Brandon

Sorry, but I spent the previous 16 weeks wanting every other team in the AFC East to lose. I hate the Patriots. I hate the Jets. I hate the Dolphins. That isn't going to change anytime soon. I'm hoping that they both lose and lose badly. Other than the Jets or Patsies, I don't want to see either Atlanta or San Diego win the Super Bowl. Otherwise, I don't particularly care, although I do hope Green Bay wins it all.

Exactly. Even the Bills coaching staff shows an apparent lack of confidence in Lindell. This season, they quite often seemed very apprehensive about allowing him to attempt anything over 40 yards and many times he wasn't given a chance. That speaks volumes, as does the fact that his longest FG of the season was a paltry 43 yards. The stats are meaningless, as practically all of his attempts were from short-to-medium range.

Simply put, I agree with you completely. Some people are being pretty shi**y to a guy who was a very productive runner for the Bills and who played well even with injuries that would have kept many RBs on the bench. His handling of the McGahee situation hasn't been perfect, but he never turned into a much of a problem and he kept his mouth shut to the media until after the season. I don't have a problem with a guy wanting to be a starter. Hell, isn't that the attitude you want in a player? His career with the Bills is probably over, but I wish him the best of luck with another team.

Myself, and I'm certainly no expert, but I think that he'll either 'get it' or he won't after that one season on the bench. I think one year is probably enough to learn most of what can be learned on the sidelines and now, the rest will have to be learned on the field. He should have a good enough understanding of the offense that if he's going to be a great player, he should be able to overcome a few bad days and still show quite a few glimpses of the great QB we expect him to become in the years ahead.

The one thing that holding the clipboard for a year allows Losman to do is learn the playbook without most of the pressure of preparing for a game each week. It also gives him a chance to practice with and watch what his teammates' strengths and weaknesses are, and to see how the offense is supposed to operate with a veteran QB at the helm (well, in theory, anyway). In any case, the better his working knowledge of the offensive system before he has to start, the better his odds are of having a successful first season as a starter.

You're right about one thing. JP Losman is JP Losman and no one else. As I stated earlier, neither you or I know whether Losman is going to be ready to start by next year. It really doesn't even matter what you or I think, either. It only matters what the Bills front office and coaching staff thinks, and if they believe Losman can handle it, they'll likely give him every opportunity to win the job for '05.

Who cares what college he played for??? There are plenty of examples of very good QBs currently in the NFL who played at lesser schools. I'd also point out that Losman's former teammate, Patrick Ramsey, has played fairly well as a young QB and appears to have a bright future ahead of him. As for whether or not Losman will be ready to play next year, I don't know the answer to this and neither do you. There is one thing I DO know, however, that being that the Bills did not draft Losman to sit on the bench.

I think he could do fairly well. He'll have been through an NFL training camp, will be familiar with the capabilities of his teammates and will have had a year to learn the playbook. He still needs more practice reps, but if they name him the starter early, he'll get those reps. Otherwise, the Bills need to improve the LG and C positions with the emphasis on run blocking. If he can rely on McGahee and the running game to win games and just allow him to play a support role as a passer (much like Pittsburgh has done with Roethlisberger), there will be a lot less pressure on Losman and the more likely it is that he has a successful first year as a starter.

I agree with you for the most part, though I think you underrate Jennings. He's not the problem as a run blocker. The LGs he's had to play next to are the problem.

As far as I'm concerned, Reed can join Lindell as the first two players cut this offseason. I really thought he'd be a good player when we drafted him, but he hasn't even been decent. Its really suprised me that it has been his inability to catch the ball that has been his downfall. In college, he caught everything thrown near him. Oh well. Although I like what I've seen of Aiken in his limited role, they need to bring in another WR this offseason either through FA or the draft to compete with him as the #3.

I am very happy with this season and proud of the team for fighting through adversity. However, the season is over. Its time to start looking ahead at how the team can improve for 2005.

Now I will agree with you here. I believe the C position is even more important than a good LT. Most QBs can deal with some pressure to their sides, but a pass rush up the middle usually presents a major problem for a QB as he can't step into his throws. In addition, I think a good C is a necessity for a consistent ground game as well.

Actually, its more about experience than age. Kelly had been in the league 4 years. Bledsoe 12. Kelly was also pretty clearly an up and coming player, while most would argue that Bledsoe is on the downside of his career. Also, Bledsoe will not be the better of Losman in terms of physical ability by any significant amount. Losman is certainly more mobile, but he's got a very strong arm to go along with it. He can compete with just about anyone in terms of physical skills.

I suspect that the Bills simply felt that Matthews would give them more consistency if he had to come in during a game due to a Bledsoe injury. Had the Bills lost a couple more games in the middle of the year and had nothing to lose, I think we would have seen Losman playing a lot.

I'm all for starting JP Losman next year. Myself, I think the anti-Losman posts are just bizarre. We simply cannot make an informed guess as to how he will eventually pan out given how incredibly little he has played. And realistically, I have news for some folks. The Bills did not invest a 1st and 2nd round pick in this guy for nothing. He WILL be the starting QB for the Bills. You might as well get used to it, because its just a matter of time before it happens.

No, the truth is that both are a problem. The pass protection has been fairly solid this year, but the run blocking has often sucked. Today was another example of it, where they opened holes for McGahee on one series and did practically nothing for him the rest of the game. That has to improve, both for McGahee's sake AND for whoever the QB is. Few QBs are successful when they're put in 3rd and long situations all day. If Losman is to start next year, the Bills would be very wise to upgrade the OL, not only for better pass protection, but also to give him a more consistently effective ground game to rely on (much as Pittsburgh does with Roethlisberger).

The Bills will pick 18th-20th. The playoff teams will occupy slots 21-32.

The situations are different. Jim Kelly was just entering the prime of his career. Bledsoe's best days are behind him and, at best, he probably only has two or three years left in him as a starter. Not only that, but the Bills also have invested too much in JP Losman not to give him a shot at some point fairly soon.

Technically, you are correct, but I don't believe any team has ever gone into a season with him as the starter and he has typically played out of necessity when the true starter was either injured or stunk up the joint. In other words, he's basically an Alex Van Pelt clone. That's not the worst thing in the world, but at best, he's a stopgap if he has to start.

In the case of Shane Matthews, I agree with you. He's never been a starter in the NFL and I doubt he'll ever be. On the other hand, I think you make a very, very weak argument against Losman with that QB rating. How many passes has Losman thrown this year? Five. If he had thrown a couple hundred passes this year, I might be worried about his low QB rating, as it would be indicative of consistently poor play. As it stands, however, its not indicative of much of anything.

I thought Bledsoe had solidified his position as the Bills starting QB next year unless he really tanked it in this game. Guess what? He did. He stunk it up in the biggest game of his Bills career and was a large contributor to a loss that led to the team missing the playoffs. I don't know if he will be back with the team in '05 or not, but I think his time as the Bills starting QB is over. Its time for the JP Losman era to begin.

I'm to the point where I believe the Bills need to clean house offensively. McGahee, Evans, Villarial, MWilliams and Jennings are the only guys who should feel safe in their jobs at this point, IMO. The high dollar underachievers should be feeling a lot of heat beginning in March. As for Moulds, unfortunately, you are correct. He has dropped far too many passes this season and has done far too little with the ones he has caught to justify his huge impact against our salary cap. If they can reduce that cap hit, I think he's worth keeping, but regardless of what I believe they should do, the Bills are going to have an important decision to make about his future with the team.

That's just sickening. Now, with the game all but over, Bledsoe throws it to the one guy who can really make a big play. If he hadn't ignored Evans the other 58 minutes of this one, we might actually have a chance.

I can't blame the D, either. They simply got NOTHING out of their offense today and were on the field the whole game. You can't expect any D to hold up when that happens. If I were Donahoe, I'd make a serious overhaul of this offense in the offseason. Bledsoe, the OL and even Moulds should be on the hot seat.

They've got the best OL in the league and the Bills defense will likely have been on the field over 40 minutes by the time this one is over due to the ineptitude of the offense. That is not a good combination for any D.