Football fans, Buffalo Bills ones in particular, can now officially start the annual NFL draft speculation and endless annoying mock drafts.
When the 2011 NFL draft commences in April the Bills will be on the clock with the third overall pick.
At 4-12 the Bills finished with the same record as Cincinnati, but Buffalo wins the tiebreaker by virtue of strength of schedule.
The Denver Broncos will pick second overall and the Bengals will select fourth.
Buffalo had a chance after losing to the Jets Sunday, 38-7 to move all the way up to the second pick behind Carolina. But the Broncos blew an early lead and lost against San Diego. The Bengals entered today ahead of the Bills in the tiebreaker race, but wins by Indianapolis, Houston and Oakland swung things the Bills way. Had Denver won the Bills would’ve had a coin flip with the Bengals for the second overall pick and Denver would’ve fallen to fourth.
The Bills have never had a third overall pick in franchise history. They’ve had the first overall pick four times and used those opportunities to select O.J. Simpson, Walt Patulski, Tom Cousineau and Bruce Smith.
With their 4-1 quarterfinal win over Switzerland today, Canada has advanced to the semifinal round of the 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. They will now face the defending champion United States team tomorrow night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available for $140 (lower bowl) and $95 (upper bowl). Tickets can be purchased online at www.buffaloworldjuniors.com, by calling 1-888-467-2273, or at the HSBC Arena Box Office.
The winner of tomorrow’s USA/Canada game will play for the gold medal on Wednesday night at HSBC Arena. Only single seats remain for the gold-medal game. Finland and Russia play in tonight’s second quarterfinal beginning at 7:30 p.m. The winner moves on to play Sweden at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in the first semifinal game. Tickets are still available for this game.
The Bills went into the New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday afternoon against a New York Jets lineup missing both their starting running backs, both Pro-Bowl cornerbacks and both starting safeties. They also took the field without their starting right tackle, their Pro-Bowl center barely played a quarter and the starting quarterback played all of one series and didn’t throw a single pass.
It meant absolutely nothing.
Buffalo couldn’t have scripted a more pathetic ending to their desolate 2010 campaign. Even with a slew of New York backups playing the majority of the game, it was men against boys as the Bills were thoroughly spanked in grand fashion, 38-7.
The Buffalo Bills just announced that Brian Brohm will get the starting nod at quarterback this afternoon as the Bills finish the season off against the New York Jets.
Ryan Fitzpatrick will serve as the third/emergency quarterback. Levi Brown will backup Brohm. Fitzpatrick tested his injured knee this morning but couldn’t move laterally enough to satisfy the coaching staff.
Fitzpatrick finishes the season with exactly 3,000 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
This will be Brohm’s second career start for the Bills. He started last year in Atlanta when the Bills lost to the Falcons, 31-3.
Other Bills inactives this afternoon are David Nelson, Donald Jones, Ed Wang, Kellen Heard, Colin Brown, Mike Caussin and John McCargo.
This afternoon is the final time the Buffalo Bills will hit the field the field in 2010 and for safety Donte Whitner, it’s likely to be the last Sunday he puts on a Bills uniform.
Whitner is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent following the season and according to both reports and Whitner himself, the sides aren’t even in the same ballpark on an extension. Reports have the two more than $2-million apart annually in negotiations with Whitner wanting top-five safety money, about $7-milllion per and the Bills offering in the neighborhood of $5-million.
Sunday morning Whitner himself seemed resigned to the fact his time in Buffalo is probably ending. If you read between the lines, he said as much on his twitter.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch the Buffalo Sabres thrilling 7-6 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins Saturday night, here’s the shootout in its entirety posted on Youtube by a fan.
All three Sabres shooters scored and Tyler Ennis’ goal was of the highlight reel variety. Also, notice the quick stare down Ryan Miller gives Zdeno Chara after stopping him to preserve the win.
The Buffalo Bills close out the 2010 season this afternoon with a trip to face the New York Jets. A significant chunk of the game’s luster was lost last week when the Jets backed into the playoffs following Jacksonville’s overtime loss to Washington. At 10-5, the Jets are already locked into a wild-card spot, making this contest have all the makings of a late preseason confrontation.
While the contest means zilch to either team in regards to the standings, don’t tell any Bills player their last Sunday rendezvous of the season is meaningless. It’s also the 100th regular season meeting between the two and even if it costs them draft position, Buffalo desperately wants to end their disappointing campaign on a winning note.
Despite their overall struggles in recent years, Buffalo has had success playing the Jets on the road. They’ve won three of their last four meetings at the New Meadowland Stadium, walking away victorious in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Football fans, Buffalo Bills ones in particular, can now officially start the annual NFL draft speculation and endless annoying mock drafts.
With their 4-1 quarterfinal win over Switzerland today, Canada has advanced to the semifinal round of the 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. They will now face the defending champion United States team tomorrow night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The Bills went into the New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday afternoon against a New York Jets lineup missing both their starting running backs, both Pro-Bowl cornerbacks and both starting safeties. They also took the field without their starting right tackle, their Pro-Bowl center barely played a quarter and the starting quarterback played all of one series and didn’t throw a single pass.
The Buffalo Bills just announced that Brian Brohm will get the starting nod at quarterback this afternoon as the Bills finish the season off against the New York Jets.
This afternoon is the final time the Buffalo Bills will hit the field the field in 2010 and for safety Donte Whitner, it’s likely to be the last Sunday he puts on a Bills uniform.
The Buffalo Bills close out the 2010 season this afternoon with a trip to face the New York Jets. A significant chunk of the game’s luster was lost last week when the Jets backed into the playoffs following Jacksonville’s overtime loss to Washington. At 10-5, the Jets are already locked into a wild-card spot, making this contest have all the makings of a late preseason confrontation.
