Mickey

I haven't forgotten, I'm just worried that Roscoe might not be any more sure handed than Clements. Nate was a good returner but he just dropped too many. I hope we don't have the same situation with Roscoe.

The time to learn is practice. The time to perform is game time. If he hasn't learned enough to catch punts, then he shouldn't be in a game catching them. That being said, I would reserve judgment on that issue and defer to the decision of the coaches who know best if he has a problem or if that was just a fluke that happens once in awhile to the best of them.

Is that a stat based on just his return or our avg. punt return as a team? I seem to recall that he didn't return punts for the first half of the year. I think Freddie did that work for part of the year.

the video cntent at the bills site won't play on my daughters macbook which is the only system in the house that is working at present due to an HD crash. Downloaded the wmv for mac version but still can't get those to clips to play. Any ideas on how to get safari to play those clips???? Thanks in advance.

I think those are accurate but the idea that the third QB is being paid to do nothing is off the mark. If anything, they are being paid to be available if needed.

All talk and hope, which basically has been the situation since Kelly retired. "Great" is a pretty hefty characterization for a guy with JP's numbers and who only just became the starter. Lets see how he plays when the real games start.

There is also a reason why we signed him. In any event, at this point he would be lucky to make it on to the practice squad. The starters will likely be Evans and Reed or Evans and Price. All three when we go with 3 wideouts and when we go with four, it will be Roscoe as the fourth. What we are really talking about here is the 5th WR. I like Wilson at this point but in the end, it will be Aiken. Hopefully, they keep 6 and the 6th is Wilson.

We just don't know. The replay I saw which showed Reed stutter stepping did not have JP in the same frame. As such I couldn't tell if Reed started that stutter step when he realized where JP was going with the ball. I think the "stop and look confused" thing might have happened in reaction to JP's mistake, not what precipitated that mistake. I guess this will remain forever a mystery.

Yes, you have. This is not the only thread in which JP has been discussed. Read the others, especially when his performance last year was discussed. It was the line, it was the play calling, it was the coaches not sticking with him and on and on.

Along the same lines: "And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; And enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard, their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action..." Another warning against "overthink". Lets hope our offense will end up deserving to be characterized as an "enterprise of great pitch and moment".

I couldn't agree more. One thing I like is that so far, these guys have kept it simple rather than trying to outhink every situation. From Hamlet: "There is nothing in this world either good or bad but thinking makes it so." On the field, that translates to things like not putting your best player on the bench on the most critical down of a series. Thus, Willis will play on third down this year. That sort of thing. Simple. Will it produce more wins? Eventually, yes.

The WR slot is one of the most crowded on the roster. There are not a lot of reps to go around and even fewer game opportunities to make an impact. It is hard to see what these guys can do in the preseason. I totally agree on Roscoe. Most WR's don't really "get it" until their third year. Roscoe is already a year behind that schedule due to injury. We just don't know what we have there. I think Denney is going to be a hard guy to cut but Davis and Price have the experience and reputation to stay on the roster. Aiken has had his best preseason from what I remember. We might not have the best WR corps in the league but what we miss in marquee talent, we will make up for with depth. On top of that, there is a chance that Roscoe could turn out to be pretty special and for that matter, so could Price he got back to being 1/2 the WR he once was.

Doesn't matter if Reed ran the "right" route. The DB was there and read it. The ball shouldn't have been thrown. At best, maybe Reed could have been there to play DB and stop the INT. Besides, WR's run the wrong routes sometimes, especially hot reads on blitzes. That is no excuse for not seeing a DB who was standing right where that ball was going. It looked to me like they blitzed on that side and JP saw the blitzer coming in and thought he had a guy wide open in the spot vacated by the blitzer so he threw it out there quick. The DB saw that reaction coming and jumped the route. No big deal. He is still young, he is going to get outfoxed like that once in awhile. There doesn't seem to be much objectivity when it comes to JP. Every mistake he makes triggers a mad search for an excuse that leaves him blameless. I don't get it, we can love JP and look forward to his future and at the same time, still recognize when he screws up without being a "JP hater".

Somebody check the history books and find out the record for most points given up in a preseason game. We could be witnessing history in the making.

One series and one pass?

The morale of the story, throwing on first down can be a good thing and second and two is a really nice down and distance for an offense.

JP bounces back.

Where is the play by play?

Top ten reasons to be optimistic about the offense this year: 10. Willis will play on third down so that we no longer have our best player on the bench on the most important plays of each series. 9. Tight ends no longer wearing the "cloak of invisibility". 8. Offensive brain trust of Curly Mularkey, Larry Wyche and Moe Clements replaced. 7. Willis unleashed to run wherever there is a hole. 6. 88 A and B Divide* 5. No longer required by contract to throw 10 balls to Eric Moulds per game regardless of whether his is open. 4. Philosophy changed from "Don't lose" to "Win". 3. The immutable laws of physics dictate that Fowler, Reyes and Peters can't possibly play worse than Anderson, Teague and Williams as the latter trio established a universal constant for "worst ever" (v/2 x j/k-u% + xholding calls=suk). 2. Evans, Evans, Evans is now the man. 1. JP ver. 2006, final release. No more beta QB's. *Bonus trivia: Identify the source of the reference "88 A and B Divide" and explain why it will improve this offense.

It certainly looks like an upgrade but on that score, all we have is some hope. That and the fact that being worse than we were with Bennie Anderson, Mike Williams and Teague is just unimaginable. We have to be at least a little better.

I watched tape from the 1st quarter last night when I had a bout of insomnia. There was one play, a third and 2, where he was double teamed which created a gap that Bowen charged through. One of the guys on Williams tried to slide over to get a piece of Bowen which created another gap between the two blockers and Williams squeezed through that one. He and Bowen then combined to take the RB down for a loss killing that drive. It was actually a good example of what can happen when one DL occupies two OL. It wouldn't have played out that way if Bowen hadn't have been in position due to the defensive call and if he hadn't spotted the gap and fired through. It also wouldn't have worked if Williams hadn't split those blockers the instant that second gap opened ever so slightly. It was a nice play all around.

Check out JP's college antics: JP in the Hawaii Bowl

Perhaps "stupid" is a little strong. How about "ill advised"?

Would this be a bad time to remind anyone how JP was handed the job during the off season last year?

Yes. This is not the first group he has tried, and so far failed, to make productive.