Buffalo Bills

Mario Williams Can Now Actually Arrest His Haters

The relationship between former Texan Mario Williams and the city of Houston has always been somewhat dicey. It goes all the way back to the day he was drafted in 2006, when most of Houston wanted the Texans to take Vince Young or Reggie Bush instead of the big defensive end out of North Carolina ... More >>

Early Betting Lines On NFL Weeks 1 Through 16

It's always good to get in on something at the beginning, at the ground floor. In the world of sports wagering, for bettors equally long on hubris and illness (gambling is a sickness, my friends), some betting outlets realize that no time is too soon to put out lines on NFL games. The draft just en ... More >>

Beyonce vs. Whitney: Battle of the "Banner"

"The Star-Spangled Banner," our nation's national anthem, is a notoriously difficult song to sing. Often arranged in an unforgiving key for vocalists, composer Francis Scott Key's melody is full of tricky intervals that make it even more precarious. This is a major reason most of the people around y ... More >>

Things We Learned from the Vince Young Outside The Lines Feature

Since falling out of favor with the Tennessee Titans in 2010, Vince Young's slide to the bottom of the quarterback food chain has been precipitous and eventful. The highlights include: - Backing up Michael Vick in Philadelphia in 2011 and pronouncing the Eagles a "Dream Team," a hex on that franchi ... More >>

Texans-Bills: 4 Winners, 4 Losers, "Judgment Day" Edition

So that was "Judgment Day" huh? All righty then. What was billed (by Mario Williams) as Mario Williams' authoritative homecoming, basically turned into a fairly ho-hum day of work for the Texans, a 21-9 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Consider the following numbers: - The Texans won by 12 points. ... More >>

Texans 21, Bills 9: What Stood Out From A Sluggish Seventh Win

See pics of the Texans' win on Military Appreciation Day at Reliant Stadium. If the Texans had a trap game on their 2012 schedule, this appeared to be it. One week after a bye. Two weeks removed from an emotional matchup with long-time nemesis Baltimore. Seven days before an NBC primetime showdown ... More >>

Texans-Bills: The 10 Best Rapper(ish) Tweets From Sunday's Game

Houston has a professional football team, called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them; some are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media; one is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of them are rappers. Like we've done in the past, we perused Twitter during Sunday's ... More >>

Texans-Bills: NEW BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Card, "Judgment Day" Version

According to Wikipedia, "Judgment Day" is defined as the following: In Christian theology, it is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the Resurrection of the ... More >>

Mario Williams' Wednesday Therapy Session With Mark Berman Of FOX 26

"I didn't want to enter free agency in the first place, but it was a one-way door given to me by the GM to leave Houston. I want the fans there to know entering free agency was not my decision." -- Mario Williams in a Wednesday interview with Mark Berman of Fox 26 You know the old saying "It's not ... More >>

Mario Williams Has Wrist Surgery, "Judgment Day" Hangs In The Balance

"I don't care about your expectations. I don't care about anybody's expectations." -- Mario Williams via the Buffalo News, when asked if he thinks he is living up to expectations Underachievement, excuses, sporadic to nonexistent productivity. Buffalo, I know this version of the Mario Williams ... More >>

Texans -- Ravens: 4 Winners, 4 Losers (Including J.J. Watt, Arian Foster & Connor Barwin)

"It's just one game." "Nobody would have beaten Aaron Rodgers tonight." "Hey, if someone had told you before the season they'd be 5-1 going into the Ravens game, you'd have taken it, right?" Those are just a few of the dozens of different ways Texans fans and media rationalized last weekend's 42- ... More >>

AFC Playoff Projections, Week 7: First One Onto The Colts Bandwagon!

When Peyton Manning and the Broncos stormed back with 35 unanswered points in the second half of their 35-24 Monday night win against the Chargers this week, they accomplished a few things: 1. They tied an NFL record for the largest comeback win by a road team in NFL history. 2. They evened their ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, "Satan Hates Auburn" Edition

I was saddened on Thursday to hear of the passing of legendary college football historian and journalist Beano Cook, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 81. Back in the `80's and early `90's, before the television landscape was cluttered with literally dozens of studio shows all blending toge ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Good Old NFL Schadenfreude Over Mario Williams

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

Buffalo Bills Fans Tweet Their Hatred For Mario Williams

Hard to believe now, but there was a time not too long ago when Texan fans openly debated the appropriate amount for the Texans to allocate this past offseason to re-sign defensive end/outside linebacker/chronic underachiever Mario Williams. Sure, the Texans defense was just fine without Mario for t ... More >>

2012: Year of the Texans

Assessing all their strengths and weaknesses, we could be looking at a repeat or better.

Vince Young Cut By The Buffalo Bills: 6 Awesome Things About VY's Twitter Account

It's hard to believe now that in April 2006 there was actually a legitimate debate nationally over whom the Texans should take with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft -- Mario Williams, Reggie Bush, or Vince Young. It's less hard to believe that here in Houston, there was practically no debate. ... More >>

Houston Texans: Preseason Week Two, 4 Winners and 4 Losers

When we last saw the Texans play football in our fair city, they were putting the finishing touches on a 31-10 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL playoffs. A week later, the magical ride would come to an end in Baltimore. Since then, some things have gotten better (Arian Foster's income, ... More >>

A Few Suggestions For Houston Sports Moments and Personalities To Be Memorialized

The greatest player in the history of the Houston Oilers is, without a doubt, Earl Campbell. And Ross Greenburg, the former head of HBO Sports, is producing a documentary on the life and career of Campbell that will air later this year on the NBC Sports Network. And last month the MLB Network did a ... More >>

The Best Ever Houston Free Agent Signings

So the Houston Rockets have signed turnover machine/point guard/free agent Jeremy Lin to a contract, and apparently, the city of Houston is going nuts. I'm not quite ready to buy into the hype, and I'm not going to be doing any stupid puns on his name. That said, good luck to the kid and the Rockets ... More >>

The Betting Lines on the First 15 Texans Games Are Here!

Think you have a pretty good idea on how your favorite NFL team will do this upcoming season? More importantly, does your "pretty good idea" differ drastically from the super-early predictions the experts have forecasted for your squad? If so, the gambling gods have given themselves you another way ... More >>

Goodbye, Mario Williams: Texan Signs with Buffalo

So the #houstonwhatugot hashtag campaign proved to be a failure. The effort to keep Super Mario Williams a Texan has failed, as the free agent has signed a big deal with the Buffalo Bills. ESPN reports Williams got a six-year deal with $50 million guaranteed, a deal that could potentially be wort ... More >>

What Would You Do to Keep Mario Williams? Check #houstonwhatugot

Already dazed by several unexpected farewells, two Houston Texans have started a Twitter campaign to get Mario Williams to stay here. Texans Shaun Cody and Connor Barwin are urging fans to use the hashtag #houstonwhatugot to convince Super Mario to stay. Some highlights:

Texans, Pats & Tebow: This Weekend's Best Bets, NFL Edition

God, let these picks come through​Witness the go-to move for a blog contributor who is technically on vacation but still likes to keep his commitment of five posts a week to his freelance employer because he loves them and loves money. Not one, but TWO posts worth of football predictions! To ... More >>

Merry Christmas! This Weekend's Football Best Bets

Santa's offering up some money-line action​Before I get into this weekend's best bets, a couple paragraphs on the Texans' 19-16 loss to the Colts last night: Was that officiating crew terrible last night? Yes. But good lord, I've never seen a bigger bunch of whiny babies than Texan fans last ... More >>

2011 NFL Preview, Spoken In Wagering-ese

The betting window is open​I hope everyone who has had a chance to check out our Texans 2011 preview "The New Normal" has enjoyed it. Big ups to Monica Fuentes for coming up with the season-long interactive game card tracking Texans' results. You need to go check it out. If you haven't read ... More >>

Women's World Cup: Five Other Seeming "Game-Winning" Scores That Weren't

The USA's run in the Women's World Cup seemed to be finishing in grand style when Abby Wambach put in an extra-time header to give the team a 2-1 lead. It didn't last, and Japan won in overtime. Wambach's late goal joins a storied list of scores that seemingly iced a game or a series, only to be o ... More >>

Aeros Poised To Make History -- The Wrong Kind Of History

John RoyalA despondent Matt Hackett lays on the ice after Hamilton gets the winning goal in the second overtime​Only twice in AHL history had a team had to go to a game seven in a playoff series after grabbing a 3-0 series lead. But things change. And when a team from Houston is involved in ... More >>

College Football Bowls -- This Week's Best Bets

The color, the pageantry of college football​Since it's Week 17 of the NFL season, we're changing it up a little bit this week. I don't know about people who actually know what they're doing when it comes to wagering, but my experience with the NFL in Week 17 is that it's a good time to stay ... More >>

Last Night: Frightened Rabbit At Walter's On Washington

Photos by Jim Bricker​Frightened Rabbit, Plants and Animals Walter's on Washington October 21, 2010 Aftermath has always favored "out of sight, out of mind" over "absence makes the heart grow fonder," but after Thursday's Frightened Rabbit performance at Walter's On Washington to a sweaty and ... More >>

Cowboys 27, Texans 13: Defensive Help Wanted, Preferably With A Pulse

Docking at Reliant Stadium​Attention, Houston owner Bob McNair. Your defense needs help, and the key may be opening your pocketbook. Ideally, do it in a hurry.Tony Romo and the Cowboys (1-2) exposed the previously unbeaten Texans' dirty little secret on Sunday, throwing for 284 yards, two touchdow ... More >>

Top Ten Sports Moments: Four Personal Stories

Different kinds of heartbreak​We've identified the absolute, unarguable Top 10 Sports Moments (and five worst) in Houston history. Everyone has at least some personal stories connected to events on the list. I have four.1. UH-LouisvilleI was the quintessential cub reporter, having lucked into a j ... More >>

Houston's 10 Best Sports Moments*

*And the 5 most heartbreaking...

One Man's Entry For Five Worst Houston Sports Moments -- Where Are Yours?

A UH lowlight, an ND legend​I couldn't help but notice that the bosses are soliciting suggestions for the best and worst sports moments in Houston history.So I thought I would make a few suggestions.I'll do my top 10 moments when the issue comes out with the winners, but here are my five worst mom ... More >>

Game Time: Texans' Playoff-Rooting Manifesto 2.0

​"So you're saying there's a chance..."  -- Lloyd ChristmasA couple weeks ago, when the Texans were sitting at 5-6, I spent the better part of about four hours constructing an easy-to-follow guide for Texans fans to know whom to root for in games throughout the balance of the season in order ... More >>

I Gave Her a Ring...: Musical Minutiae About Fingers and Birds

​Although we recently discovered how to access the primitive version of Facebook on our non-iPhone (so watch out), Rocks Off generally lives in an Internet-free bubble outside the office. And happily so, so it took until Monday's late local news for us to see - and subsequently laugh our fool head ... More >>

Bud Adams, Owner Of One Darn Expensive Middle Finger

Houstonians have long been aware of the class and dignity that comes in the package we know as Bud Adams.Adams has demonstrated once again his nuanced understanding of the social mores of our time, and it has resulted in some pain to his pocketbook.The NFL has fined Adams a quarter-million dollars f ... More >>

Game Time: The Horrible Turn Of The Texans' Owen Daniels

​(I want you all to watch in amazement while I introduce you to the literary technique known as the "shplegue". This stands for "shameless plug that turns into a segue." Watch and learn...)I'm not sure how many of you have seen the web-based tragicomedy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but this co ... More >>

The Texans: Mission Not Quite Accomplished

​Perhaps it was appropriate that the former president Bushes were in attendance for yesterday's Houston Texans game. Especially Bush the Younger. Because just as the Younger stood on an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" banner displayed proudly behind him long before the mission was ... More >>

Coming This NFL Season: Vintage Oiler Uniforms! In, Um, Tenne-Freakin'-See

The NFL announced today that they'll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the old AFL with a series of games featuring the league's original uniforms.Four times during the upcoming season, the famed Columbia Blue uniforms of the Houston Oilers will once again be seen on the field. Just not in Hous ... More >>

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

Talk about Statutory Rape: Karl Malone and the 13-Year-Old Baby Mama

Kevin Everett

A former football player talks about his battle with a life-threatening spine injury

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks: Week Two

From Britney to U2: The 2007 NFL Preview

Time to Grow Up

No more excuses for the Houston Texans

Scoring the Super Bowl

NFL Films' music may be stirring, but these songs tell the real story of the big games

Putting on Airs

Modern dance master Paul Taylor brings a program of classics old and new to Jones Hall

Buffed Up

Stylish Buffalo '66 makes an incomplete pass