Archives for December 2005

‘The Buffalo Bills headed into the 2004 season finale needing a victory to stay alive in the AFC playoff chase. The 9-6 Bills were one of the hottest teams in the NFL…’.

‘Even if management decides to start from scratch, Losman is as likely to be Joey Harrington as Steve McNair. For a team that has not made the playoffs this century, the prospect of rebuilding with an uncertain quarterback situation is very troubling. If Losman fails to develop over the next two seasons, fans will not only remember fondly the disappointing Drew Bledsoe years, they may start calling for a return of Rob Johnson. If Buffalo can develop an above-average defense and maintain its dominant special teams, going with Kelly Holcomb allows them a chance to be competitive, and when Losman proves himself in practice, they can make the transition to the younger player.’

‘The game itself was an added bonus, a chance for the home team to demonstrate its prowess against an inferior opponent. Instead, the struggling Buffalo Bills rode into town and downed Cincy, 37-27, sending the perennially tortured fan base home with doubt rather than assurance.’

‘I’d like to know why you couldn’t play "go-for-broke" style football a bit earlier in the season. It seems the team plays better when they’re playing to win, instead of playing not to lose.’

‘"Nobody gave us a chance to come down here and beat these guys," said Holcomb. "We hadn’t won on the road this year and it feels great. I know we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got one more game but it leaves a good taste in your mouth when you win instead of lose."’

‘Bills fan can vote for Holcomb on NFL.com from Tuesday morning through noon EST on Friday. The winner will be announced Friday afternoon on NFL.com.’

‘Holcomb’s 68.4 completion percentage is a new club record surpassing Jim Kelly’s 64.14 percentage set in the 1991 season.’

‘There you have it, with Holcomb, the Bills still wouldn’t have been a playoff team this season. The coaching has been questionable at best, the defense has been disappointingly bad, the running game has been AWOL, and the offensive line has been weak throughout the season. A victory over the Jets this week would give the Bills an 8-8 record had Holcomb been the starter from day one.’

To my surprise, a permanent residency on the local golf course is not at all in Adams’ mindset, and the ultimate goal is to return to the scouting grind. Spending two years on the outside of football has been wearing on Adams. He frankly admits that he never considered real retirement after his self-described exile from the Bills, figuring that he would be a shoe-in for one of the other 31 NFL teams to draw on his two decade treasury of scouting. Adams felt it would be just a matter of time until he landed in the NFL again judging the warm reception he received from other personnel directors on his last trip to the Senior Bowl in 2003.

‘When the Bills and quarterback Kelly Holcomb can carve up your defense, that’s not exactly the way you want to be entering the postseason.’

‘Donahoe continued to tell upset fans that they can’t possibly be more disappointed about the season than people within the Bills’ organization are, and sounded very much like he plans on being back. “As disappointed as you feel, our players, coaches, and people in our organization are much more upset than you are,” he wrote. “This is what we do for a living and every Sunday it is on display for everybody to critique and second-guess. We are going to keep working to get better. We will evaluate every aspect of our organization in the off-season and we will develop a good plan and work tirelessly and patiently to make it happen. You should expect nothing less from us.”‘

‘When the game ended, the one question I kept asking myself is “Where did this come from?”‘

‘If a new general manager is indeed brought in, he or she may possibly want a new coach. With a defense that needs to be rebuilt and an offense that struggles to score in the red zone, whoever’s leading the Bills next season faces a tough challenge. But the message is clear: Fans are tired of watching a losing football team.’

‘Having said that, if it’s close, MM should go with the younger qb with the greater upside in Losman. But if not, and it wasn’t even close after this training camp and pre season, he goes with Holcomb.’

‘”I’m not even going to get into it about next year,” Holcomb said. “All I can do is go out and produce and try to win us ballgames. We have one game left. Who knows what’s going to happen? We showed today what we can do when we go out and play our potential. When we don’t beat ourselves, we can win ballgames. I’m looking forward to Sunday.”‘