Matt in KC

Hey, that is REALLY close to my expectation for Losman, and is one of the first clearly-articulated moderate predictions I've read here, at least in awhile. I am not sure about the INT:TD ratio, but suspect you're close. In college JP had many more TDs than INTs, but last year they were equal. I personally think that more INTs may be a healthy sign that he is taking some risks and isn't holding the ball too long. Last year I think he was simply made too many bad reads, especially early in the year.

McCargo looked pretty good throughout the first preseason game, though was a step late on a few plays. He looked strong and like he was making the right decisions and was trying hard. I think a little time to acclimate and get up to NFL speed and he will emerge as a solid player. I expect him to be one of our top DTs this year. McCargo did have a great play in the PS game that I've not heard anyone mention on TSW yet. Glancing at the Play by Play I think it was at 7:27 of the 2nd period, 1st and 10 at the Carolina 6 yard line. McCargo pushed between two linemen, overpowering them, and got quick pressure on the QB standing a yard in the endzone. The QB was forced to throw the ball short of his receiver on the right side, one of the few times the Carolina QB skipped a ball to their receivers all night. I think no one has mentioned this because the announcers did not even acknowledge the pressure and there was not a single clear shot of McCargo's number on the play, but I am sure it was him. He followed up with a decent play the next play, which is when they started to focus on Kyle Williams.

Now that's kinda funny. It was actually Rolling ball of butcher knives. Travis Henry was the bowling ball covered in razor blades.....

Ellis looked the best to me, Butler next best (but not very good), and Pennington looked bad. I didn't see Merz (will have to look again on TiVo).

Um... before what is too long?

They are, however, expert level hand-check wrestlers. If you persist in trying to put your hands on them, they will knock your hands off as well as anyone....

Sorry for the delay responding. We have a new baby in the house (1 month old) and am often tied up, and other times just trying to catch up on sleep. I've watched enough football to know predicting wins and loses, especially this far ahead of time, is very hard. I personally think the Bills will win 7 games this year, +/- 2 games. If you'll take my $50 bet above, I'd certainly consider adding on additional bets about winning on the road or beating playoff teams (I think we'll probably manage both this year). So, is the bet on?

I also think not announcing a starter will help keep the media away from JP. This kid needs to keep his head on straight. The last thing I want to hear is a reporter asking him what exactly he'll do if it looks like he's "blowing it again" and might lose his position as a starter.... I hope JP starts getting more reps in practove and the rest of PS, but Jauron doesn't name a starter until the week before the opener.

Speaking of which... Where is Constantine Ritzmann now?

The worst thing about Holcolm's INT for me was that it looked exactly like the ones Losman threw during the regular season. For awhile he threw one per game, mercifully seeing the defenders drop about half of them. The best thing (silver lining) is that this KH performance provides more support for JPL, who I think has an equal chance to lead us to victory in week 1, but who may actually grow into more than just a stopgap role player. I am happy to see JP becoming the favorite, but would feel much better if I saw we had a solid backup waiting in the wings.

There's nothing wrong with forming an opinion if you keep an open mind and consider more information as it becomes available. If for instance JP had three of his incompletions come on long bombs that hit the receivers on the numbers, that would paint a different picture of what happened, than what you might think just reading the stats (and the post-game articles). On the other hand, those of us who watched the game should also be open to considering the stats now that we're finished the game and forming an opinion play-by-play. I thought JP played well, better than I was expecting. In particular, he seemed a bit calmer and more focused and stepped up into the pocket several times. Yes, he struggled to get going the first half-dozen passes, and he took a few more sacks than I (or he) would like, but besides these points, I thought he looked like a QB that could lead us to the playoffs some day - - the first time I have thought that. Hearing the stats (<10 yards per completion) made me wonder if they were holding him back from the long-ball to get him in a rhythm getting rid of the ball quickly. I wouldn't have thought about this if JDG hadn't cited the stats.

Lucky to win 3 games, huh? Will you place a bet with me? We can set the bar at 3.5 wins: If the Bills win 3 or less games this year I'll give $50 to Hunter's Hope in the name of Red Dragon. If they win 4 or more games, will you donate $50 to Hunter's Hope in the name of Matt in DC? Deal?

Why are most of you trashing our O-Line? The Bills just played the first preseason game, and againt one of the best D-Lines in all of football. This is the first game-action our starting O-Line has seen together, and we played our full roster at O-Line trying to give everyone a look. Yes, there were some bad plays by everyone (most notably the sack by Peppers if you ask me, and Peters is my favorite player), but, they did not look that bad. Sure I'd like better, and think the O-line is very important, but they are moving in the right direction, apparently already better than last year. So, what gives? Calling for McNally's job? What's wrong with you people? Is this caused by what you saw in this game? If so, please tell me why you think it will be a miracle if they can play well together? Or, are you frustrated with how our O-Line has played in recent years, in which case why are are you trashing this line? They haven't been blocking for our team for long.....

Wow, that was an excellent post. I think that may be the best post i've ever read (not hyperbole).

This is how I saw the WRs as well, but others picked 'em a bit differently It sounds like you're agreeing with Swift Sylvan, who says we'll keep 6 and keep both Aiken and Davis. If you think we'll keep 6 but not Davis, then who do you think will beat him out for the final spot? Nance? Wilson?

Okay, Roscoe, I've avoided this thread so far since so many others have been critical of your posts. I too have some big issues with your original point. And my issue is not that you're saying the Bills are low on proven talent this year. I think we're lower than most years given the departure of several veterans and the injury to Spikes. What I have an issue with, however, is your reasoning, and statement in the first. sentence that the Bills are void of talent, which is so extreme it's absurd This is where you started: You seem to be upset that others aren't playing along with this definition of talent you've created and don't want to be swayed to accept their more common-sense definition of talent. Let me try to understand the components of talent in your definition; pedigree Definition: lineage: the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has been warriors" line of descent of a purebred animal pedigree(a): having a list of ancestors as proof of being a purebred animal So, being brought up in a football family, or more likely coming from an established big school is what I assume you mean. These might be faint predictors of talent, or, in other words potential, but we actually have recent performance to look at for every player, admittedly at the college level for the rookies. Why try to infer talent when we can look at actual performance? potential This is hard to judge. The best predictor is past performance. ...or do you want to get into 40-times, Wonderlic etc.? ability In other words, their past performance, plus what you think they could have done (potential). play This is a good one. In other words past performance. I agree this is the best predictor of future performance, especially for the non-rookies. performance This is a good one too. In other words, past play. I agree this is the best predictor of future performance, especially for the non-rookies. pro bowl potential If you assume that the pro bowl selections are just, this equates to... performance? Well, we know that the selection process is one-third driven by the fans, so this is really performance mixed with popularity, which doesn't add much to the definition of talent, except that these players are more talented as entertainers. I can't help reducing this one more time. When I look at the above, talent seems to be determined by: Being close to people who have done well (pedigree), could do well (potential), have the skills to do well (ability), have done well (play), have done well (performance), and may be recognized as doing well, perhaps undeservedly so (pro bowl potential). So how did you assess if players did well in the NFL or college? By any measure, the following players stats stack up very well against their peers: Clements, Moorman, Whitner (your list, spelling corrected) plus: Fletcher (how can you possibly not count him!?), Spikes, Schobel and McGee Because of your emphasis on potential, I think we also have to mention Evans and Peters. While JP is full of potential and has shown flashes, I dont't think I'd include him on this list. So, if you want to judge our talent by counting the number of players over an odd, contrived threshold you're defining as talent, the Bills' number is somewhere between 7 and 9. And because of this "we look like the worst [team] around?" So, it doesn't matter the quality of the other players or our coaching? We all know we have a younger, less-proven team than we have recently. You will be hard pressed I think to find people that agree with your conclusion: ...and --- My parents just arrived for a visit, so I have to run...

2005 Preseason game against IND - Week 1 Yes, we played Indi week 1 of preseason, but Roscoe was not active.

I've heard a couple brief pionts from camp saying good things about Everett (2 or 3 times total, all brief). I have not heard anything, however about Ryan Neufeld. I notice you didn't list him with the "irrelevant TEs" ( Mark Campbell, Tim Euhus, Bobby Collins, and Dave Moore). I can't imaging he has a real shot to make the team. I wonder if he'll retire.....

This reminds me of something about 1 post away from here....

Maurice Clarett, More trouble

I think this is a great example of the "fire in the belly" this Bills team hasn't had since Bledsoe left....

I'lll guess we hear today or tomorrow that Kelly will start against Carolina and JP will start the second preseason game against Cincinnati. This will give them a chance to look at both QBs with the rest of the first string and gives JP a bit of an edge to take the lead heading into the season. I'll also guess that they set up the starter for good by PS game #3. And since I'm full of guesses this morning, I'll guess that QB is Losman.

Suggesting is not unreasonable, but I personally don't think it's accurate. When they first put up the interactive depth chart, only the clear starters were listed first, then the other players are listed alphabetically. When the QBs were posted: Holcolm, Losman, Nall, Ochs it was clear to me it was just an alphabetical listing and nothing more significant. It looks to me now that there are three tiers listed on the depth chart: Clear starters Players competing for a backup roll Players not in serious contention for a backup roll (Fodder) I thought this was going on at TE too, when they were first listed as: Royal (starter) Cieslak Everett Neufeld There was a big deal made about Cieslak unexpectedly being the 2nd TE. It looked/s to me, however that Cieslak, Everett and Neufeld are just listed alphabetically....

Wow, I can't believe I missed him! This certainly speaks to him being a good candidate for most under-appreciated, huh? The guy is solid. Please tell Aaron I'm sorry for forgetting him. You know, I originally Titled it "favorite Bill."

Oh good, another poll... I saw several posts recently saying things like "TKO is my favorite Bill." So, who is your favorite, and why? I personnaly like Jason Peters, because he is a beast physically, he was a long-shot to become a starter and I'm really enjoying watching him develop. I'm going to be thrilled if he catches a tackle-eligible catch or steamrolls someone on a ST play again this year. Terrence McGee is just barely behind Peters for me, though he is currently my favorite Bill to watch run with the ball. Hopefully this time next year Roscoe deserves the same consideration....