Author: Chris Ostrander

Roster watch: Bubble Battles

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Some football seasons are different than others. Some years there are undrafted rookies and late round picks usurping established veterans for roles on the final roster.

The 2011 NFL season is not one of those years. The abbreviated offseason that was good of OTAs and mini-camp has taken valuable time away from fringe players drafted in the late rounds and signed as UDFAs.

There are a few battles being waged for starter and reserve spots on the Bills roster. Demetrius Bell, Andy and Chad Rinehart make up a triangle of dispute on the left side of the line. However, all three are locks to make the team.

Additionally, Marcus Easley is inching closer to a starting position at wide receiver by means of an injury to Donal Jones. Would this be a battle had Jones’ cappa been detated from his body? Maybe not yet, but Easley’s raw talent would have eventually earned him playing time.

I am still not sold on Donald Jones. He is a great special teams contributor and he blocks well. However he doesn’t always catch a ton of passes. Unfortunately that is the main duty of a wide receiver. I think he, Naaman Roosevelt and Buster Davis are all close for the two final WR spots on the roster. Easley, Stevie Johnson, David Nelson and Roscoe Parrish are all locks and I see the Bills keeping six players at WR. That leaves two spots to be fought over between four players (if Kamar Aiken is a real possibility). Continue reading →

Sabres prepared for Traverse City

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Fans looking to dip their beaks in hockey action will get a small taste the week before the Buffalo Sabres preseason opens.

The Sabres are sending 23 prospects to Traverse City, Michigan to participate in the 2011-12 NHL Prospect Tournament.

Topping the list of players are Luke Adam, Zack Kassian, Brayden McNabb and Mark Pysyk. Those players are currently the top players in the Sabres’ pipeline and Adam and Kassian are expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot this season

The remaining 19 players are an assortment of draft picks from the past few seasons in addition to a few invitees. Steven Beyers, Jonathan Parker and Phil Varone all participated in the Sabres rookie camp earlier in the summer, Parker and Varone will be in camp with the Amerks in a few weeks time as well. Beyers was impressive in camp and will remain on Buffalo’s radar for him final year of junior.

Continue reading →

Deskchair Quarterback – Bills vs. Jaguars

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

I’m fairly certain that 75% of the fans who bemoaned the Bills’ poor performance against the Broncos have changed their opinion on the possibility of an 0-16 season for the Bills.

The only thing that matters to me is the 17-0 lead the Bills starters opened up in the first half against the Jaguars starters. Buffalo’s offense was in high gear, the offensive line kept Ryan Fitzpatrick upright and the defense was strong without Shawne Merriman in the lineup.

It seems as if Demetrius Bell responded well to the possibility of losing his job. He got the start and held up quite well against the Jaguars pass rush. Of course Jacksonville was without their best pass rusher, Aaron Kampman, but I’m going to try to stay positive. Andy Levitre was equally impressive when he bumped to tackle, however I still wonder if he will struggle long-term at that position considering his size. On the bright side, if the Bills deem Kraig Urbik unfit for the RG spot, Chad Rinehart is more than capable of stepping in to fill his role. I feel like that switch will be inevitable once the regular season starts but the coaching staff is waiting to weed out the best players for the left side first. Continue reading →

Effin’ A Cotton, effin’ a

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

In a summer of major changes for the Sabres organization one more cosmetic one will occur today. First Niagara will acquire the naming rights to HSBC Arena.

This is a move I suspected would occur in the near future, I just didn’t think it would happen this soon. As First Niagara has continued to grow in recent years I began to wonder if they would look into some sort of branding with the Sabres, Bisons or the Bills. When HSBC sold their retail branches to First Niagara I assumed a name change for the Arena was inevitable. However, all news from the three parties involved appeared to be in the contrary.

Now there is the opportunity for the Arena to be called the First Niagara Arena – or FNA (effin’ a). UPDATE: It appears the name will be the First Niagara Center.

With the additional renovations being made to the interior of the Arena and the locker room, a name change will add that much more of a new look for the new regime. Based on the look of the First Niagara logo, it will look much better on the exterior (and interior signage) of the building. I do wonder if they will utilize the neon waves that were once prevalent on the main exterior sign back in the 90s.

Aside from a trade, it seems as if the next biggest change will come with a new sign on the front of the Arena.

Bills make the right move with Morrison

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

News broke on Wednesday evening that the Bills had come to terms with inside linebacker Kirk Morrison. It is reportedly a one-year deal for the man who was replaced by Paul Pozluszny in Jacksonville.

Morrison is no slouch, he has amassed over 100 tackles in five of his six pro seasons. The only year he failed to eclipse 100 was last season with the Jaguars. While Morrison’s main experience has come in a 4-3 look, I don’t expect him to struggle much with the Bills.

Most of the reports out cite Reggie Torbor’s uncertain injury status as the reason for signing Morrison. I would like the cite the fact that Torbor has looked incredibly slow in the preseason and seemed unable to cover in space, an issue Bills’ linebackers had last year as well. Morrison should help in that regard while adding some serious experience to the depth chart at inside linebacker. Continue reading →

Sabres-Flames rumors swirl again

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

As training camp fast approaches the Sabres timetable to get under the cap continues to shrink.

Despite the obvious solution (sticking players in the minors), Darcy Regier continues to stand by his strategy of utilizing trades to clear the necessary cap space. Due to that apparent strategy, the rumor mill is back up and running.

Everyone’s favorite rumor monger, Eklund, floated the idea of a second trade between the Sabres and Flames. While it is an intriguing notion I doubt that either team could find a workable option.

Jarome Iginla is on every Sabres fan's wish list. I say keep wishing.

Buffalo currently sits $3.6 million over the salary cap. The Flames are just about $1.5 million under the cap at this time. Given those numbers, I can’t find a may either team could work the payroll. The Sabres top trade prospects are Brad Boyes, Ales Kotalik, Shaone Morrisonn, Jason Pominville and Andrej Sekera. Sekera is the most attractive option based on his cap hit (2.75) and his skill level. Pominville is a close second based on his scoring touch, but his $5.3 million cap hit would require a lot of tweaking in a potential trade. Brad Boyes has a moderate cap hit and a moderate offense return, I wonder how attractive he would be for teams around the league.

As for the Flames, there are only a few truly attractive options based on the Sabres’ needs and salary constraints. Rene Bourque, Curtis Glencross, Nik Hagman and Brendan Morrison. Certainly Sabres fans are hoping that the white whale, Jarome Iginla, is a target, but there is no way they could swig the trade based on their current cap situation.

Continue reading →

The new kickoff rule will ruin the NFL

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Trying to watch an NFL game on TV is quite a chore. You get about 20 minutes of real game action and then three hours of a running clock, walking to the huddle, TV timeouts and constant replays.

The new kickoff rule will add to the dullness of the production that is passed off as a competitive sport.

I understand why the lowers that be decided to move kickoffs to the 35. It practically eliminates the risk of injury for the coverage and return teams, thus making the game exponentially safer. However, this safety is achieved by eliminating any chance of a return at any given time.

Any kicker in the NFL can reach the goal line or even get the ball three yards into the end zone. Move that kicker up five yards and there is no chance of the return man carrying the ball out from seven yards deep. The logic is sound in this case. By not going the returner a chance to carry the ball out there is no risk for 20 MPH collisions between 230 pound men. Therefore there is no chance for gruesome collisions that result in devastating injuries that change the lives of these young men (see Kevin Everett). It makes perfect sense to me, however it is going to kill the on field product.

With the idiotic commercial policy the NFL follows the fan at home (and in the stadium) has the pleasure of watching a touchdown, then a commercial, then a touchback followed by another commercial. If you’re a Bills fan this is followed by a three-and-out and yet another commercial. Sounds riveting.

The NFL needs to find a happy medium here. While player safety should be of the utmost concern, the fans may start to slowly walk away. For a league with an exciting product, the NFL is trying awfully hard to make their games last as long as Major League Baseball.

Deskchair Quarterback – Bills vs. Broncos

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Collectively the 86 players on the Buffalo Bills roster got lumped up by the Denver Broncos tonight. However, the 24-10 score is largely irrelevant to me considering this was just an exhibition game.

Terrence McGee had a nice pick to close the first half.

The most concerning issue is that the starting offense failed to score a touchdown for the second-straight week in a row. I can’t find the stats to back me up, but I’m fairly certain that is a streak that dates back to 2010. Again, it is just the preseason so it is all meaningless. Still, the fact that the starting offense is so pathetic is somewhat concerning.

Ryan Fitzpatrick has looked very much like a seventh-round draft pick in his limited time. Most of that can be attributed to the fact that Demetrius Bell is the worst tackle in football. Even on the plays that he didn’t get run by or pushed into the backfield, Bell was very average. Kraig Urbik still looked bad, particularly on that screen to C.J. Spiller in the first quarter. Chad Rinehart looked good, as did Andy Levitre. Both players will be adequate for the Bills’ needs inside. Unfortunately it appears as if the offensive line, as a whole, will prevent the offense from being successful or even mediocre. Continue reading →

Farewell Captain Clutch

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

In case you hadn’t heard, Chris Drury played in, and won, the Little League World Series. No fooling.

In a related note, Captain Clutch is calling it a career. After an underwhelming and injury plagued tenure with the New York Rangers, Drury was bought out earlier in the summer and has decided to retire from professional hockey all together.

What this tells me is his degenerative knee condition is more severe than originally expected in July. There were many who figured he would find his was onto a contender’s roster at discounted rate for the 2011-12 campaign. After all his face off skills, penalty killing and other intangibles would be very attractive to a team making a Cup push.

Alas, his injuries likely played a large role in this decision.

Drury was, and will be, one of my favorite players of all time. Ever since his first seasons with Colorado I was a fan of his style and skill. When he was acquired by Buffalo I was ready to do back flips.

Drury was part of some of the best Sabres hockey in the history of the franchise. He, Daniel Briere and the rest of the core players carried the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back years in what was one of the most memorable runs I can think of with this team. Then, of course there was the goal. Who else?

And here is an even cooler angle

Continue reading →

Next steps for the Bills

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

With the two most recent roster moves by the Buffalo Bills, there are a few spots remaining under the current roster limit of 90. Chris Brown of Buffalobills.com points out that the roster can stay at 90 players until August 30.

I would assume the roster will not stay at 90 (or 87 in this case) up until that date. The staff will need to pare down the roster to only include the players they really want to keep a keen eye on for the final regular season games. I fully expect to see more players released in the next few days, probably after the game against Denver.

That being said, the Bills have the opportunity to sign some help for their offensive line. Right now the group of five that is atop the depth chart stinks. They flat-out stink. Eric Wood and Andy Levitre are the only two quality players they have out there. The jury is still out on Erik Pears, but he can’t support Craig Urbik – neither can Wood. Same goes for Demetrius Bell on the left side. He is a turnstile over there. In the bright side there is help out there if the Bills are willing to sign the players.

Among the remaining free agents; Leonard Davis, Nick Kaczur, Bryant McKinnie, Max Starks and Jon Stinchcomb are all relatively attractive options. Starks reminds me too much of Cornell Green ann Davis is way past his prime. I would rule out those two. Stinchcomb has some injury issues and I feel like McKinnie could be a total flake (being from The U and all). Kaczur and McKinnie would be the two tackles I would consider. Both are capable NFL tackles who have seen plenty of success. They would bring much more stability to the Bills’ line and offer Ryan Fitzpatrick much more pass protection. They wouldn’t help in shoring up the perceived weakest spot, right guard, but I feel like Chad Rinehart or Geoff Hangartner offer better skill argue position. Not to mention a more stable tackle on the right or left side makes the entire line better.

The unfortunate part of this situation is the likelihood of the Bills to stand pat. They will sing a chorus of how happy they are with their prospects and about their ability to develop. Sadly, all that will result in are sacks and a poor running game.