Trip

Keenan McCardell was another. And Tom Nalen. There are a lot of pretty good players that spent time on practice squads but I'm having a hard time finding any stars other than the ones mentioned like Hasselbeck.

Be careful. That's pretty simplistic thinking.

Anytime.

I've already told you how we get one. We develop a QB, and take pressure off the scrubs playing there. And we're on our way.

So was Mike Williams. How'd that work out? The Bills didn't think highly enough of Shelton to give a mid round draft choice for him, and the OL was the root of all problems according to some. Bennie Anderson was horrible here. Sure I'd prefer 1st round draft choices at all positions. I'll take the QB. He can comepensate for a lot of shortcomings on the OL. Is that what it takes to make a solid offensive line? One first round draft choice and a lot of scrubs?

Bennie Anderson and LJ Shelton are starting on the OL in Miami. They could be our case study. I say their offense is pretty good this year with Culpepper at QB.

Not what I said. But an NFL team also doesn't need an all pro offensive line to win 10 games.

We've heard for years now the Bills offense stinks because of poor offensive line play. "You win in the trenches" and all that happy horse crap. Yet other teams build offensive lines through free agency, 4th round draft picks and lower, and even undrafted free agents and go deep in the playoffs. The reality is, at least in my view, that a quick triggered QB and the threat of a passing game can open up the whole offense much more effectively than a good offensive line. Put Peyton Manning behind the Bills offensive line of last year and he's still an MVP candidate and Edgerin James is still a top RB and Manning's offensive is still near the top of the league. Is it a coincidence that since Drew Bledsoe has moved on to Dallas, the Cowboys now have offensive line problems? The experts say the offensive line will be the key to Dallas' success and must play better than they did last year. Gee, figure that one out. On Losman's TD pass to Price, he avoided a free blitzing Willie McGinest, not exactly a fringe pass rusher and delivered a strike. McGinest wasn't even touched by a Bills offensive lineman, yet articles are now being written (Rochester D and C today) about the improved line play of the Bills, the best line in Buffalo since Y2K. Bledsoe would have assumed the fetal position on that play and probably fumbled. If Losman keeps playing like he is now, the offensive line and Jim McNally will get a whole heap of credit for giving the QB time to throw and turning the offense around, but what the team has needed all along in my opinion is a QB that can make quick decisions and strong, accurate throws.

Does Peter know the Pats too wanted Peerless Price? I'm sure if he knew the model organization was willing to sign him it would change Peter's outlook.

They won't pass as much as the Rams I'm sure, but the when they do pass the principles will likely resemble what Fairchild learned in St. Louis. It certainly won't come from his Colorado St. days! The receivers are similar, and I can't say I haven't thought the exact same thing as what you wrote. And Roscoe Parrish can probably do a pretty good Az Hakim impersonation. And Josh Reed isn't far from Ricky Proehl. That said, if Evans and Price become a poor mans Holt and Bruce, Bills fans will be very happy.

So division II WR's and even some division III are capable of making it in the NFL, and some even making a huge impact, but MAC WR's??? Forget it. Nance still has a shot. He'll be on some teams P.S. and we'll see how he looks at midseason this year or early next year. He has the talent to play in the NFL.

Actually the Bills do have a lot of talent in the secondary. The whole draft was spent on the secondary, and they already had Clements, McGee, Vincent, and Jabari Greer and Eric King are good nickel corners. Usually players like Rashad Baker, who's pretty good, don't get cut, and that's what the Bills are facing unless they keep 5 safeties, which is not that common either. Coy Wire's been on the team about 4 years and he's a goner. That's all Tasker was trying to say. The embarrassing comment might have taken it a bit far, but they do have a talented secondary.

Just a coment on JP's preseason numbers. He's hitting 65% of his passes and he's averaging 8.1 yds/att. So he's throwing the ball accurately and down the field, not dinking and dunking. He's been really impressive on throws in the 15-25 range. Bledsoe only averaged 7.1 yds/att in his huge 2002 season with the Bills. Peyton Manning hit 67% with 8.27 yds/att last year. Not only does JP look good based on what we see, his numbers back it up in a big way.

He had one like that to Josh Reed in the Cincy game. Hit Reed in a perfect spot about 20-25 yards downfield and Reed couldn't hold it. His QB rating is close to 90 and I don't think it's a fluke. It could be better.

What's very encouraging about JP so far is that he looks very comfortable in the pocket. We not just seeing glimpses of his strong, accurate arm, he shows it consistently. And it should only get better when the regular season hits and the Bills have Mcgahee in the backfield full time and more of a running game threat.

Donohoe was a disaster, wholly evil in my opinion. Donohoe defenders point to his drafts (I was one for awhile) but as you've pointed out, he had virtually no success in the later rounds, and he simply did what he should have been able to do in the early rounds, nothing more nothing less. Terrence McGee was a nice draft choice in the 4th round, but there are few (any?) others that have exceeded production value for where they were chosen. The Mike Williams flop and wasted Josh Reed pick in the early second offset any success that Donohoe had early in the draft otherwise. When you have to point out Sam Aiken as 4th rounder that Donohoe hit on, that says it all. Donohoe gets too much credit for Willis McGahee. Willis is what he's supposed to be at this point, a good RB selected in the late-middle first round. Donohoe was able to acquire the pick by dealing Peerless Price but he gets too much credit for that one too, which leads me to my next point, lacking the foresight to sign young players to long term deals. If Price would have been signed to a 3-4 year deal before his breakout season, and his production warranted it, Donohoe could have kept an explosive offense together. Pat Williams, Jonas Jennings, Nate Clements.... Factor in his complete inability to hire a functional coaching staff, and I can't see anything positive that came out of the Donohoe era. The cap is good shape. It should be. The team hasn't won anything in about six years. The cap was in bad shape when Donohoe took over, and that's okay, too, the team was coming off a decade of success.

With Andre Davis and Peerless Price coming in, plus the receivers we already had on the roster, I really thought Sam Aiken would have a hard time making the team. What I've seen so far of him on offense, plus his special teams ability we already know about, I think he's just about a lock now for the 5th receiver spot. If they keep six it's wide open, but if they only go with 5 receivers, I think it's just about settled.

Yeah, I fault JP for that throw too. Reed was indecisive in his route but Losman telegraphed it. If he would have pumped, it might have been six. (He may have also been sacked too, he was under pressure) Still, JP looks A LOT better this preseason.

I'm a little concerned about WR too. Evans will be good and Parrish/Reed will be fine in the 3rd/4th roles. Those two may be above average in those roles. Price is the missing link right now. He hasn't had any injuries, and I've seen teammates (both with the Cowboys last year and the Bills this year) quoted as saying he hasn't lost any speed. There's no reason he can't be a pretty good number two, but I'm with you, something seems wrong there. He's not even getting open enough to get any attempts his way.

That Chargers game was depressing. Hopefully we don't have to sit though any of those this year.

I remember those quite well. I'm still not concerned about it. If he keeps doing it, then I'm worried. Drew Bledsoe (and just about everyone else) has had multiple fumble games. Fumbles happen when QB's start scrambling around trying to make plays (unless you're Bledsoe). As he gets more comfortable, the ball will start coming out quicker and he'll learn to throw it away.

Okay, but I guess my real point is, and many have made it many times, we don't know what JP is yet. Almost all QB's are bad in their first 9 games. Great ones are bad (Aikman, Bradshaw, etc. just about all of them except for a handful like Brady and Montana) good ones are bad (Eli, etc.) and bad ones are obviously bad. JP can still fall into any of the categories. The stage he's in now in his development is where the good ones and the great ones start to pick it up quickly, and it looks like in the last two games he's doing that. The fumbles are no concern, like the Fair and Balanced one said.

Yeah, and those players have a lot of NFL games under their belts. It's useless to compare JP's stats so far, to current NFLers careers. Compare other QB's first 9 games if you want it apples to apples. And Losman compares favorably to a lot of very good ones in his first 9 NFL games. And it looks - so far - like he's ready to take another step. So, we'll see.

That roster looks pretty close to what I think, too. My opinion Take off Neufeld and add Cieslak Take off Burns and add Jerman Mertz to practice squad and add Gibson I also think Holcomb will get cut if Nall looks good in a little more extended action. Kingsbury can be added to the P.S. The defense looks right, who knows about the 4th DE

Not sure if that "if" and "maybe" comment was directed at me, but since I'm the only one talking up Price in this thread, I'll assume it was. I already gave you four reasons why I think Price could have a good year without using if or maybe in my first reply to your post. It happens quite often that QB's who have only played 9 games in the NFL turn it around. The ones that turn out to be good rarely give any more indication than Losman after 9 NFL games. It's the next 16 that should give us some indication of progress.