RuntheDamnBall

I think the Bills will try to get as low of a draft pick as possible. Isn't there a season to play here yet? Training camp, even?

I'd say that makes Nall tenacious. I'm still not sure it means he's faced certifiable pressure. But words are words and they don't mean much. At the end of the day I feel the way you do. If one or more of these cats steps up for us and produces, I don't care if his name is Craig Ochs. I'll admit a certain part of me wants it to be Losman because he seems to work hard and you want to see your high picks make good on their promise. We'll see!

Honestly, I don't think Johnson was that bad. What he was was brittle, and not perceptive enough in the pocket to know when to get rid of it. Sort of like Drew without the durability. Johnson was pretty athletic and occasionally fun to watch. I remember fondly his throwing a block that was just sweet. At the time I thought the guy might really make it here. It just wasn't meant to be and it goes down in the annals of Bills blunders. But saying the guy was flat-out bad is sort of reducing it. There was a reason there was a competition between him and Flutie, whether people want to believe it or not. A few games before Flutie's "magic" entered the picture, RJ looked like he was going to turn it around. But the long and short of it is, RJ's performance didn't translate into enough on-field wins -- and that's that.

Not that they ever did much with the funny either.

Tiki Barber.

Here it's lofty company only because the media elevated him to that space. How lofty was Belicheck in Cleveland? He's made the best of a pretty good situation. Saban has won nothing in the NFL, and it's my hope it remains that way.

Not sure I agree with you here, Bill. The expectations for Nall correspond to his perceived talent. People have saddled JP with expectations due to the talent they believe he has. That's pressure. Nall may have had to fight it out for the No. 3 spot (and consequently, if you want to look at things the same way, he lost his No. 2 job to Rogers pretty quickly). But he has not faced the pressure JP does by virtue of talent. People don't expect much of Nall, hence less pressure. He has also not faced the in-game pressure JP has, at all. I'm sure you can't argue this. Especially with the line we were putting out there.

It's gotta be the Haz.

1) They're in our division. 2) I don't like Tom Brady, as a person. 3) I don't believe in God (Tedy Bruschi) 4) They have gotten some crucial calls their way. 5) I respect them, but grudgingly so. Just because I can admit the Cowboys of the 90s and the perfect Dolphins team in the 70s were well-built or well-coached (not JJ, Shula) doesn't mean I have to like them. In fact, I hate them both far more than the Pats. I sure do hope the Bills can emulate their model, so they can wax the M!@#$s twice a year. Edit: how does Mazzholes (sub 's' for 'z') get censored out? Boooooo.

Sullivan seems to be a bit of a miser (I know some have worse words for him) a lot of the time. When optimism catches him or he tries for insight instead of vitriol, he can actually have some good things to say and good ways to say them. Unfortunately the Buffalo sports disease that hits a lot of us here from time to time seems to grab a hold of him more often.

His argument was on rushing, which is fine, and I think everyone recognizes the disadvantage of having to have Willis sit for about 20 games before truly beginning his Bills career. All the same, 1) doesn't have much to do with Losman, and 2) Willis is the back we have, and I don't mind supporting him, even if he isn't quite as good as the best all-purpose Bills back ever.

I will agree that what got Belicheck very far was his ability to disguise schemes, make his opponents unsure and uncomfortable, and respond in a very clever way to specific opponents. It's funny that this in a way means the opponent dictates his game. But at their best (regardless of the good calls that I would argue they got), NE won because they were so chameleon-like and able to tailor their game to whatever the situation called for. That and good assistants and sharp quarterbacking. Now please allow me a few moments to throw up in my mouth.

I think that is indeed something to consider, maybe even worry about. Again, I think the seeds for this unrest and confidence-drainer were planted by the front office and coaching staff by letting Bledsoe go and saying there was no way he would be the starter, instead of saying: "Drew, you let us down and we feel you need to prove you're the guy. We have someone with talent waiting in the wings, and we expected playoffs. You've got to bring it. For now, it's an open competition between you and JP." How hard would that have been? I know nobody wanted Flutie-Johnson II, and I hate sounding like a broken record, but what would it have done for the team (and for JP) if he could have won the job outright from a guy who is a proven NFL QB, if not a proven playoff-caliber QB (anymore)? And if he hadn't, he'd still have the opportunity to jump in if Drew faltered. Drew was let go because he was given the indication he had no chance of starting. We lost money and a season on this one because Mularkey and Donahoe made what would become just one of many boneheaded decisions. Still none of this says to me that JP is a player of poor character or ethic, and says everything to me about how this organization has mishandled him to this point.

I was going to say the same thing wrt the Brees injury situation. In fact, I think NO put themselves in a MUCH greater risk position here. However, I expect Rivers to struggle quite a bit. We'll see. Sometimes a guy comes in after all that time and looks more poised (see: Pennington). He certainly does have a good target in Gates and a primo RB to start with, which sure don't hurt. I can't remember if they drafted any much-needed receiver help this draft. Google time...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I hope so.

I think you've got a lot right there, but I forsee some real differences (marked for me in the lighter blue). QB: I just don't think Losman loses out to Nall; if anything, the heat on him makes him stronger here. OTOH, I see Nall falling in the face of expectations. BACKS: Agree that the trio of big, physical backs suits Jauron's style better. Don't think that Shelton makes the team, as he seriously regressed last year. Not sure if Goldsberry is the answer, but we might see Joe Burns back as ST dude/2nd fullback again. RECEIVERS: I think Aiken's nine lives have been expended. The guy just can't catch the ball reliably enough to be counted on. For Peerless I see enough of a revival for him to make the team, though not without Nance giving the team a tough decision. My shakeup sees Reed as a target JP likes at No. 2 and Parrish finding the role they connected with last preseason at No. 3. ENDS: spot-on. (L)OL: It pains me to say it, but Jerman will be back at reserve T. McFarland remains a marginal player and won't hang on another year. Geisinger may indeed have the potential to play. Both he and Preston will probably make it by virtue of their versatility in the middle. Gibson will likely not progress enough to grab a last roster spot. I am praying with you that Anderson is toast. DLINE: Unless we grab another reserve end, I don't see anything different happening here, besides Jefferson taking Sape's last DT spot. LBs: Ezekial takes Haggan's spot, and I see Takeo's backup coming from somewhere as yet undetermined. Crowell is no natural on the strong side, but I see it working in our system as Posey got manhandled often last year. DBs: Wire is another who hangs on because of his ST abilities, beating out the also-marginal Bowen. The rest finds my picks meeting yours. Practice Squad: Not sure what we'll see there yet. I'm certain some of your picks will be on it, but likely not all of them. This is fun!

Goes to show that sometimes a guy can blackball himself. He didn't spend all that time out of the NFL without a reason, IMO.

Nanker, I don't know much about UCLA football at the time, but wasn't the point that Losman wasn't going to get a chance to start there soon? If that's the case, who could blame him for looking for that chance? Again, I don't claim to know the intimate details. Also, college kids will be college kids and it doesn't happen as much with guys on football scholarships, but college kids will transfer all the time when they're looking for the best fit for their future.

I asked for specific examples about his time with the Bills.

"Ruff has put his players in a position to succeed - which is the defining quality of any top head coach." I felt all last season that Mularkey did no such thing. Let's hope Dickie J. understands what team means, and how one can make the most of limited resources by playing to strengths and building a team concept.

What's obvious to you is still conjecture in my book and nobody's gone on the record to say anything different. I'd love to hear from anyone who was at that practice how it really looked. The fact is, Vincent still strayed from practice protocol. He should be viewed as the guy in the wrong there, IMO. Wrt JP's being thrown in there in the NE game, that to me exemplified Mularkey's ghastly stupidity. You have the defending champions literally tearing your team to pieces and you're going to throw in the kid who's been sitting for two months with a broken leg? Blaming Losman for that one goes beyond the pale. Mularkey would only go on to prove further that he had rocks in his head with last year's play calling. I'll take "he was recovering from a broken leg and wasn't taking many reps in practice" for $200, Alex. I think what a lot of us disliked about Bledsoe was his lack of fire on the field, especially after games. JP brings this. He's raw. He needs work. But Bledsoe in 12+ seasons has not proven he can win a championship. It was time. JP should have been given the opportunity to win the job from him and it would have done wonders for the team. But again, let's not get into blaming him for the failures of the front office or the coaching staff. Still none of this says a concrete thing to me about Losman having the poor attitude many claim he posesses.

Great. Moore has had a pretty storied career for the Bills thus far, too, to say nothing of his supreme achievements for the Vikings.

I'm hearing crickets from the direction of the haters.

Different. I ain't calling this a renaissance. I'm calling it a refusal to understand the concept of rebuilding.