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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 29, 2023 7:24:59 GMT -5
BUFFALO BILLS
ALL TIME RECORD 329-372-3 .469% WHICH PUTS THEM 21st ALL TIME
2027 BOWL WINNERS 31-23 FALCONS
2047 AFC CHAMPIONS 14-45 49’ERS
13 PLAYOFF
12 DIVISIONAL TITLES
GM: CMAX aka CHRUSTY! (A big thankyou for his input in putting this together)
Head Coach: EZRA CHERAMIE (20-14 BILLS)
Playing football in Buffalo is not for the faint hearted, on game day in December temperatures on the frosty turf of Highmark Stadium regularly plunge below zero and with the wind blowing off lake Erie from the west of the city the wind chill can freeze the fans and players blood to the bone. The winters had been consistently bitter for the Buffalo natives of late, for seven long frigid seasons the Bills have endured losing seasons. However as the perilous arctic winds blow the Bills can at last feel the warmth of a rebooted younger roster who delivered a Divisional title courtesy of a 12-4 season last year. This is the story of the Buffalo Bills as they enter training camp and their quest to bring a Super Bowl title once again to the cold reaches of Buffalo!
Quarterback is the most important position on any football team and for the past 7 years the Bills have had four starters, none have delivered. The latest is Michigan's Drew Ackerman who enters his third year as the Bills signal caller. Ackerman came to the Bills after failed stays in Detroit and Arizona with many feeling this was his last chance as a starter in the league. His first year as the Bills starter in 2057 was his worst ever season as a starter. Head Coach Cheramie recalls that he was close to being cut and probably his cap cost was the only thing that kept him as the team starter. Last year was better as he spread the ball around well to numerous targets and he found his go to guy in rookie Juan Kelly. A bond (perhaps a strange bond) was formed!
It’s 7am on the first day of training camp. This year as always camp and home for the next few weeks for the players is 100 hundred miles East of Buffalo at Rochesters St John's University which lies just south of Lake Ontario.
The players and staff are arriving and 2nd Year receiving sensation Juan Kelly greets his Quarterback Drew Ackerman.
Kelly “ Good to see you bro let’s hope you can continue to make me look as good infront of my fans and people as you did last year”
Ackerman “Good to see you fit and well Juan, are you ready to put in the work again this year?”
Kelly “ Always bro, god gave me these amazing talents to entertain, and entertain i will
Ackerman “ Work and study 1st Juan, then perhaps we can entertain!
It’s a big day for four players as Head of Scouting Chase Astarter welcomes the Bills four new rookies to camp. Many feel Duff is a guaranteed day one starter while the two quarterbacks are likely to battle it out for a backup spot to Ackerman, but who knows one could gain the starting spot.
1.9 - Guard - Deon Duff - West Virginia - 31/91
1.13 - QB - Mackenzie Damm - Notre Dame - 11/42
3.8 - QB - Grady Chapman - Pittsburgh - 18/56
3.22- WR - Pedro Plotz - Vilanova - 22/39
Day one continues, it's 8am and breakfast consists of Oatmeal, eggs and a lot of juice before going off to meetings. The first meeting is the whole roster in front of Head Coach Ezra Cheramie.
Cheramie welcomes everyone to camp and explains that camp will be about every player doing their job right to the smallest detail, being 1% better in everything they do and this will push them that bit further than the AFC Championship of last year and the bowl. Austin Powers is then thrown on the screen to roars of laughter from the players, (QB Ackerman looks a little lost). Coach Cheramie tells them during practices they will have “Mojo Moments” a Horn will blast and the team will practice certain pre-set plays and situations and these will simulate momentum in real games. Juan Kelly shouts out “Actually, my name is Juan kelly. Touchdown is my middle name.” Coach Cheramie thanks Kelly for his contribution and asks the players to calm down!
Each of the Rookies and new players to the team are asked to stand up introduce themselves and tell the rest of the room who they are and why they are here. Nine year star veteran wide receiver Colton Bradford (550 career receptions) stands up and tells the room he's here to be a good team mate, lead the team with receptions and win a bowl ( the room brakes out into applause) Juan Kelly nose looks perhaps a little out of joint (is there a potential controversy here)!
After the introduction meeting the four Quarterbacks on the roster go off to their own meeting, There are probably two maybe three roster spots for quarterbacks and the realization sinks in that at least one maybe two will be cut before opening day. The competition starts here! (We’ll be following QB Grady Chapman as he looks to fulfill his dream of being a NFL starting Quarterback.
Grady Chapman QB
Grady’s wife Darlene (pictured below with Grady’s Grandma Clementine) picks up the story of Grady. Grady was born in Fayetteville, the home of Fort Bragg the Marine base. Grady’s dad (a marine) died in action at an early age and his wife could not cope and his grandma Clementine took Grady in. She lived in Mocksville, known as a bit of a redneck town! Brady had a strict church upbringing and worked on the family farm in the long hot summers, for fun him and his best friend Jethro would play down at the creek and throw rocks at the gators, Brady could hit the biggest gator in a pack from 40 yards away and soon was noticed at school for his ability to throw a ball. And so his career started. Alas Jethro got too close one day and lost part of his lower leg to a big ol gator, Grady shot the gator days later and has boots and a belt made out of the gators skin. They come out on special occassions!
Darlene continues to tell how Grady’s upbringing was tough with little money and that they hope to pay back Grandma Clementine for taking them and their five children in. She tells how Clementine has entered the local Hogg competition for over 40 years but never won, with the money Grady hopefully earns in the RZB they hope to buy her a champion Hogg sired from local retired 10 year champion Herman!
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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 29, 2023 7:25:12 GMT -5
Day Two
As the players break up into their position groups everyone wants to hear from Deon Duff the West Virginia Guard. Many pundits feel Duff was the best pound for pound football player in the draft even though he came from one of the smaller Universities. As you’ll read Duff has quite the background as you can see below.
Deon "Beer Man" Duff - was born in Canyon Country California to Michael and Jeanette Duff. His great grandmother and one-time child star, Hillary Duff, opened some doors early in Deon's life that allowed him to get into acting at the age of 9. He starred as "Malcolm" in a 2047 reboot of "Malcolm in the Middle" that ran for 3 years before the Malcolm role was recast due to Deon becoming too large to fit the role. Deon grew 5 inches and gained 65 pounds between season 2 and 3 and was dwarfing Francis.
By age 13, Deon was 6' 1" and weighed 245 lbs. Physically gifted like his father, famed rugby star Clyde Duff, Deon was torn between his love of acting and his love of sports. He tried to live in both worlds through middle school, playing baseball and competing in Track & Field as a shot-put and discus ace, while taking on small roles in the off-season. He joined the football team in high school and loved it so much that he decided to put his acting career on ice in order to focus on it.
Though there was no shortage of quality players on the team, Deon was so gifted that he played both OL and DL. At 6'3'' and 290 lbs. by the end of his junior year, he spent time playing every position along the Offensive Line and was a beast at the NT position on Defense. With an eye on playing college ball, Deon settled into the LG position for his senior season and dominated. His class leading 3.96 GPA, along with his Blue Chip status and no financial need for a scholarship, allowed Deon his pick of pretty much any college in the country. He eventually settled on his mother's alma mater, West Virginia.
Deon's dominance on the field continued in college. He was named 2nd team All-American in his freshman year, and 1st team All-American in his sophomore and junior years. He was also awarded both the Outland Trophy for being the best interior lineman, and the William V Campbell Trophy for being the premier football scholar-athlete in his junior season. Along the way, he earned the nickname "Beer Man" in reference to Duff Beer in the classic cartoon series "The Simpsons". It was also fitting, as he was the designated beer buyer in college. With a full beard and a small patch of gray hair (the result of an earlier baseball injury), he was able to buy booze without being carded by age 18. He opted to forego his senior year and enter the RZB draft, in part because his incredible work ethic allowed him to graduate a full year early.
Deon was drafted with the 9th pick of the 1st round of the 2059 draft by the Buffalo Bills. The rest of the story will have to tell itself…
Offensive Lineman Coach Mike Oxlong welcomes the group of linemen and asks Deon to introduce himself and suggests a funny line from “Malcolm in the Middle” would be a good icebreaker. Malcolm reluctantly comes up with “"You want to know the best part about childhood? At some point, it stops.". The group love it and start laughing remembering the show, Alas Nicky Martinez the LT is not the brightest spark and does not get the humor. Coach Mike Oxlong brings the players to order and hands out a book to each player entitled “Think Like an Athlete '' by Julio Riddols, the book explains how being smart as an athlete can improve their performance meaning better results on the field and he asks them to read it over the next week. Martinez exclaims a whole book in a week coach!  It’s the afternoon and the players are out on the field for the 1st time and the four quarterbacks are going through some set drills. 1.13 Mckenzie Damm seems to be struggling already with his feet a little and to the side the coaches look a little concerned. Have the scouting department got the right man as this is the basics. The Quarterbacks are throwing the ball now at moving targets and Grady Damm's accuracy is a little off , well it’s quite a way off and the ball hits Assistant Coach Elijah Holiday hard on the back of the head. Holiday (who can be hot headed) is not impressed and screams at Grady to throw the ball straight and that’s he’s not in a redneck turkey shout now. Grady is apologetic but it’s not the best of starts for him.
While the players practice we get a few minutes with Chase Astarter Head of Scouting and ask if he can share what happened in the war room over the 3 days of the draft. He tells us the following “Our plan was to move up for one of the WR's. We’ve potentially looked to replace Ackerman at some point, we have a very large bonus commitment to him, so we are hoping last season's large improvement by Drew was a sign of things to come and not an anomaly. Our trust is therefore in Drew and he will start on opening day.
We did think Mack Thomas would fall to 1.4, but we knew if he didn't, I'd get a bounty for the QB. In the end and that’s exactly what we did.
The sun is low in the sky and it’s the end of day two. The players will shower in their rooms and meet for dinner and then it’s early to bed to be ready for a 6am start tomorrow. At dinner Martinez brings the book coach has asked them to read and asks Offensive Line lead Wally Abrams what "Unequivocally" means, Abrams is a friendly intelligent guy and explains quietly to Martinez. Martinez looks more confused but tucks in to the steak on his plate eagerly and just says "meat". The players break from the meal after a few last words from Head Coach Cheramie and it's the end of day two. |
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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 29, 2023 7:25:23 GMT -5
It’s day four and the weather forecast is terrible. A big storm named Storm Robert or Rob for short is expected to bring torrential rain and high winds to the area around midday, practice has been brought in doors much to the players dismay. Everyone is talking about Storm Rob and how big it could be. Outside there are still a good number of diehard Bills fans prepared to brave the weather when it hits, they make them tough in Buffalo and a storm is not going to stop them seeing their heroes. I’m outside and I have one of those fans with me. He’s actually a local and I think under his weather proofs he has a Sabre’s jersey on. ( the Ice Hockey team). I ask him why he’s here in this weather and he explains “Well i am actually a Rams fan but i have a soft spot for the Bills, I’m a coach myself and my mentor and i guess teacher was a guy by the name of Nick who retired a few years ago. So I’ve come here to see if i can learn some news plays and get some ideas. If you're watching Nick i miss ya man!
We say goodbye to Brian and wish him luck and come into the facility and catch up with Offensive Coordinator Jason Humphries. We ask him what the plan is for the Offense this year and here is what he tells us. “We really like what we did last year with the Offense. It's hard to find flaws in being the #1 scoring offense in the league, so we're hoping not to change too much. Obviously adding the veteran WR Bradford is something we're really happy about. He’s a big personality and can add a little leadership to the group. We may have missed out on one of the rookie WR's in the draft, but we grabbed Bradford and feel he can round out the corps alongside Kelly and Carlisle. We had to jettison LG Ewbank to free up some cap space which is always hard to do, but rookie phenom "Beer Man" Duff should mitigate the loss of cohesion. We're a little leery about RB Shaw's age and diminishing skillset. We weren't able to upgrade or add to the position this offseason, so we're just hoping he and Fyie can get us through one more year. QB Akerman was great last year. The hope is that with minimal change, he'll be able to repeat that this season.”
It’s clear Coach Humphries is not going to give up the Bills playbook to us as expected but from our discussion it’s clear WR Bradford will take some of the targets away from Superstar Juan Kelly, thus making the passing game more balanced and harder to gameplan against. Expect the Bills to continue to throw more than they run, especially with the HB’s beginning to decline.
Moving around the facility we pass Juan Kelly (see pic below) the Bills starman who had 148 receptions last year, 3rd in the entire RZB and 1st in the AFC, Juan walks with a swagger and oozes confidence, he almost glides down the corridor. We try to speak to him but he brushes us away, but this is what we know about the guy and Bills phenomenon!
Juan grew up in Rocky Point, New York to an American mother and a Mexican father. His father was a dancer on the New York circuit and was known for his flamboyant act! Something that seems to have passed on to Juan. By the time Juan was 11 he could tap dance to a high level as well as Samba. Looking back Juan says these had a significant impact on his quick feet and his ability to move his hips quickly which allowed to turn quickly and avoid hits. He was also very fast and once his High School coaches saw this he was always going to be a WR. Juan knew he was good and let people know about which got him into fights which toughened him up. Juan had trials for America’s Olympic track team but American Football was his love and where he felt he could not only earn money and fame and Juan loves Fame! As we know Juan loves to wear outrageous colorful suits and likes to flaunt his skills, but there is nothing more he likes than the camera. A couple of his quotes from his rookie season are below
When asked about being a Bill he replied. I feel like when I put the Bills Jersey on I become a superhero with my speed, power and a touch of glitter!
After his 12 for 214 yard vs the Patriots Schefter asked Kelly if he’d been a diva out there.
Kelly replied “To me a diva means an extraordinary, outrageous brilliant performer , so yeah I was a bit of a diva out there tonight.
Juan has also had his hands insured for $10m, sleeps in a Hyperbaric chamber and regularly has manicures. He also appears as a male model for "Valentino" in the off-season. Not bad for a rookie!
By lunch Storm Rob has blown it self out, it promised a lot and delivered little, it seems it was a lot of talk and a bit of wind and not much else !!!! The Players are expected to be out on the turf after lunch as blue skies and sun beam down on the turf.
 After lunch Mackenzie Damm the rookie QB taken at 1.13 is getting some reps and he misses both Juan Kelly and new Veteran Colton Bradford my some way on a number of throws. Kelly is not happy and can be seen muttering away about how good he is and how bad the throws are. On the sideline Offensive Coordinator Humphries can be heard saying to Head Coach Cheramie “Have we wasted hard earned draft capital to take what appears to be a pile of blech! Coach Humphries, who is an excellent scout, seems to be implying he really got it wrong here.
Mean while Rookie QB Grady has rejoined the QB group and third round pick Mckenzie Damn makes a sly comment on Grady’s lack of accuracy and is taken to one side by assistant coach Elijah Holliday and spoken to about his attitude. All is not happy in the Bills quarterback group!
Practice is over and the quarterbacks have a meeting to discuss the day's pluses and minuses. As they are about to break for dinner, assistant Coach Holliday tells them that a new QB will be joining the group to add competition. Louie Ola the Ex Charger will be here tomorrow. QB Grady does not seem happy about this as he walks away muttering to himself, it seems Grady might have a bit of an attitude problem commonly known in the game as a red flag.
Over dinner all the coaches meet and discuss the days class room work and practise on the field and the quarerbacks are top of the agenda, the talk seems to be that one of the Grady or Damm may be cut in the next day or too unless drastic improvement is made. The coaches agree each QB will spoken to tomorrow morning in what could be a make or break day for them. This is why the show is called Hard Knocks!
On a happier note the Offensive Line has been working hard and the coaches are extactic about OG Duffs first few days at camp. Head Coach Cheramie comes over to the groups dining table and tells the group they are doing fantistic and Duff is making great strides. LT Martinez misses the chat as he returns to the table with a second helping of steak, he grins sits down and say "Steak"!
Dinner finishes and an annoucement is made.
Tonight the entire roster will be shown episode 347 of "The Life of Matthew Perry which is entitled "Bunking off from swimming lessons!"
Tomorrow we're going to spend time with the defense, so look out for the next episode of Hard Knocks!
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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 29, 2023 7:25:34 GMT -5
Tomorrow is the first game of preseason and emphasis is on two areas, the quarterback position and the defense. Head Coach Cheramie took no prisoners when he said this about the defense just before the draft “ Defense is our weakness for sure. We were just plain bad most of the time. If our offense hadn't been putting up big points all season, we'd have been lucky to win 6 games. Our secondary has never been the same since Kassell, Billingsly, and Quiroz retired. We've got a couple decent guys, but need a LOT more. Our D-line is pretty solid, but the rest of the front 7 leaves something to be desired.We'll definitely be looking to shore up the defense in the draft. We've got a lot of picks again this year. We should be able to stock up on quality players, assuming I don't package up picks to go after another stud like Kelly, or possibly even a QB if there is one that looks like the right fit.”
Alas for the defense no picks were used to bring in new blood and due to cap being tight little was done via free agency either so it’s a case of working hard in pre-season to work on technique and cohesion to improve the whole defense.
Open field tackling was an issue for the Bills last year so Defensive Coordinator Donald Maxwell has brought an old Bills legend into the building to speak to the unit. It’s none other than Jordan Kassall (see pic below) who leads the Bills all time in picks tackles and assists. As we know Kassall was a fearsome tackler and if you got hit by him you stayed hit. He explains that every tackle he went into he thought of that player as Brandon the kid he repeatedly beat up as a kid. I had laser focus on hitting hard because of that, to hit hard I had to tackle and wrap my arms around the opposition's body while getting pretty low in the tackle. Once i’d hit the player and tackled them I always starred the player in the eye and shouted “fuck you Brandon”. Looking back I think it put fear into some of the nancy boy wide receivers as they thought I was deranged. A couple of the Bills players sitting near the front are looking concerned as Kassall has clenched his fists so tight while telling his tale that he made the palms of his hands bleed. Kassel snaps out of it and apologies, I think the message has got across to the players.
 Meanwhile in the Quarterback room final preparation is made for the 1st of the pre-seasons games tomorrow. The Bills face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who had a great season last year. The Coaches announce Ackerman will start at QB and it’s 3rd round rookie Grady Chapman who will get at least a quarter to play as well. 1.13 pick Mackenzie Damm, looks broken and the writing does seem to be on the wall for him. It’s looking more and more like he will be a bust and the Bills will have wasted a high first round pick and close to $20m in dead cap.
On a side note the fan we spoke to yesterday Brian has been given a sideline pass to the game after handing out free tickets to a lot of the players for his bowling alley, the players have signed a Bills Jersey for him and Brian wears it proudly.
The Bills beat the Buccs with ease 34-13 with Ackerman and Grady having nice days with 120 QB Ratings, Damm does not get snap, he looked very down and like a man waiting for a firing squad. During the game we had Superstar Juan Kelly mic’d up here are a few snippets. Kelly catches a deep out for 15 yards, breaks it for another 17 yards but is judged to have fumbled as he went down and loses the ball. ( A 5 minute review from the officials) Kelly returns to the bench and states. “I’m down baby, i’m down, no way is that ball out. Did you see that move though, man i made him look like a fool, man I got game, I got game!
After the review and the fumble is confirmed Kelly is stalking the sidelines saying “ These fools just don’t like Kelly, they’s fools baby, just fools. On the way to the locker room at half time, Kelly is still calling the Officials fools (see pic below)
 After the game Erin Andrews speaks to QB Grady Chapman and asks him what it felt like out there and congratulates him on his good play. Chapman replies.” I let my life reflect the faith I have in God. I fear nothing and pray about everything. I am strong , I trust God's word and just follow my coach’s processes. Grady can't leave it at that and adds “ if one or two players had made better attempts at catching the ball I'd have perhaps been a little better.
In the locker room the OL is celebrating the win, rookie guard Deon Duff who had a quiet game is talking about beer, Offensive Line Leader Abrams tells the OL dinner is on him to which Left Tackle Matinez shouts out Meat and looks like a happy guy. Juan Kelly is leading the dancing amongst the recivers, he's got some moves and the other WRs join in. QB Damm is sat alone out of uniform it's been a tough day for him.
On the coaches back to the practice facility the coaches are talking about pre-season 2 and who will get snaps at Quarterback. It’s going to Ackerman and Louie Ola who they picked up in FA from the Chargers. Ola has thrown the ball just 81 times in the last three years. It looks like Damm the 1.13 pick is done. They're are pleased with Grady Chapman first effects particularly his control of the huddle and the line of scrimmage. He's looking more and more like a lock for at least a backup spot on the roster if things continue to go like this.
Next morning a number of players are in the medical department getting bumps and knocks looked at. The rest of the rosters are in rehab, in the pools and saunas recovering from last night's win. In the defensive coaches office Defensive Coordinator Donald Maxwell goes through the tape from yesterday's game. The front 7 gave up just 2.33 on the ground which shows big improvement and although the pass defense gave up 299 yards they kept the Buccs QBs under 50% completion, he’s pleased with the effort but it’s early days.
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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 29, 2023 7:25:45 GMT -5
episode 5
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Post by Adam Schefter on Oct 31, 2023 18:35:42 GMT -5
episode 2 is up
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Post by ManWithNoName on Oct 31, 2023 19:27:03 GMT -5
I'm enjoying the series. Keep em coming.
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Post by ezlee2 on Nov 1, 2023 8:30:30 GMT -5
Simply brilliant work!
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Post by mellman on Nov 1, 2023 8:32:37 GMT -5
This really is so well done - nice work Schefty and Cmax!
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Post by Sawblade300 on Nov 1, 2023 10:13:41 GMT -5
St.John Fisher College. Right here in my home town. Bills fans here go nuts every summer for TC.
This is a great feature to the league. Keep up the good work guys.
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Post by CMax on Nov 1, 2023 18:11:39 GMT -5
This really is so well done - nice work Schefty and Cmax! 95% of credit should go to Shefty. I've not been able to help nearly as much as I thought I would when he picked the Bills to feature. Pretty awesome stuff though. |
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Post by Adam Schefter on Nov 1, 2023 20:25:52 GMT -5
This really is so well done - nice work Schefty and Cmax! 95% of credit should go to Shefty. I've not been able to help nearly as much as I thought I would when he picked the Bills to feature. Pretty awesome stuff though. you've done a good few of the back stories etc and other bits, so you've been a big help, whats more the back stories are great! |
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Post by Adam Schefter on Nov 2, 2023 7:16:58 GMT -5
next episode is up, remember its fun guys!
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Post by Bighouserulez on Nov 2, 2023 8:03:36 GMT -5
Gawd i cannot tell you how awesome that is!
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Post by Pip on Nov 2, 2023 9:17:37 GMT -5
Elite guys - fair play
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