Dr. K

56. Give him the rest of the season, then figure out what to do for next year.

"It's all right, Ma, I'm only bleeding." (for you oldsters out there)

Uh....that was the point of the Bang! and Thump. He said, as he lay there bleeding.

I propose that we shoot the next person who posts about J.P. Losman, pro or con, in the head. BANG!...... Thump.

Pats win easily.

Will you use your Black & Decker power router?

This made me go searching in the bottom of the drawer in our den, where I found my old Ted Williams autograph mit. It's in terrible shape--all the laces are rotted out--but could probably still be recovered with some loving care. Grip-tite pocket! Snap Action! I'm an old bastard.

I agree that JP is JP, not Bradshaw or Brees or anyone else. That's why I said I'd not push this comparison or draw too many conclusions. Like every Bills fan, I am very tired of losing. But in general my temperament is to prefer patience over "win now!"

Fair enough. I think that's a reasonable position, though I think I'd give him the entire season, no matter how painful it is to watch. As for "the exception not the rule," do you mean that almost all of the time you can tell accurately how a QB's career will play out after, say 10-15 starts? I do not think I would agree with that. Though I was convinced that Todd Collins was dead meat after less than one season. I did stay on board the Rob Johnson support train longer than most, and I was wrong about that.

You're right about the first super bowl year. Sorry. I wouldn't compare the current Bills to the Steelers either. But what's your point? That Bradshaw was a crappy QB who got into the Hall not on his own merits? I guess you could say that we should expect more from Losman than Bradshaw because the Bills don't have two hall-of-fame receivers or one of the best defenses in all time. Seems like a tough row to hoe for any new QB. What do you want to bet on? Craig Nall?

I don't know whether Losman is going to pan out or not. I still have hopes he will. But the talk on the board has made me think about Terry Bradshaw's early career (another strong-armed QB who had a rep for running the ball when he came into the league). I seemed to remember his stinking up the place in his first few years. Granted, the times were different then (completion precentages were generally lower overall), but still, look at these numbers. year games att comp pct. yds. ypa TD INT rushes yds ypc TD 1970 13 218 83 38.1 1,410 6.5 6 24 32 233 7.3 1 1971 14 373 203 54.4 2,259 6.1 13 22 53 247 4.7 5 1972 14 308 147 47.7 1,887 6.1 12 12 58 346 6.0 7 1973 10 180 89 49.4 1,183 6.6 10 15 34 145 4.3 3 1974 8 148 67 45.3 785 5.3 7 8 34 224 6.6 2 1975 14 286 165 57.7 2,055 7.2 18 9 35 210 6.0 3 In the first five years he completed more than half of his passes only once. It wasn't until his sixth year that he had more TD's than Interceptions. Can you imagine what this board would be like if Losman, over his first 13 games, had a 38% completion percentage with 6 TD's to 24 interceptions? It wasn't until 1975 that he had a "good" season, and that was not coincidentally the first year the Steelers went to the Super Bowl. They made it on running and defense. I don't want to draw too many conclusions from this, but thought you might like to consider it.

I agree. We all got a little bit ahead of outselves. We went into this season knowing a lot of things had to change and a lot of young players had to develop and that there still were holes in the roster. But coming out of the gate, the Bills came close to beating the Pats on their field and then went and beat the Dolphins in Miami. Since so many "experts" were saying the fins were a playoff, even a Super Bowl team, we naturally thought the Bills were much farther along than they really are. Then the Jets game; yes we lost, but we put up big offensive numbers. Tne the Bills beat the Vikings, another team people said would be a playoff competitor. But the fact is, and always was, that both Bills' lines were suspect, J.P. if he is going to make it (and that's not sure, but I still think he will) still has a way to go, and we are starting two rookies in the defensive backfield. I fully expect us to get beat by the Pats on Sunday. Right now, and after that, I think its easy to get an unduly negative view of this team. The idea that they would be 2-4 after their first six games would not have surprised us at all in August. The fact that they are likely to be 2-4 after six should therefor not cause us to tear our hair out (though, like anyone, I hate watching it). I'm just looking for improvement in the second half of the season, and figuring out what needs to be done in the off season. We'll see.

I'm with you on this. What's the point of quitting?

I saw the Braves beat up on the Knicks one night in the 1970s. The Braves were a great team with McAdoo, Smith, McMillian, Dantley, etc. John Y. Brown should be roasting in the lowest circle of hell for what he did to that team and its fans.

I remind you that Kitna has played very well against the Bills in the past, going back to his time with Seattle. He's not a great QB, but he has taken advantage of the Bills' D a couple of times.

Never had teh Geoffrey Rush comparison. But it could be a lot worse! I'm looking forward to seeing "The Prestige." The trailer looks great anyway.

I happen to know Christopher Priest, the author of the novel The Prestige on which the movie is based. He's pretty excited about the film and the first class production it received. I ran into Priest at a conference in Spain last summer. Here's a photo of the two of us (fifth photo down on the page). We were pretty drunk at the time on the amazing hard cider they make in northern Spain. http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/semananegraphotos.htm

On the last Bills drive they ran three straight times to the right for the first down to eat the clock. I do agree that Preston whiffed on his first play in, giving up a sack to Williams. But let's see how he does when given a chance to start before we throw him under the bus.

Great post!

I've actually been amused by and in tune with your rants in the last week or so. You go, guy! We'll leave the politics out of it.

Thanks for saying this. I don't know if Losman is going to be a great QB, but I hate the impatience and kvetching on the board about him. I think he's got what it takes, and has shown continual improvement. I want the Bills to win as much as anyone, and their losing sucks, but really can't understand what these people expect.

It's both hilarious and depressing to see this board go from unjustified ecstasy to unjustified suicidal rage in an afternoon. There is no in-between for most of the fans TSW. They would make a manic depressive seem like the apex of self control. This has nothing to do with the Buffalo Bills and everything to do with psycho-pathology. I am going to avoid reading the board at least until Tuesday.

No. It's cheesy and he doesn't deserve it to the degree he's had to suffer it. Not that he probably gives a damn about what anyone here says.

I admit to being one of the fans who thought Lindell was never going to become a good kicker. I am happy to eat crow on this one.

PS: that also goes for dumping on TD and Bledsoe and various other ex-Bills. Just let it go, give credit where credit is due, and enjoy the team we have. No players or coaches or general managers in this game are either totally worthless or godlike.