Monday was a day that many gaming fans wait for each year, the day that the most popular sports series of all-time puts out their player rankings.
That game of course is Madden football, and this year Madden 20 is once again going to be a game played by millions who are into the NFL and video games.
One aspect of the game is player rankings, and the top Bills player on the list was free safety Micah Hyde, who comes in with a mark of 86.
Check out all the Bills Rankings by clicking HERE.
Bills owner Terry Pegula says he won’t ask fans to break the bank when it comes to deciding whether to renovate the team’s current stadium in the suburbs or build a new one downtown, the Associated Press reports.
“Whatever we’re going to do stadium-wise is going to be in the best interest of our fans,” Pegula told The Associated Press during a wide-ranging interview before the start of the NHL draft in Vancouver. “We have the interest of our fans at heart, and what we do will be heavily weighted — whatever the plan is — toward the benefit of our fans.”
The Bills have hired a private firm to conduct a feasibility study on determining the team’s future home. The study is due to be completed sometime this summer and lead to a decision on whether the Bills will continue playing at New Era Field in suburban Orchard Park, New York, or relocate.
Both options are deemed expensive and have raised concerns over how much public money might be required to fund the project, and how much a new stadium could boost ticket prices in one of the NFL’s smallest markets.
A New York state-funded study in 2014 projected the next round of renovations would cost $540 million, including for structural improvements and rebuilding the stadium’s third deck. A new facility would cost almost double that, depending on location and whether it features a roof and based on how much infrastructure upgrades — expanded roads, access ramps, public transportation — might be necessary.
New Era Field opened in 1973. Pegula also owns the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, and the feasibility study is also assessing renovations to that team’s home, KeyBank Center, which opened in 1996.
“As far as professional sports teams go, Buffalo’s the biggest little city in the country,” said Pegula, who co-owns the Bills with his wife, Kim. “And our fans need their due as far as whatever we do with venues for them to attend our games.”
The study began late last year and sought input from fans.
Questions regarding the Bills’ stadium were renewed earlier this month when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated the league’s preference in a new facility.
Goodell acknowledged the differences in costs and market size in saying that the price of a new facility in Dallas might not necessarily work in Buffalo. However, he stressed that a new stadium is required for the Bills to remain financially stable and be competitive.
Some inferred Goodell’s comments as a veiled threat that the NFL would consider relocating the franchise without a new stadium.
The Pegulas dismissed that notion, saying they are in constant contact with Goodell and working with him.
“Roger knows where we stand. We weren’t at all upset or thought that he was trying to say anything differently,” Kim Pegula said.
Following a season in which the Bills went 6-10 and ended the year in third place in the AFC East. Despite that, they played well late in the year, winning two of their last three to give fans hope for 2019.
Now that the calendar has turned to July, the start of training camp is closing in and things are ramping up for the franchise to get ready for 2019.
Today we take a quick look at three questions about this team as they get set to embark on what they hope will be a solid season with maybe a trip to the playoffs.
1. Josh Allen’s Progression
Last season Allen got to start 11 games, giving the franchise something to cheer about as he went 5-6 in those 11 games.
He threw for 10 scores with 12 picks, and also rushed for 631 yards and eight touchdowns. It’s important for the team to get him time to throw and improve.
2. A Better Run Game
Last year LeSean McCoy rushed for 514 yards with three scores, Chris Ivory 385 yards and a score, and Allen 631 yards and eight touchdowns.
The run game just never got established, and this season it would be nice for the club to commit more to the run game and that will also take pressure off Allen to have to throw the ball downfield early and often.
3. A Better Defensive Start
The defense was bombed in its first two games of 2018, allowing 78 points in two games to the Ravens and Chargers, and it felt like it was going to be a long season.
The defense eventually found itself a bit, but it would very much be nice not to get so far behind early in games, and for the D to come through with some big plays.
It remains to be seen if any of these young defenders step up, but they had better to avoid a slow start.
Former Jaguars running back T.J. Yeldon is excited about the “heated competition” shaping up in his first year with the Buffalo Bills according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
“That’s the first thing they told me coming in” Yeldon told the Buffalo News.
“There’s going to be competition regardless.”
The Bills revamped their running back corps this offseason by adding veteran Frank Gore, rookie Devin Singletary, and signing Yeldon to a two-year, $3.2 million contract in April. Holdover veteran LeSean McCoy still seems the most likely candidate to lead the backfield in carries with Gore supplementing and Yeldon primarily playing the same third-down passing role he filled in his four seasons in Jacksonville.
McCoy and Gore would seem to be standing in the way of Yeldon receiving significant playing time but Yeldon still describe playing with the two legends as a “blessing”. Still only 25 years old, the former second-round pick out of Alabama says, “Being here in this situation, I can learn a lot from those guys. It’s a lot for me to take with me in my future years.” But he is made it clear he is not conceding carries to anyone, adding,”I feel like I’m a do-it-all back. I can run. I can catch the ball,” he said. “Making plays with the ball in my hands is something I do. (My receiving) is just a plus.”
Bills offensive guard Quinton Spain had thumb surgery last week according to Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News and is out indefinitely.
Spain, originally an undrafted free agent out of West Virginia, spent his first four years in the league with the Tennessee Titans and started 42-of-48 games for them the past three seasons before signing a one-year, $2.05 million contract to join the Bills in April.
He had been working as the first-team right guard at OTAs before suffering the injury last week.
Assuming he is healthy, the 27-year-old Spain is expected to man one of the starting guards spots for the Bills in 2019.
Veteran QB Derek Anderson is done in terms of his time with the Bills, and now the team is going to have to find someone for the backup QB spot.
Pro Football Talk reports that Buffalo coach Sean McDermott is going to lean heavily on assistant coach Ken Dorsey to try and find out who can fill the spot.
The Bills lured the former Panthers assistant this offseason (a month after he accepted a job at Appalachian State), and McDermott said his background with Anderson makes it a smooth transition. With second-year starter Josh Allen and undrafted rookie Tyree Jackson along with Barkley, it’s a very young group that needs leadership.
“We feel good about adding Ken Dorsey to the room,” McDermott said, via the team’s official website. “Ken and Derek worked together hand in hand in Carolina for a number of years. I’d be a little more concerned about it had we not added Ken Dorsey to the mix this offseason. With some of the experience that Matt [Barkley] brings to the table knowing this is not his first go around. That combined with the influence that Brian [Daboll, the offensive coordinator] has in the room. We feel comfortable with what we’ve got.”
Dorsey and Anderson were actually teammates with the Browns from 2006-08, before Dorsey was Anderson’s coach in Carolina.
Bills running back LeSean McCoy may want to stay off social media for awhile, as the back is hearing it after tweeting out a MAJOR plot line of the new ‘Avengers’ movie.
Many fans and even celebs agreed not to tweet out any spoilers about the new ‘Endgame’ movie, but that didn’t stop McCoy, who didn’t seem to care who he ticked off on his account followed by over 730,000 followers.
McCoy must have not been paying attention to the #DontSpoilTheEndgame hash tag that many fans were abiding by.
[WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM “AVENGERS: ENDGAME”]
McCoy tweeted out about the death of Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr.
The worst day ever …. me and lil shady are hurt …. they killed iron man ???? take Captain America instead
— Lesean McCoy (@CutonDime25) April 26, 2019
Twitter was abuzz after McCoy’s revelation, and he was quickly slammed by many for ruining the movie before many could get to the theater to see it.
One fan became so upset at McCoy that they started a petition calling for the player’s contract with the Bills to be terminated.
“It is with the utmost disappointment that I must request the contract termination of Lesean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills,” the Change.org petition reads.
“He recently took to Twitter and spoiled a [sic] epic movie over a decade in the making for so many Marvel fans all over the world.”
The 9th pick is in, and the Bills have gone defense in the first round, taking Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver in round one.
Here’s highlights on Oliver:
Ed Oliver is coming for your quarterback. ? #GoBills pic.twitter.com/THXQkZGHXc
— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) April 26, 2019
And a scouting report on Oliver:
Strengths:
Incredible athlete
Rare speed; extremely fast interior defensive lineman
Can take over games
Intimidating presence
Dangerous pass-rusher
Explosive
Closes on quarterbacks in a hurry
Excellent get-off
Fast feet
Splash plays
Extremely disruptive
Natural pad level
Skilled at shedding blocks
Good pursuit run defender
Plays with good leverage
Good motor
Instinctive
Awareness
Great twitch
Durable
Well conditioned
Upside; could get better with experience
Weaknesses:
Undersized
Lacks weight
Short
Struggles in downhill run defense
Weak lateral anchor
Lacks strength
Houston staff says 285-290 pounds is too heavy for him
Summary: Without ever playing a snap, Oliver made college football history. He became the first five-star recruit in history to chose a school that was not in a power-five conference. Many were surprised that the Houston native did not go with a local recruiting power house like Texas A&M, Texas or Oklahoma. Even though Oliver did not go to a Big XII school, that power-five conference immediately saw what it had missed out on when Oliver dominated Oklahoma in his first game as a true freshman. That game set the tone for a tremendous freshman year in which he totaled 66 tackles with 22.5 tackles for a loss, five sacks, three forced fumbles and nine passes batted.
In 2017, Oliver recorded 73 tackles with 16.5 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, three passes batted and two forced fumbles. Even with teams selling out to stop him, they struggled to slow him down, and he continued to live in the backfield of the opposition. As a junior, Oliver totaled 54 tackles with 14.5 tackles for a loss, three sacks, one forced fumble and two passes batted. He missed four games with a knee injury and chose to skip Houston’s bowl game to protect himself from injury and start preparing for the 2019 NFL Draft.
Oliver is an impactful interior pass-rusher with a rare ability to harass the quarterback as an inside rusher. His pass-rush potential is very hard to find, and that makes him a beloved prospect across the scouting community. Oliver is extremely fast at the point off attack. He explodes out of his stance and immediately achieves penetration into the backfield. On top of his speed and tremendous pad level, Oliver has active hands to slap away blockers’ hands. He also can bend and has the agility to redirect to the quarterback. Oliver has rare explosive speed off the ball and constantly lives in the backfield.
July 16th, 2019 
Matt Loede 
Posted in 
