All you readers who think I'm always negative when it comes to the Sabres. Well savior the moment because I'm about to be positive for a change. The Sabres signed 34-year old Mike Grier to a 1-year contract. Grier recently finished up a 3 year stint in San Jose, scoring 10 goals to go along with 13 assists last year. Grier of course is remember for his 2 years with the Sabres, where he was viewed as a leader in the locker room, as well as being on the checking line.

Grier will add some much needed toughness to the front line. Look for Grier to be teamed with Hecht and Gaustaud to be the Sabres leading checker line. Grier left in a smoke of controversy in 2006, questioning the commitment to winning by the Sabres. The Sabres have been quiet over the last month, and more importantly no word on Drew Stafford's contract situation. There I go being negative again. But it's a good move for the Sabres who need some locker room presence they have been severely lacking since you know who left. Now go out and get a play making defenseman.

-joe-

Well Patrick Kane is taking a page out of the OJ Simpson trial handbook, by hiring Buffalo Powerhouse attorney (Celino & Barnes?) Paul J. Cambria Jr. Cambria did the standard my client is innocent routine on Monday. While cab driver, Mr Travis Bickle (for all you Scorsese fans) claims that he was recovering from a broken nose in the incident. "They broke my glasses; they ripped my clothes off, all over 20 cents," he told the Chicago Tribune. (Come on Buffalo News, don't get scooped!)

After picking up the Kanes up from Chippewa Street, the driver said, he was leery of them because they didn't give him a destination address right away (ha, you know how many times I've done that)During the dispute over their payment, the driver said, James Kane, who was sitting behind him, "sucker-punched" him from behind.

At that point, Patrick Kane "punched me in the head. He says, "You don't know who you're [messing] with! You don't know who you're [messing] with, [expletive]!' (He most likely didn't since the NHL is awful at marketing its players) And he kept pounding and pounding on me," the driver said.

The Buffalo News was unable to get comment from the Kanes, but did goto their house knocking on their doors. Well, at least they tried. Let me explain to people who don't come from my hometown. This isn't out of the norm of possiblity. Our people are very rowdy people, and I've heard some bad stories over the years from young kids from the B-low. Just saying, you are what you eat.

-joe-

"the people at EA Sports must be thrilled"

Well it's over, and for only the 3rd time this decade, Al Michaels was able to call a Bills game. Hooray! The Bills lost to the Titans 21-18. The offensive starters only played one series which resulted in a Trent Edwards interception. While the starting defense gave up 2 long drives, which the Titans capitalized for 2 touchdowns. The first drive ended when the Titans scored on a designed fake punt for 40 yards. The fake punt struck up memories of the "Music City Miracle," thanks a lot coach Fisher.

The 2nd drive was a long 78 yard drive that was capped off by a Lendale White 2 yard touchdown run. The starters on offense had one drive together. As expected the Bills broke out their new No-Huddle offense. Edwards looked sharp, connecting on his first 3 passes, 2 of those going to Terrell Owens. But Edwards last pass of the day was intercepted by Michael Griffin at the Titans 7 yard line. Sloppy game overall for the Bills.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can't stand preseason football. Fans get too hyped or too down when watching their teams play. Preseason is a complete sham. But for the sake of writing a blog, here is my recap.

Thought that Poz and Nic Harris stud out amongst the defense. Poz should of had an interception on the second drive of the game, but was all around the field making tackles. Rookie Nic Harris has a lot to gain in the preseason, as the Bills coaching staff want him to compete for the starting weak side linebacker job held by Keith Ellison. When Harris came in for the reserves, he made the most of his playing time with 4 solo tackles. If he can keep up his pace in the preseason, he can give Elison a run for his money.

Yes, he only played one series, but you got a sense of what he will add to the Bills offense with his superb route running. Owens had two catches for 27 yards. The Bills no-huddle attack looked pretty good on its opening drive, especially on Owens first catch of the game where the Titans defensive line looked confused prior to the snap.

It took me about 2 snaps to figure out who number 44 was for the Bills. It was Xavier Omon, the 6th round pick of the Bills in 2008. Omon had 11 carries for 36 yards to go along with 3 catches for 25 yards. Don't sleep on Omon this preseason. If Omon has a good preseason, it could make Dominic Rhodes expendable. Remember last year the Bills signed cornerback, Will James to a 2-year deal and was subsequently cut after Ashton Youboty and Reggie Corner both had good camps.

The Bad:

Well I know its preseason, but the Bills defense left off where they were last year. They couldn't stop the Titans running attack and couldn't get a pass rush to save their life. The Bills defense was over matched on its first two series and couldn't muster much of a pass rush. If the Bills are going to be successful this season they are going to need to rely on the front 4 to get to the quarterback.

If there is one thing you will get from my blog, it's going to be criticism of Aaron Schobel. Schobel is the highest paid and most overrated Bill on the team. Schobel only played 2 series, but was manhandled by all-pro, Michael Roos. Schobel is under a lot of pressure this year, considering the defense was ranked 28th in sacks last year. Schobel has never been one to impress me as the majority of his sacks have come from the Bills blitzing 5-6 guys. When the Bills only rush 4, watch out. Because the quarterback is going to have all day and half of the night.

Most likely the Bills and Titans didn't empty the playbook, because both teams play each other in the regular season. So I'm not one to jump down the throats of any of the players or coaches. It's just preseason, but at least football is back.

Hall of Fame Coverage
BTN: Good marks all the way around. The news had 6 stories on its site for Saturday's coverage of the Hall of Fame. BTN had stories up on the bios of both Ralph Wilson and Bruce Smith. Sully had a great column on Wilson's love for the game and his daughter, who recently passed away. The post hall of fame coverage also received high marks with interviews with all the Bills Alumni attending the HOF, and a good piece on the fans attending. To be honest, their stories were better than the HOF speeches themselves.

WGR: I wonder if Schopp and the Bulldog have any sort of anger towards the Bills when it comes to covering the team. Howard Simon throughout the week had Jim Kelly, Marv Levy, and Bill Polian talking about the Hall of Fame. The afternoon show didn't have much besides talking about team sponsorship deals. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I was also surprised that WGR didn't send out any of their bigger hosts to cover the HOF. They sent out Nick Mendola to do a broadcast live from Canton. The WGR staff did work hard getting some good interviews with the likes of Chris Berman, Frank Reigh, and Steve Tasker. But no disrespect to Mendola, but people want to hear what the hosts who make 6 figures have to say. Of course, WGR did send Paul Hamilton to Montreal for the Sabres draft and had a live pre-show with Schopp and the Bulldog. Did I mention, WGR is the home for the Buffalo Sabres.

WIVB: Maybe having John Murphy on WIVB has turned their sports coverage around. The station aired a 30 minute special on both Bruce Smith and Ralph Wilson going into the HOF. Besides the corny theme music, the show was pretty good. The show was broken into 4 acts. The first 2 acts was an interview with Smith and Wilson, talking about their careers. The 3rd act was a bit of a snooze. Paul Peck went to visit the HOF and was given a tour of the AFL exhibit. I'll be frank, I'm not a big AFL fan, because I wasn't born during the time period. Not to mention, I didn't care to see a Joe Namath jersey on the tour being talked about. The last act was an interview with Marv Levy, where he talked about the 90's Bills and this years class of the HOF.

WGRZ: Incomplete. The channel 2 website is suppose to have a pre-show tonight, prior to the Bills vs Titans game. It's suppose to include a preview for the game, along with profiles on Wilson and Smith. I did like Ed's Blog on his memories of Bruce Smith and Ralph Wilson. Kilgore told a great story about how Ralph Wilson went crazy after a game in the 70's, where the Bills lost to the Dolphins on a controversial call. I'll be looking forward to watching their pregame show tonight on my lab top.

Random Hits

The coach is still angry
Gotta give it up for Chuck Dickerson, who didn't mix words when talking about the addition of Terrell Owens to the Bills. Dickerson was on Brad Riter's radio show last week talking about Bruce Smith and Ralph Wilson's hall of fame enshrinement. When Riter asked Dickerson what he thought of T.O., Dickerson stated the obvious, "I think he is an A#$hole." Not sure if Riter's producer was able to hit the dump or bleep button when hearing that gem. Dickerson also went on to say that he thinks Owens was a bad pick-up and will ruin the team. Then you wonder why no one at One Bills Drive liked the guy when he was on air.

Someone call Dennis Hopper
Just to follow up on my commentary from last week, but someone needs to either fire Chris Mortenson's agent or an ESPN producer. The Mort Bus Tour has been nothing more than a disaster. This week we saw Mort playing Guitar Hero with Jared Allen and making cheese in Wisconsin. Please, if they end up making the movie Speed 3, can they cast Mort's bus and blow the s#$t out of it. Mort has had some interviews with players from his camp visits, but it's squeezed in the middle of Mort doing some stupid stunt. Doesn't Mort remember what happen to Kenny Mayne when he decided to go the comedy route? Yeah, D-List celebrity.

Look for Bias media coverage for Schonert
Turk Schonert may be under a lot of pressure from Bills fans and the local media, but the 2nd year offensive coordinator does have a safety net. Chris Collinsworth and Boomer Esiason, who have very prominent roles in the national sports media are really good friends with Schonert. Both players played with Schonert in their days with the Bengals, where Schonert was the back-up quarterback. Collinsworth has admitted that he looks for Bills coverage everyday on the web to see how Schonert is doing. I'm not saying they are going to not tell it how it is. But if the Bills offense gets on a roll, look for Schonert's ex-teammates to give him some love.

-Joe-