Week 2 of the 2009 NFL regular season is in the books, and your Buffalo Bills are 1-1 – though they should be 2-0.  Before we move on to take a look at the Bills’ next big game – and yes, it is very much a big game – we’ll take one last look back today on the Bills’ 33-20 triumph over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2.

We did this last week after the Bills’ opening week loss, and we’ll do it every week – so mark your calendars, folks, because Tuesdays are film sessions at Buffalo Sports Daily & Buffalo Rumblings.

Trent Edwards deserves a bit more praise.  Buffalo put up 20 points and took a 20-14 lead into the half, but Trent Edwards didn’t have a particularly great first half.  True, his interception came in the second half – and for the record, that was just a ball that got away from Trent, and that’s a difficult throw to make when you’re on the money – but Edwards completed 15 of his 18 throws in the second half.  Those plays went for 145 yards, and most importantly, they came in the face of very solid Tampa pressure – Brad Butler was out of the game at that point, and the Bucs were blitzing a bit more frequently as they played catch-up.  “Poise” is one of the most over-used cliches in football, but our quarterback has it.

On our new starting right tackle…  Jonathan Scott got into the game very late in the second quarter and, obviously, the rest of the first half.  Folks, Brad Butler he is not – and though his performance was solid enough given the circumstances, the Bills’ offensive line now has a clear weak link.

Continue reading ‘Buffalo Bills: Week 2 Film Session’

NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora is reporting via Twitter that the Buffalo Bills will sign OT Jamon Meredith off of the practice squad of the Green Bay Packers.

Meredith, a rookie out of South Carolina, was the second of Green Bay’s two fifth-round pick this season (No. 162 overall). The 6′5″, 304-pound tackle is regarded as a very athletic, very raw prospect, and the fact that Green Bay – which just surrendered five sacks to Bengals DE Antwan Odom – had him on the practice squad as a fifth-round rookie speaks volumes. Athleticism was a priority for the team in finding a reserve tackle because of the physical demands of the team’s up-tempo, no-huddle offense.

Buffalo needed a tackle after learning on Monday that starting right tackle Brad Butler’s season is over. Meredith will be the team’s emergency tackle and likely will not be active – unless one of the team’s top three tackles (Demetrius Bell, Jonathan Scott, Kirk Chambers) succumbs to injury as well.

The Bills generally go into games with seven active linemen.  This move cements Scott in as the Bills’ starting right tackle for the immediate future, and Chambers – a key reserve in 2007 and 2008 that has not yet been active this season – becomes the team’s top backup at both left and right tackle.

At 5’10” and 223 pounds, Marcus Buggs has heard all the naysayers.  “He’s too short.”  “He’s not fast enough for the NFL.”  “He’ll never be more than a practice squad player.” 

The skeptics were wrong.  This past week and for the foreseeable future, this underdog is the starting middle linebacker for the Buffalo Bills. 

Seeing Buggs on the field draws comparison to former Bills linebacker London Fletcher.  Although not quite as athletic as Fletcher, the stature is near identical.

So is their pedigree.  Fletcher went on to become a NFL star but was anything but a can’t miss prospect on his road to stardom.  He attended John Carroll University and entered the league undrafted before catching on with St. Louis and launching a successful career that’s still going strong with Washington today.

Heading into the 2008 NFL draft, Buggs wasn’t projected to be selected by a club either.  He wasn’t, but the disappointment was soon washed away after Buggs was scooped up by the Bills as an undrafted free agent on May 2, 2008.   He played well in camp but with John DiGiorgio already backing up starter Paul Posluszny it became a numbers game. Buggs was released by the team following the preseason on August 31, 2008,  but then  re-signed the next day after clearing waivers to the team’s practice squad.

Continue reading ‘Buggs Squashing The Skeptics’

When he was fired on September 4, former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Turk Schonert fired a parting shot at head coach Dick Jauron, claiming that the Bills’ much-maligned leader wanted a “Pop Warner offense.” Jauron handed the reigns of his offense to quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, himself very inexperienced as an assistant coach, let alone as a play-caller of any sort.

The Bills have two games in the bag – and if this is the “Pop Warner offense” that Schonert described and apparently was loathe to employ, there’s little wonder as to why Schonert was ousted in the first place.

The offense has not been perfect. The unit, led by quarterback Trent Edwards, has produced 43 points on its own through two games – four touchdowns (all through the air) and five field goals. It’s solid production from a unit that most were down on after a rough pre-season; let’s not forget that the unit is still green in key areas as well (quarterback, offensive line). The offense has hardly been remarkable, but it has been ridiculously efficient. He’s got just 120 minutes of NFL play-calling experience under his belt, but Van Pelt has orchestrated one of the NFL’s most balanced offenses through two weeks.

Continue reading ‘Van Pelt Finding Impeccable Balance For Bills Offense’

The Buffalo Bills made a lot of noise on the field on Sunday. Unfortunately, news in the wake of the game has been hard to digest. First came a report that Donte Whitner’s house was robbed Sunday. According to  Bills AP writer John Wawrow, Whitner discovered about $400,000 worth of jewelry missing following Sunday’s win against Tampa Bay.

As Wawrow accurately states, the theft was reported just one week after teammate Leodis McKelvin’s front lawn in the Hamburg same suburb was vandalized by two teenagers following Buffalo’s season-opening loss to New England.

Then came word, as first broke by our own Brian Galliford that offensive tackle Brad Butler will miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury.

Butler injured the knee in the second quarter of yesterday’s game against Tampa Bay. He was pass blocking when defensive end Stylez White lost his balance and rolled into the back of his right leg.

Continue reading ‘Whirlwind Monday Dominates Bills News’

Former Bills RB Booker Moore has died.  Per Paul Hamilton of WGR-550, the Bills 1981 first round pick died of an apparent heart attack.

Hamilton writes that “Moore was in the hospital Friday and received a stent according to authorities in Flint, Michigan. He was released and was watching football yesterday when stricken.”

Moore played in the NFL until 1986 playing with the Bills and Detroit. After that he spent 20 years as a Seriff’s deputy in Flint. Moore was 50 years old.

(Source: WGR550- Paul Hamilton)

Buffalo Sports Daily writer Brian Galliford has just spoke to a source, and Bills right tackle Brad Butler is done for the season.  Butler injured his right knee in the second quarter of yesterday’s game against Tampa Bay. He was  pass blocking when defensive end Stylez White lost his balance and rolled into the back of Butler’s right leg.

He could barely put any weight on the leg and had to be helped off the field.

Expect an announcement from head coach Dick Jauron sometime within the next hour.  Butler, with his 31 career starts was the Bills most experienced starting offensive linemen.

The question quickly becomes if the Bills reach out to Jon Runyan.  The 35-year old free agent tackle worked out for the Bills on September 11.  If not, Jonathan Scott, who replaced him on Sunday or Kirk Chambers will have to assume the starting role.  Regardless, a roster move on the offensive line should be coming very soon.

While it’s not likely, it is possible released tackle Langston Walker could return.  He’s still available and had more success on the right side than the left.  The Bills saved $3 million when they cut Walker exactly one week before the regular season began.

Brian runs the popular Bills fan website, Buffalo Rumblings .  Stay tuned for more updates throughout the day.

The Buffalo Bills established their feisty performance this past Monday night as no fluke. They took the field against Tampa Bay Sunday in front of a rabid crowd, in a game they were expected to win… And did precisely just that. Big plays on both sides of the ball stormed them to a quick 17-0 lead, allowed the Bucs to hang around along the way before promptly putting them away, via the popcorn guy (who apparently had some of that popcorn butter on his fingers in the first half).

Our quarterback played the way a third year improving quarterback is supposed to. Our big money receivers made a couple of those big money plays. The defense basically shut down a running game that entered Sunday as one of the league’s most feared, led by Haloti Ngata, who showed up disguised as Kyle Williams.

And our head coach is suddenly hip.

My game thoughts, in entirely random order:

Continue reading ‘Bullets & Bits: The Bills/Bucs Review’