Things I wish I'd said, #1

Here's a new series I'm starting, on the spur of the moment. It won't be a regular thing, just whenever I hear something that makes me think, "Geez, I wish I'd have said that."

A few minutes ago I was driving home from the Y, listening to Schopp and the Bulldog on WGR (Buffalo's all-sportstalk AM radio station, for you non-Buffalonians), and of course, they were talking about the Super Bowl. One thing they discussed, in passing, was the fact that Super Bowl XLII was the highest-rated Super Bowl ever, and was the second highest-rated TV show ever, ranking behind, of course, the original airing of the M*A*S*H series finale. And Schopp says: "Well, we know that the 1972 Dolphins got to pop the corks on their champagne yesterday. Do you suppose that Jamie Farr and Alan Alda pop the corks too, when they learn their show is still the highest-rated ever?"

I thought that was funny.

Let a warm glow spread throughout the land!

Congratulations to the 2007 New England Patriots, who have just eclipsed the 1998 Minnesota Vikings and the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers as the greatest team to fail to win the Super Bowl. This is a team that will never be forgotten! Let their praises be sung, and let the faithful advance all the tortured logic they can to assure the world that 18-1 really is every bit as impressive as 17-0, even though all of us who live in the real world know that's just not the case. And let us not forget that Saint Tom has now, for two years in a row, come into a game facing a "score or lose" situation, and walked off the field having opted for the latter. So much for Mr. Clutch, the greatest QB of All Time.

OK, gloating aside, this was a terrific game; it was a sufficiently good game that had the Patriots pulled off the win, either 14-10 or 21-17 or 20-17 in overtime, I wouldn't have even minded. (But if that had happened, I sure as hell wouldn't have posted anything about the game!)

Eagles 17, Bills 9

I suppose I should post about the last game of the Bills' 2007 season, mainly for the sake of completeness.

:: The Bills finished 7-9 with one of the NFL's youngest and most injury-prone rosters. There's some talent here to build on.

:: Bills quarterbacks. Sure, Trent Edwards has shown promise. So did JP Losman and Rob Johnson, once upon a time. I'm not bothered by Edwards's play in those two games with horrible weather; he seems like a smart and competitive guy, so maybe he learns better to handle that stuff. I dunno.

:: Defensive line getting run down.

:: Offensive line often getting dominated.

:: Offensive playcalling: early in the season they'd call daring plays at really bad times while late in the season they seemingly stopped calling daring plays at all.

So there it is: they went 7-9, which is what I originally figured was the very best they could do. And yes, I do take a "glass is half full" view of this team; there's talent here and they're closer, I think, to being good than they were two years ago.

But Marv Levy has just resigned, leaving the team behind again after two years as General Manager, and the worst thing is that for claiming that he was never going to serve in that position for more than two years, he didn't have a successor ready to step in and carry on the work. So now there's uncertainty in the front office again.

And even more pressing is that Ralph Wilson, the team's owner, is still getting older. I really think that he'll be dead within five years, and when that happens, unless something dramatic happens in this area, I have come to think that the Bills are almost certain to leave. When that happens, I very much doubt my interest in football will continue.

This is almost certainly the last football post I'll be writing for this season, because I'm just not that interested in the playoffs or in continuing to try to invent new ways to call the Patriots names. As promising as the Bills were this year, I'm increasingly finding the NFL a joyless, mechanical affair, so much so that my posts on the subject are also joyless and mechanical. So, while I'll still watch football, I probably won't be blogging about it any more.

Thus, as long as they're still in Buffalo, go Bills!

Giants 38, Bills 21

Well, the home portion of the 2007 season is over for the Bills; only one game, a road game, remains, and then it's the offseason. The season mostly met my expectations, although it exceeded them in some areas -- particularly the team's heart. Now, if their onfield talent matched the heart that Dick Jauron is able to inspire, we'd be talking.

As for the game itself, remember how I wrote that last week's loss to the Browns made clear the Bills' deficiencies? This game took those deficiencies and tattooed them to Marv Levy's forehead. I hope he looks in the mirror.

:: Kevin Everett's return to Buffalo.

:: Jason Peters. He must be good, for his departure from the game due to injury to lead to the complete failure of the Bills' offense to do anything of note from that point on.

:: Trent Edwards, again. A really good first quarter followed by three quarters of ineffectiveness, with a dash of desperation-borne self-immolation at the end, combines for a solid "Meh". I still think he's got a lot of upside, but he's clearly not there yet.

:: Eli Manning. This was the first time I've really watched him play, and he was not that impressive at all. I never liked him much after his petulant "I don't wanna play in San Diego!" temper tantrum when he was drafted, and as it stands, the Chargers are certainly enjoying the last laugh on that score.

:: The Bills' receivers, yet again. They're too small, and nobody seems able to catch anything that's not thrown right on the numbers. Sometimes in the NFL you have to be able to go up and get a pass or stretch out to snag one; none of these guys seems able to do that.

:: Run defense. The Bills were awful up front. I've been trying to figure out lately what the franchise's single biggest mistake of the last five years has been, and right now, I'm leaning strongly toward the decision that Pat Williams was washed up and let go to Minnesota, where he's only played at a Pro Bowl level. I've been watching teams with big, competent offensive lines and powerful running backs throw the Bills' small-and-quick defensive linemen around like rag dolls pretty much for the entire duration of this blog's existence. Please, Mr. Levy, get a big run stuffer!

:: Offensive line. I say it every week: they don't blow anyone off the line, so the Bills' running game consists of the occasional brilliant run offset by four or five rushes for less than a yard. Marshawn Lynch is a terrific talent, but the line still isn't very good. Please, Mr. Levy, get a big center who can give the line some push up the middle!

:: The announcers. One exchange stood out, when they were discussing the fact that the Giants' home finale next week is versus the New England Victor Von Dooms*. One of these two intoned solemnly that "It's not the responsibility of the Giants to ensure that the Von Dooms do not finish the season undefeated. It's their responsibility to make sure they're healthy for the playoffs." Since the Giants' playoff position is already set -- they're the fifth seed, no matter what happens next week -- the game is meaningless, so this guy's saying that they shouldn't go all-out to beat the Von Dooms, and maybe even rest some starters. And yet, is anyone suggesting that the Von Dooms rest their starters in that same game? Is anyone saying that they should take a loss and end 15-1 in order to remain healthy for the playoffs?

If the Von Doom's are to be expected to play the game for real in hopes of setting the historic 16-0 record, then the Giants are equally to be expected to suit up to stop them. Nobody thinks for one second that Beelzebub Belichick is going to bench Brady Satan to keep him healthy; why should the Giants roll over?

Put it this way: the third batter in the ninth inning against a pitcher who's gunning for a perfect game still has an obligation to try to get on base.

:: Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter. I caught one play of the Dolphins' game against the Von Doom's, and Porter recorded a sack of Brady Satan. And then Porter started doing that muscle-flexing strut thing that guys like to do when they record sacks. Ummm, Joey? Your team is 1-13 going into this game. You don't get to dance for recording a sack in the first quarter. Putz.

:: Commenters on the Buffalo News's BillBoard blog, as evidenced in yesterday's game thread. Yeesh, these are fans? I especially love the ones who think that the Bills "quit" in yesterday's game. I didn't see the team "quit". I saw the team play hard and get whipped by a team that was well-equipped to whip them. Or the guy who insists that Trent Edwards is "worse than the last guy" and "another soft California quarterback". What twaddle.

Next week: the Bills travel to Philly to play the Eagles. And Michael Strahan is our only hope. Remember, Michael: even Brady Satan's ACL isn't made of steel!

* The Wikipedia page for Victor Von Doom has this "Wiki complaint" at the top of the page: "This comics-related article or section describes an element of the series in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective." What a stupid complaint. Someone at Wikipedia needs to remove the large piece of elongated wood from their colon. Who the hell needs "non-fictional perspective" about a fictional supervillain?!

Browns 8, Bills 0

Well, that was disappointing, wasn't it? I mean, I suspect that everybody already knew in their heart of hearts that the Bills weren't ready for prime time yet, but still, it's a bummer to see it laid out so plain. And this game was pretty useful, I think: it laid out in one afternoon all of the faults that the Bills need to address in the looming offseason if they want to get better in 2008 and finally end the playoff drought. I truly believe they can get there, if they do the right things. Yesterday's game pretty much wrote the Bills' faults on a piece of white paper and then took a pink highlighter and made them all stand out.

But it's still worth noting that I said before the season that I'd be impressed if the Bills managed to equal last year's 7-9 record with this much-younger team, after everyone looked at the players they sent packing last offseason and concluded that they'd be Teh Suck. My attitude was, "They were losing with those guys, and they can lose without 'em". Well, I've seen enough this year to make me think that they might be not losing, but learning how to win. And just think: these young guys will be coming of age when the Colts and the Force For Evil From Foxboro are in physical decline.

:: The Bills didn't self-destruct, and they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with disastrous mistakes, penalties, turnovers, and so on. Their failures yesterday were failures to capitalize and make things happen, not gaffes that allowed Cleveland to dominate.

:: Trent Edwards. I'm cutting him slack because he's a rookie, and yesterday's weather at Cleveland was anomalous even for that city (and ours), but he's got to learn to play in snow sometime. It took until the fourth quarter before it seemed like he figured out how to keep his passes from sailing on him.

:: The line of scrimmage, on both sides of the ball. The Bills were dominated. Offensively, pass protection was decent but run blocking was inconsistent. Meanwhile, the Browns were able to contain Marshawn Lynch and they were able to control the tempo of the entire game with their own rushing attack. On offense, the Bills don't blow anyone off the line; on defense, the Bills to to get blown off the line. This has to be the top priority this offseason.

:: The Bills' receivers. I've been buying into the company line that the Bills have a number one receiver (Lee Evans) and a bunch of number three's, with no real number two. But frankly, after watching Evans fail to haul in passes that may not have been thrown on the numbers but were at least within range of his fingertips, and after watching yet another game where Evans's contributions didn't come until halfway through the third quarter (he had one catch in the first half, on a three-and-out drive), I'm wondering if what we have here is a number two receiver and a bunch of number three's, with no number one. And they don't have any real size at receiver, which is turning out to be a giant liability. There's nobody the Bills have who can outleap a typical corner for the ball.

:: Tight ends. The Bills' tight ends suck. There's just no other way to say it: they're a terrible bunch. And after dropping a perfectly-thrown pass on which he was wide open and on which he had nothing but open field ahead of him (he might well have scored had he caught the ball), Michael Gaines said this after the game (emphasis added): "I feel like I let my team down a little bit because if I would have caught it, I was one on one with the safety, and I like those odds." A little bit? Ya think?! Look, when you muff a pass like that in a game that you lose 8-0, I personally think that your postgame interview should consist solely of you repeatedly banging your head against the door of your locker while you say "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" over and over. Ye Gods.

:: The Miami Dolphins. Way to win yesterday, you jerks. Now you have nothing to play for next week, when you take on the New England Iagoes. Dummies.

:: On the topic of the Iagoes, what is up with this "revenge on the Jets" and the chip on their shoulders? By what right do these guys get to be angry about anything? They're the ones who cheated! This reminds me of all those cop shows where the cop who turns in the dirty cop to Internal Affairs is ostracized more than the dirty cop himself.

Next up: The Giants come to Buffalo. Only two games left, and then it's "Wait 'til next year", and then I get my Sunday afternoons for movie watching.

Stuff!

Some lazy linkage for a snowy Thursday evening:

:: Lynn Sislo hasn't posted in several days. As she lives in Oklahoma, I assume that this is due to the ice storm they had in those parts. I hope she's back online soon.

:: Do check out this wonderful article about visual injokes in Pixar's movies. I love stuff like this.

:: I suppose I should start reading Terry Pratchett sometime soon. He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

:: When I become Supreme Ruler of Teh Universe, my first decree will be that all gas stations shall be one-way only, and that it will be illegal to swing your car into the opposite direction just because the one open pump is on the opposite side of your car as the gas cap. I am really tired of trying to figure out how to line up for a pump, when more often than not, the cars at the pumps will be facing me no matter which way I queue up.

:: Via Michael May I see that Joss Whedon's not done with the Firefly universe, and will tell more stories there in the best medium for the job: comics. In fact, he's apparently already done a comic of Firefly; I'll have to track that down. It's called Those Left Behind; the new one will be called Better Days. Cool. (Note to self: finish watching Firefly and then watch Serenity one of these days.)

Bills 38, Dolphins 17

Wow, they're actually in playoff contention! I certainly never expected this. I still don't expect them to actually make the playoffs, but the Bills have turned in one gutsy season, haven't they?

:: Trent Edwards: poise, confidence, and he showed that he can throw deep. Sorry, JP, but Trent's our boyfriend now.

:: Marshawn Lynch and Freddie Jackson, the newest Dynamic Duo of running backs. Here's hoping we're looking at the second version of Thurman Thomas and Kenneth Davis!

:: In the playoff hunt!

:: Over .500! Seriously, that to me is huge, especially the way this season started. Remember, I forecasted a 5-11 finish for this team, figuring that if they could go 7-9 with a younger group of players than the squad from last year that also went 7-9, I'd be highly impressed. And now, with three games left, they've equaled that win total. Wow.

:: John Beck. It's not like the Bills feature one of the NFL's stiffest defensive lines, but man, did Beck look like he had no idea what was going on. So far I'm not impressed.

:: The Dolphins. Man, have they fallen on hard times. Wow.

:: Bills safety George Wilson, who is now out for the year with a rib injury. This is a guy who was converted to safety from wide receiver, and has been playing quite well in that role. Bummer.

On another NFL note, I hereby proclaim Steelers safety Anthony Smith the NFL's Biggest Dumb-ass. Guaranteeing a win against the New England Richard Nixons? Come on! Why would you give those guys anything for their bulletin board at all? Sure, they've obtained their talent by consuming the souls of the innocent in blood-soaked rituals convened upon an altar of stone by the light of a full moon, but they're still the NFL's best friggin' team. Yeesh.

I'd like to see someone try reverse psychology against these guys. Have someone say, "Wow, they're going to kill us. I just hope we manage to only be behind by ten points as we go into the second quarter. We are so screwed." As soon as I saw that quote in the news last week, I immediately thought, "Well, so much for the Steelers restoring goodness and integrity to football. Maybe the Jets can do it the week after."

Yeah. Because if there's one group of guys who can pull it off, it's the Jets. And if Luke hadn't been there for the Battle of Yavin, Porkins could totally have destroyed the Death Star.

Next week: Buffalo at Cleveland, in the first really meaningful game, playoff-wise, for the Bills since the 2004 season finale (when they lost to the Steelers in a game that would have put them in the playoffs had they won). The Bills pretty much have to win out to make the playoffs, and anyway, this is their last game against an AFC opponent (their last two are against the Giants and Eagles), so for tie-breakers, this one's essential. How likely is a win? Who cares? I'm really starting to think that the Bills may be a serious contender next year, depending on how their draft and free agent acquisitions turn out.

The New England Nixons may have the wins...but there's no doubt that the Bills are the character champions of the NFL. Too bad they don't hand out the Lombardi Trophy on that basis!

Bills 17, Redskins 16

This was a strange game to watch. First, the whole Sean Taylor thing; I can't imagine how gut-wrenching that must be for that team. Second, the way the game unfolded was just...weird. It's interesting that the Bills apparently believe in themselves, because as a fan, I'm not there yet; the idea doesn't start seeping into my head that they can win after all until well after they've been entertaining that same thought. And that's why they're on the field and I'm watching them on the teevee. Anyway:

:: Rian Lindell. Lots of folks like to claim that he's not a "clutch" kicker, despite his statistical status as the most accurate kicker the Bills have ever had. Well, he was sure clutch in this game, wasn't he?

:: Trent Edwards played extremely well, I thought, for a rookie. He didn't lead any touchdown drives (the Bills' scoring consisted of five FGs and a safety), but he threw for over 250 yards and didn't turn the ball over at all. He showed more command managing the tempo of the game than JP Losman did most of the time he was here. Now I'm starting to look with hope on what things might be like when the Bills have a slightly better offensive line (they need a new center, I think) and they upgrade their receiving corps and tight ends.

:: Joe Gibbs. Geez, I like that the Bills won, but how bad a call was that at the end, when Gibbs apparently was unaware of a pretty important rule? I've always liked Gibbs, even when he beat the Bills in Super Bowl XXVI, but wow, maybe he needs to look into re-retiring from the NFL.

:: For once, nothing, really. This was a gut-check of a game. The Bills didn't let themselves get buried under the emotion that was running rampant in Washington, they kept their heads clear and played their style of football. This may have been their best executed game all year, and it could be a harbinger of better things to come. We'll see.

Next week: the Bills host the still-winless Miami Dolphins. They barely got by the Dolphins a few weeks ago, but this one's at home and the Dolphins will probably be feeling more demoralized now that they got shellacked by the not-very-good Jets this week. I canna wait!

And of course, let's pray that Baltimore can knock off the New England Montgomery Burnses tomorrow night!

Jaguars 36, Bills 14

Well, at least we finally got some definitive answers about one of the Bills' quarterbacks in this game!

:: Well...er...hmmmmm. Yeah, I got nothin'.

:: The offensive line. I know, I harp on this all the time, but it's still an issue, isn't it? They do OK in pass protection, but the run blocking is terrible. They still don't overpower guys off the line of scrimmage, so Bills running backs are either doing too much east-west running or having to push their way through crowds at the line for any positive gain. The line's gone from jaw-droppingly-bad a couple of years ago to "Meh", which I guess is an improvement, but Melvin Fowler's just an awful center. I wonder if in spending so much energy wondering who the next Jim Kelly's going to be, we've lost sight of the fact that this team won't be a great team until we find the next Kent Hull.

:: Josh Reed whiffing on a pass toward the end of the game. At this point, the outcome was pretty much set, and the pass was way too high, but Reed should have gone up for it. It did, however, look to me that Reed may have had the sun in his eyes when he turned for the ball and whiffed on it because he just couldn't see where the heck it was.

:: It's over, folks. JP Losman's era in Buffalo is done. He had his chance this year, and frankly, he blew it. I find this a bummer because I like the guy, but his inability to hit receivers on the numbers no matter how open they are, coupled with his inability to hit receivers in stride (every catch of a Losman pass seems to come when the receiver has come to a dead stop) and his generally bad decision process means that he's just not going to get it done. It's time for Trent Edwards.

:: Defensive line. They play hard, but without a large body in the middle to clog lanes and occupy multiple blockers, the smaller guys on the ends just get lost. Aaron Schobel has just 2.5 sacks so far this year. Ugh.

Like last year, this year has become about letting talented youngsters emerge and finding out about Losman. Maybe next year can actually be about getting good again. I think it can happen, but they have to get better at the line of scrimmage. Please oh please.

(Oh, and a giant raspberry to the Philadelphia Eagles, who toyed with my emotions last night in nearly knocking off the New England Baby Seal Clubbers, but instead allowing the Evil Ones to escape with the win. Ugh!)

New England Satanic Puppy Eaters 56, Bills 10

Lord, now that was a steamrolling. Holy crap. I'm still not sure that Belichick's Boys of Ultimate Evil are going to go undefeated, but yeesh, they've probably got a better shot at it than anybody has in years.

Why am I not convinced that the Foxborough Hitlers are going to go 16-0? Because of the way the standings work out. They'll clinch the AFC East with just one more win (probably this weekend), and assuming Indianapolis doesn't lose again, they'll clinch the top seed with four more wins, which would leave two meaningless games at the end of their schedule. Now, their last two games are one at home against Miami (no problem), but then on the road at the Giants, who may need that game for either playoff position or possibly even a division crown. And they could end up playing meaningless games sooner than that, if Indy loses again. So, you never know.

Anyhow....

:: Kevin Everett is out of the hospital.

:: The game ended.

:: Al Michaels and John Madden, who acted like Buffalo's City Hall is the single largest City Hall they've ever seen in their lives. Come on, guys. It would have been nice to hear them say, "That's Buffalo's City Hall, and let me tell you, that is one beautiful building, and this city is full of 'em."

:: Again, JP Losman. It's official, folks: I have given up on him. Not that I expected him to beat New England -- that would have required, oh, some kind of event involving two snipers on the roof of Ralph Wilson Stadium, the ritual sacrifice of six goats, and a DVD of a Jerry Lewis movie -- but can't he at least complete short passes to open receivers? Apparently not, sadly enough.

Losman strikes me as a terrific guy, which makes this kind of sad for me. I didn't just want him to succeed here because he was here, but because he's genuinely likable. But sometime you just wanna win, you know?

:: Smuggy McBrady left the game with his knee intact. What somebody needs to do is send all eleven guys after him, on the game's first play from scrimmage. Come on, remaining 2007 opponents of the New England Genghis Khans! Take him out! Do it for the children!

Next up: the Bills go to Jacksonville. Apparently JP Losman is still the starter, and Marshawn Lynch may still be out. Whoopee.

Bill 13, Dolphins 10

I didn't see all of this game; in fact, I pretty much missed the entire first quarter and the first few minutes of the second. Turns out I didn't miss much, as the Bills waited until the fourth quarter to pretty much do anything at all in beating the worst team in the NFL. Seriously, Miami is a total mess of a franchise.

:: After that disastrous 0-3 start to the season, the Bills are actually above .500, and at 5-4, they've matched my predicted win total for them this season. (Remember, I'd picked them to go 5-11.)

:: Ryan Lindell made a game winning field goal at the end, with the score tied at the time. Everyone who insists that despite his accuracy he's still not a "clutch kicker" is now lacking a bit of ammunition for their argument (such as it was).

:: Clutch defense. They gave up a 100-yard rusher today, but still made some big plays when it counted.

:: JP Losman. Look, I'm rooting for the guy, but he couldn't do much of anything at all against the league's worst defense? This was the kind of game we'd hoped for out of him last season, but this isn't last season. Losman is now a veteran, and he should be able to go into the house of the worst D in the NFL and do better than 12 of 23 for 157 yards, no TDs, and a pick. Yeesh. Losman's been in the league for as long as Ben Roeythlissburgerr (pretty sure I spelled that wrong), but Losman's still "developing" while Big Ben's won a Super Bowl, been to two AFC championship games, and currently has his team at 7-2? Oy.

I accept that Losman's time here is nearing its end, and that we're awaiting the official beginning of the Trent Edwards era. At least Losman could go out swinging, and enhance his trade value. Games like today aren't going to help much.

:: The offensive line. We were told in the preseason, "Wait for the rebuilt line to gel, and then you'll see good things." Instead, we're still seeing Marshawn Lynch run 19 times for only 61 yards. God, I hope Marv Levy uses next year's draft to bring in some young O-line talent.

:: One first down in the first half? A third quarter score of 3-2? Huh?

There wasn't a whole lot to love about this game. It was a game. Dull. Boring to watch. A game to have on when you're in a cafe with free WiFi, so you can blog while halfway paying attention.

Next week? Smuggy McBrady and the rest of his nest of coiled vipers come to town. I can't wait. (Well, yes I can, because let's be realistic: this game is highly unlikely to go well for the Bills. I do hope that if the Forces of Evil start running up the score, throwing long passes and going for fourth-down conversions while up more than three TDs in the second half, the Bills have more moxie than the Redskins did and actually take some shots at Smuggy McBrady.)

Bills 33, Bengals 21

The Buffalo Bills are, right now, a .500 football team.

Yes, you read that right. The team that found ways to lose to Denver and Dallas at home despite leading at the exact moment the clock in the 4th quarter ticked to 00:00, and that got manhandled on the road by New England and Pittsburgh, is now at .500. All they have to do to meet my preseason prediction for a 5-11 season is go 1-7 the rest of the way out, and this team is frankly showing too much character to go 1-7 the rest of the way out. Wow.

So yeah, color me impressed. Of course, I'm one who thinks that they're beating decent teams, while other, more pessimistic Bills fans might say that the fact that the Bills are beating these teams makes those teams bad teams. Well, to that I saw, Pshaw. That's right. Pshaw. So onto the commentary!

:: JP Losman. He only had one really bad throw all day, he managed the game smartly, he spread the ball around to different receivers (it seemed like he was only throwing to Lee Evans, but eight different Bills caught passes in this game), and he did some decent running when there was nothing to gain by throwing. I don't know if this game was enough to convince the Bills' brass to keep him around, but I still think he's got a decent NFL career inside him, even if it's not here, so games like this can only enhance his trade value. I've always liked Losman, so even if he's not the guy in Buffalo, I'm rooting for him to have success.

:: Marshawn Lynch. What a stud. He always keeps his feet moving, he always seems to grind out at least a yard or two after he takes the initial hit, and he finally broke the long run we've been waiting to see from him. When he ends up running behind the next great Bills O-line, he's going to be an absolute force.

:: The Bills' young players. Just think, folks: these guys will be coming of age when Darth Brady and the rest of his Sith apprentices in New England are on the physical decline of their careers. Heh!

:: Coaching. This game was, as far as I could see, very well coached. Nothing really stupid was done, with one exception (see below). The defense always seems to have guys right around the ball, wherever it is. Tackling has been improved immensely. The motivation continues to be amazing. I don't know that this is a championship coaching staff, but they've got to get some mad props for getting this team back up off the mat after what had to be the most dispiriting start to a season ever.

:: The NFL's flex schedule! The Bills' resurgence has given the league cause to move their upcoming home game against New England to Sunday Night Football on NBC in two weeks. Huzzah! Now I really hope that this week at Miami doesn't become a "trap" game. And how sweet would it be if Buffalo was the team that ended the talk of an undefeated season? (Not that I'd bet on that outcome, but it could happen!)

:: I guess I'll file this under "Meh", even though they had a pretty good game. I'd still like to see the offensive line improved over the offseason, preferably with a high draft pick. Ditto the D-line. Those guys play incredibly hard, and they'd only benefit from having a nice big body in the middle.

:: Ocho Cinqo. I like that guy, and I hated seeing him go down like that. I hope he's OK.

:: No defensive pass rush. Oy.

:: Red zone efficiency. Gotta get better down there, guys. Had those four FGs been TDs, this game would have been a blowout.

:: And speaking of red zone efficiency: first-and-goal from the one yard line and you got cute with the playcalling? Aieee! I have a feeling that given four chances to run it up the middle, Marshawn Lynch would have picked up the yard and scored.

Other stuff from around the NFL:

:: Wow, this Peterson kid in Minnesota seems to have some potential, doesn't he?

:: My preseason pick for the Super Bowl? Saints over Ravens? Yeah, it could happen -- and, in the immortal words of Wayne Campbell, monkeys might fly out of my butt.

:: It's OK, Indianapolis. In the James Bond movies, Blofeld always wins Round One.

Next up: the Bills travel to winless Miami, who are off this week after losing in London last week. Be careful, guys! This looks like a classic "trap" game! Be mindful, for past the Dolphins, Eeee-vil lurks!

Can the Colts have haloes attached to their helmets?

In comments to this post, Jess Nevins, who is a fan of the New England Stupid Patriots, takes exception to the fact that I used the word "evil" in reference to his team. Here is his comment, in full:

Yes, by all means, go Colts--let's root for the team whose coach is out there giving speeches against gay marriage and shilling for a poisonously homophobic organization. (Just do a search for "Tony Dungy" "gay marriage").

All Bill Belichick did was cheat at a game. (And run up the score). Tony Dungy is actively making life harder for millions of gay men and women. (Not to mention claiming that the homophobic organization is doing God's work, which by extension means that those who oppose that organization are doing the Devil's work).

I can understand hating the Patriots and rooting against them--but when you bandy around words like "evil," let's remember who the really bad people are.

[second comment]

Also--do some searching into Belichick's work with Jim Brown's Amer-I-Can Program, or his work with the Lazarus House Ministries.

Everyone's entitled to hate a team and individuals on that team. But, finally, *enough* with the "evil." Belichick may be boorish, asocial ,a philanderer, and a bad sport (although he's always been more gracious in defeat than Peyton Manning has been--Belichick never blames anyone else for his losses, which Manning can't say), but the man does good work outside of the realm of football, while Dungy is an activist for homophobia outside of football (and undoubtedly inside--if one of the Colts were gay, there's no way they could come out in that locker room environment). "Evil" is for God (if there is any such creature) to decide. But I know which one is the better person.

Well...lately I've noticed that more than a few commentators, as well as outright New England and/or Boston sports fans, seem utterly shocked that someone out there isn't swooning over the dreamy football feats of Brady-and-company. A few points in response:

:: This is, first and foremost, my blog, and I'll choose the words I use, thank you very much. If I want to use the word "evil" to describe Bill Belichick and the Patriots, I'll do just that.

:: That said, I will also assume that my readers are capable of differentiating "evil" used in the context of a sports team and "evil" used in other contexts. Now, I'm not sure if Jess is just a Patriots fan or if he's a fan of all the Boston-area sports teams, but I've noticed that some people are upset about the "evil" label being applied to the Patriots, where I don't recall ever seeing any such disapproval toward describing the New York Yankees as "the evil empire".

Of course, everybody knows that the Yankees are neither "evil" nor an "empire". Everybody recognizes that as a metaphor. That so many hyper-defensive Pats fans suddenly seem to be unable to recognize an over-the-top metaphor when it smacks them in the face when applied to their team strikes me as funny. Get a grip. More on sports metaphor in a moment, but....

:: Jess has been a sporadic reader of this blog for a long time, and he's been reading my over-the-top venting about the Patriots for an equally long time. I was calling the Patriots "evil" before it was "cool" to do so (here's my post from their Super Bowl win in 2004, if you don't believe me), and Jess knows this. I've also led off each season of football blathering in this space with a frank admission that what I'm doing is pure blathering, and to that point I've even taken to decorating my football posts with pictures of Homer Simpson. So Jess knows that he shouldn't take me seriously when I say that the Patriots are "evil". I suspect then that he's reacting to all the other commentators out there who have glommed onto the word -- such as the sanctimonious claptrap recently penned by Gregg Easterbrook on the subject. I've seen other Patriots fans reacting thusly to the "evil" characterization, and I never saw Yankees fans react that way. Or Cowboys fans, back in the 1990s -- in fact, they relished it. (Here's a profanity-laced post on another blog that illuminates that very point.) Tell a Yankees fan that their team is evil? They'll laugh at you. Same deal with a Cowboys fan. Tell a Pats fan that their team is evil? Break out the corkscrew, because here comes the whine.

:: Point-by-point comparisons of the off-the-field activities of the various personages involved are, for the purposes of this discussion, a waste of time. I'm not excusing Tony Dungy's stance on gay marriage, because I stand totally opposed to it (Dungy's stance, that is). But really -- since we're talking over-the-top language here, this is really all rather pointless, because except for extreme cases, sports fandom just doesn't work that way. I'll bet there are plenty of Indianapolis Colts fans who find Dungy's anti-gay views objectionable, but forgive them because he's their coach. That may be an ugly reality, but that's the reality. Arguing about it here seems odd. If, in the future, some turn of events transpired that brought Tony Dungy to the Patriots sidelines, would Jess then dump his investment of fandom in that team? Would I? Well, maybe he would -- we all have issues that are deal-breakers. I know that if the Bills are the team that gives Michael Vick his second chance in the NFL, I'm going to have a pretty hard time rooting for them.

:: This is perhaps a harder point to defend, but I can say with experience that one can hold some pretty dispiriting views on certain issues and still be a decent person. We once had a family friend who was a fine, fine friend indeed -- and he was also a terrible bigot, to the point where he stopped going to his favorite bar when the bar hired a black bartender. I don't like Dungy's stance on gays; it leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth. But picking sports teams isn't like picking a political party, and we shouldn't act like it is.

:: From what I've read about the NFL and its general approach toward masculinity, I find it hard to believe that an openly gay player would be any more welcome in the Patriots locker room than any other. This is a serious problem with the NFL in general, not just with Tony Dungy.

:: No, Jess, you don't "know who the better person is", unless you know both of these guys personally and can assess their lives and their vices and their virtues as part of a whole package. And neither do I. This is just silly. My general impression is that Belichick is a creep. Yes, this is certainly colored by my being a Bills fan -- after all, I get to watch my team get clobbered by the guy twice a year, and he coached the Giants' D in Super Bowl XXV. But yes, his public persona is, to me, that of a creep. (And I'm not a complete homer here; I didn't like Gregg Williams when he was here, or Mike Mularkey, and Lawyer Milloy lost me with that stupid "You can't feed your family on Super Bowl rings" nonsense.)

:: I'm going to need an explanation someday about why it is that Barry Bonds's cheating is so horrible, so beyond the pale, that his Hall of Fame credentials are besmirched and that an entire era of baseball records needs to be asterisked at best and completely ignored at worst, while Bill Belichick's cheating is just "Oh, that whacky Bill, just looking for an edge!", and he pays his fine and the matter's closed.

:: On a more general point, objecting to the use of the word "evil" in a sports context seems a tad naive. Sport is founded on the entire notion of competition, and competition with rooting interests pretty much implies that for the spectators, there are "good guys" and "bad guys". And football amps this up to a very high degree. It's inherent in the game's very terminology: offense and defense. Aerial attack. Long bomb. Front lines. Shotgun formation. Blockers described as battering rams. Heavy hits. Quarterbacks as "generals", in "command". "Gridiron warriors". "Monsters of the Midway". "The Killer B's." "Steel curtain". The Bills' offense during the Super Bowl years, called the "K-gun".

Football's entire persona as a sport is steeped in terminology of conflict, war, and the like. Just watch any of those old NFL Films documentaries, with John Facenda's voiceovers droning on about the "gladiators of the gridiron" tumbling over the "frozen tundra" of the field, and you'll hear this kind of thing over and over. To take a sport like this, and then complain about the word "evil"? Come on, Pats fans.

Bills 13, Jets 3

We're on a roll! Playoffs or bust! (Yeah, I know which of those is more likely, but still....)

:: The Bills' defense had a pretty good game, although they were helped out by the Jets' coaching staff and its decision to not run the ball as much as they should have. Going on the road and holding the opposition to three points is superb, though.

:: JP Losman. I'm still a fan of his, and I'm glad to see him come in and succeed. No, he didn't set the world on fire, but he completed one long bomb and very nearly completed another (he put the ball right where Roscoe Parrish needed it to be, and Parrish simply dropped it). Now, if the Bills are convinced that Trent Edwards is the future and needs to play, then I'm fine with that. I just hope they're able to trade Losman in the offseason and get something good in return -- a draft pick or two. If Losman gets more time this year that looks like yesterday, the chances of that happening go up.

I'm not convinced that Losman is a bust in the NFL. Is he the next Jim Kelly or Brett Favre? Probably not. But I wouldn't at all rule out the thought of him having a career like, oh, Brad Johnson, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, or Rich Gannon. All of those guys were around a long time, none of them is a Hall-of-Famer, but all went to Super Bowls and three of them won it.

:: Lee Evans. Wow, did he want to make a play or what?

:: Marshawn Lynch. Not Lynch himself, actually; just the fact that he's trying so hard to have a big game and he keeps running into eight-man fronts every time he touches the ball. He's a draft-horse type of player, but for one reason or another he hasn't got the results yet. He will, though.

:: Offensive line. This is the main reason why Lynch hasn't excelled yet. They should be "gelling" by now, and yet...they don't look like they're gelling. They still aren't asserting command over the line of scrimmage. And how many consecutive corner blitzes did the Jets run yesterday, with none of them being picked up at all, even when the TV guys are saying, "Here comes another corner blitz!" before the ball was even snapped?

:: Throwing a long bomb in an obvious running situation again. Yes, it worked out well this time, but it didn't have to, and I'd really like to see the Bills not have to contain a last-gasp comeback attempt in the final moment in a game. I'd like to see them get the ball with 3:30 or so left and never give up the ball again. That's when I'll start believing that the O-line is coming together.

:: The Washington Redskins. Were you guys even on the field? And you know what: if you're pissed about the Stupid Patriots running up the score on you, then why not take a few shots at Brady? Why not take some jabs at Moss? It's not like the penalty yards are going to hurt you anymore than you're already hurt, since you're already bleeding points all over the field anyway. Do what they do in baseball: take some shots at 'em. You're getting paid millions of dollars to play football anyway, so either dish out some punishment in return, or shut up about being rung up for 52 points. As far as I'm concerned, the right to complain about running up the score ends when you're making what an NFL player makes.

:: That game in London. How lame was that???

Next week: the Bengals come to town. And go Colts! Only you can stop evil from becoming truly ascendant.

Bills 19, Ravens 14

Wow -- a win! I get to post about a win! Woo-hoo!

:: The Bills' defense, which played exceptionally hard yet again and this time didn't fold in the closing minutes.

:: Trent Edwards, who didn't play spectacularly but played with a good deal of poise. I'm not terribly wild about Edwards yet, but it does say something that in his third career start he's roughly doing what Buffalo fans hoped JP Losman would be able to do in his second season.

:: The quarterback "controversy". Last week, in naming Edwards the starter this week, Dick Jauron cited JP Losman's knee injury, an excuse which everyone knows is bogus and only puts off the actual moment when Jauron has to admit that he thinks Edwards is the best hope for the Bills' future. That was dumb.

:: Losman's career in Buffalo possibly being over. I'm pretty bummed that Losman apparently hasn't panned out as a starter and is likely on his way out, because frankly I like the guy enormously. You have to go with who wins, obviously, or who appears more likely to become the guy you're looking for. If Losman's not the guy, then Losman's not the guy, and so be it. But the way the staff is letting him twist in the wind is pretty cold, since he's never shown himself to be anything other than a team player and a community guy.

And if Losman's time here in Buffalo is at an end, I do hope that he becomes a quality starter someplace else. I still hope he has success and isn't just a career backup. And I hope that's in the NFC, so we don't have to see him all that often.

:: Is offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild going to call a dumb pass play in every late-game obvious running situation that comes up this year??? He made such a call again, and it hurt the Bills tremendously: leading by twelve and deep in their own territory, the Bills faced a third-and-eight situation. Obviously you run the ball, grind more time off the clock, and then punt. Fairchild, however, calls a pass. Which the rookie QB misfires, resulting in a pick that later gets converted into a touchdown. Ugh.

:: The lack of size on the defensive line. If this team had a big run-stopper in the middle, imagine how good things would be right now.

:: Tom Effing Brady and the rest of his evil, stinking team. God, I am the biggest Colts fan on Earth right now.

Next up: at the Jets, with a late kickoff. That'll be cool; I like the occasional late kickoff.

Cowboys 25, Bills 24

I guess I need to say something about this game, which has already attained legendary status in Buffalo's annals of negative sports outcomes. I tend to have a sunnier outlook on stuff than most Bills fans, so here it is: I don't think Dick Jauron should be fired (yet), and I think that this game may turn out to be a key foundational event in building the character of a good team to come.

How's that?

The offensive play-calling is baffling, and of this current coaching staff, if there's anyone whom I think should be on a "Job Endangered" list, it's offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild. I don't understand running a reverse on third-and-one; I don't understand the continued refusal to take shots downfield; I certainly don't understand his continued refusal to run the ball in obvious running situations late in games. This was the third time this season that the Bills went "pass-wacky" in a late-game situation:

:: There was the long bomb at about three minutes to go in the Denver game, which the Bills led at the time, 14-12. Had they simply run the ball and kept the clocking going, and everything else had unfolded the same way, the Broncos would have run out of time before kicking the FG to win 15-14.

:: The Bills threw in a similar situation in the Jets game, thus failing to run any time off the clock. This left the Jets enough time to attempt a drive for a tying FG. They came up short when Pennington threw an interception, but it wouldn't -- and needn't -- have ever come to that.

:: And in this game the Bills led 24-16 with six minutes to go. Third-and-eight from the Dallas 11-yard line, so they're easily within FG range. Instead of running, grinding away a minute or so of game time, and getting three points in the bargain to go up by 11, Fairchild called 'pass'. The pass was picked off. The Cowboys didn't get points off that turnover, but they preserved clock and the more manageable point margin they needed to overcome.

I genuinely don't understand why the Bills' coaches keep doing this stuff. It makes no sense. I don't know a single Bills fan who would rather have the offense score touchdowns than have the whole team win games.

On the quarterbacks: I personally think that JP Losman has to be put back in now, if he's healthy, but with the proviso that he's got to show his stuff, now. He had time for growth last year. If the Bills go another four or five games and he still looks the way he did in the first two games this year (when he didn't so much play poorly as barely play at all), then bring on the Edwards Era. (Of course, if some other team wants to offer up a compelling trade offer for Losman, including one or two high draft picks, I'd hope the Bills would take it.) I've been rooting for Losman because, frankly, I like the guy and hope he has a great career. Losman just seems like a good guy, and I like that. But production's production, right?

(However, some perspective is always helpful: if Losman had been under center Monday night and produced the exact same result -- 150 yards or so passing, 0 TDs and a very bad INT, leading the offense to producing just three points -- Bills fans would be calling for his immediate one-way ticket to the waiver wire.)

Finally, I'm hearing a lot of negative stuff about Dick Jauron, how he's too stoic and he's not that good on the X's and O's and how his press conferences can be maddening affairs. (His defense of that third-and-eight pass play? "Well, you don't know that if we run the ball, the back doesn't fumble." Huh?!) I agree to a point. But then I think of how lackadaisical and just plain apathetic the Bills looked through large whacks of the Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey "eras", where this year's team (and last year's), play with as much fire and heart as I've seen a Bills team even during the glory days. They come up short because of talent, injuries, and yes, poor strategy. But when I look at the way this supposedly overmatched team came out and very nearly knocked off the NFC's best team, I wonder if we're not selling Dick Jauron short as far as his motivational skills go.

Anyway, this week's a bye week. Next up, the Baltimore Ravens, with former underachiever Willis McGahee making his return to Buffalo. I hope they kept his old hotel room and video game controller warm for him.

Stupid Patriots 38, Bills 7

You know, I find football fans to be an amazing lot. Before the season started, I'd hear lots of fans on sports radio shows and in regular life saying things like, "Geez, with this schedule, we'll be lucky to be 6-10" and "Wow, they're gonna open up 0-4" and stuff like that. Now that the Bills actually are 0-3, suddenly we're all shocked -- shocked! -- that the team is struggling mightily. Of course, that's probably a function of how the team is struggling mightily; most fans expected a team that would lose games by scores like 28-20, 38-24, 45-27, and the like. No one expected a team that would, after three games, have two offensive TDs on the year.

JP Losman's effectiveness was questioned strenuously by fans after both the first two games; I was unimpressed by him, although I didn't call for a pulling of his plug, and I feel slightly vindicated by what happened today. Losman was injured on the very first series and came out of the game after the third play, leading to rookie (third-round pick this year) Trent Edwards, who had a couple of good drives in pre-season which was somehow enough to sell a lot of people on the idea that he's bursting with intangibles. Which isn't to say that he isn't bursting with intangibles; I just think that one doesn't want to estimate a rookie quarterback's intangibles based on a fourth-quarter drive against the Detriot Lions in a pre-season game. But that's just me.

I'm also weary of hearing youth and injuries cited as reasons this team struggles. I think it goes to drafting and coaching. The greenest players each year, the ones who are really marginal NFL talents at their positions, always manage to make NFL rosters by virtue of special teams play, and the Bills' special teams units are always well-prepared and they almost always execute well on the fundamentals. Today, a perfect downing-of-the-ball on a punt was executed by a rookie (Josh Wendling, a fifth-round pick this year), and in making that play he looked like he'd been doing it for years. That's coaching. Funny how Bobby April manages to get so much more out of the same general batch of inexperienced youngsters than any of the other coordinators and coaches on the Bills' staff, isn't it?

Anyway, let's move onto more pithy replies:



:: The Bills have a very good punter.

:: The Bills had one very good drive.

:: Bill Belichick challenged two calls within five minutes in the second quarter; both went against him. I remember when those calls would probably have gone his way. I wonder if there's some quiet bit of punishment for the whole Belicheat thing going on.

:: I got the floor vacuumed in our apartment! Woo-hoo!



:: The announcers for this game weren't very good. They made odd points, like "Dick Jauron's had success wherever he's been", and "The StuPats have been good because they've had continuity at coach and quarterback, where the Bills haven't." I've heard that latter point a lot lately, not just in reference to New England, but to teams like Indy and Pittsburgh. The point seems to me exactly backwards: success doesn't come as a result of continuity in the coaching staff and the roster; rather, continuity comes as a result of success. Does anyone think the Bills would have had any better a recent history if we were on Year Seven of the Gregg Williams/Rob Johnson era? Or Year Four of the Mike Mularkey/Drew Bledsoe era? Winning comes first, then continuity.

:: Chris Kelsay did a better job tackling. The defense continues to play really hard. They don't make big stops or big plays, but they can't be said to be lacking in the area of effort.

:: Marshawn Lynch. Not "Meh" for his effort, just "Meh" that he's so potentially good on so ugly a team.



:: Longtime readers know I harp on this every year, but it wouldn't be a Bills post of mine if I didn't complain about the Bills' constant lack of command at the line of scrimmage. Screw the quarterback situation; this team's focus has to be getting better at the line of scrimmage.

:: Well, this game sure can't be blamed on JP Losman. Trent Edwards completed fifty percent of his passes for under 100 yards, no TDs, and an interception. I'm not knocking Edwards, but this team is fundamentally bad in the trenches.

:: Maybe the Bills should just eliminate all their tight ends and sign some new linemen, since the TEs are useless here anyway.

:: Maybe it's just my rabid hatred of the StuPats talking, but there's no way Wilfork wasn't gunning for Losman's exposed knee on that play.

:: More injuries. What did the Bills do to so alienate the football gods? Now, rookie linebacker Paul Posluszny has a broken arm and will be out for quite a while. JP Losman will probably miss some time. About the only thing that can be hoped now is that some youngsters who would otherwise have never seen the field somehow turn out to be diamonds in the rough.

Well, that's about it. Next up: the New York Jets, at home. The Bills usually play the Jets tough. But then again, once Aaron Schobel, Chris Kelsay and Donte Whitner all get hurt next week on the same play, the Bills will be fielding seven guys on defense.

Sigh.

R Stillers 26, Bills 3

Heavens, this was one of those games where you're left scraping the bottom of an incredibly low barrel to find good things to say. Yeesh, that was bad. Oh well, at least my second favorite team, the Steelers, won.

Woo-hoo!

:: Terrence McGee runs the kickoffs back nicely.

:: The Bills at least play hard. What always bothered me when they stunk up the field during the Gregg Williams/Drew Bledsoe era was the way they just looked lethargic when they were getting clobbered. The current crop of youngsters actually look pissed when they're getting beat down badly. Not that this augurs anything in particular for their future, but hey, I'll take Lee Evans losing his cool in the waning moments of the fourth quarter and committing two consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties over Drew Bledsoe's monotone insistence in the postgame interview that he's "so mad he doesn't know what to do".

:: Brian Moorman's a good punter.

Meh.

:: The Bills' offensive line. Pass blocking was still bad, run blocking was occasionally adequate. The Jason Peters/Derrick Dockery side was supposed to be very strong, but they allowed lots of pressure to get through.

:: Defensive effort. "Bend but don't break" will eventually get you killed, if your offense can't put points on the board, but those guys put forth the best effort they could. Sadly, it's not even close to enough because their talent level just isn't up there.

:: JP Losman. Again, he wasn't a factor one way or the other. He didn't have a bad game, he didn't have a good game, I'm not sure that he even had a game. The guy has got to start making plays once in a while. Two games, and aside from a couple of nice runs, no plays made from QB. Right now he looks worse than he did last year, if only because he doesn't look any better. If this keeps up, we may be looking at some extended playing time for Trent Edwards before this year is out.

D'oh!

:: Defensive results. I praised their effort above, but a boss of mine used to say, "Don't confuse effort with results". They got pounded hard, giving up over 400 yards for the second straight week. Rare pressure on the opposing QB, and when they do get pressure, it rarely results in a sack. The middle of the field is always conceded to opposing receivers. Sure, they work hard, but the results are more than 400 yards and 26 points yielded.

:: Offensive results. Three points, which resulted from a drive that began in Steeler territory after a McGee kickoff return. Receivers don't get open. Losman can't find anyone, and seems more and more to lack the finesse needed to make those really difficult throws. No good tight end play. The offensive line still falling apart and never looking to really exert any kind of control over the line of scrimmage.

Next up: the Bills travel to New England, which will likely be able to take a week off from cheating in order to beat up on this team. Somehow Aaron Schobel will get his usual two or three sacks of Tom Brady, since he always seems to play well against Brady, but that will be that.

Wow, this is shaping up to be a bad year.

Et tu, Belichick?

Friends, Romans, NFL fans, lend me your ears!
I come to bury the Patriots, not praise them.
The games that they win live after them;
the things they do to win those games are oft interred with their bones.
So let it be with the Patriots. The noble Belichick
hath told you that the Patriots are noble,
and Belichick is an honorable man....

Well. Well, well well. Well. Ahhhh...well.

This may be unseemly on my part, but...heck, I don't care. I've long made absolutely no secret how loathsome I find Bill Belichick and his whole merry band of cohorts in New England, and once again, they prove my point through arrogance and, now, unmasked misdeeds. I've always been flummoxed by the mystique surrounding Belichick (and Tom Brady), and now quite a lot of it is explained: it turns out that Belichick's greatness is at least in part a function of the fact that the guy's just a weasel.

It suddenly seems a lot less mysterious, doesn't it, how Belichick's managed to carve out his reputation as a guy who can somehow elevate the most marginal of players into terrific performers.

It suddenly seems a lot less mysterious how all of those players who thrive under Belichick fail to thrive when they go someplace else.

It suddenly seems a lot less mysterious how Belichick's former assistants go on to their own coaching jobs and end up not doing quite as well.

It suddenly seems a lot less mysterious how it is that the Patriots always struggle against the Bills in their first meeting of the season, and then blow them out in the second.

And it suddenly seems a lot less mysterious just how it is that New England always seems to just happen to have the exact right play drawn up in every situation.

I'll admit it: I'm happy this came out. I like that the hallowed New England mystique has taken a major hit. I like that people are now seeing that franchise more the way I've seen them for years (pretty much ever since that incredibly phony stunt of theirs at the outset of Super Bowl XXXVI, when they eschewed individual player introductions in favor of "being introduced as a team"). For a number of years now, questioning the Anointed status of Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots has been the NFL equivalent of walking into a Catholic church during Mass and denouncing the Pope with a bullhorn.

Well, it now seems clear to a lot more people that the halo on the New England organization is actually a brass hoop held up by a bit of coathanger.

What to do, then? I personally would like to see the Patriots stripped of their first and second round draft picks next year, as well as have the league invalidate any trades they might make to acquire new picks in those rounds. And then I'd require Belichick to wear a three-piece suit on the field during all game days. That ought to hurt 'em!

(OK, gloating's over. Back to the more reasoned tones you've all come to expect here!)

UPDATE: Belicheater.com. I love it. A taste:

Only Belichick’s lack of throwing furniture and his omnipresent monotone keeps his reputation from completely spilling over into Bob Knight territory. He’s a jerk, but not one you hear screaming a lot. Belichick might not completely disdain the comparison to Knight, a good friend of Belichick’s former boss, Parcells. Knight was never one to rush to apologize for his actions, and Belichick doesn’t openly, Nixon-style, declare “I am not a jerk,” instead issuing vague responses that sound like they were written by Alan Greenspan.

But one other thing about Knight. For all of his flaws, he was all about fair play. Belichick is about gaming the system as much as you can.

That's from this article by Bob Cook, reprinted at Belicheater.com.

I wonder how long this has been going on. This seems, frankly, worse to me than Barry Bonds's steroid use; this potentially could put an asterisk next to the results of three Super Bowls. Ouch.

Broncos 15, Bills 14

Well, that sure sucked! Expecting one's team to go 5-11 doesn't make it any more fun when one of the eleven predicted losses turns out to have been as winnable as this game was. For what it's worth, I saw from the Bills today pretty much what I expected to see today: some promising stuff, and some other stuff that made me wish for December.

Anyway, here are my reactions to various stuff, categorized into three areas depending on how I feel about them.

Woo-hoo!

:: Marshawn Lynch. This was the first time I saw this guy in action, since I didn't watch anything in the postseason. I didn't realize how large he was, and he looks like he's going to be a really good one as he gets better and more experienced. On his touchdown run, he literally pushed a Denver defender into the end zone in front of him.

:: Roscoe Parrish. Great kickoff return, obviously.

:: Paul Posluszny. I liked him a lot. Now, if someone else on the defense would make plays.

Meh.

:: JP Losman. Look, I didn't think he looked bad in the game. Nothing he did seemed really cover-my-eyes awful, like he once did last year. But he didn't seem to step forward at all, did he? Losman's at a stage in his career when he should be able to make more plays than he did yesterday. He didn't step it up. I don't think Losman made any mistakes that cost the Bills the game, but he didn't take control, either. I don't think he took a step backward -- but I didn't see any evidence of a step forward. At this point I think he should be showing some of those "intangibles", now that his raw mechanics seem to be OK.

:: Bills defense. We knew it was going to be a bad defense, and it played like it. Sure, they only gave up 15 points, but it seemed like every time Denver needed to make a big conversion, they either made it or gained enough yardage to turn a long yardage situation into a short yardage situation on the very next down.

:: Offensive line. I was, on balance, favorably impressed by this unit. But we're talking, roughly, fifty-three percent impressed versus forty-seven percent shaking my head in dismay. I like to think the unit will get better as the year goes on and the chemistry develops. They weren't getting blown off the line by the Denver defenders, and a few times they actually seemed to exert some will over the Broncos. But they weren't consistent.

D'oh!

:: Injuries. Holy crap. Coy Wire, Ko Simpson, and Kevin Everett: all hurt today, with Everett's sounding potentially career-threatening. (Not like Everett's had much of a career, but still.) The Bills are already weak at all the positions at which guys got hurt today.

:: Tight ends. It was maddening to me that Jay Cutler always had this big, strong target roaming the middle of the field to grab his dump-off passes (Javon Walker -- not technically a TE, but still), and Losman didn't. Robert Royal? He provided a catch. So did Everett before he got hurt on a special teams play. Two catches. None of Losman's receivers could get open in the middle, and the Broncos did a great job in taking downfield away. Ugh.

:: Peerless Price. One catch. Drawing a lot of salary that could otherwise have gone to a better receiver or a tight end or a defensive lineman or someone who could make a contribution.

:: Dumb mistakes by players. Josh Scobey either missed or ignored a signaled fair catch, and leveled the Denver player who was going to catch a punt. The resulting penalty and re-kick resulted in a net change of nineteen yards of field position.

:: Playcalling. I really hope it comes out who was responsible for trying a deep pass play when there's 2:30 left in the game and you're holding a two-point lead. What a horrible, horrible idea that was; it's only defensible in that goofy NFL-speak way where "You're a genius if it works and a goat if it doesn't." But if that play had simply been a run up the middle for no gain, it would have run fifteen or twenty seconds off the clock that were left on the clock otherwise by the incompletion. If everything else had been exactly the same from that point, the Broncos' rally for the winning FG would have run out of time well short of FG range. As it played out from that point, the Bills didn't even have to convert the third down.

Worse, that call sends a horrible message, doesn't it? If that came from the coaching staff, it seems to indicate a total lack of confidence in the defense. Granted, the D had not played very well all day, but they'd kept Denver to a low score. Calling for the home-run at that point basically says, "There's no way our young guys on D can preserve the two-point win once the other guys get the ball back." It could have been, "OK, youngsters, win the game for us." Instead, it was "God, we need more points." Bad, bad, bad move.

Next up: the Bills visit the Pittsburg Stealers. They should be able to bounce back against...oh crap, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ach, I have a bad feeling about this.