You know what? College is great - until the end of the semester. Boy howdy, schoolwork is absolutely handing it to me this weekend. I'm working my tail off today so that I can fully devote my Sunday afternoon to the Bills/Redskins game; please excuse my absence during that time. If you're in college, you probably understand; if you're out of college, you surely understand; if you're looking at going to college, be prepared. This part of the year ain't fun.
While I slave over Aristotelian logic, PR campaigns and sports media papers, take a gander at some of the news and notes surrounding our Bills. The Redskins primer will be up early tomorrow morning, I promise.
Good news: Marshawn Lynch practiced yesterday. Bad news: he's still out of the Redskins game. Joining him on the inactive list to date is RB Anthony Thomas, DE Chris Kelsay, LB Coy Wire and CB Jerametrius Butler. I'm still curious to see if the injury bug will leave town for the winter - it's unreal how banged up this team still is. It might be starting to let up, however, especially with Lynch - it sounds like he has a good shot of returning to the lineup next week against the Dolphins.
Dick Jauron was brutally honest about our offense this week - and I love a coach that's brutally honest:
Steve Fairchild: "We've got a little inconsistency at quarterback," Fairchild said. "We're lacking big plays. We're lacking some explosiveness."
Uh, yep. That's about spot on. When you turn to a rookie quarterback - a third-round pick, no less - for a "spark", you know you've got problems. Edwards has a tall task this weekend, especially against an emotional Redskins defense that is going to be flying all over the field.
Former Bills wideouts Andre Reed and Steve Tasker are semi-finalists for the Hall of Fame. Reed, the best statistical receiver in Bills history, has some stiff competition at wideout in the class, going up against Redskins great Art Monk. In reality, Tasker probably has a better shot at cracking the Hall this year, but I'm not expecting either to get in. They certainly deserve it, but it might take both of them a while.
Great article on Bills players' reactions to the Sean Taylor tragedy. Lots of stirring quotes. You should read this.
Ah, one of my favorite debates: the football vs. hockey debate. What's your take - Bills or Sabres? I'm a Sabres fan, but to be honest, I'll agree with Dan Borrello here - Buffalo has, is and always will be football first, no matter how stellar our Sabres are. (Of course, there is plenty of room to be a football and a hockey town - and Buffalo pulls it off spectacularly.)