Good news for the Buffalo Bills as they prepare to face the New York Jets in a key AFC showdown this Sunday. Wide receiver Donald Jones is participating at practice today and told WGR550 reporter Sal Capaccio that he’s ready to go against of the Jets—as of right now.
The addition of Jones back to the passing game would provide another weapon for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Jones has 16 receptions for 174 yards and a touchdown in a little over four games this season, including his five catch, 101 yard effort against the New England Patriots.
Jones hasn’t played since injuring his ankle early in the first quarter during Buffalo’s victory over Philadelphia. The Bills have used a wide receiver by committee approach to replacing him in the lineup since the injury, including running back C.J. Spiller getting several reps with Jones out. With Darrelle Revis likely to be matched up against Stevie Johnson for much of the day, Jones could have an opportunity for a big game in his return.
The Mid-American Conference named its preseason All-Conference team on Wednesday and University at Buffalo forward Javon McCrea was one of the five players selected from the East Division.
A sophomore forward, McCrea was named the 2011 MAC Freshman of the Year after posting one of the finest first-year campaigns in school history. He averaged 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while playing 22 minutes per game. The Newark, NY native shot 63.1 percent from the field, which would have led the nation if he had made four more field goals on the season.
Over the summer he was invited to the USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship Team training camp. He was named a finalist for the team before being the final player cut.
The Bulls tip off the 2011-12 season November 11 when they host Saint Peter’s at Alumni Arena.
The Buffalo Sabres will be trying to get back on track tonight on home ice against the Philadelphia Flyers, on the heels of their lackluster home loss to Florida this past Saturday night.
The lineup will feature a couple of changes when it takes the ice. Huge free agent acquisition Villie Leino, who’s struggled mightily early this season, moves up to the top scoring line with the red-hot Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville to try and get him going. The former center of that top line, Luke Adam, moves over to wing with Drew Stafford and Derek Roy.
Defensemen Mike Weber is also expected to see his first action of the season tonight, with Marc-Andre Gragnani likely to sit this one out in the press box.
Continue reading ‘Sabres Try To Kickstart Leino Tonight Against Flyers’
With a win over the New York Jets on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills would improve to 6-2 on the season. How significant would that be? Perhaps by early January it would mean nothing, but the last time the Bills started out a season this hot, they winded up playing in the final NFL game of the year.
A win over the rival Jets would give Buffalo their best record at the halfway point of their schedule since 1993, when the Bills won seven of their first eight. That year the Bills would finish the regular season at 12-4 and eventually go to their fourth (and final) consecutive Super Bowl, where they’d lose to the Dallas Cowboys, 30-13.
While we’re certainly not proclaiming or even suggesting Bills fans should be booking tickets for Indianapolis—- site of Super Bowl XLVI with a Buffalo triumph over the Jets, you can’t deny a victory going a long way towards remaining in the AFC playoff race for the duration of the season. A loss by New York would put them two games, plus a tiebreaker behind and put the Bills firmly in control of their own destiny moving forward.
It may also shut Rex Ryan up.
Moving to 6-2 would also further distance themselves from the 2008 Bills; the debacle of a team that started the season 4-0, was 5-1 after six games and promptly loss eight of their last 10 to finish dead last in their division.
If you paid any mind to nearly every preseason prognosticator (this one included, sadly) you’d surely have been more inclined to think the Buffalo Bills would be closer to the Andrew Luck sweepstakes come next April than an AFC playoff spot in roughly two more months. But every season the NFL has Cinderella teams and low and behold, the Bills’ glass slipper has been as shiny as anyone.
In defense of all the armchair critics, it was excruciatingly easy to write off the Bills before the season even started. They weren’t very good last year—unless you consider four wins in 2010 an achievement, and general manager Buddy Nix didn’t exactly set the league on notice with marque free agent additions. To make matters worse, the Bills looked awful through most of training camp and even worse for a majority of the preseason. The offensive line depth was so bad the team cut three active reserves from last year following their preseason finale.
Fortunately for the organization, games are played on the field and not newspapers, websites and blogs. The Bills are 5-2 and quite frankly, a couple of plays away from being undefeated. In the process they got the colossal monkey off their back by finally beating New England, forced Tom Brady and Michael Vick into four interceptions apiece, and have one of the most explosive offenses in the league on the other side of the ball.
Continue reading ‘Buffalo Bills: Five Biggest Surprises’
