Steve is On the Air

Its that time again for the Morning Rant on WGCC-FM 90.7 from now till 12 noon today.  Steve and "the Voice" Kevin Nadrowski will be talking about the coaching search that is going on at One Bills Drive, preview the weekend for the Sabres and the first game of the 2010 NLL Season as the Rochester Knighthawks host the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday night at 8:05 plus the Amerks are also in competition as well at the Blue Cross Arena, hosting three games in three days. Also Steve will preview tonight's Non Conference contest between the #1 Oswego State Lakers and the #9 Adrian Bulldogs at the Campus Center Ice Arena.

WGCC is on the FM dial at 90.7 FM and also streams online 24/7 at www.wgcc-fm.com and you can listen live by CLICKING HERE


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A Winning Day in Buffalo??? Am I Serious? Yes I am

The Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres both came out victorious this day as the Bills destroyed the Indianapolis Colts 30-7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in very snowy Orchard Park. The Bills came out and outplayed Indy in all aspects of the game. Also the Bills had a huge game from Fred "Action" Jackson as he rushed for 212 yards to help the Bills offense who were ranked 30th in the NFL leading up to the Week 17 matchup. The following was written by Bills Lead Journalist Chris Brown.

Buffalo got on the scoreboard first thanks to an interception by rookie Cary Harris. Harris picked off a 3^rd-and-7 pass from Peyton Manning on the Colts opening possession returning it to the Indianapolis 41-yard line. Fred Jackson accounted for 35 of the 41 yards gained on the drive including an 11-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Fitzpatrick for an early 7-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter.
The Colts responded on their next series marching 72 yards on 12 plays with Mike Hart scoring on a one-yard touchdown run to tie the score (7-7) late in the first quarter.
The Bills would put a well-executed drive together midway through the second quarter to re-take the lead. After the Colts inserted backup QB Curtis Painter, Buffalo’s defense forced a three-and-out getting the ball back for the Bills offense near midfield.
After a 17-yard run by Jackson set up 1^st-and-10 at the Colts 21, Fitzpatrick hit Lee Evans two plays later for a 21-yard scoring strike. Evans found a soft spot between the corner and safety for his seventh touchdown of the season and a 14-7 Bills lead.
Painter then became a turnover machine for the Colts. On the ensuing Indianapolis possession Painter fumbled while scrambling away from pressure from John McCargo  and the ball was recovered by Chris Kelsay  near midfield.
Buffalo’s offense needed only two plays to score again as Fitzpatrick hooked up with Terrell Owens   for a 41-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
On the very next play from scrimmage Painter then overthrew intended receiver Austin Collie and Harris intercepted his second pass of the game again near midfield with 2:24 left in the half. He finished the game .
Buffalo’s offense got as far as the Colts’ 14-yard line before the drive stalled forcing the Bills to take a 31-yard Rian Lindell field goal for a 24-7 lead at the break.
Lindell would add two more field goals in the third quarter to account for the final points in the game as he eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier for his career.

With the victory the Bills finished the season 6-10 and they will have a top 10 draft pick in April.

Turning to the Sabres and their matchup today in Montreal against the Canadians saw the Sabres come out and win their 4th straight by the score of 1-0. Tim Connolly scored the lone goal for Buffalo off of a tip by Jason Pominville. Jochen Hecht and Pominville got the assists and Team USA starting goaltender Ryan Miller made 30 saves in net for Buffalo. Cary Price made 29 saves in net for Montreal. Buffalo returns to action on Wednesday night as they host theTampa Bay Lightning at HSBC Arena.

From the Fanside of Steve Petty

This will be a first of many of what I call "From the Fanside". This will be a weekend review of the teams that I cover on the Steve Petty Sports site. Lets get right to it shall we?

First off...A great weekend for Oswego State Hockey as both the Women and Men came out and picked up wins against Buffalo State and Morrisville. The Women's hockey team defeated Buff State on Saturday by the score of 3-2. Team Captain Angie Friesen, sophomore Kelly Collins and fellow sophomore Jillian Bergeron scored the goals for the Lakers. On Saturday night ,the men took to the ice of the Campus Center and came out with a 8-1 win over SUNYAC foe Morrisville. Chris Laganiere scored a Hat Trick to lead the Lakers to thier 6th win on the season in SUNYAC play and a 8-1-0 record overall. Sunday afternoon, the women returned to action and competed the two game series sweep of the Buff State Bengals by the score of 3-0. Kendra Lemire and Kelly Collins scored the goals for the Lakers and Emi Williams had the shutout in net.

Off to Foxboro as the New England Patriots come back from losing to Indianapolis with a big 31-14 victory over their bitter rival, the New York Jets. Tom Brady was 28/41 for 310 yards and a touchdown for the Pats while Mark Sanchez was 8/21 for 136, one TD and four interceptions. Wes Welker had 192 yards recieving and Randy Moss caught a TD pass from Brady. The Pats are now 7-3 and have a two game lead over Miami in the AFC East Division while the Jets fall to 4-6. Next games for both teams: The Jets host Carolina while New England heads down to New Orleans to battle the 10-0 Saints on Monday Night Football.

Now lets "shuffle off to Buffalo" and discuss the losing weekend for Buffalo sports. The Bills, within a week of firing coach Dick Jauron, went to Jacksonville and was defeated by the Jags by the score of 18-15. Ryan Fitzpatrick played well and hooked up with T.O. for the longest play in Bills history for a 98 yard TD to give Buffalo the lead. However, the Jags came back and took the lead with less than a minute remaining in regulation. The next possession, Fitzpatrick threw a pick to secure the win for Jacksonville. The Bills host Miami on Sunday before heading North of the Border and the showdown with Mark Sanchez and the Jets at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Sabres had a difficult weekend against two strong opponents in the Northeast Division. The Sabres dropped a 2-1 decision in OT to the visiting Boston Bruins on Friday night as Thomas Vanek scored the lone goal for Buffalo. The follwing night, the Sabres went off to Ottawa for a battle with the Senators and the Sens took care of business, defeating Buffalo 5-3. Next game for Buffalo will be on Wednesday night as they head down to our nations capital and take on the Washington Capitals. Next home game will be on Saturday as they take on Oswego native Erik Cole and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Down the road in Rochester, the Amerks came off of a Keaton Ellerby Hat Trick on Friday night as they defeated their Thruway rival Syracuse Crunch by the score of 5-2. Next game for the first place Amerks will be on Tuesday night as they take on the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Colliseum. Friday night, they return to the friendly confines of the Blue Cross Arena for a showdown with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins at 7:05.

Thats it for the first installment of the Fanside with Steve Petty. I hope you had fun enjoying the first of what will be many installments.

Bills Say Goodbye to Dick Jauron

The tenure of Dick Jauron in Buffalo has come to an end. After a dissapointing 41-17 loss on Sunday in Nashville against the Titans, the Buffalo Bills have terminated Dick Jauron as the head coach.

“I am announcing today that I am relieving Dick Jauron from his duties as our head coach, effective immediately," said team owner Ralph Wilson in a team statement. "I have tremendous respect for Dick and thank him for all of his efforts during these past four years. While this was a very difficult decision, I felt that it is one that needed to be made at this time for the best interest of our team. We will now focus on moving forward and preparing for our game this week in Jacksonville.” The last time Wilson has fired a head coach during the regular season was Hank Bullough back in 1986, also through nine games.

The word is from One Bills Drive that the team has just announced that Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell will be the team's interim head coach. “Perry Fewell will be our Interim Head Coach," said owner Ralph Wilson in a team statement. "Perry has done a great job with our defense and has demonstrated excellent leadership skills as Defensive Coordinator. Our players and staff have a lot of confidence in him and that is important as we look forward to these next seven games.” The last interim head coach during the regular season was Hall of Fame Head Coach Marv Levy, after taking over the duties from Hank Bullough.

Jauron’s job security was not safe at the begining of the year as the team started 1-4 through its first five games. Jauron led the Bills to three consecutive 7-9 seasons before this season’s 3-6 record through the first nine games.
 
Struggles on both  the offensive side and defensive side of the ball plagued Jauron’s tenure in Buffalo. None of Jauron’s teams ever had an offensive ranking higher than 25th in his time as Bills head coach. Buffalo finished 30th, 30th, 25th and has a current ranking of 29th through nine games played this season. He had three different offensive coordinators in his three-plus seasons as head coach. Defending the run was also a stumbling block under Jauron’s leadership. The Bills never ranked higher than 22nd in the league against the run and are currently last in the NFL in that category this season.

The Bills are off to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. For more info, read Chris Brown's blog on the official website of the Buffalo Bills, http://www.buffalobills.com/
taken from Chirs Browns Blog, photo courtesy of AP