JDG

Thanks for the comment. I am trying not to take this too seriously, and believe me I don't let it get to me. But the truth of the matter is that I posted one strong observation that people seem to have a problem with - which was that Losman's performance was pretty bad. That is hardly an unjustified observation - indeed reading the papers after the game, I see comments from Bills beat writers to the effect that "Craig Nall must feel like he still has a chance after Sunday's game." [You may also argue, as Lori did, that I had a strong comment about Moorman's game, but Leo Roth described Moorman as having a "big night" in today's D&C - so again, I don't seem to have reached an unreasonable conclusion. Opinions may differ, but I'm not off the reservation in my assessment.] The real issue here is that there are certain legionaries of Losman-lovers who simply do not tolerate any criticism of Losman's performances to date, be they horrible, bad, or mediocre at best. I apologize for being a Bills fan outside of Western New York, not owning a satellite dish, and still doing my best to follow the team. The truth of the matter is that I could either: a) form my opinions about the Bills based on reading accounts of various sportswriters and fans who saw the game, or b) form my opinions about the Bills based on the above, *and* examining the play-by-play evidence. Is the answer to set up a special message board that is only for fans who actually watched every single Bills preseason and regular season game, so that you all don't have to deal with ignorant fans like me? I am 100% sure that I am not the only fan here who did not watch the game. If I had simply not stated anything about watching the game, or had simply agreed with the conventional wisdom, this conversation wouldn't be happening.... The truth of the matter is that I made two mistakes: 1) Being honest and up-front about not having watched the game. 2) Daring to criticize Losman for what seems to have been a mediocre performance at the most generous level of assessment JDG

Given that people who watched the game apparently think that JP Losman played like Johnny Unitas, it may be that not watching the game is actually an advantage to level-headed thinking. ;-) I think it contributes to the discussion by observing things like playing time, substitutions, and statistical production. Of course, its hardly the final word, but I don't think it is worthless either. JDG

Second year.... Rookie season..... Hmmmmm...... JDG

Thanks! JDG

Feel free to name them at any time - I'd be interested to see it....

Don't buy it. Losman went through a training camp, and even saw some live action during the season as a rookie. He was *not* a rookie last year like Eli Manning was in the stats you cite. If you want, you can compare him to other 1st round QBs that did not play *at all* as rookies, say like Carson Palmer or Chad Pennington, but no dice in comparing him a second-year player to a rookie.... JDG

People keep repeating that like a mantra.... but it seems to me that there are scant few examples of a second-year QB performing as badly as Losman did last year and going on to good things.... JDG

I'm sorry, from now on only people living in WNY or with a satellite dish will be allowed to have respectable opinions on preseason games..... And from now on, production will no longer matter. Instead, we're going to get Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson to judge how QB's *look*, rather than how they play.... As an added bonus, from now on, we're not going to keep scores in games either. Instead, victories will be awarded to the team that *looked* the best..... JDG

If you think calling me ignorant is going to hurt my feelings, you really haven't spent much time around here. Again, this is a replay of the debates from last year. Losman doesn't produce and its the wide receiver's fault, or the offensive line's fault, or (my personal favorite), it was the lousy gameplan! After every game, Losman's acolytes would talk about how good he looked in the games, while it was left to some other fans to point out that the results were all-too-often the same - completing less than 50% of his passes, passing for less than 150 yards (and often less than 100 yards!), and far too few points on the scoreboard. Well, Moulds is gone, we have two new offensive lineman, and even Mularkey has been shown the door, and once again - Losman doesn't produce, and its the wide receivers fault, the line's fault, and the gameplan is still crimping Losman's style. Oye..... I don't know what it is about Losman - maybe a fascination with mobile QB's or something.... particularly 1st round draft pick mobile QB's. If we were having this conversation a couple hundred years ago, we might think that it was witchcraft. ;-) At the end of the day, though, about the best you can say for Losman last night is that for one of the few times in his career here in Buffalo, Kelly Holcomb didn't outplay him.... JDG

Yvel - I was waiting for someone to call me on the DiGiorgio observation. He's my personal "adopted UDFA" for the year, so I've been rooting for him. More seriously, though, it seems very unusual to me for a team to not use their regular long-snapper, even in the pre-season. Was Schneck hurt? If not, while I intentionally overblew my assessment, there might actually be a little bit of smoke there..... JDG

This seems to be the same debate as occurred last year.... some fans watch the game and talk about Losman's poise, other fans look at the numbers and cite the lack of production. Based on the results, I must say that never in NFL history has a QB who looked so poised produced so little. Sorry, but the numbers don't lie - 6 yards per attempt isn't going to get this team anywheres. If Kelly Holcomb produced only 6 yards per attempt you would all be whining about his lack of arm. O.k., Holcomb actually played horrible, but the point still stands. Five sacks in less than three quarters is also unacceptable - it is going to send us backwards rather than forwards. Yay! Losman was better than Holcomb. He was still pretty bad, though... As for Moorman, I obviously can't tell from the play-by-play if the blocked punt was his fault, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. The other bad punt he had was not recorded properly in the play-by-play, so I can't tell what happened there. Still, from what I see in the record book, Moorman had punts of 47, 36, 64 (!) - 59 net, 54 (!), and 48 - 38 net. That's a huge punting day. If Losman had that kind of day, y'all'd be sending him to the Hall of Fame.... JDG

I just read the full play-by-play online, but did not see or hear the game. Kelly Holcomb clearly had a horrible outing. In four drives he went three-and-out three times. On the fourth drive, he threw an INT returned for a touchdown on the second play of the drive. Overall, he was 2 of 4 for 16 yards. Cover-your-eyes awfull. Unfortunately, it looks like Losman has taken the lead in this QB derby by default, not by being good, but simply by not being nearly as bad as Holcomb against the Panthers' second string. Losman's first drive was also three-and-out, and he managed only one first down on the next two drives, one was by Anthony Thomas rushing the football, the other by Alan Ricard's run after the catch on a swing/screen pass. In the more things change the more they stay the same department, Losman's first two pass attempts were in the direction of Josh Reed - both incomplete. Losman's fascination with getting the ball to Josh Reed is absolutely incomprehensible to me... although given that this was the preseason, Reed may well have bee the best WR on the field in this case, unlike last year. Yes, Losman led the team to 13 points - but 10 of those points came on short fields. The only sustained drive was a field goal against Carolina's scrubs late in the game. Even worse, Losman did not show that he had improved his decision making - taking a whopping 5 sacks in less than three quarters of work. Ugly. His final stat line is 15 of 24 (a promising 63%), but for a measely 144 yards (less than 10 yards per completion, and a paltry 6 yards per attempt). So much for Losman helping us with the deep ball. Some other interesting notes from the play-by-play: - John DiGiorgio was the first-string long-snapper in this game, playing three quarters. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like this undrafted free agent has a roster spot for him to lose. - The more things change, the more they stay the same. 1st posession, 3rd and Three, its a pass.... sack. UGH! - Lionel Gates went in for the 2nd team, ahead of Anthony Thomas - The WR battle continues to look wide open, with all the WR's getting playing time in this one. Well, Martin Nance did not have a catch.... which puts him on track for the practice squad, at best... - George Wilson started the game at punt returner, but Jonathan Smith got most of the work at punt returner in this game. Later in the game, Wilson would lose a fumble. Give the edge to Smith in this battle for a roster spot after one game. - Sam Aiken had been thought to be hoping to stick a roster spot based on being a special teams ace. Leading all WR's in the game with 4 catches for 73 yards, more than double anyone else for each, won't hurt his case any either, though... - Kevin Everett caught his first professional pass - for one yard. Welcome to the NFL. - Not comforting to see Delhomme cut through McGee and Clements and company like melted butter.... but its only the preseason, right? - Kyle Williams stuffed Panters starter DeShaun Foster on consectuve 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1 plays, forcing a punt. A nice way to start a career as a rookie... even if it is only the preseason... - Donte Whitner was whistled for unnecessary roughness... and seemed to be making a lot of tackles, suggesting that he was getting picked on. - Josh Stamer and Liam Ezekial both forced fumbles. - Kiwaukee Thomas seems to have gotten extensive playing time, he may be very much in the mix for the nickle CB slot . - It was nice to see Lindell hitting from 50 and 45. - Moorman was booming some monster punts, including a 65 yarder, although he did have one partially blocked as well. Moorman is a stud of the first order. MVP!!!!!

Under the radar is exactly where I want this team to be. Let's face it, with a revamped offensive line, perhaps as many as 5 or 6 rookies seeing significant playing time, a brand new coach, and very young QB this team is not going to be good early. Starting off the schedule with road trips to New England and Miami certainly isn't going to help. In my opinion, this team's goal needs to be just to avoid elimination during the rough early-season schedule while this team comes together. 3-4 going into the bye would leave me content - anything better would leave me ecstatic. This team's last 7 games include four at home, and road trips to Houston, the NY Jets, and Baltimore. If this team can put it together by mid-season, those final seven games completely set us up for a late season run. Every year some team starts off slow and puts it together down the stretch. Looking at the Bills schedule, we have the opportunity to be that team - and I suspect the biggest obstacle will be whether our QB can take advantage of it. JDG

Sure, he's rated as one of the top punters in the League, but the truth of the matter is that Moorman a couple years back was actually the Team's MVP. As long as he's only being compared to other punters, and not as one of the best players on the Bills, he's still being underrated. JDG

Darrick Holmes Seeing him drag half the Redskins defense down the field is one of my all-time favorite Bills moments.

From the US Census Bureau, per capita statistics: State & Local taxes combined: NY #1 at $5260 per capita. (#2, CT - $4921) State & Local expenditures: NY #2 (#1 is AK, thanks to oil revenue) Welfare Spending: NY #1 (AK is #2, again - oil, NY is spending 17% more per person than #3 RI.) Education: NY is #4 in Education spending per person, but is #50 in education fees received per person. Salaries and Wages: NY is #3 in spending on salaries on wages, behind AK (oil) and DE (home of corporate governance in the US.) Utilities: NY is #3 in spending on Utilities - how this is true for the State that has Niagara Falls is very mystifying to me. It seems to me that NY State and Local governments are attempting to provide the cadillac of governmental services, while the average people are voting with their feet and going elsewhere. JDG

You like TV, eh? You don't say..... What's on tonight? JDG

Good grief - some people really need to settle down. I'll try and respond to a few comments: 1) If Martin Nance pans out, then by definition, the NFL missed on him by not drafting him. If Nance turns into a good player at any point in his career - let alone as a rookie - a lot of NFL GM's will be wishing they could have the 6th or 7th round pick where they passed on him back. 2) I'm not 100% sure what Sam Aiken did on special teams last year, but given the Bills' #1 Special Teams for the last two years, whatever Sam Aiken did, he was probably doing it at a very high level. #1 over two years is simply amazing. 3) Even if the Bills keep 6 or 7 WR's on the roster, you only bring 45 players with you to the game, which means that the 6th WR in all likelihood, and without quesiton the 7th WR will be parked firmly on the inactive list. That's an important factor in coloring any expectations for Nance this year. If Nance is going to get onto the active list for gamedays - i.e. one of our Top 5 WR's, it is absolutely essential that he beat out Aiken, Wilson, and Smith on Special Teams play, because that is what a 5th WR does on Sundays. JDG

I don't think relationship has anything to do with it. Holcomb is too old to be a 3rd String QB. Holcomb is a nice guy to have as the #2 to come in in the event of an injury, manage the game, and not make mistakes. At the #3 spot, I would think that you would want a developmental guy. For a moment there, when it looked like his old target, Andre Davis would be starting for us, it seemed like Holcomb had a shot to win this thing. That's harder to see nowadays... JDG

I think that Marv and April are going to put a lot more emphasis on special teams in player evaluations than simply taking the attitude (oh, we can teach anyone to do it.) JDG

Yes, other States make up for it - but in 2004 New Yorkers paid more state and local taxes per person than any State in the Union.... $4684 for every man, woman, and child. Connecticut was #2 at $4441. Washington is at $3347 and Texas comes in at $2829. JDG

If the coaches thought Nance was better, they wouldn't have given Price and Reed $2 million dollars, and they wouldn't have let Nance get through the draft without taking him. JDG

Two reasons: 1) Over the past few years, how many undrafted free agent WR's have been #3 WR's, let alone starters, as rookies? In other words, why are there 32 NFL General Managers who didn't use so much as a 6th or even a 7th round draft pick on a WR who was ready to start as a rookie??? 2) In order to so much as make the #3 slot, he would have to beat out two WR's who have already received checks for Two Million Dollars from Ralph Wilson this year. Now, I know that all the prices have gone up - but still, it would be a tough pill to swallow to pay Two Million Dollars this year to ride the bench while an undrafted rookie gets playing time. JDG

Not all WR's do - but pretty much all 4th and 5th string WR's do while they develop.... JDG

In the grand scheme of things, outsourcing to India is still a tiny slice of our economy. The problem isn't the jobs that are moving, its the jobs that aren't being created. Have the excellent Universities of Upstate New York produced the equivalent of a Dell (U of TX), or a Google (Stanford)? Why not? JDG