JDG

To put it another way, in 5 Donahoe drafts we have spent *EIGHT* 1st and 2nd round picks on QB, RB, and WR. That's an astonishing number.... Nevertheless, I don't know how drafting Parrish defines our season - he's been hurt, so we haven't seen what he can do just yet. I'm looking forward to seeing him put some moves on after catching a short pass and making some big plays for us. The correct answer is either Pat Williams - though I don't see how it made cap sense to resign him, or else starting Losman - which probably cost us at least one win. JDG

I didn't have the advantage of being able to say any of Losman's starts this year. I will say, however, that not only is Losman's performance line from the Atlanta game *not* "fair" - but it borders on utter incompetence: 10 of 23 (43.5%) for *75* yards with no TD's an INT, 4 sacks, and a fumble. He had 5 rushes for 20 yards. It is an utter miracle that we weren't blown out of the water in that game with a performance line like that. I think that I would struggle to find worse performance lines from any QB in the NFL iover the last few years. What is utterly shocking is that his performance line against the Saints is almost identical: 7 of 15 (46%) for 75 yards (*again*!) no TD's, an INT, 3 sacks, and a fumble (which he recovered.) He had 4 rushes for 38 yards. For the game in Tampa, he at least didn't have any turnovers, and only 2 sacks, but 11 of 28 (39% - which is almost impossible in the NFL) for 113 yards is still essentially incompetent. Yes, Eli Manning was pretty bad his rookie year (in fact, his performance lines were stunningly similar in some games), but he also didn't start until Thanksgiving time. If the Bills drop out of the playoff hunt, Losman may get similar opportunities. Nevertheless, after looking closely, I disagree - Losman played utterly, totally, and completely terribly. An unmitigated disaster in those games that he played. The good news is, he almost *has* to get better...... but not before making sure that we don't burn the team on the funeral pyre of Losman's development. JDG

No one at OBD has said it, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

The reason I smacked you down was that the original comparison was a choice between: 1) 20-25 for 125 yrds, 1 TD and 0 INT's and 2) 15-30 for 300, 3 TD's and 2 INT's When I stated my preference for #1, you responded by completely misrepresenting my position as not wanting 300 yards passing *ceteris paribis.* And so I figured if you were going to play dirty, I'll play dirty back - but that's water under the bridge at this point. I'll give you a serious response this time. I think that the reason we rely upon short passes is for a number of reasons is: 1) our offensive line cannot be relied upon to sustain protection long enough for deep routes to develop. 2) long passes generally produce either quick strike scores, INT's, or put you into 3rd-and-longs - which is highly correlated with punting. The result of all of these is to put our defense back on the field for longer stretches of time, which right now is the Achilles Heel of this team. 3) we are trying to establish a ball control, smash mouth, offensive identity The second option above proposes doing two things different philosophilcally: calling 20% more passes per game, and calling proportionally deeper routes on those passes. In any situation, but particularly given the Bills' current personnel, this will surely result in more sacks. Additionally, the above numbers suggest dropping our completion percentage from a League-best 70% to a paltry 50%. This would surely result in a lot more punts, and long stretches of our sieve-like defense on the field. And finally, the second choice above produces two additional turnovers - and the correlation of turnovers to losing hardly needs mentioning. We are all in agreement that the Bills are a mediocre to below-average team. I believe that Mularkey, Clements, & Co., however, have basically installed an the best offensive game plan for maximizing the results from the talent they have been dealt. Ideally, they want to run the ball a lot (hopefully for more than 3 yards per carry from the best back in the League) and use short passes to manage third downs, sustain drives, and run out the clock. Its not that we don't call *any* deep passes - we clearly do call 2-3 deep passes per game, which is enough to keep defenses honest. Unfortunately, the number of times deep passes have been called looks worse than it is because our offense has generally not executed the deep passes that have been called - either due to drops, sacks, or misthrown balls. Anyhow, I think that explains why I view option #1 above as being far superior to option #2 in trying to win ball games. JDG

I think that completing 50% of our passes, boosting our sack totals, and increasing our number of turnovers would put us further away from winning - and I think that most smart NFL observers would agree. This is the NFL, not a fantasy football league. JDG

I don't see why you, Dr. Z, or anyone else takes umbrage at the use of a stupid name. Fine, call one the Coryell-West Coast Offense and the other the Walsh-West Coast Offense and been done with it.... but for pete's sake, I hope that Dr. Z stops whining about it.... JDG

Maybe its what *you've* fallen tooo.... Personally, I think that those numbers would put us even further away from winning than we are... Holcomb isn't the problem. JDG

Indeed, for those of you, like Homer, who are pining for Bledsoe, how about these stats for you. Bledsoe's QB rating: 94.9 Holcomb's QB rating: 95.2 Bledsoe's INT's: 6 Holcomb's INT's: 2 Bledsoe's Sacks: 17 (yes, Virginia, *seventeen*) Holcomb's Sacks: 8 (behind arguably a much worse O-Line) Bledsoe's Completion Percentage: 62.3% Holcomb's Completion Percentage: 70.5%* (* - leads NFL) Personally, I feel very good about dropping Bledsoe for Holcomb, particularly given what Bledsoe had showed me for the last two seasons - that he was a very dumb and very immobile player who couldn't win on the road and was pretty inept at the 2 minute drill. JDG

I'm sorry, but Sunday night in New England is not the situation where I want to put Losman back in the game. More importantly, first place is on the line against the Pats. We win, we're a leg up in the standings with a 3-0 division record. There is no question that Holcomb gives us the best chance to win this game, and the best chance to slip into the division title at 9-7. We shouldn't see Losman until the game is out of control..... if then. JDG

I think that one myth that Bills fans have is that "the Raiders were a bad 1-4 team". Indeed, many Bills seem to indicate that they considered the Raiders to be an inferior team. Well, if the Bills had played a cross-country game @New England, Kansas City, @Philadelphia, Dallas, and San Diego I think that we would be fortunate to be a 1-4 team. I would not be surprised to see the Raiders have a similar or better record to us at the end of the year, and I certainly do not believe that the Raiders are in the same class as Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, and Arizona as "bad teams." Also, yes the Raiders' secondary was banged up - but the Raiders' pass rush was not. The lack of pass protection clearly limited Buffalo's ability to call long passes. Also, long passing plays either produce quick strikes or else three-and-outs; both of which put our inept defense back on the field quickly. A much sounder game plan was to throw the occasional deep pass to keep the Raiders honest, but to otherwise try and control the ball and keep our defense off the field. Unfortunately, "the best back in the NFL" averaged three yards a carry, which started to put the kibosh on all that.... but I think that it was the right decision by the Bills' brain trust to take that approach. JDG

Uh right..... and, umm.... isn't getting 3rd and 3 a *good* thing? JDG

Somehow I don't think that starting six rookies next year is going to be a recipe for success in the National Football League, not for next year, and not for the long term. And Sam Aiken???? Shirely you can't be serious.... JDG

The reason for that is that the Jets once started the year 1-4 going into their bye week, and then won the division at 9-7... and this looks like another year where 9-7 will win the division. JDG

O.k., like many of you, its hard for me to look forward to Sunday night with optimism. Sunday night, on the road in Foxboro, the Patriots coming off a bye - and a loss before that, and of course the emotional return of Teddy Bruschi. All of that seems to add up to an utter shellacking for our heroes. But there's always hope, right? In fact, there reall are a few glimmers of hope. First, these are not the same Patriots. They are simply just not as good as they were the last two years, as their losses to San Diego and Denver amply demonstrate. Secondly, the Patriots currently rank 28th in the NFL in rushing offense, with a mere 82 yards per game. (Buffalo is 12th at 124ypg.) Yes, our run defense is bad, but the Patriots just might not be able to take advantage. Third, the Bills do have outstanding special teams. Presuming that McGee's injury isn't serious, he is currently a man among boys, a full 5 yards per return average ahead of the next-closest full time returner *(minimum 5 attempts). New England is averaging 24 yards per attempt - that's like an extra first down for the Bills after every kickoff. Brian Moorman is a stud punter and can always change the field position equation in our favor. Finally, the Bills haven't won in New England since 1999 (average score of the last four losses has been 30-6), and the Bills have to win *sometime*, right? So, my proposed game plan for the Bills looks like this - 1) Don't let New England suddenly find its running game, even against our anemic running defense. Pressure Tom Brady with lots of blitzes, and hopefully force that rare (but not unheard of) critical mistake. Whatever you do, don't let Brady sit in the pocket, and if aggressively rushing the passers lets New England occasionally run the ball - don't worry, and accept it as the price you are willing to pay. 2) Run Willis McGahee a lot (and "the best RB in the NFL" better be better than 3 yards per carry). Play conservative, play ugly, and punt a lot. Yes, punt a lot because punting means we aren't turning the ball over. Playing conservative and ugly meanwhile will help us ride out the initial wave of emotion that is going to surround the Patriots early on, playing at home, on Sunday night, with Teddy Bruschi coming back from a stroke sending the fans into a frenzy during the opening introductions. Try and let the Patriots make the first big mistake - maybe something into the hands of our defensive playmakers in Clements and McGee. 3) Don't listen to the fans, and start throwing more than the usual 2-3 deep balls a game - you do it a couple times to hope you get lucky and keep the defense honest, but ultimately you play conservative and don't do anything that could result in a bad pick on an underthrown deep ball or else a strip sack waiting for a receiver to get deep. Use Willis and Kelly Holcomb's efficient passing (70% last week) to eventually get the few scores we need in a tight, low-scoring, boring game and otherwise let out special teams eventually take control of field position in our favor. Again, play conservative, play ugly, and play for punts. If all that comes together, we just might escape with an improbable upset win. Hey, I can Bill-ieve can't I? JDG

We don't call it deep more often in large part because by the time a receiver gets deep, our QB is usually sacked. And besides, a deep pass and quick strikes will usually just mean that our defense gets back on the field quicker - which can't be a good thing. JDG

I think a 71% completion percentage with no INT's is *good* by any definition - particularly considering the style that the Bills want to play. JDG

I great way of comparing the size of cities is by Nielsen media markets. 1. New York - 7.3 million 46. Buffalo - 651,970 55. Albany/Schenectady/Troy - 555,640 75. Rochester - 396,880 77. Syracuse - 395,400 154. Binghamton - 141,350 166. Utica - 106,690 173. Emira/Corning - 98,270 175. Watertown - 94,390 Its also worth considering, that this places Buffalo behind such places as Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, Orlando, Hartford, Raleigh-Durham, Greenville-Asheville, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, Norfolk, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. And Louisville, at 637,680 is nipping at our heals. In a League that is financed by TV dollars, the Bills are simply a backwater that any sane League would love to be rid of. Or to put it another way, if the Bills did not exist, Buffalo would not even be on the very long list of expansion cities. JDG

The counterpoint to Hartwig and Koppen is that there are also 4th round draft picks who, well, play like 4th round draft picks.... and never become starters. So, while it is not inconceivable that Preston could start for us - there's certainly no guarantee either. JDG

The heck with "punter", Moorman has been our most valuable *player* as of late.... JDG

Moorman - "MVP"

Carlos Huerta?

Michelle Tumes - Center of My Universe

Really? It seems to me that the 3-13 2001 team and the 6-10 2003 teams were clearly just not playoff teams. Its hard to see either of those teams winning even last season's NFC West. There might be a slight case in regards to the 8-8 2002 team, but that year also got four games against the eventual Top 4 pickers in the NFL draft following the season. That's a very favorable schedule draw, and as we all remember, the wheels really began falling off the offense in the latter half of that season. And as for last season's team - well, I've already expressed my opinion on that. So color me unconvinced. JDG

Yet another reason for me to be a Bills fan. [Me: the first being Lee Evans, the second being Troy Vincent] The Bills are inviting to camp my favorite Badger of all time. This is the perfect kid you want on your training camp roster. Part Rudy-Part Rocky. Jim Leonhard stands at around 5'6'- 5'7' and came from Tony, Wisconsin with a population under 200. He walked on to the Badger football team with absolutely no hope. However, he pocesses the most deceptive athletism and more heart than any player I have ever seen put on a Badger Uniform. He made the starting lineup as a sophmore and opposing teams tried to pick on his small size...their plan backfired and he led NCAA in interceptions as a sophmore and was in the top 3 in interceptions again as a junior. He played in the bowl game with two broken hands (one of them was not discovered until later and hit just as hard as ever) His senior year teams avoided throwing toward him. He was a second team all-american. Now, I don't know if he will be able to contribute at the NFL level, but he is a great kid and the kind of person who you want in camp. Players might think he is part of the training staff until you see him run and jump (btw: he also won the teams slam dunk contest in back to back years).

On the road. In overtime. Against a team playing for their playoff lives. JDG