McGahee providing trash talk -Bulletin Board material

McGahee Has New Injury; Trash Talk Underway
by Chris Brown, Lead Journalist Last Updated: 12/6/2006 3:18 PM ET

Run Game Revival?

Still recovering from three broken ribs Willis McGahee was a non-participant in practice Wednesday. Only the reason he sat out practice had nothing to do with his ribs. When McGahee emerged from the training room to speak with the media he hobbled to the microphone wearing an immobilizer boot on his left ankle. But Buffalo's top back downplayed the presence of the device.

"It's my prosthetic shoe," joked McGahee. "(The ankle) has been going on, but (the boot) is for precautionary reasons. That's all. It's nothing. No worries."

McGahee, who is listed as questionable on the team's injury report, is fairly confident he'll be on the field Sunday.

"That's the game plan," said McGahee of playing Sunday. "I wouldn't be right here talking if I wasn't playing Sunday."

He said the immobilizer boot would be off by Thursday.

McGahee hurt the ankle early in last Sunday's game against San Diego and went to the locker room to get it re-taped. But he returned to the game splitting time with Anthony Thomas.

"It was pretty sore the day after the game," said head coach Dick Jauron "The boot is a precautionary measure. I think there's a good chance he'll play. I believe that. We've seen how he heals and we've seen how tough he is. So I think there's a good chance he'll play."

McGahee is certainly motivated to play this week with his former college teammate and close friend Jonathan Vilma on the other side of the ball this week.

"Me and Jonathan Vilma got a nice little history going so I've got to keep the streak going," McGahee said.

McGahee's history has been good against Vilma and the Jets as he has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in each of his four career starts against New York including a career-high 150-yard rushing performance in Week Three this season.

But McGahee has not had a 100-yard rushing game since, partly due to the fact that he missed a pair of games with three broken ribs. Fully aware of his previous success against the Jets, he'd like nothing more than to get a running game that's failed to gain more than 75 yards each of the last three games back on track. At the same time he realizes it will be a physical division game.

"We're expecting it to be a pretty good game to tell you the truth," said McGahee. "They're one of our rivals and a rivalry game is always going to be a hard game. Hopefully we can move the ball on both ends as far as passing and running is concerned. We're preparing for them pretty good."

McGahee is also preparing his trash talk for Vilma, though he claims that the Jets inside linebacker is usually the one that initiates the on field chatter.

"Once we see each other on the field and he makes a little tackle he'll be running his mouth and that's when it all starts," McGahee said. "So he'll say things like, 'It's going to be a long game.' And I put my hard hat on and know it's time to go to work."

"I hold everything I can over him in the offseason because of course he's going to talk about the 100-yard games he's had against me," said Vilma. "But I can talk about the wins that we've had in the playoffs that we've gone to."

But McGahee isn't the least bit impressed by Vilma's playoff game talk.

"That might be right," said McGahee. "But at the end we're all sitting there watching another team playing in the Super Bowl."

Ultimately it appears McGahee is expecting to play because he requested that a message be delivered to Vilma through the media."Make sure he gets this," said McGahee. "'Jon you can't stop me brother, case closed.'"

 

Well even if it is amongst two UM grads, it would be nice to see the D stuff the Bills offense and hold Willis to under 100 yards.