RuntheDamnBall

And you fellas gave me a hard time. Clutch, indeed.

Side note: does that make you feel better? Hope you'll feel the same way when JP is the undisputed leader of this team.

The bar, as you put it, Bill, is the Super Bowl. The Bills let go of him because they thought he would never take them there. (And he sure wasn't taking a team with the kind of O-line Buffalo has there, we know that!) Until he does that, and his window is getting smaller, he will be an above-average QB who can throw a hell of a ball and can't run for beans. When all the chips are on the table at the end of this season, we'll see if he puts up. Right now, he's off to a good start. No more, no less. Remember how unstoppable the Bills looked first half of '02?

No, they're nowhere near as good as those Pats teams were. Not right now. And my point was, maybe he won't suffer that colossal funk because of this. Not that I hate him or want him to do poorly. I just want his team to suck.

Good question is will he face a team as good as the Pats of the last few years to precipitate that drop-off? I'm hoping the Jints show they're the team to beat in the East and pummel the 'Boys. Nothing against Drew, but he signed with a team I'll never root for. (Not to mention that they still have the hated Parcells and Me-shawn.)

With Greg Jerman starting you can't say this line is built for anything. Hope we get soft Mike back soon.

The team sucked as a team with JP, and played substantially better as a team Sunday with Kelly. Daimon Shelton finally caught a freaking pass -- lord knows JP must have hit him in the numbers at least 5 times for drops this season. Kelly did a few things that JP can't do yet -- Campy was right to point out the audibles -- but he also couldn't escape the pocket when it collapsed on him, and fumbled 3 times. Kelly also had a defense that gave him 5 turnovers and a Miami team that bent over for 18 penalty spankings. Doesn't hurt, my friends. I don't think we can whine about officials fixing games against us for awhile (myself included). Right now if you're rating the QBs, you give Kelly a 6.5 and JP a 5 out of ten in terms of what they can do for this team, but one can't help but look at the massive help Kelly got and wonder what JP does (and learns from) with those opportunities. Maybe he doesn't get the team further than a field goal, maybe he blows it on 3rd down, but 5 handoffs from the defense sure doesn't hurt, ever.

I'm also not sure our offensive playcalling is much better than Butch Davis'.

My point is, Moulds wants to win. If he wants to win, losing in the playoffs is better exactly how? I want to see if JP can take us to the Super Bowl in a few years' time. I don't believe for a minute that this incarnation of the team is going to do any damage in the playoffs, much less make them under Holcomb. If I'm proven wrong, great. But I'll believe it when I see it. I don't see the run defense, playcalling, blocking, or Takeo's Achilles getting any better just because they're benching the rookie QB.

My problem with Moulds is his is a short-sighted desire. He is not taking the longview. If he honestly believes Kelly Holcomb is taking the team to the Super Bowl, fine. If not, what's the point? I don't see this team growing under a 32 year-old journeyman pocket passer with a few light-em-up games under his belt, a career spent in majority as a backup, and a 4-9 starting record. If Moulds does, fine. I want to see 100 yard games from him and at least 10 victories from this so-called playoff team. Anything else is a gigantic setback.

I think a few players are playoff caliber, but our OL and our run defense are piss-poor. To boot, our coaches seem to be unable to adjust to game-time situations, and that is the killer. I was willing to be REAL patient for JP. I'm positing that if KH comes in and doesn't take us to the playoffs, and he had better, the coaches/management/whomever made this decision has made things far worse than had we struggled for a whole season under JP. Are we patient enough for JP to take more lumps later, or to find out even later that we have to groom yet another new guy? I'm not sure we are. Mularkey has absolutely created this monster by jerking around the guy he says is absolutely starting from the get-go. Fans and media are just playing into it. If he didn't give Holcomb this window, the KH possibility would just be a looming speculation, and MM would get credit for sticking with his guy. Maybe not with the whiniest veterans, but how much longer do we want those guys here anyway? I want the ones who are ready to build something. I'm still waiting for this team to stop spinning its tires. I want to rebuild rather than embrace mediocrity and phantom playoff almost-runs. I think there might be some truth to Losman's perhaps having needed another year or half-season a la Pennington to sharpen up. But they made the decision and now they're backtracking. I think this hurts Losman immeasurably, especially if he's going to be thrown to the wolves in a difficult second-half schedule. I'd relax and roll with it if I didn't care too much.

I'd like to know where the magical talent on defense and offensive line is going to come from to make this a playoff team. Anyone who believes this sh-- is delusional. I can't !@#$ing believe that Mularkey has brought another QB controversy upon us. This is why we're going to be sitting with our thumbs up our asses in the next few years wondering how we start over while the Giants and Bengals improve and become contenders. Who wants to start making bets on who will be named our third coach under TD? And for the record, I'm sure Holcomb's a great guy, he's played a few exciting games, but his record as a starter is proven. If we wanted what he brings to an offense, we should have kept Bledsoe.

And do you guys remember the last pocket passer who didn't have time behind our suspect line? Yeah, that worked out well. Well enough to just miss the playoffs. Boy, I hope that happens again this year. If true, this move is the worst kind of pandering to fans and a few whiny veterans. And, it'll mean that this coaching staff officially does not know what the !@#$ it's doing.

Agreed. JP is a competitor, but also a team player. However, one couldn't blame him for feeling jerked around.

Is there anything that guy can't do? Edit: On a football field, that is?

Precisely.

I agree with VABills. If this team hits the panic button, it will have created both the problem of not putting JP in the best position to succeed, and then further undermining his confidence by making him think that he is the biggest problem/scapegoat for the offense's issues. Kelly Holcomb is not going to solve a damned thing if he doesn't have the right plays and personnel to work with.

But wouldn't he be more likely to get in a brutal accident or be reckless with the jalopy? Come on Tom, at least give the kid a mid-90s Taurus.

He was spotted in the Blue and Gold in the Buffalo Airport, carrying George Seifert's luggage.

Don't underestimate the blocking of the Pitt receivers. Makes a big difference.

You're kidding right? Great KR, probably more of a "playmaker" than Clements, but he is totally a high risk/reward guy. Probably gets burned as much as he makes great plays.

So what? Whether through breakdowns or coordinated plays, we were gaining yards with the run. The pass was not what got us through that drive. A good game-planner would see that there were holes in the NO run defense and expose them. Thanks for the usual snide remark.

per ESPN.com's recap: Glad he figured out what they should have been doing after the game. At least this will take some of the air out of the sails of the inexplicable Holcomb supporters: I sure hope so.

You're right, and for several reasons! 1) It would have spelled our vaunted defense and given them some time to bring out that long-awaited A-game 2) Running gives the line confidence, and forces the defense to give some respect that in turn allows some pass plays to happen 3) McGahee deserved the ball there. Being down six is nothing. You gotta give the ball to the guy who puts you in the best position to win. Who else deserves that distinction right now on the Bills? Fast Freddie? Instead, they tried to do a number of different things that didn't work, looked demoralized, and were down by two scores the next time they took the field.

Shut up, Sullivan.