It seems that following NFL player agents on Twitter is the way to get breaking news firsthand. A day after the agent of Buffalo Bills tight end Mike Caussin tweeted he had been promoted from the practice squad, the agent for kicker Dave Rayner announced via the same way that his client has signed with the Bills.
Rayner will take the place of Rian Lindell, who’s out of the lineup indefinitely after suffering a shoulder injury making a tackle against the New York Jets last Sunday.
To say Rayner is “well traveled” is an understatement. Since being drafted by Indianapolis in 2005, Rayner has spent time with nine teams before inking a deal with Buffalo today.
Continue reading ‘Bills Sign Rayner To Replace Lindell’
The Buffalo Bills have certainly proved they’re a resilient group. Since starting 2010 with a 0-8 record the Bills have went 9-7 over their last 16 games. That’s quite an impressive feat for a group based largely of unheralded overachievers and even more impressive when you take into account a plethora of critical injuries. Speaking of, the resolve of the Bills will really put to the test over the next eight weeks as the list of the walking wounded continues to mount.
Chan Gailey revealed yesterday that kicker Rian Lindell has already been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Dallas after suffering a shoulder injury last Sunday and sounded pessimistic about Kyle Williams returning at all this season. We’re hearing Lindell will miss several weeks while Williams is very likely headed to Injured Reserve this week—as the Buffalo New first reported Monday evening.
Here is a checklist of all the relevant injuries the Bills have been forced to overcome at just the halfway point of their 2011 campaign: Their lone Pro Bowl player from 2010 (Williams) is likely done, their most feared pass rusher (Shawne Merriman) is already on IR, as our two of their more talented wide receivers in Roscoe Parrish and Marcus Easley. Their starting and backup left tackles (Demetrius Bell and Chris Hairston) have been absent for the past few weeks while starting cornerback Terrence McGee missed nearly four games with a hamstring injury. Even their kicker, Lindell is now out as the team will audition kickers at Ralph Wilson Stadium this morning.
Continue reading ‘Injuries Starting To Take Toll On Bills’
In what would be a huge blow to an already struggling defense, the Buffalo News published a report citing sources that Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams is expected to head to Injured Reserve and miss the rest of the 2011 season.
Williams has missed three straight games with a foot injury believe to be related to his Achilles and has not been one hundred percent since training camp.
The Bills lone Pro Bowl selection from a year ago, Williams has just nine tackles and no sacks in parts of five games this year. This comes a year after he was dominant on a bad Bills defense; registering 76 tackles and six sacks in 2010.
Continue reading ‘Report: Kyle Williams Likely Headed To I.R.’
St. Bonaventure senior Andrew Nicholson is one of just 50 players nationally named to the Naismith Award preseason watch list, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Monday.
The Naismith Trophy is the most prestigious national award presented annually to college basketball’s player of the year. Other notable Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year winners include Bill Walton, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and last year’s winner, Jimmer Fredette.
Nicholson, who also earned a spot on the Wooden Award preseason watch list, has earned All-Conference honors in each of his three seasons at St. Bonaventure, including First Team plaudits last year. The Mississauga, Ontario native is tied with Naismith Hall of Famer Bob Lanier atop the school’s career field goal percentage (.576) and ranks 13th in program history with 1,512 points after leading the Atlantic 10 and ranking 15th nationally in scoring (20.8 ppg) as a junior.
Continue reading ‘Nicholson Named to Naismith Preseason List’
The Buffalo Bills have officially hit the midpoint of their season with a 5-3 record and three-way share of the division lead in the AFC East. That’s certainly good news. The bad news, however, is that loss number three yesterday came in hideously repulsive fashion; a 27-11 blowout loss to the New York Jets on Buffalo’s home field. For a game as important as it was, or at least seemed on the surface, the Bills flat out stunk up Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Very little went right for Buffalo. The pass rush was nearly nonexistent and the cornerbacks were terrible in coverage. The offensive line got pushed around, wide receivers dropped too many passes and Ryan Fitzpatrick to put it mildly, was shaky. Even Fred Jackson had his share of struggles.
It’s funny how quickly things can change. Just one week ago the Bills were the darlings of the league following a statement-making demolition of Washington in Toronto.
Here’s a list of thoughts on the Bills/Jets game, as always in completely random order:
Continue reading ‘Bills/Jets Review: Week Nine Random Smatterings’
