SoCal Pat

Outside of the Minnesota game, which I dutifully followed on my cell phone after landing in Kansas City, I've seen every game this year. So imagine my disappointment upon learning this week's game was moved to 3 p.m. -- right as I have to go to work. Score with SoCalPat listening to the game on the radio en route to work: Jets 10, Bills 0. (I didn't realize the game was on until after the McGahee run.) Score with SoCalPat blissfully unaware of what's going on: Bills 31, Jets 3. Maybe I shouldn't watch the rest of the year, and watch the games of teams that need to lose for the Bills to squeak into the No. 6 spot. I do have DirecTV, so it's not impossible.

You mean I've got to wait another seven years to make the playoffs? Because this whole, "It's going to take some time," regurgitation is something I'm fed up with. So pardon those that are grumpy about today for feeling that way.

This ain't a 41-yarder if some genius doesn't decide to use a TE to block Freeney on an obvious passing down.

What a !@#$ing dog**** offense we have. If I'm April and the defense, I start taking swings at Fairchild, JP and anyone else associated with that sack of sh-- unit.

Inasmuch as we didn't win any style points with the stat sheet, but won the game anyway. You'll remember that Buffalo was the first team in NFL history to lose a game with a 300-yard passer, a 150-yard rusher and two 100-yard receivers in the same game. Today was the flip side. I'll take it. Don't ask me about next week. I just hope Indy brings the vaseline, leaves the sand at home and makes it as pleasurable as a jailhouse rape can get.

Man, this is discouraging. Right now, the Bills are like that grown-up irresponsible adult child who still does drugs, lounges around the house, freeloads off his parents and whose existence is merely a plan to waste oxygen. In short, he has the self-motivational skills of a leech. Yet I can't take away his key, force him to pay rent or pull his share. But I still love him, so I'm stuck. I love the Bills, and I'm stuck. I've had Sunday Ticket for four years now. It's supposed to be enjoyable. And the Bills have been a part of my life every Sunday in the fall since I was 7 -- going all the way back to 1977. And if the season progresses as it has through seven games, it'll be tough to even bother with it again next year. I'm tired of having my loyalty stomped to bits on a near-weekly basis. Never have the days of Jimbo, Bruce, Thurman, Andre, et. al., seemed so far away. And I just don't see it getting any better. J.P. Losman, for all his physical gifts, just doesn't seem to be able to get it done. It's a constant battle of taking one step forward and three steps back. I'm not interested in taking on another team -- homey don't play that -- although I'm close to taking on a defacto No. 2 team in San Francisco, if only because Alex Smith and I went to the same school. But as this team continues to lose, and lose, and lose some more, I find the detatchment that's growing between myself and the Bills something I'm not getting all too upset about. Yet as I post this, I ask myself, "Why am I allowing this goddamn team to upset me as much as it is?" Obviously, I still care. Sometimes, I wish I didn't.

10-6 isn't getting us into the playoffs. In the NFC, sure. Not in the AFC. The only way 10-6 gets us in is if we win the division.

Not ours, but New Orleans. From Bob Glauber at Newsday in Long Island: 2. New Orleans Saints: Reggie Bush, RB, USC. The Saints had offers from the Jets, Bills and Packers, but were unwilling to part with the pick because they believe Bush's explosiveness will provide major impact. 8. Buffalo Bills: Donte Whitner, S, Ohio State. Come again? The Bills got a good player in Whitner, but the bigger need here was at defensive tackle. Haloti Ngata and Brodrick Bunkley were on the board, but Buffalo reached for Whitner. 26. Buffalo Bills: John McCargo, DT, North Carolina State. So let's get this straight: The Bills passed on Ngata and Bunkley at No. 8 and took a safety, then traded up for an Average Joe such as McCargo? Whoa.

Again, I gotta call BS here. If safety is such a high priority for us, then give the second or third to Oakland to move up one spot and take Michael Huff. Hell, we could've given Oakland both the 2nd and 3rd and it would've been better than what we did today. Still far from ideal, but better.

I'd rather be a front-runner for winners than a lapjockey for the mindless. Why don't you become an Arizona fan? They've got plenty of room on the bandwagon for their share of fans who believe its front office is incapable of making a bad move.

"Without giving anything up"? ROGLMFAO. We draft eighth, and we draft a player at a low-demand position 5-10 spots higher than anyone had him going? Then, we give up two picks to move up a dozen spots to take a player that would've been there with our pick at 40? You can be a fan without being a lapjockey for everything the front office do. We did NOT get value for these picks.

You don't get it. I never said that our picks were lousy players, or that they'll never amount to anything, or that I'll be pissed if they do turn out to be great players. We do not have people in the front office that are capable of making the most out of a one-time deal, ie, the draft. I don't want to be picking eighth every year. But if we're going to have to pick that high, I want value for our picks. There's enough known quantities out there with regard to what other teams are doing. It seems highly unlikely that anyone would've taken McCargo before we were up in the 2nd round. Trading up for such a reach is something straight out of Arizona or Cincinnati in their "heyday" as the NFL's laughingstock. We could've easily had an extra pick or two from this draft -- and STILL had Whitner and McCargo. And are we going to overspend for other players in the league when it comes time for a trade? If you can't see why this draft has been a disaster, I can't do anything about that. But it doesn't speak well for our decision makers that we have.

I don't care that neither McCargo or Whitner have played yet, and that we should wait to judge them until then. I don't care that (allegedly) Marv and Modrak have forgotten more about football than the board collectively knows. What I do know is this: Even if both are locks for Canton in 10 years, our current staff has ZERO clue about value in the draft. We reached for Whitner, and we gave up too much to get McCargo. The first point is mildly debatable -- maybe there was a team that would've snapped up Whitner ahead of us if we move down. But the trade for McCargo is hands down one of the three worst decisions ever in franchise history. We could've had him in the early second, and we gave up an additional pick in the third (not to mention the added cap hit we're taking by having an additional first-rounder) to get him. It makes absolutely zero sense. And the scary thing is this: What's not to say that we shouldn't expect similar fleecings when we try and make a trade? "The art of the deal" -- our staff is clearly lacking in this regard. When you make such wildly speculative moves such as this, they HAVE to be grand slam home runs, because your margin of error is gone. And that's not something a first-year GM needs to have none of entering his first season. What a !@#$ing disaster of a day this has been.

While not a fan of the pick myself, you don't really add any credibility to the argument by calling Paul Zimmerman at Sports Illustrated a "no-name who nobody reads." That's showing your ignorance right there.

While I have no doubt Modrak signed off on Whitner as being an excellent prospect, taking him some 10-15 spots higher than he should've been speaks volumes about how green Marv is as a GM. No way Donahoe makes this pick at 8. Once again, we raise eyebrows in the draft, but this time for all the wrong reasons. Further slipping into Bolivian, Buffalo.

We might have three. Lauvale Sape went to Utah, and he's Polynesian. That's a combo that screams he's Mormon, although I don't know for sure if he is or not.

The guy's obviously clueless when he says college football doesn't have a revenue sharing plan. Has this clown ever heard of the BCS? It's what allows programs like Vanderbilt, Duke and Baylor to be self-sustaining, largely because they're guaranteed several million in bowl payouts every year from their conference brethren. What a f-----g idiot.

... it reflects our true insignificance within the league, and reflects how little we've accomplished over the last five years. Not a single game in prime time, and all on Sunday. In the Sunday-night era of televised NFL games, this has never before happened. We've replaced Arizona and Cincy as the "Who Cares?" teams of the NFL. For the first time in many a moon, I've dummied down my preseason expectations. If we can go 9-7 or 8-8, I'll be a believer in what Jauron and Marv are doing.

Give me a !@#$ing break. How on God's green earth do you justify Moon and Harry Carson? I don't know enough about Rayfield Wright to say otherwise, but if you're going to tell me that Moon and Carson were more dominant players who accomplished more than Thurman Thomas, you're a !@#$ing idiot.

Our special teams, perhaps the best unit in NFL history for one year, has its first true meltdown at a time in which we might've taken something good from this season to build toward next year (ie, a two-game winning streak, both on the road). Whatever. I'm so glad this season is over. And given my location (or lack thereof) to WNY, the disconnect between myself and the team is growing stronger. I think I'll still get NFL Sunday Ticket next year, but I'm regretting getting it this year and passing up on NHL Center Ice (thank God for the Sabres). Let me also add that perhaps two of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history unquestionably are this year and 2003. As big as I've been on Donahoe, his drafts and his moves in free agency, he has not done anything close to what's necessary to build a WINNER. There's individual talent, and there's individual talent that meshes into a cohesive unit and a team that's to be reckoned with. TD has whiffed miserably in this regard. A new GM should give Mularkey at least one year to get it right. Begrudgingly, I'm for Mularkey staying one more year, if only for the economics of eating his contract. But I'll be disappointed if RW sees fit to maintain the status quo.

In 2001, I knew the team was playing hard enough and had enough talent that they would play potential spoiler to one team. They did, beating the Jets at home in Week 15. I didn't have any similar premonition in 2003 or with this year's team. Going into Cincy and winning a shootout against the Bengals, while not nearly enough to erase all the bad that's happened from this season, was a nice Christmas present. A very gratifying win in and of itself.

They went back to him in game for some news tidbits, and he brought up an Ilio D'Paolo reference and said "so far, these Bills appear to be circling the wagons." Not much, I know, but at least Boomer gives the appearance he still cares about the Bills. That's a plus for a network guy, most of whom jump from one bandwagon to the next. Whenever Boomer talks about the Bills, I'm always reminded of ESPN's Monday Night coverage (where they sent Boomer to the game for live remotes for SportsCenter). I especially treasure the time he and Jimbo made post-game plans live on the air after a win against the Dolphins. Jimbo: You comin' with us tonight? Boomer: I didn't realize I was invited anywhere. Jimbo: Well, you are. You comin'? Boomer: I guess I am. Or words to that effect. I just remember busting a gut over it. If and when the Bills ever return to national prominence, I hope someone educates the players on Berman's history with this team. It was nice having someone in the national media pimp us, for better or worse. I hope Berman can again see the day where he gets to trot out, "No one ... AND I MEAN NO ONE ... circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" Man, I miss those days.

I see your connection between Donahoe and Reiger, but my biggest worry is that Donahoe leaves Buffalo and goes on to have a second revival, a la another failed Sabres GM -- Scotty Bowman.

He publicly sh-- (or is it shat?) upon the last link to the Jim Kelly era. Don't know about the rest of you, but I pine more and more for those days, and appreciate what we had -- even if Eric's only season with Kelly was one of the more disappointing seasons we've endured. Nonetheless, Moulds represented a time when all was well with the Bills. To humiliate him like this is my final straw with this team as long as Mularkey and Donahoe are there. And that I'm actually saying that pains me in ways I'd never imagined feeling about the Bills. Moulds, through mostly thin and thick, has always reported to camp on time, always in shape and stayed in Buffalo when he probably could've had more money and played for a Super Bowl winner. Think of what Philly would've avoided had they signed Moulds after the 2000 or 2001 (?) season and avoided the whole Owens fiasco? They would've played in more than one Super Bowl, and likely would've won one. When talk of the truly great Bills comes around, Moulds has to be near the top of the list simply because no one has done more with less, O.J. Simpson notwithstanding. And the Bills' problems when the Juice was in his prime had nothing to do with the offensive side of the ball. The number of offensive coordinators, head coaches and quarterbacks Moulds has had to work under could stock a small league. Knowing that Ralph had a say in this decision is equally disappointing, but not nearly as deplorable as Mularkey's idea to execute it. As an owner, Ralph has to give the appearance that he's behind his head coach first, second and last. Otherwise, who will come here when it's time to make a coaching change? There's probably still some grumblings in coaching circles about what he did with Wade Phillips and Ronnie Jones, and he has to avoid another such scenario for what would be the second time in five years. Not for one minute do I believe that this means Mularkey's job is safe for 2006. Of course, I have to tell myself that so that I have some hope of giving a damn about this team next year.

If I was in Buffalo, and I gave a rat's ass about this year's team, I'd buy a Moulds jersey and be with you. As it is, neither is this case, and Mularkey has given me more reason to despise this team. Outside of Ralph Wilson and a few players, one of which was Moulds, there isn't a single person within the organization on the football side that I wouldn't mind seeing go. Given all that Moulds has gone through, this is a disgraceful moment for the Bills. Worse than the day that Andre, Bruce and Thurman were waived, because that's a day we all saw coming. But who envisioned Moulds being treated like this by a fourth-rate NFL coach? I'm not sure what it says when Mularkey has to get permission from Ralph to carry out the suspension, either. It's great that Mularkey doesn't have much of a pot to piss in that he feels he has to ask the Big Boss for directive to pull the trigger, but that Ralph actually gave it to him is a sign as to whose corner he's in.