Inside The Bills

Reports: QB Kolb to be cut, Jets interested

According to NFL reports the Cardinals are on the verge of cutting QB Kevin Kolb and a Bills division rival is going to be interested in acquiring him.

Sources: #Cardinals expect to cut QB Kevin Kolb over the next few days. Due a roster bonus of $2M on March 17. He won’t see that, I’m told

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2013

Before the cut has even happened speculation is brewing that the Jets will be very interested in Kolb’s services. That according to the New York Daily News.

If price is right, he’ll be on Jets… and likely Week 1 starter RT @rapsheet Cardinals expect to cut QB Kevin Kolb over next few days #nyj

— Manish Mehta(@MMehtaNYDN) March 14, 2013

Bills know what they’re in for with Jets

As we move into Week 1 the Jets become the focus, but they’ve been the focus of the Bills in practice since last week. A familiar division opponent the Bills know what they’re in for facing New York on the road Sunday.

“They create a lot of problems defensively because of their multiple blitz packages,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”Their offense, they have added the (Tim) Tebow package so you have to spend time doing that. You do not know exactly what it is, you have an idea, but you do not know exactly what it is. So there are a lot of unknowns going into our first ball game. I think probably the things that we know the most about are their defense and their kicking game because they have the same people there.”

Buffalo is practicing later today (2 pm) to get a head start on the practice week. We’ll have full coverage on Buffalobills.com.

Jets won’t rule out Peyton

Jets owner Woody Johnson held a 30-minute press conference with the New York media and was pressed on whether the club would consider acquiring a veteran QB like Peyton Manning if he became available.

According to the Associated Press, Johnson said Mark Sanchez “is our guy,” but also added that “there’s no such thing as 100 percent in football.”

The Jets have a recent albeit short history of seeking out veteran quarterbacks after they fervently pursued Brett Favre back in 2008. Simply put the thought of being in the same division as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning is not very appealing.

Jets not worried about Bills

The Jets dropped their third game of the season to the Patriots in New England Sunday to fall to 2-3 on the season. While looking up at the Patriots in the division might be something they’re used to, looking up at the Bills at 4-1 is something new for them.

When asked by Yahoo Sports about how unusual it is to be looking up at two teams ahead of them in the division, veteran receiver Derrick Mason told Yahoo the following.

“I can’t worry about [Buffalo],” Mason said.

Sitting next to Mason in the Jets locker room Plaxico Burress decided to get cute.

“They’ve got good wings,” Burress said.

Mason went on to say that the Jets can’t focus on Buffalo because they’ve got to play Miami next. But Burress is going to soon find out that Buffalo has a lot more for them to think about than chicken wings. See you in three weeks Plax.

Jets get Braylon Edwards from Browns

Well the Bills won’t face Braylon Edwards this week when they host the Browns because according to ESPN, the big wide receiver has been traded to the Jets, whom the Bills will face the following week on the road.

According to ESPN the Browns are getting special teams player Jason Trusnik from the Jets as well as WR Chansi Stuckey along with 3rd and 5th round draft picks in 2010. Edwards has the potential to complete the Jets offense which now has an impressive set of passing weapons in Edwards, Cotchery and TE Dustin Keller. With Jones and Washington in the backfield and a solid offensive line, it could very soon be a premium offense if Mark Sanchez’s development is on the fast track.

Jets consider trading for Brandon Marshall

With Jerricho Cotchery and not much else at receiver for rookie QB Mark Sanchez, reports out of New York are that the Jets are considering making a move to acquire Broncos insubordinate receiver Brandon Marshall.

According to Newsday’s Bob Glauber, the Jets have explored what it would take to land the disgruntled receiver who wants a new deal. He does say however, that the Jets are unlikely to part with a first-round draft pick to make such a deal happen. And it’s a virtual certainty that Denver would expect a first-round pick in return to even consider parting with Marshall despite the antics in practice that got him suspended for the rest of the preseason.

If the Jets had Marshall it would add some serious teeth to New York’s passing game. Teamed with Cotcher and TE Dustin Keller it would be a good threesome for Sanchez to work with.

Jets cap situation will need adjusting

With the salary cap increasing at such a rapid rate the past few years, few NFL teams have had to trim payroll all that much provided they were fiscally responsible. The Jets on the other hand are a different story.

They spent $140 million on free agents last offseason and then brought in Brett Favre who made $12M last season. He’s due to make $13M this year if he decides to play.

With the Daily News reporting that the Jets are $10M over the cap right now with Favre on the roster, even if he retires the Jets are still going to need to do some maneuvering to sign their draft picks and a free agent or two.

A week for Bills to gain ground

Not to automatically assume that the Bills are going to win tonight against Cleveland, but doing so would put them in a good position in overall standing in the division.

That’s because either Miami or New England (barring a tie) will lose this Sunday since they face each other at Dolphins Stadium. Both teams are 6-4 meaning one will fall to 6-5.

The Bills will obviously have to do their job, meaning win tonight and get another win on the road at Kansas City Sunday, which despite signs of life from the Chiefs’ offense of late, should happen. Then Buffalo would be 7-4, either New England or Miami would be 7-4, the other would be 6-5 and with the Jets at Tennessee you would hope they’d meet the same fate as the 10 other teams that have faced them making them 7-4.

I know probably a little ahead of myself, but what’s laid out there is not unrealistic. Just got to hope it happens.

Bills road opponents winners at home

One more statistic I compiled as I assessed the remaining schedule for all of the AFC East teams was the combined home record of every division team’s remaining road opponents.

Surprisingly, New England’s road opponents have the worst home record at a combined 7-9. Buffalo is their best home record road opponent (3-1). Everyone else is .500 or worse.

Miami’s road opponents have a combined home record of 8-8 with the Bills and Jets the best (each 3-1 at home).

The Jets have road opponents with a combined home record of 10-8. That is obviously skewed by their road date at Tennessee where the Titans are 5-0.

Buffalo’s road opponents have the best combined home record of all the AFC East teams with a 10-7 record. That’s mainly thanks to the Jets (3-1), New England (3-1) and Denver (3-2) all above .500.

I don’t know how much weight that statistic might carry, but knowing the majority of Buffalo’s remaining road games are against teams with the best combined home record among the AFC East teams doesn’t make me feel good.

The difference bewteen big market and small market

The NY Jets just finished an online bidding auction on the personal seat licenses for their new stadium set to open in 2010. Monday night the bidding closed and even though fewer than half the better than 2,000 available seat licenses were sold, they still made $16 million.

The seats are in their premium Coach’s Club section which will be situated right behind the Jets bench. These seat license holders will also have permission to walk on the field prior to the game.

The average auction price paid for these? Try $26,000, and that’s just to own the right to buy the ticket to the game which will average about $700 per ticket in that section. The Jets set a bid minimum at $5K.

Now the best part. In that premium seating area, none of it is shared revenue with the other NFL clubs as I understand it.

Hopefully this helps fans understand why the Toronto initiative is necessary for the Bills. Competing with teams like the Jets is only going to get more difficult and their increased revenue is only going to drive up the salary cap that much more. Call it keeping up with the Johnsons, as in Jets owner Woody Johnson.