Last post

I know its hard to believe, but this is the last post for the project. I'm sure you've loved reading all of my extremely interesting posts, sort of. I thought I should leave you with some predictions for my sports world. You won't be able to hear my wonderful thoughts anymore, so enjoy. 

My prediction for SU's game against Notre Dame on Sunday is an optimistic one. I'm thinking Syracuse will be able to squeak one out in South Bend. We seem to do well when we're the underdog, so why not?  I've already given you my prediction on the Bills' first round draft pick in April (Malcolm Kelly, see previous post). 

Also this weekend are the men's and women's lax games here at home in the dome. I'm thinking the women will continue to dominate and pull one out over Dartmouth. They're too dominant to lose. Men's team will also win right after them. Both our lax teams are looking very strong this year and should have very, very good seasons. 

Our women's bball team also plays this weekend against Cincinnati in the Dome. I think they're going to rebound and pull out a win. Funny right, all wins? Well what can I say? I'm just that big an Orange fan. 

More Bills off-season thoughts

I saw a video today, on the Bills' website, of an interview with the head coach, Dick Jauron. Hearing him address the off-season issues facing the Bills gave me some good feelings about next year. Usually, after Jauron talks, I never have a good feeling because he is always very elusive I don't think he makes the right moves most of the time. However, this time was different and it left me very optimistic.

For the most part, he outlined all the things I (and most Bills fans) have that the Bills need to address this off-season. He seems to have recognized what people would like to see done with the team in order to be successful next year. That includes the WR issue and some of our defensive struggles as well. 

He also addressed the new front office that has come to be since the GM, Marv Levy, and our offensive coordinator, Steve Fairchild, left at the end of the season. We haven't really heard much about this from the coach since the moves, so it was refreshing to finally hear about it from him. I'm excited to see the moves Jauron is going to make this off-season because I think he will finally get it right, and the team will be more successful than in years past. 

Why Malcolm Kelly will and should be our #1 pick

Haven't talked about the Bills for a while, so I'm going to jot down some of my ideas for why the Bills should pick Malcolm Kelly for our first pick in the draft. Thus far, he has been projected as the Bill's pick by ESPN and various other mock drafts. He is by far the most logical choice for the Bills. 

Lee Evans is a pure talent at WR and will most likely remain our #1 next season and he needs a viable counter-part on the other side. Evans had a slow season because of all the double coverages he saw from opposing teams. Just having a competent receive would help out our receiver's numbers immensely. 

Another reason would be his size. Lee Evans isn't the tallest or biggest receiver and we need a WR that is. We need a receiver that can jump up, be physical and grab balls. Kelly is 6'4" and fits that mold perfectly. Hopefully he can adjust to the NFL style of play quickly and help out Lee. 

Most mock-drafts have the Bills taking Malcolm Kelly with their 11th overall pick, and let's hope they're right. He's just the thing we need to open up our passing game and get our offense rolling. 

NFL Scouting Combine

The NFL rookie scouting combine is coming up this week. I really don't see what all the hype around this event is. To me, it's very over-rated and gives teams a false hope for players. 

All too often, players will look real good in the combine, get drafted real high and yet be a bust player in the NFL. There are countless players who have excelled at the combine and were drafted first overall and I can't tell you their name today, they were that useless in the NFL as a player. The draft and combine are completely over-rated and people put far too much stock into their outcomes. 

However, I guess watching and reading about these things in the off-season is the better than no football at all. I'd much rather keep hearing about these things rather than just have no football for 8 months. I just get annoyed when people get too excited for these things and when people put too much stock in their outcomes. 

Syracuse wins and then loses

As everybody on campus knows, Syracuse won the game on Saturday. It was a real exciting game to watch for sure. The crowd was real into it and that's what I always imagined a Syracuse basketball game feeling like. 

After the win, it seemed that we were back into tournament conversations. We need some big upset wins down the stretch in order to be considered for the tourny this year, and Georgetown was definitely an upset. However, we'll probably need at least one more and a few more wins in order to stay in contention for a spot. 

I'm getting real excited for next year's team. Our young guys are playing really well and with the return of the veterans next year, our team is going to be very good and very deep. It should be very interesting to see how the rest of this year pans out. 

Congress and Sports/Syracuse's gross loss

After just watching an atrocious Syracuse basketball game, I have very little (if any) hope that they will make the NCAA tournament this season. This game was so bad, I even wonder if the NIT tournament is a possibility at this point. The injuries on the team are going to start weighing heavily on the still-healthy starters. Paul Harris looked incredibly tired for the majority of the game tonight, the rest of the team isn't far behind in fatigue. 

Also in the sports world, it was the NFL/MLB go to Washington day as Roger Clemens had his hearing regarding steroids and Roger Goodell spoke with Senator Arlen Specter regarding the "spygate" scandal that rocked the NFL this season. My opinion on this is that shouldn't Congress be doing better things with their time? Our country has far worse problems than Roger Clemens juicing before games and Bill Belichick filming a team's practice. Lower some taxes, improve some schools, don't give these already booming leagues more publicity. 

There hasn't been too much news regarding the Bills recently, except a little news story about Senator Chuck Schumer arranging a meeting between Roger Goodell and Ralph Wilson regarding keeping the Bills in Buffalo. This is good news, let's hope it leads to something good soon. It would be great to settle this soon, for the sake of Bills fans everywhere and also so I can stop having nightmares every night. That's it for now. 

Post #3

The Pro Bowl was played yesterday and that signals the all-important off-season in the NFL. The Bills need to have an excellent off-season to build upon the strides they made last year with the young team. We have our quarterback of the future, he just needs more weapons. We need to give him a solid #2 receiver that will take some of the pressures off of Lee Evans, and open up our pass game. 

Not only is a solid WR needed, but also a decent fullback to help our newest star, Marshawn Lynch. Last season, Lynch had an incredible rookie year and with the addition of an actual fullback, that only equals more yards and more opportunities for him. Edwards had a great rookie season, full of learning experiences and we can only hope he worked to improve this off-season and get out the rookie bugs. 

Although our defense surpassed my expectations last season, they still need improvements. Our run defense is still terrible, so we need a good, solid defensive tackle to hopefully clog up our porous middle and help out our pass rush. The very young defense is only going to get better with the return of Posluzny and the added experience they gained last season playing the NFL's toughest schedule.  So, lets hope our front office can produce a play-off bound Bills team next season.