Typical TBD Guy

That's very true. The Bills have been awful for what is an eternity in today's NFL: haven't made the playoffs since 1999, haven't won the division since 1995, and haven't won a playoff game since 1995. And yet, this small-market, economically depressed market still sells out games for a stevestojantty product...makes me proud to be a Bills fan! Better days will come! They HAVE to, right?

Or how about McGahee? Can McGahee be any worse than Shelton in blocking?

I shouldn't have used the word "any" because of course there are many Bledsoe Apologists out there - including you yourself - who still believe Drew deserves some of the blame. Regardless, we have big differences on how much blame Drew actually deserves, and I guess my 2 main arguments continue to be the historical evidence (listen to any Patriots fan since 1998) and the emphasis on the QB's importance to an entire 11-man offensive unit (listen to players who've played with HOF QB's). Oh yeah, and not to mention the offense's statistics for the past 17 games.

Yeah but I've been getting the same insults, unfortunately. Several PM's as well telling me that I not really a Bills fan and that I like watching our team fail. Keep the faith, brother.

Sorry about this. I didn't mean to say that Losman is going to be a definite, 100%, sure-fire NFL success. But I'm pretty sure Drew isn't the answer, and Losman may or may not be, so might as well find out ASAP, no?

Bledsoe is actually both "A" problem and "THE" problem at the same time. He's only "A" problem in the way that numerous other Bills players are screwing up around him. However, he's also "THE" problem in the way that a lot of our struggles on offense are due to the type of QB he is - one who only magnifies our blocking mistakes. When everything up front is well and clicking, Bledsoe can still be a Pro Bowler (evidence: first 8 games of 2002). However, when any sort of blocking begins to disintegrate, he will turn into the type of QB we've been used to seeing for the 27 regular season games since Drew initially faced off against Bill Bellysick. Drew, while easy for defensive coordinators to game-plan against, can still take us to the playoffs this season or next if he has an outstanding corps of linemen (like top 10 NFL OL unit) and backfield blockers (fugging Henry and Shelton :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: ). This will not be a reality in the era of the salary cap, especially with the way our team is currently built. So will making only one substitution - Drew for JP - make us a better offense? Probably not initially, but pretty soon - yes. JP thrived on plays breaking down in college, as do all of today's NFL playoff QB's who are without an absolutely dominant defense supporting them (and our Bills D is strong, but certainly not dominant).

Actually, I didn't know that. When we renegotiated our big-armed QB's multi-million dollar contract last season, I assumed we'd be averaging more than 10 points per game. Otherwise, why keep Drew on? Why not sign a Dilfer for $1 mill and use the rest of Drew's contract money to beef up the OL interior? The Bledsoe Apologists are right, though, in the sense that Drew is not to blame for any of our offensive problems. TD ultimately is to blame for attempting to run a conservative, mistake-free offense by diverting the financial resources needed for players who can block to an expensive QB who can't succeed if a single blocking assignment fails in any given play.

And let me guess, Tom Brady's middle name is "TheQueen?" (ZING! )

Thank you for making my point. If anyone here thinks Bledsoe is a problem with this team, then according to you they are a "moron." "Big play offensive ability?" Sure, for a whopping 10 offensive points yesterday! Are Henry and Wire big problems as well? Absolutely! But we all know Wire will sit as soon as Milloy gets healthy in the next 2 weeks. And no one is arguing that Henry isn't a liability. Henry's replacement is McGahee as soon as Willis gets back to 100% (assuming he does ever fully recover). But the difference between guys like you and guys like me is that guys like you want to delay Bledsoe's heir - Losman - for as long as possible. Guys like you see Drew's improvements this season and believe he's a changed man who can take us to the playoffs next year or even this year; guys like me haven't seen enough improvement from Drew and still see many instances of his old bad habits. By the way, Bledsoe's lack of mobility isn't the only problem. After all, Peyton Manning is immobile as well. But Peyton compensates with an uncanny ability to make the slightest steps within the backfield to evade horribly negative plays. Bledsoe, despite how hard he's been trying to get rid of the ball quicker, still reverts back to his old familiar ways - killing drives with mistakes at the worst time. Things need to go perfectly well for Drew to succeed - no missed blocks, 5+ seconds of no pass rush, etc... so I ask you, a self-proclaimed "smart minded football fan," is it realistic to expect all (or hell, any?) football plays on offense to go as smoothly as they were designed?

And here we go again! The Bledsoe Apologists are still alive and kicking, calling those that disagree "idiots" and "morons" and "marginal fans" and the like. Do the Bledsoe Apologists really understand why most Bills fans at this point are blaming one player for the entire offense's ineptitude? No, not because we have a personal vendetta against Drew, but because we have finally grasped all that the Patriots fans have been telling us about Drew since he was traded. The Patriots were similarly dismal on offense by the start of the 2001 season. EVERYONE on offense was screwing up, dropping ball, missing blocks, etc... And yet once Drew went down and Brady came in, everyone else on the team magically began "getting it." So can one player really make an entire offensive unit that much better like that? Yes. The game has changed dramatically since the very early 90's. The NFL has become an even quicker game - on both the physical and mental levels. And now, more than ever, the one player on an offense who dictates where the ball goes on virtually 100% of the plays and has a significant role in a play's outcome for about 50% of those plays (passes) needs to be equally quicker. Behind an NFL center is no place to be for pocket passers lacking confidence in their abilities. Nothing I've said here has been particularly new or insightful. But it needed to be said again, before stevestojan's thread turns into another hostile battleground between the Spiked Lemonades and the Bledsoe Apologists. I want to remind the BA's again why us SL's focus so much blame on Drew - because of the history lesson and not because of some fanatical hatred for some name player eating up a lot of salary cap space on an 0-3 team.

A top 5 pick next year with Tom Donahoe at the controls is no guarantee of success. Look at Mike Williams. He does nothing but eat up salary cap space.

You sure about that? We've been waiting for over 10 years to finally "address" the OL.

The minute we drafted Josh Reed, I remember jumping off the wall telling all my friends in the room (mostly Jets fans) that they might as well start getting used to calling him "Andre."

Yeah I agree with you there. It’s time for a fresh start. Mr. Wilson needs to begin the long-overdue negotiations NOW to sell the franchise to Golisano or some other pro-WNY billionaire. I love the old man like a brother, but there's a reason why Mr. Wilson isn't in the Hall of Fame yet...

Um, and give Tagliabue the ammo he needs to move the Bills out to LA? No !@#$ing way. No thank you. A stevestojantty Bills team is still way better than no Bills team at all. At least with a stevestojantty team like what we have now, there's always that "possibility" that we can still play well. I already purchased 4 tickets to the Dec. 12 Cleveland home game, and I have no plans to sell them regardless of how ugly this season unfolds.

Let me state this again so BuffaloBob and the fanatical Drew Apologists can understand: I was NOT singling out Drew's play for our 3 losses. Many other players on offense have failed the Bills besides Drew, as have several players on defense (hmm, Wire?), a suspect kicker, a rookie offensive coaching staff, and yes - of course - the main man, TD. But my general question was who still believes in a Bills team making the playoffs that is led by Bledsoe, regardless of the specifics of the exact percentage of blame Drew deserves in the 0-3 start? The reasoning is that it's easier to change 1 player on offense rather than to change 10. And since the QB is the most important position on the offense, and since our offense has been averaging a miniscule 10 points per game, and since the NFL has seemed to evolve beyond the days of the multi-million-dollar slow-footed pocket passer, and since the 2001 Patriots seemed to acquire a lot of success immediately after changing the same 1 player on their offense, maybe we should give it a try, no? I'm not advocating Shane Matthews as the answer - he's not even a high school football program's answer at QB - but I am all for putting in Losman as soon as he's healthy and assuming we don't get much more productive on offense in the next few weeks. My question was, basically, who's with me on this one and who isn't?

I'm not blaming Bledsoe for these 3 losses! Every Bills player deserves a certain percentage of the blame, some more than others...(and TD in my opinion deserves 100% of the blame). What I'm asking is who still has faith that we can win with Drew as our QB, assuming the OL gels this season and WR's stop dropping balls and Henry/Shelton block etc...? I for one don't. I had assumed most Bills fans by now don't either. But judging by most of the responses so far, maybe that's not the case. Or maybe it's just a TBD thing. Oneida Lake, no I do not get any joy from this. Although lately, I have been starting to take these Bills games less seriously than in years past. BuffaloBob... :I starred in Brokeback Mountain:

Just curious if there are any left over from the bye week. For clarification, the official definition of a Bledsoe Apologist: one who believes the current Bills team OR any future Bills team has a chance of making the playoffs as long as Drew is still around as a starter.

It's perfectly OK if one of our own here wants to bash Drew. But when an outsider rips on our QB, well that pisses me off! Hey NFL Countdown and the rest of the "elite" football media who enjoys gargling Brady's man juice every Sunday... :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: It's time for a changing of the guard in the AFC East!!!

Do you really think the Dolphins could end up 0-16? Maybe if their D was close to being as bad as their O... You figure they are going to win a few games somewhere in their schedule; it might as well be against a non-Bills division opponent.

Libertarians on Issues Good for you for thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, I myself am moving back into the box. I'm a registered Libertarian who is NOT voting for Badnarik in November. I don't think the party understands foreign policy. Issues like immigration control, the war on terror, and international commerce are way more complex than what the party makes them out to be. Libertarians are isolationists, and isolationism is no longer a viable policy for a country that wants to thrive in today's world - one where every country and culture is now interconnected, whether we like it or not. Anyway, that's my little rant on the Libertarian party but you are obviously welcome to form your own opinion of them. I am reluctantly voting for Bush on November 2. What are all the rest of you Libertarians thinking? I know there are at least a few roaming around the PPP board.

Draft?

And I feel more optimistic looking at your avatar. Is THAT really you?

Even so, the Expos franchise will make more money in DC than in Montreal.

We already have our great safety tandem. Unfortunately Milloy is injured and Vincent is playing corner.