2003Contenders

Agreed. In Ralph's defense, I think that is what he tried to do a bit with Marv.

In a way, MM did get kind of a bum wrap. Recall that the team went 9-7 in his first season and darn near made the playoffs but for the collapse against the Steelers. Much like the Music City Miracle game caused a domino of events, I think that Pittsburgh loss did too. I find it hard to believe that either MM or TD really wanted to get rid of Bledsoe at the end of the season. There were certainly rumors at the time that Ralph was very angry with Bledsoe for the Pittsburgh meltdown and wanted him gone. Who knows? The bottom line is that, regardless of whose decision it was, the idea of handing the job to a very raw JP was foolish. At the very least, they should have let Bledsoe compete for the starting job, which he was willing to do. The Miami collapse that someone alluded to represents another critical em passe. JP was having a career game -- 3 TD passes to Evans. Moulds went into sulk mode, and the bone head interception that allowed the Dolphins to get back into the game pretty much sealed the deal. The critical thing here, though, is that MM wanted to suspend Moulds the league maximum 4 games. It was Ralph (not TD) that stepped in and castrated his head coach by insisting that Moulds only be suspended for 1 game. That is when the players essentially gave up on their head coach. I am not saying that MM was the answer. It is hard to say what would have happened if he had stayed on. The reason he gave for resigning is that he couldn't find competent assistants willing to sign on once Ralph forced him to fire his OC and DC. That, by the way, has always been Ralph's MO for provoking a coach to quit. He did it with Marv. He tried it with Wade. And he tried it with MM. Mularkey went along with the firings, but quit afterward. So, make no mistake about it: Ralph wanted MM gone. If the rumored extension was actually signed by Jauron, and the Bills finish 7-9 or worse, look for Ralph to call for Turk's (and possibly Fewell's) heads. That's how we'll know that he wants to be rid of Jauron.

One thing I will say about JP is that he has actually played pretty well against our next two opponents, the Dolphins and Jets, in his career.

Don't understand the love for Mariucci. He inherited a great 49er team and ran it into the ground and pooped the bed with the Lions.

How about the flag on Wilson then past Sunday, when he was pushed from behind by Gonzo into the ball carrier?

I will be very interested to see how Preston performs against those great NTs in the division the second time around. If he fails again, then I feel we will have no choice but to look elsewhere in the off-season. After all, we need to build this team to win in the division, right? Remember, years ago when Parcells was coaching the Jets he went out and got Mauwai for the sole purpose of combating our very own Ted Washington?

Yes, I know he got taken to task in the three division games against superior NTs. However, I thought he adjusted pretty well against Rogers after struggling early in the Browns game -- and he was very good yesterday against an admittedly awful KC front four. I like the chemistry that appears to be developing between him and Trent. And I LOVED the got-your-back shove he put on Pollard after he hit Marshawn late. Also. maybe there was something to Butler having been out. Notice that the team hasn't given up a sack in the last two weeks, since Butler returned.

What was the Jags' record in 2006? Remember, the Bills beat them thanks to Roscoe's punt return and the last-second catch that set up the winning FG.

I believe in the late 80s one of Elway's Broncos teams finished 11-5 and didn't get in. Meanwhile the Browns went 8-8 and won their crappy division. The NFL changed the Wild Card rules a year or two later, adding (I believe) 2 more spots. Since then, there has never been a team that finished better than 10-6 that DIDN'T make it.

You may be onto something there. I can't bring myself to defend TD, but we certainly do not know how many of the decisions that we blame him for may have been imposed on him by Ralph, possibly indirectly. As for the HC hires, take a look at the pool of candidates that TD did interview: John Fox, Sean Payton, Marvin Lewis, Lovie Smith, and Charlie Weiss. I have to surmise that TD's having hired the weakest candidate each time may have at least been partly due to restrictions placed upon him. Note also without comment that in the 2003 Patriots Super Bowl program on the NFL Network, Weiss said that word had leaked to him that the Bills were prepared to hire him as the head coach if they lost in the AFC Championship game and the team didn't have to wait an extra two weeks to hire him. Now, I have no idea what kind of NFL head coach Weiss would have been, but to base a decision of that magnitude on having to wait 2 weeks is unconscionable. After the 2000 season, TD made it a point to wait until after the Super Bowl to interview Lewis, Fox and Payton. Wonder why he couldn't wait in 2004.

Getting back to the original poster's question about what was said at the time... I remember all of this stuff like it was yesterday. First the history of why the Bills selected Losman. The team was coming off a very disappointing 6-10 season, a year after having gone 8-8 and having revamped the defense with acquisitions like Takeo and Adams. Despite the poor record, the defense played very well, and Travis Henry had a pretty good year too. The primary blame, then, fell on the shoulders of Bledsoe, whose skills were clearly declining and Gilbride, who had just gone out the door with Gregg. Mularkey was the new coach, Pittsburgh's former offensive coordinator who had cleaned up after Gilbride once before in Pittsburgh and was credited with having turned Tommy Maddox's career around. Repaying long time debts, Mularkey hired Sam Wyche as the new QB coach. With Bledsoe's days numbered, the team agreed that they needed to find an heir apparent, and one of Wyche's first tasks was to scout the young guys coming out of college. Wyche attended Eli Manning's workout in New Orleans. After Eli was done and most of the scouts left, Wyche hung around for JP's much less pulicized workout. Wyche came away believing that JP had had the better workout that day. He felt that JP's arm was stronger and he was more athletic than Manning. Heading into the draft, the QB that the team had ranked as their #1 QB was Roethlisberger. They knew that the Steelers had their sights set on him and tried to trade up ahead of the #11 spot to get him. With Big Ben gone, the Bils stayed pat at #13 and drafted Lee Evans. They had a borderline 1sr round/2nd round grade on JP, but knew that he would be gone before the 2nd round, since their intel led them to believe that both the Packers and the Rams, who were picking in the mid 20's were considering drafting him. They also saw a significant drop-off between JP and their next ranked QB. Moreover, Donahoe and Modrak looked ahead to the next year's draft, and they were not convinced that there was a 1st-round quality QB coming out in 2005 that would be ranked as highly as JP was at THAT time. Thus, they made the move to come up out of the 2nd round to draft JP. The addition of the new 1st round pick (from Dallas) cost them their 2004 2nd and 5th rounders as well as their 2005 1st rounder. What was said at the time. Kiper had Losman ranked as an early 2nd round pick. He saw the move by the Bills to be a slight reach, but he understood the reasoning, so he was not highly critical. He agreed with the assessment that, from a physical standpoint, JP ranked right up there with Manning/Rivers/Big Ben. However, questions about his leadership, maturity and ability to read a defense dropped his grade. Mort's focus was more on the fact that, by making the trade with the Bills, Dallas had lost out on the best running back in the draft, Steven Jackson. And RB was a great position of need for the Cowboys, who wound up taking Julius Jones with the Bills' 2nd round pick. Jaws LOVED the pick. He predicted that Losman would be a much better pro than Rivers. He showed clips of JP's ability to throw the deep out, which he said was the hardest pass to throw in the NFL. He agreed that JP would be entering the league behind the other three in terms of his development but felt that he had the advantage of having Wyche, who had groomed Montana and Esiasen, as a QB coach. Hodge didn't like the pick because he felt that JP was too erratic. Meanwhile, Mike Mayock was probably the most prophetic of all. He said that JP was probably the most naturally gifted QB in the draft. He predicted that there would be plays where he would do something that would make you say "Wow!" then he would turn around and do something that would make you shake your head. His success would depend upon how much a team would be able to live with his mistakes. He also reckoned that his situation may not be too bad if he had 2 or 3 years to sit behind Bledsoe. And our friend Jerry Sullivan? Well, he was in his full anti-Drew mode at that time. In his last article leading up to the draft, he DEMANDED that the Bills do whatever they had to do to secure drafting a top flight QB. Then after the draft, he criticized them for giving up too much to move up for what he thought was a fringe QB like Losman. In hind-sight he was right about their giving up too much, but the Bills had no shot at Manning/Rivers/Big Ben.

True. My biggest concern is that the Dolphins and Jets have made huge strides, whereas Buffalo hasn't. Heading into the season, I suspected 8-8 or 9-7, believing that we would be swept by New England again but go 3-1 against the Jets and Dolphins. When we got off to the fast start and Brady went down for the Pats, I honestly thought we could be headed for 11-5. Still, based on my original forecast, we are right about where I suspected we would be.

I would say that there was some hyperbole there, but I also agree that the dump-offs were the right way to combat the defense that the Cleveland put out there. In fact, instead of looking at the stats and using the low number of yards that the ball actually traveled in the air versus what Lynch was able to do with the ball after the catch as an indictment on Edwards, I look at it as just the opposite. Namely, Lynch was able to get so many yards after the catch partly because he was having a monster game and partly because the dump offs were absolutely the right calls against that defense. The problem I have isn't with the dump offs per se. It is with the fact that Trent was so quick to check-down, when he had better downfield options available on some plays. Clearly his confidence was completely shot. However, if the Bills had been smart and used the short passing game from the start, the Bills would have won the football game going away.

Wrong. If the front office honestly believes that Trent is their QB, then they need to stick with him through thick and thin. Everyone that doesn't have blinders on understands that JP isn't the answer. Even if Trent continues to regress, plugging JP in to possibly save a game or two is not going to help us this year (when we honestly have to win out to make the playoffs). This is the same sort of knee-jerk idiocy that we went through back in 2005, which ruined JP (if he wasn't already ruined). We have 6 games to let Trent play through this mess. If he does, then we may look back on the second-half of this year as the turning point for him and the franchise. If he doesn't, then we have a large enough sample size to understand that we need to move in a different direction.

Actually, I think he is being very prudent here. He is actually doing a very good job of handling this situation given that Trent is certainly struggling -- and given that he really does NOT have another viable option. But you know what? It is probably BETTER that he doesn't have another option at this point. We have not been able to groom a quality young QB, since Jim Kelly. Some of the failed young QBs probably just sucked -- but some of them may have just been completely mishandled. I will always wonder what would have become of JP if Mularkey hadn't so mishandled him back in 2005. I applaud Jauron for riding through this current tumultuous wave with Edwards. Regardless of what happens, barring injury, Trent needs to be on the field. If Jauron is right and he learns from the struggles, then it will only help him going forward. If he doesn't snap out of this funk for these last 6 games, then we know that it may be time to look elsewhere for our QB of the future. I really wish that Jauron and Turk would have dialed up a creative pass play on that last series rather than just settling for the FG. A game winning TD pass would have done wonders for the young QB's battered ego. In the long run, perhaps the best thing for this team was that Lindell missed that kick.

Johnson did have a couple of decent catches, but he also dropped a crucial 3rd down pass that would have set us up in field goal range at a time where we REALLY needed some points. I find the whole Hardy thing befuddling. Then again, we wondered why Jauron went with an injured McGee over McKelvin in the Miami game and just assumed that is was because McKelvin wasn't getting it. All that I know is that I have seen McKelvin come in for an injured starter twice (McGee against the Rams and Greer last night), and he has proven to be up for the challenge. He also didn't play that badly against the Chargers. As far as Hardy goes, it may simply come down to a comfort factor. For whatever reason, maybe Trent just isn't comfortable throwing him the ball. Remember that he missed quite a bit of time in practice last week, so their timing may have been off as well.

He was open quite a bit last night and Edwards just couldn't find him.

1. Why so much love for McGee? B. Edwards was open all night. 2. If it were up to me, I would have gone with a play-action pass on 2nd or 3rd down on that final series. The defense would have never seen that coming -- and it probably would have led to a TD if not more of a sure thing FGA. Still, I understand why Jauron did what he did at the end of the game, given how poorly Trent had played all night. Yes, ALL NIGHT. He didn't just cease to suck after the INTs as some have suggested. He was missing wide open receivers down the field. (By missing, I mean not seeing them) Lynch really bailed him out on a number of plays. The horrible ankle throw to Fine on the rollout was a seriously missed opportunity. There was no one in front of Fine, and a good throw would have led to a long gain. 3. I REALLY enjoyed Jaws calling the game last night. He was very perplexed on that last drive before the end of the first half, when the Bills were running the ball so successfully why they didn't at least try a play-action pass. he seemed to suggest that perhaps ball-handling was not a strength for Trent. 4. In my mind, the two best players on the field last night (for either team) were our last two years' first round draft picks. With Greer coming off the field with the knee injury, I suspect we are probably going to see a lot more of Leodis the rest of the way. 5. OK, now that we have established that Evans WAS getting open from time to time and Trent just wasn't getting him the ball, shame on Turk for not dialing up some safe plays to get the ball into Lee's hands. Where were the WR screens? Slants? Also, for all of the time that Trent had in the pocket last night, I was looking for something like a pump-and-go? 6. One common denominator about the last 4 teams (besides the 3-4 defense) is that all 4 of them faced Trent before. I don't know if that has any bearing, but in baseball, they always talk about how hitters adjust to a new, young, hot shoot rookie pitcher the second time through the line-up. The teams that he went 4-0 against had NOT seen him before. 7. The offensive line seemed to get better as the game went on. I think so much of that is because the coaches wisely stuck with the running game. In fact, for the first time all year, Jason Peters looked like the 2007 Peters. In fact, you can add Peters to the list with McKelvin and Lynch for who looked best last night. 8. Aside from game planning for the Chiefs, the absolute best thing that the coaches can do is to go to work to help Trent's confidence this next week. The Chiefs should be made to order with their weak run defense. And it may actually be good for Trent to go out on the road. 9. What really hurts about this game is that, aside from the turnovers, the Bills played their most complete game of the season. And, were it NOT for the turnovers, the team would have won in lop-sided fashion. If they can play with that sort of intensity without the costly mistakes, there is no reason why they couldn't win every remaining game on their schedule! 10. Go Bills!

As I was listening to Jaws dissect the plays last night, I was thinking to myself wouldn't it be wonderful if the Bills could get him to come in and sit down with Trent for a week or two?

Boone, I know what you are getting at. In a game that was literally decided by inches and seconds, if any SINGLE play had gone the other way, then the outcome would have been much different. Earlier in the year, when the team was 4-0, it looked like they had finally turned the corner and "learned how to win". This improbable loss last night, shows that this is clearly not the case. In the old days, you could always count on a Bruce or a Talley to make a game saving play. Last night, there were clearly opportunities for players to do that -- and they didn't. (I discount the Simpson near-interception, because the Browns wound up punting the ball away anyway -- which was followed by the Bills' go-ahead TD. In retrospect, his not coming up with that ball played no role in the final outcome.) Also, I get that you are not singling any of these guys out but just saying that if any one of those plays had gone differently, the outcome would have been different. Still, when it is all said and done, the reason -- the REAL REASON -- that we we lost the game is because Trent had the worst game of his career. The 3 interceptions were bad, but the collateral damage was just a 6-0 deficit. Where Trent REALLY failed was in his inability to get the bad plays out of his head, his inability to pull the trigger at times, and his over-reliance on the check-down. He missed several open receivers last night. That drive at the end of the first half that resulted in a FG absolutely should have been a TD if Trent had had the confidence to throw the football. As it was he almost let the clock run out on him on the play before the field goal.

I have plenty of issues with Jauron -- and I have been especially disappointed by the manner in which he has been out-coached in the division games. However, I actually thought he did about as well as he could last night under the circumstances. No dumb challenges. He actually showed some fire, getting into the officials' faces on at least a couple of occasions. He pretty much had all of the players (except for Edwards) ready to play. I also think he did a pretty good job of damage control and making adjustments. The Bills lost the turnover battle 4-0 last night and were still in position to win the game at the very end. Some have argued about the "chicken-you-know-what" running calls at the end of the game. Well, why SHOULD Jauron have had faith in Edwards to put the ball in the air in that situation, when Edwards himself looked so shell-shocked all night long?

Those old dudes still claim to be the only undefeated team because the Pats failed to seal the deal with the Super Bowl loss. Thus, assuming that the Titans lose at some point, the surviving members of that 72 team will uncork the champagne bottles yet again.

I am not saying to run the ball EXCLUSIVELY. Rather, I am suggesting that they not panic, if if they get down -- and give up on the run entirely. The past few weeks, I believe, that Turk has been guilty of doing exactly that. The best example I can illustrate is early in the 3rd quarter of the Miami game. The team capped off a long drive to open the second half based mostly on running the ball. Up 16-7, they inexplicably got pass happy, even though they were having some success running the ball. We saw in the 4th quarter what happens when you give up on the running game -- or at least the appearance of a running game. I am not absolving our OL of blame, but I have a feeling that their play would be better if the offensive game plan was more dedicated to imposing a rushing attack on the opponent.

1. I would like to see 20+ carries for Marshawn. Even if the running game isn't having success early on, stick with it. By the 4th quarter, with the Bills' over-sized OL and the Browns' pension for caving late in games, the Bills' offense should be dictating the flow of the game. 2. I want the coaches to stop coaching scared. On defense, Quinn is a young QB. Give him some new looks. Blitz him when he doesn't expect it. Drop DEs back into coverage on zone blitzes. Bring the CBs up and hit the WRs in the mouth -- and stop worrying so much about getting beat deep. For any reception that Winslow makes, punish him by hitting him hard, very hard. Offensively, if they take my advice and stay committed to the running game, it will force the Browns to stop dropping so many guys into coverage as the last three teams have done. That should open the passing game for Trent. 3. If Evans is taken out of the equation with double teams, then SOMEONE is going to have to step up. Tonight would be an excellent night for Hardy to have a true breakout performance. 4. Lindell has done a pretty good job of kicking the ball deep this year. He has gotten more touchbacks this year than I can remember in years past. Against Cribbs, he will need to do that plenty tonight. 5. No turnovers!!!!!!

It helps when a team like the Giants stay COMMITTED to the running game. Hopefully the Bills will try to se the tone tonight running the football with a purpose.