Orton's Arm

I don't know if I blame Suzy for talking through the action. I mean, if she's staring at the camera talking, she's not looking at the field to see that there's something going on. What's she supposed to say, "I see there's action on the field right now, so let me give this report later."? I blame ESPN for being too eager to spend time with commercials. Because there were so many, you couldn't have things like the Robert Kraft interview and Suzy's reports without cutting into game time.

Good post. I agree with your implication that the Bills have piled up wins against the mediocre teams rather than the good teams. A lot of that has to do with the Bills' style of defense and its over-reliance on blitzing. The bad teams don't pick up the blitz, the good ones do. Also many of the problems have to do with the neglect of the offensive line in the draft, and the lack of continuity we've seen. And then there has been the struggle to find the team's next QB. Holcomb may well be the best QB the Bills have had in the TD era, but that's not necessarily a big compliment.

As has been pointed out in another thread, the Patriots as a team have earned more attention than the Bills these last few years. Bruschi deserves as much credit for those rings as anyone. I remember how the Pats held the Colts to just three points in the playoff game; and Bruschi was the heart and soul of that defensive effort.

A jump ball is less likely to work when the two WRs--Reed and Parrish--are both 5'10". I agree the throw to Moulds was a bad decision, but the play call was absolutely terrible.

The grief isn't as bad if you set your expectations lower. I expected the Bills to be absolutely humiliated by the Patriots, and was pleasantly surprised when they merely lost. My sense of surprise was . . . less pleasant on that fourth down play, but overall it's less painful to be a realist than an optimist.

Of the 13 starts Holcomb had before he came here, two of them were 400 yard games. I don't understand why there haven't been many big plays from Holcomb when he's been here, but his record clearly indicates he's capable of them.

You have a point about eyes in the back of your head. I'd agree that some QBs are better than others at sensing blindside pressure, but I've not heard of anyone who could do it perfectly. A "winning QB" looks a lot less impressive when the ten guys who surround him are getting outplayed. I remember the AFC Championship game between the Bills and the Chiefs. It was clear the Bills' defense as a whole was outplaying the Chiefs offense as a whole. Joe Montana was a winning QB if there ever was one, but he led his team to just two field goals in the first half. He didn't play in the second half due to a concussion. The Chiefs lost 30-13.

My point was that none of the options available to Holcomb had a 50% chance or better of successfully converting the fourth down. If he throws it to Moulds, odds are the tackle will be made short of the first down marker. If he throws it to a guy who's double-covered, odds are strongly against a completion. The problem was exacerbated by the fact the one guy you'd typically count on the most to use his size to make a catch in double coverage was the one guy who wasn't past the first down marker. That comes back to Tom Clements having severely lost the chess match on that particular play.

This particular comment doesn't strike me as too insightful. NFL teams typically try to throw the ball downfield from time to time. Typically, this is done by having the QB drop back, wait a reasonable amount of time for someone to get open, and eventually throw the ball away if the clock in his head expires with no one to throw to. The QB should throw the ball away more quickly if he sees someone about to get the sack. But it's often impossible for the QB to sense pressure from his blind side (hence the name). For that reason, defensive coordinators typically put their best pass rusher on the QB's blind side, knowing this is where he will do the most good. If a blindside pass rusher gets to the QB very quickly, he's likely to create a sack and a fumble. Maybe you knew all this already. But if so, you shouldn't have made your post.

It's been a little while since I'd checked, and I'm willing to believe that Carr is now the most sacked.

Yes, that last pass was his worst play of the game. But it also seemed the play itself was poorly designed, or else that the Patriots had called the right defense to stop it. Had Holcomb thrown into double coverage, chances are the pass would have been incomplete or intercepted. Despite all that, it was still a bad play on his part. But bear in mind this was only his 17th start. Also this is his first year in the Mike Mularkey offense, while Losman is in his second year. Any time Losman makes a mistake it's okay because he's a work in progress, but any time Holcomb messes up it's presumably the end of the world because he's supposedly finished learning. I personally believe that as Holcomb continues to absorb the nuances of the offense, develops chemistry with his receivers, and gains more experience through more starts, he will improve.

The fumble was 100% the offensive line's fault for an ole block on a blindside pass rusher. Now, you say a more mobile QB might have avoided the sack/strip. But last time I checked, the most sacked QB in the NFL was Michael Vick.

He also looked good on that 57 yard pass to Moulds. To go on the road and put up 261 passing yards on the Patriots is a solid day's work. Yes, that fourth down pass was his worst play of the game, and the interception was a bad play too. But he played well enough to give the team a chance to win, and I don't remember anyone saying that about Bledsoe when he went on the road to face the Patriots.

I liked Holcomb's 57 yard TD pass to Moulds, and the fact that Holcomb broke that 200 yard barrier against the Patriots. His two worst plays were the fourth down pass and the interception. But Favre throws interceptions too. In fact he threw five of them just today. Holcomb's overall game stats were solid: 20/33, 261 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. I don't remember Bledsoe having numbers that good against the Patriots on the road.

But we have Greg Jerman instead!

I say start Holcomb, and see how far he can take you. At this point, the QB position with Holcomb looks a whole lot better than the offensive line, the defensive line, and the linebacking corps.

While I take issue with your Holcomb reference, I agree that Favre is practically the only real player the Packers have right now. I saw a game earlier this year when Favre willed his team to a comeback against the Panthers, and almost pulled out the win. Favre's performance in that game was one of the most heroic QB efforts I've ever seen.

I believe it's similar to New England's. That's just based on hearing things here and there, so I could be wrong about this.

Why improve the line when the skill positions are so exciting? TD could use his first round pick on an offensive skill position player--a QB or RB or WR or something. The second round pick could be used on a high motor white DE. The third round pick could be used on a very fast TE or WR or something. The fourth round pick could be for a guy who will spend his career as a backup LB. By the fifth or sixth round you should start looking for the next Dylan McFarland. Round off the draft by looking for a RB, or else a guy who can return punts and kicks.

As delusional as possible? You make it sound like Red Dragon must be doing some kind of drugs to have come to the conclusion that the Bills won't be piling up the wins against the likes of San Diego, New England, etc. Your eagerness to hand out plenty of insults apparently got the better of you.

If a guy like Moulds or Evans has faith in you, maybe he'll try that much harder to catch a badly thrown pass. A player who lacks faith in you as a QB is more likely to write off a marginal pass as completely uncatchable. Also, it's more likely the team as a whole will try harder if everyone believes there's an actual chance of winning. I suspect the overall team's confidence in Losman would get a boost if he didn't look like he's spent the last year living on a deserted island.

The Patriots have a strongly defined philosophy about what they are looking for in an offensive lineman. The same is true of the Falcons. The Patriots are looking for character, toughness, desire, intelligence, etc. more than athletic ability. The Falcons are looking for Broncos-like offensive linemen that are smaller and faster than most teams want. If you are looking for something different than what everyone else is looking for, chances are better that you'll find it later on in the draft. How many second day picks or undrafted free agents have become permant starters for the Bills' line under Donahoe? I count exactly zero. Maybe that will change with the help of Jim McNally. That man seems to have a clear philosophy about what he wants an offensive lineman to be. Thanks largely to his influence, it looks like Duke Preston will be the first second-day pick to become a permanent starter during TD's era.

Yes it does. TD has had five drafts with the Bills: 2001 - 2005. In those five drafts, he started with a total of 15 first-day picks. He has allocated precisely two of those fifteen first-day picks to the offensive line (that's 13%). Of the starters on your team, five out of 22, or 23%, are offensive linemen. When you're allocating 13% of your first-day picks to an area that represents 23% of your total starters, you're neglecting it. Of that 13%, the half embodied by Jonas Jennings is no longer with the team. I realize San Francisco paid him way too much, and I'm not questioning TD's decision not to match their offer. But if you're letting your left tackle walk, you should be spending that many more first day choices on the line.

A lot of times people judge you by your appearance. If you look like a slob, people will be more willing to believe you are a slob. If Losman wants to be a leader on this team, it would help if he looked the part.

You don't want to throw too many footballs the day before the game; or else your arm will be dead. And I don't want to be dead!