Player radio appearances
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 4:05 PM ET
PLAYER RADIO APPEARANCES: Trent Edwards will be on 103.3 The Edge Friday morning with Bull at 7:15am to talk about the opener.
Tight end Robert Royal hits the local Buffalo airwaves at 7:30am on 97 Rock with Norton in the Morning.
And Brian Moorman will appear on the Shredd and Ragan show Friday at 4pm.
Ellison stepping in for Crowell
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 3:54 PM ET
ELLISON READY TO FILL VOID: With the unexpected announcement that Angelo Crowell is out for Sunday's game due to his decision to undergo knee surgery, Keith Ellison will be stepping in on the strong side.
Ellison said he's ready to go.
"The way we do things, the backups always have to be prepared," he said. "So hopefully I'll be able to slide right back in and keep contributing."
Ellison played on the weak side last season, but has been Crowell's backup all offseason. So playing on the strong side is not going to be foreign to the third-year linebacker at all.
"I feel real comfortable out there and I've been practicing on the strong side basically since the end of last season," said Ellison. "So I feel good about going into Sunday's game. I just want to go out and help this team get a win on Sunday."
Here are more details on Crowell's surgery.
Poz turned his ankle
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 2:23 PM ET
POZ TURNED HIS ANKLE: Head coach Dick Jauron said Paul Posluszny turned his ankle in practice Wednesday which is what kept him out of practice Thursday.
Jauron said he is optimistic that Posluszny will be fine and ready to go for Sunday's game.
Bills-Seahawks officially a sell out
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 12:58 PM ET
BILLS SEAHAWKS OFFICIALLY A SELLOUT: The season opener was officially declared a sellout by the Bills organization a few minutes ago.
The Buffalo Bills have sold out nine consecutive regular season home games. The Bills have sold out 53 of 65 games since 2000 (including 36 of the last 41 games).
Radio listeners can tune into the game in Buffalo on 97 Rock (96.9 FM) and 103.3 The Edge (103.3 FM). Listeners in Rochester can tune into WHAM (1180AM). The game can also be heard throughout the region on the Bills radio network.
LB pair not practicing
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 12:03 PM ET
POZ NOT PRACTICING: Paul Posluszny is not practicing today. Apparently he suffered an injury in practice Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Angelo Crowell is not in attendance at practice.
We'll have more information after practice (11:50-1:50 pm).
Holmgren expecting to go with young WRs
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 11:32 AM ET
HOLMGREN EXPECTING TO GO WITH YOUNG WRS: Even though Deion Branch is close to returning to game action, Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren doesn't sound as though he's expecting to have him in Sunday's opener.
"As you know we're a little banged up at wide receiver," said Holmgren. "I think we get Engram and Branch back here pretty quickly. But for the first ballgame, we're having to go with young guys who I think are pretty talented and have done a nice job in training camp, but they haven't played a lot in games. It's a concern, but I don't allow them to use injuries as an excuse so I expect them to play well."
By the sounds of that I think Branch's chances of playing Sunday are about 20-80. So it looks like it'll be Nate Burleson and Courtney Taylor on the outside to start at receiver for the Seahawks Sunday.
Fan Friday returns
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 10:31 AM ET
FAN FRIDAY RETURNS: Wanted to remind everyone that our popular Fan Friday page will return tomorrow. So if you have questions you'd like to submit feel free to do so at Askchris@bills.nfl.net.
If your question does not appear this week don't be discouraged. Eventually I do get to almost all of the questions and answer them either on Fan Friday or personally.
Hasselbeck playing coy?
Posted By: Chris Brown | Time: 9:54 AM ET
HASSELBECK PLAYING COY?: Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck made a point to state that within the scope of their offense one big change will be the number of times he's in the shotgun. Mike Holmgren has never been a big proponent of shotgun within his scheme, but Hasselbeck was stating otherwise in his conference call.
"I think you'll definitely see a lot of shotgun from the Seahawks this season. I guarantee it," said Hasselbeck. "We'll probably be more shotgun this game then we were all of last year combined. I think our starting center had a bad thumb or something last year, so there's all kinds of factors."
When his head coach was asked about more shotgun in the offensive scheme, Holmgren dismissed it.
"Only if the quarterback wants to," he said. "We have it in. We practice it. It's not a big part of what we do."
When told Hasselbeck said there'd be a lot more shotgun used in the offense, it was news to Holmgren.
"He did? Well, then we'll probably do it a little bit more," said Holmgren. "That's if it's working, but I always get the last say. If it's not working, I get to say. Matt doesn't."
In all likelihood Hasselbeck is planting a seed in the minds of Buffalo defenders to get them to prepare for something they may not have been anticipating. Maybe his lower back injury is such that pulling out from center and turning to drop back is uncomfortable (though he said he felt great). The bottom line is it will mean more study for the Bills defenders, though if there's not much film of Hasselbeck doing it, I'm not sure what more can be done.
