Rubes

sigh

I haven't seen too many people upset about getting Simpson in there now to work out the kinks.

Classic.

Actually, one of the things I was happy to see was when he threw the ball away out of bounds one play when nobody was open.

This is why it's probably better that he's on IR, rather than cut. That's about as far as the benefit goes, though. This is shocking, really. Players don't go on IR for a 3-4 week injury. I think everyone's right in that it means we can't wait for both Bowen and Vincent to heal. That said, I'm glad to see Whitner and Simpson getting the reps and experience they need now, rather than later. It's just unfortunate the reason why.

Dude, you are brutal.

He is a Bills fan.

I'll buy that...and I'll also chime in that it was a very entertaining post. Keep it up through the year!

PRECISELY. Clements does a nice job returning punts, and so what if anything happens to him? We can just stick another rook in there.

Glad you're thinking ahead!

Good post, but I need to disagree with you on two things: 1. I think JP's performance does merit a rating of 86. 86 is a decent rating, nothing great, nothing bad. That was his performance. He did some good things, but he didn't do anything disastrous (and the safety, as I've said before, was a complete team effort). I give him a little more credit than you do. 2. The we need to do better stat. For me, by far and away it's: 41-183-4.5...rushing attempts, yards, and yards-per-carry for the Pats. We need to do much, much better or this will be a long season. Coming into this year, my biggest worry was our run defense. That didn't do much to allay my fear.

I'd feel better if he was salivating over the thought of actually generating a lot of pressure on the QB without having to send blitzes up the middle. It's why we were so damned successful in the first half against the Pats.

Uh, yes...he was bad in all facets of quarterbacking. But I'd say mostly poor decision-making killed him in that game. There were so many awful turnovers, I can't even remember them all. But St. Louis was so undeniably pathetic on offense it was hard to fathom.

Nice observations, thanks. The only other game I kept my eye on was the Denver-St. Louis game. Both of those teams looked like crap. Plummer looked about as bad as I've seen a quarterback play. I was actually thankful to have JP over this guy. He single-handedly gave St. Louis the game, although the Rams could do absolutely nothing with the ball except kick field goals. It seemed like neither team wanted to win that game.

My apologies. Seems like most of the threads I'm reading are giving him the majority of the blame for the safety, and I just don't see it that way. I guess you saw it differently.

Did JP screw up by getting sacked in the end zone? Yes. But last I checked football is a team game, and if there's one thing I took from that game, and that play, the sack was only in part due to JP's error. I blame the mysterious, unnamed player who got the penalty on the kick return that backed us up inside the 10 to start with. I blame the offensive line for not being able to handle the Pats pass rush anymore, unlike they were able to do in the first half. I blame the coaches for not figuring out what the Pats were doing to slice them up. I also blame the coaches for the play call. A 7-step drop from the 8-yard line is just foolishness. By that time, the Pats were hot, the fans were screaming, and the Bills were backed up to the shadow of their own goal. The defense was bringing the heat. Where were the draw plays? Where were the quick slants? Where were the screen passes? JP definitely needs to have a better feel for the rush and a better understanding of where he is on the field at the time. There is no excuse for taking that safety. But please, spare me. JP was only one piece of that sad story.

Yes! I did notice that. Glad I wasn't the only one.

Shelton sucked yesterday. I saw two plays I can recall where he either whiffed completely or just stood around not blocking the guy in front of him.

Perhaps, but I will say this about the refs: there were at least two or three cases of (what I felt to be obvious) false starts by the Bills offensive linemen in the first half that were NOT called.

In the first half, yes. In the second half, our front four really didn't get much of a push. Not sure if they tired or if BB figured it out.

Who are you and how did you get Joe's password?

I'm sure they'll just point to the opener a couple years back when we pasted them 31-0, yet came back to do the same to us later on and go on to win the Super Bowl.

If the Dolphins have 1st and goal at the Steelers 3 yard line and run it in, I'm going to fly over there and kick Mularkey's ass.

Big deal. Ralph is old and senile. And did I mention how old he is?

That has got to be the 2006 Word of the Season. I love it.