Kaspers Korner

Wide receiver Steve Johnson has been a pleasant surprise to Bills fans, and to WGR beat reporter Paul Hamilton, “Was clearly the best wide receiver fighting for a roster spot in training camp,”  he stated on WGR during a show.  Johnson’s has been doing so well that he should get a shot as the number two wide receiver. 

The Bills have nothing left on the line to play for, except their head coach Dick Juaron in their eyes.  Which, makes the Bills playing the role of trying to be spoilers Sunday.

Johnson will be at least the number three wide receiver, becuase fellow rookie wide receiver James Hardy was placed on injured reserve today.  Also, wide receiver Roscoe Parrish is doubtful for the game as he did not practice all week.

That means that Johnson will be the slot receiver in wide receiver sets that call for three, or more, wide receivers. 

However, wide receiver Josh Reed knows the slot position well as he split time with Parrish at the position until this year.  So, it should be easy for the Bills to slide Reed over, and give Johnson a look at as the Y receiver opposite wide receiver Lee Evans.

The Bills are a cash strapped team, and Reed’s contract is set to expire after next season.  So, if the Bills want to save a little money, and find a solid wide receiver that is over six feet, then they need to find out what they have in Johnson tommorrow.

The Miami Dolphins are one win away from completing a amazing turn around from their 1-15 record last year.  So, many people are now wondering what is the key to Miami’s success?

The Dolphins turn around by many experts look at the signings of Chad Penninton as the main catalyst to their turn around.  However, the key to the turn around is the Dolphin’s head coach Tony Sparano.

The Dolphins hired Bill Parcells in the offseason to lead the Dolphins turn around in the front office.  Parcells then hired someone that he was familiar with, which turned out to be one of the best hires of the season in Sparano.

The Dolphins are tough physically, and mentally, which is a image of their head coach. That is the key to success in any franchise as the team mirror’s the mental characteristics of its head coach.

A team can have loads of talent, but are not going to use it all if they are not pushed to do so.  People get lazy, because after a while of working so hard even players want to sit back, and relax.

The football season is long, and grueling as players are working six days a week.  Five of them preparing, and the game itself.  If a coach does not set standards, and push his players, then the coach will lose.

The best example of this is the Buffalo Bills.  Before the season they were picked to sneak in the playoffs.  They even looked like a sure thing after starting the season 5-1, but head Dick Juaron does not push his players, and it shows as they looks soft at times.

The Dolphins will most likely make the playoffs, because they simply have a that will push them to their limits, and beyond.

The New York Jets were the toast of the league half way through the regular season, and then the wheels fell off the bus.  Now, it looks like the New York media is starting to make things ugly for the Jets.

The media is questioning two things about the Jets.  First, that if there is something wrong with the shoulder of Brett Farve.  Secondly, if head coach Eric Mangini, and general manager Mike Tannenbaum will be back next year for the team.

Farve has seemed to have lost strength in his arm, and when asked about it has not denied that notion at all.  He went on to stated that if there is something wrong with it, then it would be taken care of in the offseason.

That is the problem with Farve.  He is stubborn, and bullheaded.  Instead of finding out what is wrong, and then getting it taken care of he put things off till the offseason.

The reason for that is he simply does not want to end his consecutive game streak.  That clearly shows his true colors.

Owner Woody Johnson stated last March that both Mangini, and Tannenbaum will be back for 2009.  The reason being that he believes it takes tim to rebuild a team.

That notion was thrown out the window when the Jets blew a lot of money in free agency last year.  They are a win now team, and looks like they will most likely miss the playoffs.

It will take a miracle for them to get in.  The Jets are beat up, and go up against their division rival Miami Dolphins, which will be a hard game to win with the way they are playing.

The media is right if the Jets do not make the playoffs, then both Mangini, and Tannenbaum, should be fired. 

However, the owner is remaining silent for now, but that will not remain for long if the Jets do not make it.

The New England Patriots face the Buffalo Bills to close out the regular season.  The Patriots may have owned them for most of this decade, but this upcoming Sunday they better come more readier than ever.

Wide receiver Lee Evans on his radio show was asked how important is the upcoming game against the Patriots.  Evans responded that it is very important for several reasons, and agreed with host Jeremy White that one of them is to eliminate them from the playoffs.

The Bills are growing weary of their constant losing to the Patriots.  Also, they are looking to send a message that they are a serious team to contend with next year. 

The Patriots defense has been decimated with injuries.  Since the Patriots and Bills last played each other on November 9th the Patriots also lost linebackers Teddy Bruschi and Adalius Thomas.

Simply, the Patriots better come with their best game, because if they do not they are going to possibly lose.

Ralph Wilson might be getting heavily criticized for his judgement, and cheapness, when it comes to head coaches.  However, it is starting to come clear that they have the right guy to give the Bills the players they need to get back to the playoffs.

The Bills may have a little bit of a different structure to their front office, since they do not have a general manager.  However, their system is just right considering who is running the scouting of players, and the draft.

It has been proven that the most important part of the National Football League offseason is not free agency, or June first, when players that are cut salary can be prorated over two years, but is the National Football League Draft.

It was revealed today on WGR in an interview with Associated Press’s John Wawrow that Wilson has leaned on Tom Modrak more and more.  Which, has lead to Modrak becoming a key member of Wilson’s inner circle.

In the interview it was also revealed that Modrak really liked quarterback Jay Cutler, but the Bills had Losman at the time.  That has proven to be a fatal move by the Bills.

At the time Marv Levy was the general manager, and with new general managers comes dumping of players that they do not believe in.  However, the Bills decided to pass on Cutler, and took safety Donte Whitner.

This news should anger Bills fans even more, eventhough the Bills look to have a good quarterback in Trent Edwards.  The reason is that at that time many fans were clamoring for the Bills to take Matt Leinart.

However, the past is the past, and Bills fans should leave it be.  What Bills fans should be looking at is there should be a renewed confidence in the scouting staff of the Bills.

Especially, when next year comes around as my gut is telling me that two second day picks will play much larger roles, and be future impact players. 

The first being fourth rounder cornerback Reggie Corner.  Corner in his limited action seems to be able to hold his own, and could make starting cornerback Jabari Greer dispensible.

The another is wide receiver Steve Johnson.  Johnson in the last couple of weeks has seen more action, because wide receiver James Hardy tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the beginning of their game against the New York Jets.

The last is tight end Derek Fine.  Fine missed  a lot of the earlier part of the season with an injury.  Since then Fine has see the field a lot, and has seem to become a dependable asset in the running game with his blocking.

It will be a couple of years before we truly know that Modrak taking over full control of the draft was the best thing.  However, there have been to many good players coming in, since former general manager Tom Donahoe was run out of town.

The Buffalo Bills played two months of uninspired football before last Sunday’s game.  Hopefully, the whole team learned a lesson after the win.

That lesson being that they must come every week inspired, and hungry.  The person that needs to learn that the most is head coach Dick Jauron as it is his duty to stress how important each game is, and to get them ready to play.

The biggest question that I have about this team is what the heck are the coaches doing from Monday to Sunday leading up to that week’s game.

For several months now, including Sunday, the Bills usually get off to horrible starts.  What that means is what ever the coaching staff is doing to get the players ready for Sunday is not working.

Next week is the a crucial test for the team as the New England Patriots are coming to town to finish the season.  The Patriots are going to come ready to play as they need a win to win the division, and get into the playoffs.

If the Bills get off to a slow start again this Sunday there will be no coming back, because there are a lot of veterans on that team who know how to close games out.

If Jauron does not learn this, then owner Ralph Wilson should fire him, because he never will.

The Buffalo Bills went into this week with what looked as a impossible task of stopping the Denver Bronco’s offense to win the game.  The Bills did not do that, but still came away with the win.

Simply put the Broncos blew this game as they had more than enough opportunities to win the ball game.  The blame for the loss clearly goes on quarterback Jay Cutler as he made several costly mistakes.

The first one was in the second quarter he lost his cool after a running play out of a shotgun formation lost four yars.  That lead to him getting a costly delay of game penalty, which caused the Broncos kicker Matt Prater to miss by only a yard.

The second mistake came in the fourth quarter with 5:42 left in the game.  The Broncos were pressed as they needed a touchdown to tie the game, and Cutler on a third and 10 trying to make a play threw an interception. 

The last and costly mistake came on the final drive.  The Broncos was on the Buffalo 15, and Cutler had a wide open Brandon Stokely open in the endzone, but Cutler overthrew him. 

The Bills were looking to give the game away as offensive coordinator Turk Schonert called some horrible plays. 

On the Bills first drive of the second half the Bills had a third and seven from the Bronco’s 30.  Instead of a passing play Schonert tried the element of surprise as the Bills did their famous inside hand off out of a shotgun formation that went for nothing

On the very next offensive drive the Bills drove all the way to the Bronco’s 11.  On first and 10 Schonert called a reverse that went for nothing again. 

Simply, the Bills got lucky.

Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Juaron should be fired without a shadow of a doubt by Bills fans.  Today Juaron gave them more ammunition in his comments today.

During the four straight Superbowl appearances the Bills players embraced the cold, and used it to their advantage.  They did this by having to practice outside all the time in Ralph Wilson stadium.

However, someone had the bright idea of building the Ralph Wilson field house.  The very day that facility opened the Bills advantages of the elements dissappeared.

If there was any year that it was more glaring that a team was a punch of girls when it came to the cold it was this year.  Earlier in the year Bills players made it be known during the week up to the game in Toronto against Miami that a lot of players would prefer to play in a dome than in the cold.

So, where did the players get this kind of thinking?  The answer is from their head coach.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to practice in bad weather if you’re not going to play in a bad weather game. It doesnt make much sense at all,” the head coach said according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

As it was pointed out in the article the explanation does not make any sense, because the Bills played in multiple cold weather games already, and when practicing up to those game the Bills played inside every single practice.

The point of many Bills fans is that they do not practice outdoors enough, and they are right.  As with anything it takes time, and practice to master something, and one practice is not going to make a difference.  Especially in a city the Bills have not won in since 1967.