Jan 4th 2009 7:01PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Media Watch
Ko Simpson is rich, son. At least according to Ko. Because if you ask me, there are richer places to spend New Year’s Eve than Rock Hill, South Carolina. (Like, say, for instance, Garner, North Carolina. Or perhaps Buffalo, New York.) But Rock Hill is where Ko decided to hang out as 2009 kicked off, and as a result, he landed himself on the old police blotter after reportedly hindering a police investigation.
Officers went to a Rock Hill bar just after 2 a.m. to help security with crowd control, according to the report. While police were there, security officers at the bar stopped 28-year-old Frederick Hart for speeding through the parking lot, the report stated. Hart became angry and argued with officers, refusing to leave. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Simpson was in Hart’s vehicle and “was being verbally abusive” to police, the report stated. He was asked to leave several times, but kept saying, “I’m Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions,” according to the Herald.
Of course, Ko is from Rock Hill, so we should probably cut him a little slack on choices of locale. His place of birth, however, certainly doesn’t excuse talking to police officers like he was the son of a country club’s former president after being cut off from drinking any more liquor at a deb ball. Not that I would know anything about that.
Additionally, Ko’s contract, as Dashiell points out, is only a “scant” four years and $2.13 million … with one year left. So, yeah, unless Ko hasn’t spent any money since turning pro and has been immune to the stock market over that time, it’s fair to say his statement is a touch premature.
Dec 30th 2008 5:32PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, NFL Coaching
Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson said today that head coach Dick Jauron will return in 2009.
Despite signing a contract extension during the season, Jauron was on the hot seat because of the Bills’ late-season collapse. But Wilson released the following statement today:
“It is well known that I share many of the fans’ dissatisfaction with our offensive game management. That being said, I believe that this team, at this time, is better served by continuity in the coaching staff rather than a disruptive overhaul. The team played hard all year long and there are many positives to build on. This is not to say that we will be complacent. In my discussions with Dick and our senior football people the issues are recognized and I am confident they will be addressed.”
Jauron has gone 7-9 in each of his three seasons in Buffalo.
Dec 27th 2008 8:00PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Patriots, NFL Fans, NFL Playoffs, FanHouse Previews
During the opening week of the season, when Kansas City’s Bernard Pollard rolled into the knee of Tom Brady, I, like many, just assumed that the Patriots’ season was pretty much finished before it even started. I mean, they were going to be turning the keys of their high-powered offense over to Matt Cassel, a seemingly anonymous guy that had to struggle to make the team out of training camp, after spending the first three years of his NFL career — and his entire college career — riding the bench.
Yet, 16 weeks later, here we are and the Patriots not only have a chance to finish the season with an 11-5 record, they have a chance to make the playoffs and/or win the AFC East. Granted, they have to win, and they need some help, but it’s been a season that even the most vocal Patriots haters have to be surprised by. Especially when you consider the other injuries the team suffered throughout the season. I’m talking about Rodney Harrison, Laurence Maroney and Adalius Thomas, just to name a few.
Frankly, this might be the best coaching job of Bill Belichick’s career, assuming, of course, he didn’t cheat. Kidding! I think.
The Patriots close out the regular season at 1 PM ET on Sunday in Buffalo, where they will be taking on a struggling Bills team that is currently on a 2-7 slide after starting the season 5-1. For the Bills, it’s all about playing spoiler because misery loves company, or something.
New England gets in with:
1) A win and a Jets win (Gives New England the division)
or
2) A Jaguars win (Gives New England the wild card)Continue Reading
Dec 28th 2008 10:00AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Bills, Patriots, Texans, AFC East, NFC North, NFL Fans, NFL Playoffs
The Patriots need to beat the Bills today if they’re to have any chance to make the playoffs. Originally scheduled for a 1PM EST kickoff, 50-mph wind gusts could push back the start, and when the game eventually gets underway, the conditions will almost certainly wreak havoc on the players, strategy, Bill Belichick’s wig, etc.
NFL Network’s Scott Hanson drew the short straw and is currently on location in Buffalo, and he reports — between the 50-mph wind-aided punches to the face — that the goal posts have been blown sideways. And while the grounds crew can fix the problem (with a little rope and a level), it could be an ongoing issue all afternoon.
Hanson also explains that the team benches have been moved against the stadium walls because they had previously been rolling through the playing field like tumbleweeds. Hanson’s colleague, Adam Schefter says that commissioner Roger Goodell, currently in Baltimore, “is being apprised of this situation. … The league will decide whether or not action will be taken.”Continue Reading
Dec 21st 2008 2:55PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Broncos, Buccaneers, Chargers, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Jets, Giants, Panthers, Patriots, Ravens, Titans, Vikings, NFL Media Watch
Last year, the NFL started this flex scheduling thing, which allows them to alter the schedule late in the season so that the more meaningful games are broadcast on national television.
While there are rules that the NFL follows for selecting these games, they do Week 17 a bit differently. No games are off limits for the switch to NBC, aside from picking teams that have reached televised limits. They also only have to give six days advance warning about the change, instead of the normal 12 days.
That means the NFL will place the game with the most riding on it as their season finale on NBC.
So which games look like they could be a possibility?Continue Reading
Dec 21st 2008 7:55PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Broncos, AFC East, AFC West
It’s funny how an NFL season can play out. When the Broncos and Chargers played in Week Two, the game was decided on one of the worst refereeing calls in NFL history. One of the many (printable) things that people said was how awful it would be if the Chargers wound up missing out on the playoffs because of that call. No Broncos were quoted as saying that, but, based on the way they’ve steadfastly refused to win the AFC West, some of them must feel that way.
Because they are so giving, the Broncos must now go to San Diego and play the Chargers for a spot in the playoffs. The division title and the Week Two debacle give plenty of heft to the game, not to mention the long-simmering feud between Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler, which makes it a lot easier to ignore the fact that neither team has proven themselves particularly worthy of a postseason slot this season.
The Broncos certainly didn’t today. They couldn’t beat a Bills team with nothing to play for today even though they racked up 532 total yards on offense, 260 more than they allowed the Bills. The Broncos, who led 13-0 at one point, made every mistake in the game, however. They missed a field goal, fumbled to set up a Buffalo score and, most damning, Cutler threw a pick to Kawika Mitchell on the Buffalo goal line to erase a chance at a game-tying score.Continue Reading
Dec 17th 2008 9:00AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Jets
In an installment of Every Play Counts last month, I wrote about how the New York Jets’ defense had dominated the Buffalo Bills’ offense, and specifically how defensive tackle Kris Jenkins was a practically unstoppable presence in the middle of the line. The Bills finished that November game with just 30 rushing yards on 17 carries, and the Jets’ defense looked like it could lead them deep into the postseason.
And then in Sunday’s Jets-Bills rematch, Buffalo ran 32 times for 187 yards and two touchdowns, and the Jets’ defense looked like it had no business playing in the postseason at all. Although Bills quarterback J.P. Losman ended up giving the game to the Jets with five turnovers, including three in the final 2:06 of the fourth quarter, the Jets’ run defense was a mess.
So what’s gone wrong? And can the Jets count on their run defense to lead them in the playoffs? We explore in this week’s installment of Every Play Counts.Continue Reading
Dec 15th 2008 3:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Chiefs, Jaguars, Packers, Redskins, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching
There are two weeks remaining in the regular season and we’ve already seen Mike Nolan, Lane Kiffin and Scott Linehan lose their jobs for varying degrees of incompetence. But more heads will roll in the coming months, and some bone-headed decisions made yesterday will go a long way in cementing the fate of the less fortunate.
A crappy economy might be the only thing to save Jauron’s job, because after jumping out to a 4-1 start, the Bills are now sitting at 6-8. And the last two minutes of yesterday’s game against the Jets was a microcosm of their season.
With Buffalo leading 27-24 and trying to run the last 240 or so seconds off the clock, somebody thought it would be great fun to let J.P. Losman throw a pass on second-and-five from the Bills’ 27. Predictably, he fumbled, the Jets’ Shaun Ellis recovered, and 11 yards later, that’s your ball game.Continue Reading
Dec 14th 2008 1:09PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Jets
Brett Favre is pretty spry for an old man.
In the first quarter of the Jets’ game against the Bills today, Favre ran around the left end on a naked bootleg, and no Buffalo defenders were even close. He scampered down the left sideline untouched and picked up 27 yards before he was finally pushed out of bounds by Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin.
How long has it been since Favre had so long a run? A decade. His last run of more than 25 yards was in 1998, when he had a 35-yard run in a win over the Titans.
The long run today got the Jets down to the Bills’ 14-yard line, and they scored three plays later to take a 7-0 lead.
Dec 14th 2008 7:15PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Jets, AFC East
Right after J.P. Losman fumbled away a Bills win with just over two minutes left in a game they were winning 27-24, FanHouser Shane Bacon emailed to remind that a cardinal rule of quarterbacking was to throw the ball away when you’ve got nothing.
It was a sound point. Losman was scrambling when Abram Elam hit him from behind, causing a fumble that Shaun Ellis returned for a touchdown, but there was another rule that loomed large. Somewhere in the big book of coaching rules, it states that one shall not let J.P. Losman try to win a game unless there’s absolutely no other hope.
Dick Jauron will likely have plenty of time to review that rule when the Bills fire him in a couple of weeks. His team finally showed up to play, no small thing given their recent efforts, on Sunday, but Jauron removed all hope of a win by calling for a pass. It was second-and-five, the two minute warning would follow the play and the Jets had just two timeouts. And the Bills had run for 187 yards to that point in the game!
To his credit, Jauron took full responsibility after the game.
“Clearly the responsibility for the last call, the play-action pass, that was mine,” Jauron said. “That goes right on me. It backfired clearly and caused us to lose the game.”
It’s nice to hear that honesty. We’ll see if it’s enough to quiet the swirling rumors about the status of his job.Continue Reading
