:: In comments, a reader asks why I think NFL referee Ed Hochuli is biased against the Bills. Actually, I don't really think that; Hochuli's is the only name I could think of when writing that post, and I didn't feel like Googling some other ref. I was joking about how Bills fans tend to get really incensed about bad calls against the Bills; however, having only really been around Bills fans, I can't say if the same phenomenon exists among all NFL fandoms.
But I do think that the NFL refs should be full-time, and they should be very rigorously trained. There are enough bad calls on a frequent enough basis that the officiating needs some upgrading.
:: I griped a bit about the Football Outsiders website, whose editorial stance seems to be to say nothing about JP Losman unless it's negative. Today's a good case in point. From today's Audibles at the Line column, here's the total of what the FO.com folks have to say about yesterday's Bills-Dolphins game:
Doug Farrar: Well, you have J.P. Losman and his weekly 90-yard bomb to Lee Evans. His first half against Miami: Five completions, 105 yards. Passes of 37, 33 and 28 yards to Evans and Robert Royal.
Michael David Smith: Jason Taylor is looking great as usual. Is that guy ever going to get old?
That's it. That's all they say about that game. Nothing about the progress of a Bills offense that is producing consistent scoring drives. Nothing about the Bills' defense throwing its first shutout in over two years. And for that matter, they leave something out in that summation of Losman's first half: Five completions, out of only eight attempts. It's not like he went 5 of 19 in the first half; he went 5 of 8, and finished the game with a very respectable line of 13 completions, 19 attempts, 200 yards, 3 TDs, and zero INTs.
It seems that if Losman has a good game, the FO.com folks will either (a) completely ignore it, or (b) mention it in a way that makes it sound like he mainly sucked and just got lucky on a handful of plays.
Hochuli (I know the guy) would agree with you about refs being full-time. He says it's a 40+ hours a week gig.
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