Forgot to add this – What the hell happened to Leodis’ finger? There’s gotta be a story behind that…

Kyle Ward

I won’t pretend to know anything about him. As pretty much everyone on the roster has a shot at the practice squad at this point, we’ll leave it at that for Ward’s synopsis.

Could be anything really… They are voluntary after all.

I’m still surprised at how little Fred Jackson got in his extension. I was off by over a million a year, and I’d like to think I’m usually a lot closer than that. Good for the Bills and their bottom line.

Jackson had no leverage. Even less if you consider the uncapped year in 2010. He wouldn’t have been a real free agent until the summer of 2011.

I’m not saying I would do it, or even if I like the idea. I’m just saying…

Dude, Porn and Football? Who are you kidding? You and I would be the first ones to sign up for that.

Jets defense is talking a lot of smack already. Growing up on Bills football in the late 70’s/early 80’s made me hate the Dolphins. Over the last few years, I’ve hated/admired the Pats. I think this year, my displeasure may be directed towards the Jets, and their fans. Good luck Toronto with that game. You might not want NFL football after you see that display of Jet-ish-ness.

Growing up on Jets turf, I have had a major dislike for the Jets pretty much my entire Football-watching-life. They have been pretty craptastic for most of that time and they are considered the laughing stock of draft day. I love the clip of Kiper saying that the Jets have no idea what the draft is about. Let them talk, when they bomb out this year it will give their whinny fans something more to whine about.

I heard someone mention that it was only 100 days to the opener.

There’s a countdown right on our front page. :)

Speaking of TO…why do I get the feeling he’ll be the home run threat, and Evans will play a role he’s unfamiliar with (ie – possession type WR)?

I’ve been wondering about this too, but I’ve been thinking the opposite. They are both home-run threats in most regards, but in the last three years TO has only caught two passes that have gone for 70+ yards compared to Lee’s six. I think this is an indicator of TO’s age – he catches a lot of passes in the 30-50 yard range but he gets caught and Lee doesn’t (plus he catches a lot of balls in traffic).

I still think TO will catch more TD’s, but the home run (big play) threat is still going to be Lee because of his speed…if he catches the ball with nobody between him and the goal line there aren’t many players in the NFL that are going to catch him….

Either way….I’m pretty pumped about what this combo can do. Besides Fitzgerald/Boldin I can’t think of a WR combo in the NFL that’s arguably better than this. No pressure on you Trent.

who’s got the early leg up on the LB spot opposite Mitchell?

The guy who has started more games than any Bills LB over the past three seasons. And that is somehow Keith Ellison. How about that for a sad stat? Ellison has started 30 games in his three years here and that’s two more than Crowell’s 28 and at least 10 more than Mitchell, Poz, Fletcher, DiGi, Spikes or any other LB that has played for Buffalo in that timeframe. I’ll be surprised if Ellison isn’t starting at New England. In fact, I’ll be happy if Bowen or Harris can even keep the coaches from commiting to Ellison until a couple weeks before the season starts.

Does Youboty stay healthy this year?

Probably not. I’ll take 13 or 14 games though. The question is if he can avoid IR. He’s a first round talent who has as much pure ability as any CB on the roster (and that includes McKelvin). I honestly think he’s as much of a wild card as Maybin, Byrd, Schobel, McCargo, McKelvin or anybody else on this defense.

Jets defense is talking a lot of smack already.

They sure are. It’s pretty ridiculous actually. Problem is, I think they mostly back it up. I think they’re gonna rack up the sacks and turnovers and if Jenkins stays healthy, then they’re a top notch run stuffing team too.

Speaking of TO…why do I get the feeling he’ll be the home run threat, and Evans will play a role he’s unfamiliar with (ie – possession type WR)?

I don’t know. But that’s probably because I’m not getting that feeling.

is it considered poor taste to kill two birds with one stone there? Stag, Stripper(s), Draft – is that a bad day?

That actually sounds like an awesome day to me. I’m not sure if you guys can pull it off unless you do the draft before the stag officially starts though. If you guys sip some beers and do the draft as people are just starting to show up then it should work well.

Who is the number one Bill to deserve one this off season?

McKee …. McGee has got to be priority one. Youboty would be a risky extension, but if I were the Bills, I would definitely give him one. Bryan Scott would be a great player to lock up and Josh Reed is another candidate. Edwards and Poz are two guys who could get one later in the season or early next offseason and don’t be surprised to see Whitner get an extension at some point.

TO, Reed, Denney, Ellison, Pat Thomas, McGee, Youboty, Scott, Ko Simpson and George Wilson are set to becom unrestricted FAs next offseason and Schouman is an RFA. In 2011, Edwards, Rhodes, Kelsay, McCargo, Poz, Florence and Whitner are FAs.

Knock on wood – no off season stories featuring Lynch so far

Lynch is suspended for the first 3 games for having a gun in his car.

is the most provocative post in Rumblings history.

I haven’t seen anyone write about this, so here goes…

What if Fred begins the year with say, three 100+ yard performances and we are sitting at 2-1 or 3-0? Does Lynch become a backup?

I say ‘yes’.

I like Steve Johnson, and I think many of us do here, maybe to a fault. But how smart/cool is it that he was the fourth wheel in the Edwards/Evans/TO extra practice session? If you ask me, that’s the way you win a spot on an NFL team. Who knows…he might not make it here. But I have to think that watching and learning from Evans and TO has to help you somewhat.

I’ve probably been offering the most caution about getting excited about Stevie J but I think its clear hes opening the season as the number 4 and may not even relinquish that to Hardy once the 2nd rounder gets back to being healthy. We’re lined up quite nicely for the future: Hardy replaces TO, Johnson replaces Reed (or better).

I saw the title of the post and thought it was going to be about a great poop story. Part of me feels a hint of disappointment that it wasn’t…

McCargo has zero competition. I’m not sure it’s a good thing, but you’re correct in that he’s battling himself. I think the team knows he has the talent to be a quality player, but it’s up to him whether or not he reaches that potential. They kind of do need him to put it together this year, especially in case of injuries, so it’s odd that they didn’t at least find someone to push him. Let’s hope McCargo truly is motivated and ready to perform.

After thinking about the Berman thing, it makes some sense. If you’re Ralph and you’re trying to pick someone to announce you, would you pick someone who worked under you for their entire career?? Couldn’t that be a bit awkward? How many bosses would choose an employee to give a speech about them? He probably wanted someone who was in his position, but all the old owners are dead or are the living dead. He may have wanted his daughter to give the speech, but she sadly passed. In the end, he chose a guy he considers a friend, a good ambassador for the Bills and more than likely, a guy that’ll give a good speech. Going outside of the team removes any awkwardness from the situation, if that makes any sense.

Nelson has some personal issue. It’s not like he’s voluntarily skipping the practices.

I think the Jets D will back it up this year. Nobody wants to hear it, but I think they’re going to be very good defensively. Probably the best D in the division, by a sizable margin.

Wasn’t Marv an advisor when he was here anyhow? He’s in his 80’s, that’s why he walked away. He also wasn’t exactly cut out for the personnel job, if results are any indication.

What’s the plan for the stag? We’re trying to come up with crap to do that doesn’t involve gambling and hookers for my friend.

I, too, have been sucked in by the NBA playoffs, but I think it’s mostly do to all the over-the-top coverage. It really has nothing to do with the play on the court. It’s all about the storylines. I was watching that Cavs/Magic series and just waiting for LeBron to fail. I loved that. It’s now the finals and the Lakers are going to wipe the Magic away quickly, so I don’t care again. I also liked watching the earlier rounds because of the TNT studio crew, love those guys.

I think it’s kind of funny that teams want to put sponsors on practice jerseys. Who sees these? The couple hundred of fans at training camp? It’s not like these practices are televised to the masses, which is where the ads would work best. Seems like a fruitless attempt at advertising in my mind.

I think the players know they’re fighting for their jobs. It’s more than just for Jauron’s job. Don’t you think they’re sick and tired of losing? Don’t you think that under a new regime they might not fit in and who knows where there could go after that? Sure, they may want to help Jauron keep his job, but this attendance probably has a lot more to do with the desire to finally win and to keep their own jobs.

Hasn’t Kissing Suzy Kolber kind of gone the football/porn route? Or do you want more hardcore football analysis and more hardcore porn? In that case, get it done!

As for BBQ recipes, I usually keep things simple. Occasionally, I’ll try something new, but I haven’t done anything super great yet. You should check out the BBQ section of About.com, they have a lot of recipes and hints. I also signed up to receive a weekly recipe from them via email. They are pretty interesting to say the least.

if I tried fantasy football with liquor and strippers around I would end up with Craig Krenztel as my starting QB or something…

krytime, excellent mind dump.

Knock on wood – no off season stories featuring Lynch so far. Everyone uses the phrase "no news is good news" at one time or another. In his case, it is so true….

Personal story: My cousin had his wedding on Saturday in Buffalo. The reception was at Pearl Street Brewery, and after the reception, a few of us hit Chippewa for a little bit. We were walking down the street and we got to the corner of Franklin and Chippewa when I noticed I had walked right into some sort of large commotion – several cops and a few large dudes.

So I looked around, and who did I see? Marshawn Lynch, of course. (First thought, holy jeez he is a large human being). I don’t know what was going on, but Marshawn was involved with some sort of verbal altercation with the cops. Luckily, it looked like the cops were trying to diffuse the situation. I heard one cop tell Marshawn, “Yeah, you only remember what you wanna remember…..now, keep walking.” Also, luckily, Marshawn finally turned around and walked back down Franklin. But apparently, Marshawn hasn’t learned to steer clear of the police.

Who is Kyle Ward? And why is Chris Brown even mentioning him? Between him, Cary Harris, and Ellis Lankster – who is making this team, or ending up on the practice squad?

Ya know, I bet both Harris and Lankster make the PS, at worst. Depending on the health of McGee, Leo and Youboty, one of them has a legit shot at the final roster. Even without taking injuries into account, there’s a chance that one might make it as the 6th CB. It sounds that this kid Lankster is a player and will make some noise all summer. If he continues his impressive play when the pads come on, it’ll be hard to get rid of him. I hated the picks at the time, but right now both seem like they could help the Bills at some point in the future. Hopefully, they’ll get their chances to stick on the PS and really fight for a spot next year.