Mickey

Bill, what you and I fail to realize apparently is that Jauron is a visionary who understands what no one else does, that you don't need a pass rush to play defense in the NFL.

To "jump ship" would imply that a portion of the ship is above the water line. I think the proper phrase would be to "swim ship". Defending this crappy football is as pollyannish as hitting the despair button is panicky.

Yeah, but he brings such an exciting brand of football to the table....a joy to watch. I don't know about you but I just can't get enough of that "stuff it into a wall for 1.2 yards on first down" style. The way we try to hide in a hole for 3.8 quarters hoping to keep it close and win by 2 is a thrill ride well worth the ticket price. I also think that most fans just don't appreciate how much time he gives us to go to the concession stand without missing anything exciting. That it the problem today, no appreciation.

Yeah, we let go of Mularkey way to quickly....

..and both had great teams around them that probably could have won with Bobo the Clown under center. Trent doesn't have a great team around him, he has a young, good and getting better team. And as much as some might rave about DJ, he isn't exactly at the level of Lombardi and/or Shula.

One important fact to include is that the Chargers exploited that injury. One of their d-lineman, early in the game, took a cheap shot at Fergy's ankle, reinjuring it. It was very similar to what Wilfork did to JP last year, a dive at the legs when the ball was gone. It was clearly part of a premeditated strategy by the Chargers. As I recall, we were driving at the end of the game and had completed a 4th down pass for a first down to Lou Piccone who had gone out of bounds but we were flagged for delay of game I think it was and replays showed we got the play off in time and clearly, the refs didn't stop the play either which is a dead ball foul so if they really thought the play clock ran out, why didn't they stop the play. I don't see that one mentioned in the discussion you so often hear about how the Bills get so reliably screwed in big games.

That was just one game and it wasn't all beer and skittles for him. Fowler has had a good game now and then as well. I just don't see the coaches having missed Preston being significantly better than Fowler all this time. Duke is no rookie and has had plenty of opportunities to win a spot. Its up to the coaches to decide, I don't think there is much difference between them. We will be shopping for a center next year.

I'd bump No. 3 up to No. 1. The additional prep time was clearly a major factor, not just in the pass rush. They really thought outside the proverbial box with the way they decided to handle Antonio Gates with Scott for example.

You left out the extra week of preparation which is kind of a big thing to leave out. Mitchell's pick was largely the result of just that, preparation. Major kudos to the coaches. On the replay, it was clear he read the play from the git go. Take that 10 point turn around and I am not sure we win that game. The defense was very good yesterday (due to extra week of prep?) and they stunk up the filed something awful against the Cardinals. But I guess that is just further proof that Losman stinks. I won't mention that the offense put up only 6 more points yesterday than they did against the Cards nor that 13 of those 23 points were owed in large part to what the defense accomplished. I certainly won't mention having to settle for field goals three times. At this point, Edwards is clearly the better QB, no one is arguing anything different but could we go maybe one day without someone finding a contorted way to piss all over JP yet again?

Preston is not exacty an unknown quantity. He has been around long enough and played often enough to draw a conclusion as to his abilities. No mystery here, he simply isn't very good.

I disagree, Fowler really is terrible. We don't challenge defenses to cover the whole field. Yeah, after 786 consecutive plays within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, we "fool" the defense by going long and look very clever doing so, for a play here and a play there. I also don't think we block straight ahead much. With a big line like ours, I think we are better off not asking these guys to make much lateral movement. Let them just hit the guy in front of them and move them wherever they can and let Lynch find the hole. Old school.

Why can't he sign his contract at the end of the season?

Boy, one week he is the second coming of Lombardi and the next, he is Harvey Johnson. The time to evaluate him will be at the end of the season. There is no black and white milestone he must achieve...or else. The team has to be better than it was, if it is, good chance he stays. If the team is worse, then there is a chance he goes.

"struggling"??? Yeah and the Titanic had a small leak. 6 for 6 on third downs at one point, TDs or FG's on virtually every single possession until they pulled their own horns in. Please. "May not have won"???? Yeah, all JP had to do was put up more than 41 points, on the road, or would it have been 56 points if the Cards didn't start running clock? Funny thing about offenses, they always seem to struggle when the defense gets them so far behind that all they can do is throw, throw and throw some more. But really, the fact that the Cards could pin their ears back knowing we were going to the air every play had nothing to do with the offense having problems, nothing at all. Really, it was JP. Totally.

What on earth leads you to the conclusion that we have an offense that can win games running the ball for 2.2 yards every freaking play? Problems running the ball predate this game. Even in winning, we struggled on the ground. Based on the performance of the defense yesterday, we might find ourselves in a lot of shoot-outs. If all Trent is going to do is hand the ball off, we might as well start Hamdan, that way Trent would be sure not to get hurt. Every NFL QB is going to take a hit now and then, comes with the territory. I think Trent can handle it.

Yeah, we should cut him, serve him right. Chambers is waaay better.

I will have to check the tape but I think that was a screen pass that was blown when the back got caught up in the line traffic. There is no secodary target in a screen and there is no such thing as pass interference behind the line. You can literally grab and hold the back if you read the screen. JP had no place to go with the ball. I counted, I think 3 blown screen attempts yesterday.

I am not sure leaving guys wide open on the short stuff, so wide open that they don't even bother looking long, is the way you want to prevent the long pass. Seems like a suspect strategy to me but heck, it did "take away" the big play so I guess there is your silver lining. It was just one game, not a trend but boy oh boy, what a crappy game it was. So we bleed awhile only to rise and fight again.

I thought he was consistently single teamed.

He didn't botch the handoff. We had a lineman pulling and the Cards jumped a guy right in the gap left behind, he was there quick enough to get the handoff himself. There is plenty you could say about JP's play yesterday that would be legit but that isn't one of them.

The Cards played a very similar offense to what NE ran against us last year. Lots of short passes, with the occasional run or screen. NE throws a bomb in every so often which, mercifully, the Cards did not. We better find a way to stop that kind of offense as I guarantee we are going to see a lot more of it.

No they didn't, they scored two TD's before the half. How often have we managed 2 TDs in the first half? Trent's injury had nothing to do with the defense. Schobel was worse than useless. We were covering the deep balls and giving up the underneath stuff which they took advantage of. We never found an ajustment that worked. Warner is a statue and we couldn't get any pressure on him at all with the front four. Schobel had one man to beat most downs and wasn't able to do anything. When you get behind that much, the offense hasn't a prayer because the D can simply tee off every play. Royal's fumble, jumping off sides on that FG, etc. There was plenty of badness to go around, that is for sure.

Forgetting the rush that JP had to sidestep. Unless Trent's mere presence scares away a fierce rush, he would have to have side stepped and moved up field to avoid the rush before letting that ball fly just as JP did. But the ball would likley have been underthrown. Trent has many skills but throwing a ball that deep isn't one of them. For what it is worth, there are some things that JP can do that Trent can't and vice versa.

You are forgetting the rush that got to JP early which he avoided, buying enough time for Lee to get downfield. That is the problem with deep routes, especially ones involving a double move, they take time. Time the QB often doesn't have. Trent is the man but had he tried to throw that ball it would have been underthrown. Gotta give JP his due. He throws a great long ball. But there is more to the game than having a cannon.

It reminded me of what I really remember about those teams. Not the SB's but the winning, the endless week-in week-out winning and winning in exciting heart stomping never a dull moment ways. No matter who we played, no matter what the situation was, they just kept on winning. You could go to the kitchen for a bag of chips and come back 50 seconds later and they would have scored three freaking times. They were great teams that played great games that made great play after great play. If what you love is football, nothing was or ever could be better than having been a part of that even if only as a witness. If what you care about is being NO. 1 at something, a trophy, bragging rights, whatever, then the Bills were not for you.