Who were those competent helmeted men?

Dear Rest of the NFL,

Don't worry about our quarterback situation. We're fine.

Love,
The Buffalo Bills

OK, it wasn't perfect. The Bills had five instances of entering the Red Zone in which they only came away with field goals, for instance. The running game was decent in the second half, but took most of the first half to get going. And so on. But it was quite a heartening start to the season.

The good thing was basically the poise with which J.P. Losman played in his first NFL start. He never really looked rattled or confused, and the coaches let him throw on the very first play from scrimmage and he was able to settle into a rhythm pretty quickly. Losman only made one or two outright errors in throwing, and neither cost the Bills (although, had a Houston defender managed to hold onto the ball, one would have cost them dearly as the guy had nothing but daylight between him and the end zone).

I'm not ready to revise my rather pessimistic preseason prediction yet (I had the Bills finishing 6-10). Playing well in a home opener in September is one thing; playing while trailing in a road game in November is something else, and that's when we'll really start to see the maturing of J.P. Losman. As one of Buffalo's radio guys pointed out this afternoon, there are some much sterner tests in store for Losman and the Bills.

But.

If the defense's performance yesterday is indicative of the kind of thing they can do all year (they were stingy in the first half and basically slammed the door in the second), and if yesterday's better-than-expected-by-me performance by the offensive line bodes for what this line can accomplish later in the year when it "gels" (they only gave up a single sack, and as the game went on became better at the run-blocking), 6-10 might turn out to be needlessly pessimistic. I'm not revising yet. But stay tuned.

Brief notes from elsewhere:

:: Heavens, Drew Bledsoe sure looked good for Dallas. That was the late game on TV here, and although Bledsoe did look good, I had to laugh when, in the first play of that game that I saw, Bledsoe managed to take a sack despite the fact that his offensive line was holding on the play.

:: How did so many playoff teams from last year forget how to play defense? Especially the Vikings, who have all these good defensive players (more than a few of whom are former Bills)? Is Mike Tice a lackluster coach or something?

:: Call me cynical, but I'm not sure just how "inspired" the people of New Orleans are going to be by their football team's surprise victory yesterday. But maybe I'm full of bird poop on this point.

:: Surely somebody can beat the StuPats? Anyone? Bueller?

Next week the Bills are on the road against Tampa. This should be a much tougher game for Losman and company, so stay tuned.