Buffalo Bills: Things we know this week

31 years old resembled so very many long years. You may have felt as if you were never going to be that old or even survive the crazy partying and stunts you managed to wake up from, unharmed for the most part, the next morning. Rinse, Wash, Repeat. Pretty scary.

When endless summer vacation would have you walk for hours going anywhere and everywhere. Maybe you upgraded your transportation and ride your Mongoose BMX with Flo-Series number plate, all over town on and off-roading, or leave your car at home a few years later and sit on a bar stool or shoot some pool.

Several conversations were about so many of celebrity deaths, primarily musicians, by overdose, questionable unexplainable circumstances, foul play or suicides had the perception that every early death by a celebrity was at the ripe old age of 27, not 26 and not 28. The likes of Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Peter de Freitas, Brian Jones, Ron McKiernan, Dave Alexander, Peter Ham, and Kristen Pfaff usually occupied our 27 and done roster.

I dug into this a few layers deep with the goal being to verify if I missed any significant names. The results were not exactly what I had calculated, I missed quite a few members of the 27 club. They were from a different generation, genre or country we were not familiar with at the time or took no interest in familiarizing ourselves with, so our list still made the point, hitting home in the process.

31 is too young as well. 31 is too young for anyone including an NFL player who may have been a bust. Former second rounder of the Buffalo Bills, wide receiver James Hardy was found dead this past Wednesday, in the Maumee River in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The coroner’s office in Fort Wayne has not been able to determine the cause of death.

Playing only two seasons in Buffalo in which the second one he was injured for most of it, I still felt an attachment to him having been watching him leading up to the draft and closely watching his development as I hoped he would blossom into a star. I remember one of his two opening season touchdowns being exactly what they wanted from him. He went up high using his height and strength in the end zone and came down with the ball outmuscling his covering opponent.

Retirement came next. Retirement came too soon. Death came next. Death came too soon. He is not a legendary Buffalo Bill and is not going up on the Wall of Fame. He is also not the biggest bust to come along. Even had he been the worst bust ever 31 is much too young to lose one’s life whether you are a great football player or a really good one that just isn’t elite playing against the best on the planet.

Rest in Peace James Hardy. If some of the stories are true… peace was something you did not have much of on earth so peace be with you now young man. Godspeed.

Next Week we will keep it upbeat as well as we review the hit Netflix TV show 13 Reasons Why. I digress.

We will discuss 13 reasons why the Bills missed the playoffs last season, 13 reasons why Rob Ryan should not have been hired by his brother, 13 reasons why you get in a bar fight if you are a Ryan brother in a camera and reporter packed Stanley Cup Final hockey town like Nashville, 13 reasons why the Bills need to sign an impact wide receiver and of course 13 reasons why I should step away from this Laptop for a timeout.

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Things We Know About The Buffalo Bills This Week:

The Buffalo Bills signed wide receiver Rashad Ross who was a member of the Washington Redskins over the past two years. Buffalo created some space for the move by waiving 2016 draft pick Kolby Listenbee. Being injured entering this coming season from a previous injury that he did not recover from as fast as expected and seeing he did not dress for any regular season games his entire rookie season last year made it quite obvious that he was expendable.

Ross was an undrafted free agent signing of the Titans and spent some time on their practice squad as well as Kansas City the Bears and then the Skins as mentioned earlier.

Could the Bills have a local Cinderella story in running back Jordan Johnson? He went to Sweet Home for High School and played his college ball at The University of Buffalo. All of the reports indicate he packs some power to the 220 pounds he carries around at six foot two inches tall. He has a good eye to find the blocker provided holes and has one good powerful cut in him that really has made many opponents at the previous levels miss tackling him.

That will be a lot more difficult with the speed and power of the NFL. He needs to make the team first and then can take one step at a time. He is competing to back up LeSean McCoy as that is a glaring opening since the Patriots once again reached into the Bills cookie jar taking a cookie they could have certainly benefited from not losing.

That cookie… Mike Gillislee. I know backup running backs are a dime a dozen, but bake your own cookies New England. Keep your hand out of our cookie jar. And Bills… let’s put the cookie jar on a higher shelf moving forward. Try a cabinet with a lock. Protect your assets.

BILLS NEWS: Breaking down the second half of the Bills schedule

Sean McDermott and his wife Jamie have been busy in all areas. They spent quality time recently with young patients at Women and Children’s Hospital helping cheer up some of the children stuck in the hospital as the nice weather has shown up. McDermott signs autographs after asking the kids for their autograph and talks to them individually giving them a bag of Bills promotional items.

With everything on his plate being new living here and the intense amount of responsibility he inherited overnight, he is balancing things quite well. No bar fights. No feet fetishes. No reverse weight loss surgery making former room for wings and beer to stay even with his brother. Not jumping out of airplanes or painting his truck. No doubling up on the bikes. No Buffalo Bills Tattoos yet.

No swearing like crazy while being filmed giving a training camp pep speech. No “Let’s get a snack” comments. No third and fourth chances to policy or law breakers. No punting in the other team’s territory when we are losing and time is running out. No 10 men on the field defending, no 12 man on the field penalty,

Good. I’m fine with all of that personality and energy I so very much desired in a coach leaving town on a two man bike. Come visit us old friend with your makeup done real nice and your camera crew and director. Piper’s Pit meets The Jerry Springer Show. Rex in Effects.

READ MORE: McCoy’s future in Buffalo will soon be determined

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