "recommended" section.

In Conclusion
If you have time (I know some of you have time at work ;) ), play around with the new platform.  Check out all of the amazing features and power that it has to offer.  If you ever have any ideas for additional information you'd like to see (we're working on a team roster page with contract and salary cap information currently) or just general questions, drop us a line.

Tomorrow, we get back into Bills football discussions, as we start positional roster breakdowns.  Stay tuned, and keep playing with Rumblings 2.0!

[Note by Brian Galliford, 05/10/08 9:48 AM EDT ] Curious to know more about the Buffalo Bills' 2008 opponents?  Our very own kaisertown has done a wonderful job of breaking down the run defense aspects of every one of Buffalo's 2008 opponents.  Take it away, kaiser.  [End Note]

The media typically uses yards allowed per game to rank defenses. But those numbers are obviously flawed because they take into account a team’s ability to keep its defense off the field. Using yards per game will also mean a team’s run defense numbers will be altered by a team’s pass defense. I like yards per attempt. I don’t think it gives you an exact number for how well a defense defended the run or pass, but it is the most accurate statistic out there.

Week 1: Seattle – 3.9 yards per attempt, 2007 season
Week 2: Jacksonville – 4.1
Week 3: Oakland – 4.8
Week 4: St. Louis – 4.1
Week 5: Arizona – 3.9
Week 7: San Diego – 4.1
Week 8: Miami – 4.5
Week 9: NY Jets – 4.2
Week 10: New England – 4.4
Week 11: Cleveland – 4.5
Week 12: Kansas City – 4.3
Week 13: San Francisco – 3.8
Week 14: Miami – 4.5
Week 15: NY Jets – 4.2
Week 16: Denver – 4.6
Week 17: New England – 4.4

That rounds up to about 4.27 yards allowed per rush for our opponents, based on 2007 numbers. The league average was about 4.0 or 4.1 yards. It may not seem like much, but those two tenths of a yard per carry are pretty substantial.

For an in-depth look at each of Buffalo's '08 opponents and their off-season moves, check out the info after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some feedback on Rookie Camp from those in a better position to observe than I.  As always, consider this informed opinion, so take it for what it is worth--I was certainly not there. Also, please remember that the rookies were in shorts and tees, not exactly how they're going to line-up against Seattle in September.

I think there is a tendency among very close observers of the game to be disappointed when they first see the rookies up close. They have scouted them ad nauseum, been enthusiastic about drafting them and see a lot of potential. Then, as people with decades in the NFL, they see chinks and problems under close-up first-hand scrutiny. Last year I recall that when the staff first saw Marshawn Lynch and Paul Posluszny, they were struck by how much better they actually were than on tape. They are equally enthusiastic about this year's class--although sadly my report will only deal with a few of them.

Leodis McKelvin definitely impressed with his natural athletic ability, ball instincts and sheer explosiveness. OBD believes that he just loves playing football, a theme that ran throughout all of the draftees. Knowing their draft philosophy, this came as no surprise.  James Hardy made an equally big impression with his hands, size and route-running. I heard comments that lead me to believe that he can step right in and contribute beyond what the experts believe is "normal" for a first-year wideout. I also heard comments that indicate that it depends on how they use him in the offense. I am very curious about this, but for the time being, it will have to remain a curiosity. Chris Ellis apparently exhibited the very quick first step we have all read about, and while they consider him raw in the technique sense, they were excited about the possibilities of him playing in the DE rotation, but likely only as a situational pass rusher initially. He will get a lot of teaching attention in camp. They are high on both Reggie Corner and Derek Fine. Corner apparently is just a natural ballhawk, is smart, uses his instincts well, and although he is clearly small, he's a natural nickel back. Fine they like a lot.  No one single thing he does jumps out at you, but it's more the collective package. Very smart, very tough, can catch it, and loves to block. Just a "football player" is the report.

I can say that the optimism at OBD is very high. As high as I have ever heard it. They truly feel that with what they did in free agency, all the injured guys coming back healthy, the addition of this rookie class and some key changes on the coaching staff, they can line up and play with anybody. Much will depend on good health and Trent Edwards to be sure--but they are very excited.

I do hope to have a report following the first full-team workouts scheduled for the 16th-18th.

Apologies for the late posting today, folks - finals started today, and your humble narrator has been quite busy. I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to post thoughtful FanPosts and FanShots on this slow day; keep that up - they're fun to read. In lieu of a more thoughtful post (which I'll have up bright and early tomorrow morning), here are a few newsworthy talking points for y'all to ponder while I prevent myself from flunking out of college:

The NFL has announced dollar amounts that each team has to spend on its rookies - drafted or undrafted - and with 10 picks plus several free agents in the fold, the Bills were allocated the eighth highest amount to spend on newbies. The team will have $5.3 million in 2008 cap space to spend on those players.

Speaking of cash, if you're buying tickets to see the Bills play in Toronto this season, don't plan on purchasing that plasma TV you've always wanted as well. Tickets for the Bills' games in Toronto will average $183, with the most expensive tickets (non-VIP) a whopping $295. To compare, seats in Buffalo are roughly a fifth of the price ($60). SBb4idie's FanPost

In Vinnie Iyer's pre-season power rankings, the Bills check in at #13. That's nice praise this early; the article is also chock-full of super hero references (the Bills are compared to Captain Marvel - awesome). Football + Super Heroes = Fantastic Read.

Jemele Hill of ESPN.com's Page 2 examines the non-existent relationship between Demetrius Bell and Karl Malone. Let's just say she's not a believer that Malone will be winning Father of the Year awards any time soon.

Looking for more info on Buffalo's UDFA QB, Luke Drone? This article has you covered.

OK, Rumblers - time for a fun exercise to find out how many of you really know your Bills.

Here is how this works: I'll give you 4 clues about a player, who at some point played football for the Buffalo Bills. They could be retired, they could have played for less than a single season, they may still be active, but all of them at some point or another donned the red white and blue of the Buffalo Bills. There are no prizes, just plain and simple bragging rights to the first to give all 4 correct answers. Since this is the first one I'm doing I'm going to include a bonus player. And go...

Player 1:

-I was drafted in the 6^th round of the 1990 NFL draft out of Northern Iowa.

-I was the 1995 defensive player of the year and a 4 time pro-bowler.

-I have 75 career sacks and 6 career interceptions.

-I retired as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

Player 2:

-I was the first round pick of the Bills in 1986 NOT named Ronnie Harmon.

-I am the majority owner of the Arena Football 2 Louisville Fire.

-A Louisville, Kentucky native, I attended Vanderbilt University.

-I took over for Ted Marchibroda as the color analyst for the Colts Television coverage.

Player 3:

- I was born in Birmingham Alabama, and my middle name is O’Landa.

- While playing for the University of Alabama, I was a 3 times college Football All-American, and as a senior I won the Lombardi award and SEC player of the year, and finished 7^th in the Heisman voting.

- I was drafted #2 overall in the 1987 draft.

- I’m a member of the NFL all decade team for the 90’s.

Player 4:

- I was drafted in the 17^th round (#203 overall) of the 1957 draft, out of Occidental College, by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

- I led the Bills to 3 straight Eastern Division titles and 2 consecutive AFL championships.

- I was an AFL all-star for 7 consecutive years.

- I was the first AFL player ever to throw for 3000 yards in a season.

SUPER DUPER EXTRA TRICKY BONUS

- I was captain of the volleyball team and played free safety at Princeton where I recored 12 interceptions my senior year of 1988.

- I signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent and because of injuries would have been the starter, but a knee injury ended my career before it really began.

-While at Princeton I was known more for my girlfriend then my athletic prowess.

 All right, let's see how good you guys are.