I am going up to traing camp this Thursday, July 30th.  I have four tickets already but need to find a 5th for a friend of mine, and plan on being able to get a free one for him at the gate, as i did the one any only time i've been to training camp 2 years ago.  So i was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is their common practice? Has anyone been up this year so far and noticed that they were handing out free tickets?  I just don't want to go up and not be able to get one of my friends a ticket, and i've heard that they plan on having record numbers this year at camp due to the signing of Owens  (and i assume this might effect the handing out of free tickets, and if not definately the number they do hand out).  So can anyone help me out w/ this, if they are handing them out, should we plan on getting up their early to get them, and if so how early do you guys think?  Or is there somewhere on line we can get them and pay and print them out?

I would really appreciate any info i can get thanks a lot, and sorry for using the fanpost for somewhat of my own personal benefit.   

But anyways, Go Bills, and i can't wait to for the season to fire up!!

Ed. Note, by Brian Galliford: Bumped from the FanPosts.  Nice thought coming out of a weekend where the AFC East dominated our discussions.  Good work! End Note

After reading a FanShot on the topic, I thought that this would be an interesting topic for people to give their opinion on what type of game plan the Buffalo Bills would have to employ in order to beat the Patriots.  Now I'm sure most of us can agree that whatever game plan you feel would be necessary to beat the Pats, it's going to have to be almost perfectly executed, and we may even need to have a little luck involved.  Do I think the Pats are beatable? Of course I do. Do I think the Bills have the talent to beat them? Again, of course.

I'm just interested to see what areas, or weaknesses, we would have to exploit in order to win, what should be our main objectives or "keys to the game" going into a game against the Pats, and who on our team could be, or would have to be, our x-factor(s).

1. WIN THE TIME OF POSSESSION BATTLE - In order to beat the Pats we would have to have a balanced attack with a successful running game, and an equally successful passing game (high completion percentage) in order to keep the defense off balance, the offense off the field, and take advantage of what i believe to be the weak point of the Patriots - their aging defense. Sure the defense has savvy vets, but they are definitely the Achilles Heel of this team. 

2. STOP THE RUN - My first objective would be to stop the run, even before stopping Tom Brady.  If the Pats are able to get the run game going we're toast.  Once we're able to stop the run and make them one dimensional, we can pin our ears back and get after Brady.  I've heard everyone say that he is going to come back without any rust and fit back in seamlessly; I don't believe that if we can get guys flying after him shooting through the line crawling around his knees he's going to look better than any other QB coming back from a knee injury does. 

3. WIN THE FIELD POSITION BATTLE - Whatever it takes to do this, including any 3-and-outs we can muster up, big returns, or pinning them deep.

X-FACTOR - Offensive Line.  I assume Bill Belichick will try and exploit this area of our team by coming up with very complex blitz schemes.  If our guys can step up to the plate and handle the majority of what is thrown at them, they give us a chance, but boy i would love to see them down right dominate the Pats at the line.

Since the offensive line seems to be  one of the key issues with the bills this season.  I've been tossing a couple questions around...Is gelling overrated? Is talent the most important key to success of an offensive line? Can a very talented O-line be successful very early based on their talent w/o the time to gel? Or is gelling the key in order for an O-line to be successful no matter how much talent they have?

I first heard this question being thrown around on Sirius the other day and I would like your oppinions as to what you think is more important?

Now obviously you need a little of both, so the main question is can 5 very talented guys be put on the field and hit the ground running, and be successful from the very start?

Does anyone think that John Digorio could be a factor at the OLB.  Assuming he comes back full strength, and with the discussions that  we had yesterday that Keith Ellison is basically only in on running downs don't you think that Digiorio if no one else steps up is better in run support than Ellison? And would therefore fit this role better than Ellison?  

I was a little surprised last year when Crowell went on IR and JD didn't get his shot at OLB instead we went with Ellison, who knows if he would have had a shot eventually had he not been  injured.  Or is it simply apparent that the coaching staff feels better about Ellison being on the Outside because of his athletic ability than Digi?  Even though Digi looks like the better LB'er.