Taro T

I would be very surprised to see Losman get pulled. The only way I would expect to see Losman pulled is if the team is losing by a large margin (17+ points) late in the 3rd quarter. With the defense the Bills have, I doubt that Houston could get that big of a lead. Of course if he had a couple of int's returned, it could happen; but as I stated, I'd be surprised to see that happen. I expect that the game plan will be a lot of Willis, followed by more Willis, with JP sticking to relatively safe throws. My guess is that the Bills win a rather offenseless game, 14 - 10. (Notice, I don't expect the Bills to make any field goals.) Dave.

I remember reading a few years back that very few Bills quarterbacks won their 1st game started as a Bill. (I want to say there are like 3, and surprisingly Todd Collins is in that group.) Does anyone know what the records are? My guess is that JP will be able to buck this trend due to the defense hopefully overwhelming Houston. Thanks in advance. Dave.

Yeah, but all the media outlets (except Fox and the WSJ) lead with the headline: "BUSH CAN'T SWIM!". Dave.

Can he kick? We know Lindell can't. Dave.

You forgot Peerless and hopefully soon you'll have forgotten Lindell. Dave.

The sad part is, those 2 games will cost us the playoffs. Just like last year. Has any other team in the last 20 years had a kicker so bad that they only let him try 3-40 yarders? I can't believe that there isn't one kicker available who is better than this guy. If the team gets stuck with him and he does cost the Bills 2 games to miss the playoffs, will anybody else look at the decision to let Drew Preston get a few snaps as the snapper as the moment that killed the season? Before the missed extra point, Lindell was kicking well (one miss and it was from ~54 yards) and he was getting good distance on his kickoffs (about 50% inside the 2 yard line). Since the missed extra point he has missed at least 2 more field goals and I haven't seen him get one inside the 10 (in fairness, I didn't see either of his kickoffs tonight). He has become the head case he was last year. Oh well, there's always next year. Dave.

I've been happy with Gandy's performance in the preseason. My concern is with Bennie Anderson. Especially for all the hype, he seems to be the weak link on this line. Dave.

Warrick is from Baton Rouge and his mother was a cop there. She was killed in an attempted robbery at a night deposit box at one of the local banks. Warrick is a tremendous individual and I hope that the people he was appealing to heed his call. Dave.

Could you please explain to me why it is the federal government's responsibility to have levees that will withstand category 6 huricanes and nuclear explosions in New Orleans? Why couldn't New Orleans or the state of Louisiana have done anything to upgrade the levees? The residents and local governments (and yes the federal government as well) have know for a long time (perhaps ever since people started moving to New Orleans) that the area can, will, and does get hit with major hurricanes. (There was a major near miss in the early 90's when Andrew came through and did a number on Baton Rouge ~70 miles down the road.) Can we dispense with the blame for a few days? Can we allow the people that are trying to save the desperate people down there to do their jobs without saying (and I paraphrase (it is not an exact quote): "if the evil whitehouse would only have let us spend $18 billion (source: WSJ Wednesday) we could have made designed and built levees that would not have failed; just like the 17 federal levees (out of nearly 100 total levees that failed) that did fail in the early 90's Mississippi River flood (source:WSJ Tuesday (might have been Monday edition, I do not still have that one in front of me))")? It is horrible what happened and there will be plenty of time - years - to decide where and how to cast blame. Can we for now just say a prayer for the people down there and write a check to our favorite relief organization? I apologise for the tone of this reply; I realize that you are as frustrated as I am and many other posters are at the inability to do anything more to help these people now, but I just needed to get this off my chest. Dave.

New Orleans cops quitting in the middle of this, I would consider abandoning the mayor. They are and they have. (Source: the Baton Rouge Advocate website) Dave.

Apparently, for at least the last 10 years, UB didn't realize they have a team either.

My bad. Thanks for the correction. Dave.

According to the top post in this thread, it was Rob Lee the rookie cornerback that was cut, not Rashard Lee the running back. Dave.

I expect JP to make 1 - 2 major rookie mistakes a game this season. But, considering I also expect that he will be sacked much less and throw fewer interceptions than Bledsoe did last year, I think the defense will be able to overcome most of the rookie mistakes. I expect the team to be at least 8-8 with JP at the helm, and if he can keep to one painful mistake a game, the Bills could go 11-5; which should get them into the playoffs. I have more concerns about Rian Lindell snagging defeat from the jaws of victory than I do about JP. Dave.

Say a prayer for the people down there. I was living in Baton Rouge when Andrew hit and know that a lot of people did not evacuate New Orleans. If this storm does hit New Orleans at its current strength, the loss of life and devastation will be mind boggling. I hope somehow the thing weakens before it hits the coast. Dave.

I went to the Ravens game last year and lucked into tickets to one of the pregame parties. The Ravens cheerleaders came and visited the tent. All I can say is WOW. They get my vote. Dave.

Actually, the reason they are on the air is when Adelphia went bankrupt the radio station (WNSA) and TV station (Empire) were put up for sale. WNSA was bought by the owners of WGR and for whatever inane reason the owners of WGR decided to keep WGR running and killed WNSA (it's now a good music station "The Lake"). I understand why they wanted to keep only 1 sports station (higher ratings for that 1 station, although total listenership is down (I would have to believe)), but why they kept WGR over the FAR SUPERIOR (in signal strength and quality of programming) WNSA is something I will never understand. Must have something to do with hubris / arrogance. It is my understanding that Howard was beating Schopp at the time WNSA went under and also that the morning show was beating WGR's at the time. As for EMPIRE folding, there was a legitimate bidder for Empire, but Adelphia decided that it would cost it money in the long run as it would have to pay a fee to Empire to carry it on its cable stations. Rather than put a value on good will for keeping Empire around, the bean counters at Adelphia decided (from their Colorado offices) to say the heck with the Buffalo sports fans. Finally, Schopp was lousy when he was a "reporter" for the Democrat & Chronicle, was bad as a sports host on WHAM in Rochester, was good (IMHO) as a host on WNSA, and absolutely horrible as a host on WGR. Dave. PS, I haven't heard much (ok, any) football on it, but The Fan 590 in Toronto does an excellent job covering hockey and a good job covering baseball. I expect that when we get to NFL season, they will do a decent job covering the Bills (haven't heard much Argo coverage yet). I can only pick it up on the radio in my car (wifey's won't pick it up), so I haven't heard it a whole lot. But it is where Jim Kelley ended up. Maybe if people stateside call in to talk about the Bills, they'll cover them better. Heck, no Bills coverage beats GR's Bills coverage.