MDH

Considering he's thrown the ball (not just dropped back to throw it, but actually thrown it) 121 times and only 16 have gone over 10 yards in the air (that's a WHOPPING 86.7% of his passes that go for less than 10 yards in the air) I'd say he's most likely had quite a few opportunities. By way of comparison, Tom Brady (who everybody believes dumps it off all the time) has thrown only 65.7% of his passes for less than 10 yards in the air this season. Dumping the ball off as much as Holcomb does is unheard of. But hey, his completion % is high! Anyhow, it's not just the out patterns I'd like to see out of Holcomb. I'd like to see him attempt ANY intermediate pattern when the receiver hasn't achieved a few steps of separation. It's like he doesn't trust his arm to get it in there unless his WR is wide open. The only balls I've seen him throw more than 10 yards in the air when the WR doesn't have a lot of separation are the floating long balls, which don't require much zip, just accuracy. I don't expect you to ever buy into the fact that Holcomb can't make all the throws. I guy that uses a screen name based on a player can't expect to be very objective when it comes to that player.

Have you seen him make the throw on the out yet this year? Blame the pass protection all you want it's not so bad that he NEVER has the chance to make intermediate throws. Kelly "Check Down" Holcomb is averaging just 4 balls thrown over 10 yards per game. Keep telling yourself it's because he can never get 2-3 seconds to throw the ball on a 15 yard out.

Any arm in the league can make that throw. That's doesn't mean his arm isn't weak. How many 15-yard out patters have you seen the guy throw? That's the most difficult throw and Holcomb simply cannot make it (well, he could try but it would likely be picked off). Arm strength doesn't matter at all as long as you are capable of making all the throws. Holcomb cannot make all the throws, which is why he checks down over and over again. Every QB in the league would have solid numbers if all they did was throw 5 yard patterns over and over again. They wouldn't have winning records though.

Last week on the Dan Patrick show Joe revealed that one of his favorite musical acts is...Celine Dion! No Joke.

My favorite Bruschi moment from last night was when tiny Roscoe Parrish shrugged off a Bruschi tackle in the backfield only to have the announcers act like Bruschi made an unbelievable play. Apparently they didn't notice the 3 other guys around Brushci that would have stopped Parrish in his tracks even if Bruschi didn't "disrupt the play".

He got stopped on multiple occassions by a DB coming as Willis tried to hit the corner. What happened to WM's stiffarm from that year? It was the best stiffarm I'd seen in years and I have yet to see it this year.

It wasn't my imagination. I don't care if every single story they told last night was on the Pats, I expected it. But every single story, every single shot, every single interview were all about one guy. I'd almost bet that Pat fans were tired of hearing about the same f'in story for 3 hours.

The thing that struck me about the time of possession was that NE's D didn't crumble in crunch time, despite being on the field all that time. Had that been Buffalo's D on the field for 40 min I can guarantee they would have given up the game losing TD in the final minute only to have people on the board defending them by saying, "you can't expect the D to make that stop after being hung out to dry by the O all game long." Somehow other team's Ds can step up to the plate late but the Bills D never ever does.

Exactly, if the Bills handed it off to WM on every single 3rd and short you'd have people bitching at how predictable this team is and saying it's not wonder we can't convert 3rd downs everybody in the stadium knows what's coming. The Steelers are the only team in the league that can be predictable and still be effective (thanks to that Oline of theirs). Every other team has to mix it up. I don't have a problem with that play call, hell, it would have worked had Reed hung on to the ball.

I disagree. They did play well for most of the game (though “most” doesn’t get the job done). I also prefer to lose in this fashion than I do getting totally embarrassed like we did against the Raiders. I honestly don't know how you can get so upset after this loss. I saw it coming a mile away. When you dominate a game against a superior team and don't put the game away when you have a chance it almost always comes back to bite you in the a$$. This being the Bills, the "almost always" gets turned into "guaranteed."

I wish I would have Tivoed the game so I can't be sure but I swear I saw a WR run an out to the right sideline that was open (had Holcomb hit him coming out of the cut).

Umm, how about not throwing short at all? I'd rather him throw into coverage and hope a WR makes a play than to throw is short to Moulds with two guys next to him.

I didn't say I approved, I never wanted to see Holcomb on the field to begin with. I just have the feeling that they'll keep starting Holcomb until they're "officially" out of it. Had they laid a total egg in NE I could have seen them pulling the plug on Holcomb but given the fact that they kinda-sorta dominated most of the game I don't see them giving up on the season just yet. Oh well.

I didn't even get upset after this loss. I knew they'd find a way to implode. That being said, they played a good game tonight...until the final 10 minutes. I get much more upset when they play like they did in the Raider game.

The sad thing is that Holcomb played his best game of the season until the fumble and the last throw to Moulds. I'll take a wild guess and say they continue on with Holcomb after the bye.

He had a better chance of busting off a big play than the O did of going 90 yards with no timeouts in 23 seconds. I'm not going to get on a guy that's trying to make a big play to win the game.

There was a wideout who ran an out on the right side of the field who was wide open (and past the first down marker). I'd guess it was Evans.

What exactly did he write that you have a problem with. Just a general he's "not knowledgeable" comment doesn't really mean much unless you're going to take the time to dispute specific points. Personally I think he’s pretty much on target. The only exception I’d make is I don’t want to see JP thrown to the wolves tonight on national TV.

Because these things are obviously mutually exclusive. Just look at all the smack LT talks. You take the guy that talks sh*t and runs pretty well, I’ll take the guy that plays great and is a class act. Having confidence in yourself and running off at the mouth aren’t the same thing. I don’t think Willis’ comments are that big of a deal, but I can’t believe there are people out there who actually like what they hear from this guy.

Only a few guys on that list are integral to this team: Fletcher, Moulds & Adams (though Adams is debatable as I blame him for much of our run D problems). Everybody else can be replaced pretty easily. I thought Milloy did a good job last year, but I've been pretty disappointed with his play thus far this year. If he turns it around you can add him to the list, otherwise he's just a player not living up to his reputation. Right now I cut him a little slack since he's playing injured.

Sure, it gives me something to look forward to this week. I, for one, would like to see what the kid can do.

Or he could have said, "that's not for me to say, I'll leave that to sports writers, fans and my peers to discuss."

If it's annoying to argue with then why did you bring it up?

When teams run and control the clock they're not going to put up huge point totals, and there is no need to. Running the ball also limits mistakes and that usually equates to winning. It's a proven formula to winning a football game. Running the type of offense that attempts to put up 40+ a game is a risky venture, and there's no need to take that type of risk against a Bills team that can't put many points on the board. The Bills preventing teams from scoring 40+ points doesn't mean they're playing solid football. Hell, they're not even playing below average defense...they're just bad.

According to the yardage stats it has. Of course, 3rd down conversions say otherwise. The reason the yardage numbers look good is because teams don't feel a need to throw against us when they can simply run it down our throats. Even when the D holds up on first and second downs against the run the pass D has let offenses convert first downs at an astronomical rate. I have no confidence that this defense can stop either the run or the pass.