The Buffalo Bills once again find themselves in the middle of a quarterback controversy. This time around it is J.P. Losman, a veteran of Buffalo quarterback controversies, and rookie Trent Edwards, a... rookie. The coaching staff has been doing a lot of tap dancing as it seems obvious that they are itching to start their recent draft pick, yet owe Losman some respect after the way he finished last season. There doesn't seem to be any question that the organization has decided to go to Edwards as their future star quarterback. But is he really better than Losman at this point? And is it in his best interest to learn as he goes on the field with an already unsettled and awkward offense? After all, this offense was built around Losman. Wasn't it? Edwards was a pleasant surprise on draft day. A player the coaches couldn't pass up on but they didn't really expect to have a shot at him. How the Bills handle the current situation will say a lot about where the team is headed.

Trent Edwards has shown a lot of poise and composure in the pocket. For the most part he has managed a clean offense, but the team has struggled mightily at times under his leadership. Edwards has thrown 1 extremely bad interception in each of his appearances this season. All were at critical points in the game. Sure they are rookie mistakes, but why suffer through the rookie learning process if you have an experienced veteran on your squad?

Edwards has a questionable injury just like Losman did. It makes for a great excuse to make a non-committal move to start Losman again against a soft Cincinnati defense. Losman ought to have a lot of success. If he doesn't and the Bills struggle, Jauron can easily start Edwards next week agaisnt the lowly Dolphins. But in the more likely event that Losman helps the team score more than one touchdown and Marshawn Lynch ends up with 100+ yards as a result, Losman should keep the starting job. Not only will Edwards benefit from watching the more experienced quarterback, but Losman will be raising his value. If the Bills decide to trade Losman, he will have a lot more value if he is coming off a successful campaign. There's also a possibility that the Bills could hold onto both quarterbacks, particularly if Losman re-emerges as the starter.

The thing that makes this situation different from many quarterback controversies is the fact that Losman and Edwards have each other's back. Both quarterbacks have said how they want eachother to be successful. They could co-exist. Edwards lacks the arm strength to challenge any NFL defenses. If he wants to be a starter he needs to show that he can get the ball down field. That's when his interceptions have come. Edwards is better off working on that in the off season than struggling on the field and letting his team down. The top players on the offense, particularly Evans, feel that Losman gives them a better chance. But Edwards could be the Reich to Losman's Kelly.

The Bottom line is, Losman has done a better job with the football this season despite how Edwards "appears" on the field. Despite facing far more menacing defenses than the ones Edwards faced, Losman is ahead of Edwards in almost every significant category.

Losman: 33 of 52 for 368 yards (63.5% completion) 1 touchdown, 1 interception, average completion 11.15, average per attempt 7.07 , passer rating 82.9

Edwards: 80 of 121 for 790 yards (66.1% completion) 1 touchdown, 5 interceptions, average completion 9.875, average per attempt 6.5, passer rating 69.9

The numbers speak for themselves. Despite having more opportunity to play and facing softer defenses, Edwards is producing, on average, half a yard less per passing play and nearly 1.5 yards per completion. 5 interceptions to 1 touchdown is a bad ratio. The Bills have an easy excuse to switch back to Losman and they are using it.

Losman gets to face the second worst defense in the league at home. The Bengals are ranked 28th at passing defense and 24th at rushing defense. Marshawn Lynch will finally get his 100 and Losman will throw for three touchdowns in a breakout game. The game will still be close because Cincinnati's tough offense will bring the Bills young defense a dose of reality. In the end, the Bills find a way to beat the Bengals as they have often in the past. Bills 31 Bengals 27

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I have been meaning to write many articles this week. A thorough recap of the game this past Sunday against Baltimore, highlighting some of the pretty amazing things I see in our rookie quarterback, Trent Edwards. Another article breaking down the stats on how the Bills truly did shut down Willis McGahee on his first visit to his old stomping grounds—on his birthday no less. And, I have wanted to weigh in on the whole Bills-games-in-Toronto issue.

But I haven't. And, I won't.

(Quite) Unfortunately, I do not get paid to write about the Bills, and my work load at the moment seems insurmountable. Tack on the fact that we leave for California in less than 24 hours, and yeah... I'm feeling the pressure!

For that reason, here are a few quick thoughts on all of the above topics.

QB Trent Edwards
It is now official. Trent Edwards is the starting QB for the Buffalo Bills. Not just for this week. For good. Dick Jauron said, "Hopefully we won't have to make a change there," in his press conference yesterday. The Bills like what they see in Edwards, and for good reason.

Not only does Trent have a good arm, is very accurate, and can put some zip on the ball, he's also a very quick learner and very confident in the pocket. His abilities to handle the offensive schemes were showcased when the Bills ran the no-huddle offense for most of the game against Baltimore. The QB has to read the defense, and make the call from some pre-set plays in that situation. And he did a great job with it! His confidence and poise in the pocket are demonstrated by the number of sacks he has taken. Some of the credit goes to the offensive line, but much of it goes to Trent for knowing when to release the ball, and where to put it.

One of the more amazing things from Sunday's game was the FIVE offsides penalties Edwards was able to pull the Ravens into! It could have been six, but the call went against the Bills when Michael Gaines jumped at the same time as the Ravens defender. His cadence was excellent, keeping the Baltimore defense either moving backward by penalty, or at least a little hesitant to jump at the snap.

Add to his very good play for a rookie the fact that the team is now 2-1 when he starts (and could, almost should be 3-0, barring the miracle finish by Dallas) and you have a no-brainer decision. Edwards gives the team the best chance to win now, and most likely in the future.

Good decision by the Bills.

Willis Held In Check
When Willis came out on the Ravens' first drive of the second half and just started getting huge chunks of yards, I was definitely worried. I thought maybe he or the Ravens had figured out something, and it was going to be a long day. That was every Bills fan's worst nightmare... Willis running wild on us, leaving with the win.

But he didn't.

Really, the Bills did a great job stopping McGahee all day. An amazing job, actually. I knew what I saw, and what I saw was a great performance by the Bills defense, and a completely shut down performance by Willis. Well, almost completely.

So late that night I broke down the stats. I wanted to see if I had just imagined that we did shut him down. I did not.

On that one drive to open the third quarter, Willis had 4 carries for 72 yards, including the one TD run of 46 yards where the Bills only had ten guys on the field (but I don't think the eleventh would have mattered). Willis finished the day with 19 carries for 114 yards. Take away 46 and he has 18 for 68 yards. That's 3.7 yards/carry. Take away that drive (were the Bills still in the lockeroom or something?) and he has 14 carries for 42 yards! OUCH! That's 3 YPC.

More stats? The Bills held Willis to 1 yard on 2 receptions (and he also dropped one, that was thrown behind him). The Bills also held him to zero or negative yards on 4 carries. 9 of his remaining 15 carries were for 4 yards or less. Mostly less.

The Bills came into the game having done very well against the Jets runningbacks and the Cowboys runningbacks. They wanted to do the same against Baltimore, who are a run-oriented team. And, they wanted to shut down Willis.

They did.

The Move To Toronto
First of all, the Bills are not moving to Toronto. They are merely playing a game or two in Toronto—where many Bills fans reside. All of this speculation is definitely premature, and completely unnecessary. In my opinion, of course.

Here's what we know. The NFL decided that up to two regular season games per year would be played outside of the US through the 2011 season. Their hope is that each team would be able to participate in that. The Bills stated that they would like to be proactive in that experiment by suggesting that they play a game in very nearby Toronto, which is currently a major region that they draw from.

The Bills have played there before. In 1995 and 1997, the Bills played two preseason games in the Skydome. (They won both!) So they are no strangers to Toronto, and those games did not precipitate a move to Canada. They broaden the region that the Bills cover.

Seven years ago, the Bills made a similar move when they shifted their annual training camp to St. John Fisher College in Rochester. There are many Bills fans in the stadium on Sundays who make the drive from Rochester, and moving training camp to their city only made sense. It gave the Bills more of a presence in Rochester, and likely has won them some more fans.

That is precisely what the Bills are hoping would happen with a regular season game in Toronto each year.

This is not without NFL precedent, either. The Green Bay packers played several games a year in Madison, WI several years ago now. They are also a small-market, regional team, and wanted to have a more regional appeal. It worked just fine, as far as I know.

The Bills are not moving to Toronto. The NFL will not allow that. Ralph Wilson certainly won't. And I would say, as much as they are able, NY State will not allow it either. But one game in Toronto, even annually, makes a lot of sense for expanding the reach of this small-market team. Bring in more fans, more corporate luxury box buyers... and the Bills remain in Western New York.

The Bills will likely play a pre-season game in 2008 in Toronto. It remains to be seen what the NFL will decide as far as regular season games there. The Bills have crossed a few hurdles, getting approval on the first stages of this plan. Next is the NFL.

Seems like a great plan to me, and I hope they can make it happen. I'd love for them to play a game over here in Rochester, closer to where I live, but we don't have a facility like the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

So north of the border we go!

(But just for one game.) :-)

Labels: Bills History, Current Bills, Games, News, NFL, Players, Training Camp

[From highschool.rivals.com]

A former NFL wide receiver whose nine-year career was spent with the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers, this devout Christian now volunteers his time coaching tiny Aurora (Ill.) Christian High School -– enrollment 376 -– because of his faith.

In nine NFL seasons, Beebe caught 219 passes for 3,416 yards and 23 TDs.

"There's no money involved," Beebe said. "It's my calling. I felt God calling me to coach kids."

When former Bills coach and current general manager Marv Levy asked Beebe to join Buffalo's coaching staff in 2006, Beebe immediately turned him down to remain with Aurora Christian.

"Why do something just for money?" Beebe said. "My passion is here and with these kids."

In four seasons as head coach, Beebe transformed a struggling program into a Class 3A state power by setting examples and building traditions.

He maintains heart outweighs talent.

Read more...

Labels: Articles, Bills History, Players

It seems crazy to talk about the playoffs when your team is at 1-4 but fans of the Buffalo Bills should keep their hopes alive. While the odds are not in favor of such a turn around, it has happened before. Bills fans need only look at 2001 when the 1-4 New England Patriots made it all the way to the Super Bowl with a similar gaggle of unknown players. (Sure many of those players are now big names but they were far from it at the time, Tom Brady who is Tom Brady? Bledsoe was the starter) Perhaps you remember the Patriots daunting Tight End combination of Arther Love, Rod Rutledge and Jermaine Wiggins? Or was it their fearsome group of Wide Receivers in Troy Brown, Charles Johnson, Fred Coleman and David Patten? Or maybe it was their powerful group of runningbacks in Antowaine Smith, J.R. Redman and Kevin Faulk? The Patriots dinked and dunked their way to the Lombardi Trophy with screen passes and run after the catch. So much so that the following year Brady was criticized for not being able to throw the long ball (he proved those critics wrong!). After Bledsoe was knocked out with an injury, Brady played well enough to take the starting job. He wasn’t statistically amazing, but he just looked better under center. So much more confident that the Patriots left him in when Bledsoe came back from injury. Sound familiar?

Bills fans in their never ending quest to prove it can’t happen to them, will point out that Dick Jauron is no Bill Belichick and that the Patriots had a lot more defensive talent. Defensively, the Patriots had a lot of over the hill players and diamonds in the rough, but one could make the argument that they were in better shape than the Bills are this season. As for Belichick (in 2001) he was not the proven commander that he is today. Prior to that season Belichick’s record as a head coach was 41-55. Including only one winning season in Cleveland when the Browns went 11-5 (without that season he was 30-50). Browns fans drove him out of town claiming his winning season was a fluke and that his 5-11, 6-10, 7-9 and 7-9 seasons better described his ability to coach. He spent four seasons as an assistant to the Patriots and then the Jets before New England decided to give him a second chance as a head coach. He rewarded them with a 5-11 season in 2000 before breaking out in 2001 once Brady became the starter (coincidence, I think not). This coaching history sounds eerily familiar to the History of Jauron.

This is all merely coincidental and Jauron probably isn’t the coach that Belichick is, but fans shouldn’t be so quick to assume that he isn’t. Brady proved that a solid, accurate quarterback who maintains his composure can make his head coach look a genius. Trent Edwards may be a rookie but Bills fans have to admit that he has many of the traits that Brady had in his first season as a starter.

1. Pocket Poise
2. Accuracy
3. Quick Release
4. Great Short Passing Game

Edwards hasn’t shown an overwhelming ability to throw the deep ball but neither did Brady that first season. I’d bet money that this is why Lee Evans has been endorsing Losman. Evans knows that had Losman been throwing the ball in the New England match-up, Evans would have had an easy TD catch in the corner instead of the ball getting intercepted when it fell a little short of the target. But aside from the deep ball, Edwards has shown this far, that he has a greater ability in just about every other area of the quarterback position than Losman. Most importantly he has the ability to stay calm and collected under pressure. Losman just loses his composure to easily. Everyone thought the Patriots were crazy to let Bledsoe go after their first Super Bowl win, but no one is questioning the move now. Losman will find success to a modest degree somewhere in the NFL but unless Edwards gets injured against the Ravens or simply implodes to a degree that says “this guy isn’t ready”, Losman will be warming the bench for the rest of this season and will be traded afterwards. (Note: for those of you who think the Bills would be better off trading Losman now, you are totally wrong. Losman and Edwards are friends and resentment is low similar to the Bledsoe/Brady situation. Losman has said he will help Edwards be successful if Edwards gets the nod. This is not a Johnson/Flutie situation. Also, trying to unload Losman midseason sends a message that Losman has no value to the team which means the Bills will get very little for him. Losman’s contract runs through 2008 so the team can trade him in the off-season and not sacrifice their QB depth for the rest of 2007. The Bills are better off blaming the benching on a nagging knee injury and letting Edwards prove he is the starter in the mean time so that Losman didn’t lose the job as much as Edwards took it away. This preserves Losman’s trade value while dumping him now will land the Bills next to nothing. Losman was a first rounder, trading him now for a late round pick will go down as a colossal management blunder)

In 2006 the Bills came off the Bye week with a much improved offense. The Bills are praying for a similar result after the 2007 Bye. The offensive coaching has been pretty awful to date and fans are calling for the head of Fairchild (justifiably so). Had the Bills offense been able to score just 1 touchdown against Dallas, the Bills would have won and the killer finish wouldn’t have been a possibility. There were several plays that stand out as bad calls by the coaching staff but overall offensive execution was poor despite good pass protection and decent run blocking. The Bills need to find consistency on offense to help keep their defense off the field. At the end of the game the Bills were at a disadvantage because on those final critical drives, the defense had crossed that 50 play threshold where statistically the odds shift in favor of the offense. See the 4^th quarter of the Dallas – New England game for more evidence of this. The Bills Offense put the defense and special teams in a position to lose. In a game where the defense forces 6 turnovers and scores two touchdowns and the special teams converts a fake punt, drops the ball inside the 5 and scores a 102 yard kickoff return TD, the problem is not the defense or special teams. The Offense scored 3 points and was unable to get a first down when that is all that was needed to kill the clock and win. They were unable to protect the ball when the game was in their hands and they gave up what should have been a dominant upset win.

Regardless of everything else, the Bills have bumbled their way through the worst of their 2007 schedule. So far the teams the Bills have faced have a combined record of 18-6. Three of their opponents are leading their divisions at this point. Every team but the Jets was undefeated when the Bills faced them (ok Denver was 0-0). Moving forward, the Bills have 11 games against teams with a combined record of 28-34. The Bills face 4 opponents with 1 win or less. Lets give the Bills a little credit in that they lost two of their games by 1 point and the other two to division leaders (the Pats have crushed every opponent as badly as they crushed the Bills and the Bills had their starting QB and MLB knocked out of that game). When the Bills played a weak team they easily handled them (Jets). Its not out of the question that the Bills can win two against the winless Dolphins another against the feeble Jets and 1 against the hapless Bengals (who the Bills seem to beat even when they are a dominant team). That puts the bills at 5-4. Barring a miracle, the Patriots will win again which puts the Bills at 5-5. That leaves 6 teams Cleveland, Philadelphia, NY Giants, Jacksonville, Washington and Baltimore. Is it totally out of the question that the Bills can win 4 out of 6 of these games? The Eagles are pretty awful as is Washington, Bills 7-5. Jacksonville is inconsistent but seems to always pull off a close win against the Bills, Bills 7-6. Cleveland is not a good team, but have been able to score a lot of points at times. The Bills have struggled to score so this looks like a loss unless the offense comes to life, Bills 7-7. NY Giants are good at times but don’t have much of a running attack and Eli Manning is prone to throwing interceptions. Considering the Bills are currently tied for 2^nd in the league in interceptions with 9, this should work in the Bills favor, Bills 8-7. Which leaves this week’s match-up with the Ravens as a must win game.

The 12^th man should be huge this week as there is not exactly a lot of love for Willis McGahee after the Bills ex-runningback openly trashed on the city of Buffalo after his departure last spring. McGahee even stooped so low as to complain about the quality of women and to suggest the team relocate to Toronto. While the Bills could benefit from some additional fan support from their Canadian neighbors, shipping the team over there is not the answer and certainly not a suggestion the people of Buffalo want to hear about. McGahee will be pumped up to prove to Buffalo that they shouldn’t have traded him. The problem for McGahee is that the Bills made the right move trading him and he will be hard pressed to prove otherwise. Like in past seasons with Buffalo, McGahee has started the season reasonably strong but has only found the end zone once and has one fumble. While he is currently ranked 4^th, his team has not had a bye yet while many teams have so a better measure is his yards per game, which is 87.5, good enough for 9^th. Marshawn Lynch is currently 14^th for yards per game, but has 3 touchdowns and no fumbles. Lynch has also shown a “never-give-up” attitude on every play that McGahee has never shown. McGahee is happier in Baltimore where he fits in well with a team full of complacent and lazy thugs. Brian Billick actually said in a press conference that it will be difficult to keep his players focused this week in practice because they are looking forward to the Bye week. Talk about looking beyond an opponent. Most Ravens players and fans seem to think they already have a win against Buffalo. This is a dangerous attitude that will lead to an embarrassing defeat on Sunday. The Ravens are 4 and 2 but they have faced a lineup of terrible teams (Jets, Rams, 49ers, Cardinals, Browns and Bengals). In case you were wondering that’s a combined opponents’ record of 10-24. Oh yeah, and they were beaten by the Bengals and Browns. That’s right the Bengals ONLY win was against the Ravens. The Ravens are a mediocre team with their starting QB on the bench and they are having trouble focusing on the Bills. This will be a fun one for Bills fans. The Bills offense will look sharp after two weeks of work and the defense will play well bolstered by some players returning from injury. Special Teams will be typically excellent. Bills 31 Ravens 6.

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If my memory serves me correctly, the Bills played a pre-season game in Toronto during the Super Bowl years. But that was pre-season.

The Bills posted a press release this week, stating that they would like to play a regular season game in Toronto, maybe even next year (2008)! Is this a good thing? Is this a precursor to moving the team to Toronto?

Actually, I think this wouldn't be a bad thing. The team is trying to be a "regional" team, focusing on Buffalo, Rochester, and Toronto, Canada. It's a good marketing strategy in a small market. There are already many Canadian fans who travel to Orchard Park to attend Bills games. And from Rochester and Syracuse send their share of attendees as well.

Not sure where the NFL is on this request, but it will be interesting to see if the Bills get their wish.

LINKS:
Bills Want a Home Game in Toronto to Expand Ontario Fan Base (Buffalo News)

Labels: Games, News, NFL

It was another dismal showing for the AFC East division today. Miami showed a spark or two against the improved Browns (their own Ronnie Brown enjoying several productive moments on the day), and the Jets donning their ancient Titans of New York blue and yellow uniforms also made a play or two against the visiting Eagles... but in the end, both lost rather handily.

The Buffalo Bills were resting their weary bodies, glad to not add to the debacle that was AFC East football in week six.

Save for the division leading Patriots, that is.

The Patriots let the Cowboys hang around for a time, even allowing them the first second half lead of the season for any Patriot opponent. But it was very short lived, and New England ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, winning 48-27.

The Patriots are 6-0 atop the AFC East. The Bills are in second place at 1-4. The Jets follow at 1-5 and the Dolphins have yet to break into the win column at 0-6. So far in 2007, the Patriots competition is a combined 2-15. Ouch.

Is the AFC East the worst division in football? Every other division has at least two teams vying for the top spot, with the second biggest margin being two games. The Patriots hold a rather cozy 4.5 game lead in their division race. After only six weeks???

It's hard to argue that New England is the class of the league right now. They defeated one of only three previously undefeated teams in the NFL on Sunday, and they made it look rather easy.

The Patriots have scored 230 points in six games, which is 138 more than their opponents have scored on them. They have scored no less than 34 points in each game, while the most any other AFC East team has mustered is 31.

Tom Brady has thrown 21 touchdown passes in that span, which is 6 more than the combined total of six other QBs from AFC East teams! (J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards, Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens, Trent Green and Cleo Lemon have a total of 15.)

The Patriots looked good on paper heading into the 2007 season, and they are proving to actually be even more frightening after watching them play just six games so far this year. Providing they can stay healthy, this team will be nearly impossible to beat.

Now with only two remaining undefeated teams, the stage is set for an even more enticing "game of the year" on November 4th. The Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts will host the New England Patriots—just as they did in last year's AFC championship game—for major bragging rights, and maybe the Patriots only real remaining challenge to a perfect season.

Well, there it was. I said it. It's only been six weeks, and I've brought up the undefeated angle. I'm sure I'm not the first, and I know I won't be the last. Read on...

Indianapolis faces a tough game next week on the road at division rival Jacksonville. Indy has lost to the Jaguars, and that will certainly be a very difficult opponent. They then play Carolina on the road before coming home to face New England. Both games could be a challenge, but I'd expect Indy to come out on top, and be 7-0 when they face the Patriots.

The Patriots, on the other hand, have a bit of an easier road. Next week they face the winless Miami Dolphins in Miami, and then come home to face the Washington Redskins. Washington iscurrently 3-2, and may pose a bit of a threat to New England (who might be looking ahead to their rematch with Indianapolis) but I would also expect New England to escape unscathed to enter the Indianapolis game at 8-0.

If New England can atone for the loss to the Colts last year, and move on to 9-0, their remaining schedule seems almost too easy. They travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills (whom they have completely dominated winning all but one of the last fifteen or sixteen games), followed by games against Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, NY Jets, Miami, and NY Giants. Four of those are home games, with the only road games being against Baltimore and the Giants. Assuming home field advantage means something, New England has a seemingly easy path to an undefeated season, with six of their wins coming against their own division.

Which brings me back to my original question. Is the AFC East as bad as they seem, or are the Patriots simply that good... making the rest seem vastly inferior by contrast. Maybe it's a little of both, but my money's on the Patriots being that good. (Figuratively, of course.) And they even have a few injuries at the moment. They will only get better.

With the state of the AFC East, the 2007 NFL season could see two very rare occurrences, both from the same division. New England has a good chance to go undefeated, while the Miami Dolphins have almost as good a chance of going winless. We're too early to say that, but it's quite clear to this writer that while the Patriots may face a challenge or two on their remaining schedule, it will not likely come from within their division.

If the Patriots do complete a perfect season, they can thank their opponents in the AFC L-East for six of those sixteen wins. They don't appear to be offering much resistance.

Labels: AFC East, NFL

With the NFL trade deadline fast approaching, some have suggested (even starting right here with Your Truly of the Buffalo Bills Review) that the Bills should trade JP Losman while they still can. Losman is under contract with the Bills through the end of the 2008 season. That means this season is very likely his "contract" year. His play in 2007 will determine the value of his next contract with Buffalo—or if he is even offered one.

Is it just crazy talk to be suggesting the Bills dump a guy whom they have developed for four years now? This was to be his "breakout" season. He was injured on the first play of the third game this year, so we only saw him play in two games, but it would certainly not qualify as a "breakout season".

In an article following Trent Edwards first start, I echoed the sentiments of Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News when I declared that game the beginning of the Trent Edwards Era. Of course that is premature, but I saw in one game what I have been wanting to see for three years from Losman. I have never been a JP basher. If you had to label me, I would likely fall in the "JP Supporter" camp. I do see the upside of Losman.

But in all of two starts I have seen way more upside from Trent Edwards. Poise, confidence, composure, quick release, quick decision making, accuracy, arm strength... I'd say on all but the last one Edwards possesses at least a slight edge over Losman. The main difference between the two is Losman's 30-plus NFL games to Edwards three. But so far that difference only appears to matter on paper.

Benefits of a Trade
I know trades don't happen that often in the NFL. They are especially rare during the season. However, let's look at some positives of moving JP Losman right now.

• Contract:
  The Bills will be making a decision this year whether or not to extend Losman's contract. Has he shown enough in his four years here to warrant an extension? Maybe the Bills are asking themselves right now, "Has Edwards shown us enough in just three games?" It makes sense to make a move now, if they are going to do it inevitably anyway.
  
  I think the Bills know what they are going to do with him. They know whether they will offer him an extension, or not. If they shop him around, and find a buyer now, they can get something in return. Not sure that happens in the off-season.
  
  
• Controversy:
  Buffalo has had way too many QB controversies since Jim Kelly retired. Flutie/Johnson, Bledsoe/Flutie, Bledsoe/Losman, Losman/Holcomb, and now the playoff-starved fans are sensing another following the excellent play from rookie Trent Edwards. Losman has never won the hearts of Buffalo fans. Not that they hate the kid, mind you. He's just never completely won the city over. Enter Edwards. Enter controversy.
  
  A swift and immediate trade would end said controversy. Trent Edwards has looked more than competent at the helm of the Bills ship. Without the option of going to Losman, there would be no QB controversy. There would be no distraction for the rest of the team.
  
  
• There is a Need:
  I was joking a week or two ago about Atlanta needing a QB (because of how awful Joey Harrington is) but now there are even more desperate teams to talk to. Desperate enough to bring in 43-year-old QB Vinny Testaverde in Carolina! Miami, Carolina, St. Louis, and others are all hurting for a good QB. JP has the physical talent to be that, which earned him his status as a first-round selection in the 2004 draft. Desperate teams may be willing to offer something for Losman based on his potential, despite his track record as a Bills starter.
  
  
• Do it for JP:
  As I stated above, Losman has never won the hearts of this city. He is a likable guy, and I think he is well liked in the locker room. But from what I have heard—and just my opinion from observing Edwards' play—there is more reason for confidence in Edwards as the QB than anything we've seen from Losman in his entire career here in Buffalo. Sometimes it's just good to move on. With a year left on his contract, JP needs to make a good showing, and perhaps with the QB shortage, trading him allows him to do just that, while offering the Bills some compensation for him. (Maybe more than they might get otherwise, since there is an immediate need on several teams.)

So the dilemma for the Bills becomes, do you take a chance on the kid (Edwards), or do you show some loyalty to a guy you have poured four years of development into, who also wears the big C on his jersey. Doesn't that mean something, too? He is one of the six captains of the 2007 Buffalo Bills. That has to count for something.

And I believe that is what Dick Jauron thinks as well.

My opinion is that the right move for the Bills—and for JP Losman—is to move him right now. There should be some willing takers, even in exchange for only a draft pick. (The way the Bills have been drafting the past two seasons, that could be a very valuable pick!) If Edwards is the guy, there's no reason not to.

That said, more than likely we will see JP back under center for the game against Baltimore, and then the NY Jets, and then I am not sure what will happen. If Losman plays up to his full potential, he keeps his job, and the Bills do have a QB "controversy" on their hands. If he's mediocre or worse, he rides the pine the rest of the year as the Bills develop Edwards.

The Bills have until October 16th to decide. My vote is to let the Edwards era begin.

We'll have to wait and see how Levy and Jauron vote.

Labels: Bills History, Current Bills, Players

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post 'THE JOHN REVIEW WEEK 5':

You are absolute idiot. Anyone can have a bad day and your comments prove that you know nothing about the game. Stop embarrassing the Bills with idiotic comments like this. Romo had a bad day and still beat us, and that is the proof of a damn good quarterback."

-End Comment

Main Entry: me·di·o·cre
Pronunciation: "mE-dE-'O-k&r
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin mediocris, from medius middle + Old Latin ocris stony mountain; akin to Latin acer sharp: of moderate quality, value, ability, or performance

I usually don’t respond to comments made by children, but after looking at my post Monday night I made a mistake. I was traveling for work, it was late and I just figured it was obvious. I guess it wasn’t, so because it was my mistake, I’d be happy to hold your hand and explain it to you and anyone else incapable of seeing big pictures.

First we need to define what makes a good QB, for argument’s sake we’ll say it’s a mix of stats, consistency, leadership, and the intangibles (meaning mostly stuff that can’t be objectively measured like the ability to perform under pressure, etc.). Now let’s look at some QBs whom pretty much everybody agrees are good.

TOM BRADY: Tom Brady suffered in the stats last year mostly due to his lack of receivers. But even then he took his team to the AFC championship game. Tom Brady is possibly one of the best QBs in the history of the game and is a for sure hall of famer. Since he hasn’t had any bad days yet this season let’s look at what could be considered the worst day of last season.

December 10, 2006. The Dolphins shut out the Pats 21-0. Brady had only completed 12/25 for 78 yds and had no TDs. The other thing he had was 0 INTs. While he did very little to help his team win, he was not mostly responsible for losing it either (it was a team effort).

Romo’s bad day saw him throw FIVE INTs, TWO were returned for touchdowns, one by a guy who was a RECIEVER on the PRACTICE SQUAD at the beginning of the season, and he lost a fumble.



Maybe it was just a bad day, but when Payton Manning has a bad day he throws one INT, a really bad day he might throw two, never five, and if it is, it’s never against the 32 ranked injury depleted defense. Maybe Romo was looking ahead to next week, thinking this week was going to be easy? Again, only something done by a mediocre QB, not an elite. That’s poor ledership.

The only way you can say Romo coming back and beating us after being down makes him a “damn good” QB and not be a moron is if you only saw the fourth quarter. I know nothing about the game? Anybody who watched the game could plainly see Romo was single-handedly the reason the Bills were even in it.

Romo was the reason for the Bills defeat? Come on, I’ve seen chimps that speak sign language make more intelligent statements than that. How about the Bill’s offense only putting up three points? Any more and that would have been the game, and if you count the field goal unit as special teams the Bill’s offense put up 0 points.

There are certain expectations of a “damn good” QB going against the 32 ranked defense missing many of its starters and playing people on their offensive practice squad. The fact that Dallas had 385 total yards versus the Bills 229 total net yards, 0 points and one turnover is even worse for Romo because with those numbers the score should not have even been close.

So where is this myth that Tony Romo is anything other than mediocre coming from? Answer, people who look at the stats on NFL.com for five seconds and move on.

Romo is currently number two in passing yards with a rating of 93.9, some look at that and think that makes him a good QB. However, if you have any semblance of intelligence (i.e. you could win a chess match against a farm animal), you could see why his numbers are so inflated.

First let’s look at whom the Cowboys have played this year: the Giants (currently ranked 14), Dolphins (29), Bears (17), Rams (dead last), and Bills (28). The Cowboy’s are 21 in strength of schedule (fun fact: the Bills are tied for first with the Raiders for the toughest schedule). The two teams they have played ranking higher than the Bills are the Giants and Bears. Both teams are struggling defensively and are members of the NFC, a significantly weaker conference. Why are those two rated even as high as they are? The Giants are 22 in strength of schedule (one easier than the Cowboys) and the Bears have the second easiest schedule in the NFL.

Romo has put up monster numbers against some of the weakest defenses in the NFL, the fact that he has a decent team around him has also helped mask his mediocrity, but what happens when the pressure is on?

Granted he’s young and has not been put in a ton of high-pressure situation yet, but when he has had the opportunity to shine, he blows it more than an elite QB should.



The Bills have exposed him and the Patriots will destroy him, as they do with most mediocre QBs. Expect the Cowboys to run a lot this week.

To be fair, I’m not saying Tony Romo sucks, he doesn’t, but to put him in the same conversation as Tom Brady and Payton Manning is just plain ignorant. Yeah I actually did watch the game and am blown away that anyone who watched it could think anything else.

-The John

Losing by one point on a long field goal in (literally) the last second of a football game after leading for the entire game (or most of it) is just plain wrong. It's too much for a football team and their fans to take. But how about two times in five weeks?

There are no words to describe it. It's just unbelieveable.

Some will say that they knew they Bills would lose this game. (If you listen to our show, you know that I am one of those "some"s.) But what you will not hear is that this Bills team, who is now 1-4 are without a doubt a much better team than their record indicates. I know, I know, everyone makes excuses, but you can not tell me that the Bills looked bad out there on the field under the Monday Night lights.

Despite putting together some nice long drives, and Trent Edwards again looking very efficient, the Bills offense receives most of the blame for losing this game. There was only one 3-and-out series the entire game. Unfortuantely it came when we needed first downs the most. The Bills had just intercepted another Tony Romo pass, and thwarted a sure scoring drive for the Cowboys, and just needed to churn out some first downs. They did not.

Third downs were also a major problem. Both for the offense, and the defense. On the offensive side, the Bills converted only 3 of 13. That's just unacceptable. Defensively, the Bills allowed 9 of 15 conversions. Not bad, but not good. Also, although Edwards was efficient (23/31 passing) and made very good decisions as he has so far this season, he did take three sacks (one was definitely his fault) and of course threw the interception that may have cost the Bills the game. (That can certainly be blamed on the coaches there as well, but Edwards did make the throw.)

With only 66 yards for Marshawn Lynch, and a total of 81 yards rushing (which includes Brian Moorman's 10 yards scamper on the fake punt) the Bills just had absolutely nothing on the ground all night. Lynch had a couple nice runs, and one great play through the air, but was not nearly enough to sustain more drives. And the most telling stat in the passing game is the 2.0 yard average per pass play. Ouch.

The performance by the offense—and the not spectacular one by Trent Edwards—does make for an interesting dilemma for the Bills coaching staff over the bye week. Assuming JP Losman is healthy, and ready to go, do they put him back in the starting lineup? Losman has not led as many productive drives for the Bills offense this year. (Edwards has had lots of long, sustained drives in his three games.) But points are what matter, and there are not many points being scored by the offense this season. Only three in the game last night. As I said, it's an interesting decision.

This game will be remembered by some Bills fans as a colossal collapse. Never trailing until the last second of the game. Allowing the TD drive, allowing them to recover the on-side kick. Colossal collapse. However, the team who was favored to win by so many points was shell-shocked by the performance of this anonymous defense. George Wilson incercepts the first pass for a TD??? John DiGiorgio saves the game with the FIFTH interception of the game??? And who in the world are Jeremetrius Butler and Bryan Scott???

Defense and special teams came to play. Special teams always does for Buffalo, so that was no surprise. It was nice to see Terrence McGee get his first TD return of the season. He's been close on a few. Maybe Brian Moorman should be in on more plays for this team. Even on the on-side kick by Dallas, it was just a great play by the other team, not really a mistake by the Bills. But I am still so impressed by the defense who was supposed to be shredded by the Cowboys, and instead played with such passion and incredible heart... only to lose because of no support from the offense. How sad.

But the Bills press on. They enter the bye week beaten and battered at a lowly 1-4 overall record. Certainly some positive things to be taken from the first five games, but also most certainly a very large hole to dig out of. Even with a three game winning streak, they only get themselves back to .500. That's not where you want to be. They do however continue the home streak with a game at the Ralph against Baltimore coming up on October 21st, and then another two weeks later against the Cincinnati Bengals. Four out of five games at The Ralph. So far, they are 1-1.

The bye week will allow the Bills to heal up, and return with a much deeper roster. Week eight will see the likely return of JP Losman, Ryan Denney, maybe even Coy Wire and Ashton Youboty. Assuming the Bills can muster the same level of emotional energy they had for Monday Night's game (Willis McGahee is making his return to Buffalo...) the Bills stand a very good chance of finally dominating a game—and winning it.

Bills fans are depressed today. But this team showed that they have heart, and character, and talent, and determination. Much more than anyone gave them credit for.

Now if we could only do something about the coaching...

Labels: Current Bills, Games

Every Bills fan on the planet went to bed last night rehearsing the "what if's..." of last nights pathetic loss to the Dallas Cowboys. As we tossed and turned, we thought what if we actually played a tight man to man with 7 seconds left in the game taking away the quick sideline pass instead of playing a soft prevent defense... What if Terrence McGee could actually catch a football... What if our offense could actually score points... There are so many "what if's..."

Honestly, I am sick of watching a Bills game and walking away thinking what if... what if... The Cowboys had their share of "what if's..." lots of turnovers, dropped passes by TO but somehow they made it count when it mattered.

I ask myself why is this Bill's team unable to finish a game? All last year we watched them give games away and now this year against Denver and Dallas we lose to teams who just execute better down the stretch. What is going on?

We can offer excuses all day long. There are lots of injuries on this team. It seems the starting Free Safety position is cursed. Even with all our injuries our defense is making plays. We are forcing turnovers. We owned Romo for 58 minutes. Excuses will never produce a winning atmosphere, so lets not even go any further. We have great players who play hard.

What we do not have in Buffalo is a coaching staff that knows how to win. This is the NFL everyone has talent (yes some more than others, but everyone has talent). The difference in the Dallas game last night I think is coaching. While Dick Jauron is a nice guy he is not a winner. I am sure he wants to win. He just is not very good at it.

The last thing I want is another coaching change, but unfortunately that is exactly what is needed. I would love to see the Bills bring in a winner like Marty Schottenheimer. He may not have a great playoff record, but at least his teams get there. We need someone to bring an attitude of winning. I do not see that attitude from our coaching staff.

While a change may be needed I don't think it will happen. Let me tell you why the Bills will not change coaches this year. First, Dick gets a pass because of all the injuries. I think management is to nice and Dick is so cheap they will give him another year. Second, bringing in a big name coach will cost lots of money. The President does not want to spend money on a big name coach. Finally, I think Marv does not want to upset the fruit basket. He wants to bring some consistency to this team, and Dick is his man.

The rest of the year will probably be filled with lots more Denver and Dallas moments. What if... What if...

This week proves Dave Drake knows more about the Dallas Cowboys than most Dallas fans. The following is no longer open to debate:

Tony Romo is mediocre at best.

Q.E.D

-The John

At first glance it seems unlikely if not impossible for the 1-3 Bills to upset the 4-0 Cowboys on Monday night. The Buffalo Bills have had a string of bad luck on the injury front and are decimated on defense. They are also starting a rookie quarterback. The Cowboys on the other hand have teh number one offense in the league and are racking up nearly 38 points per game. Their defense seems stout as well. Dallas ranks 7th against the run, and Buffalo's success depends on Marshawn Lynch running the ball.

But if we look a little deeper into the numbers we start to see that things may not be as bright as they seem in Dallas. Tony Romo is definitely playing well and there's no arguing that point. However, you may have noticed that many of the highlight reels involve Romo eluding several would be tacklers, often on horribly broken plays. Romo is standing out because his line is doing a poor job blocking and Romo is being forced to rescue plays. He's been successful but things are bound to not go his way at some point if this continues. This would be less of a concern for the cowboys if not for the fact that Romo has been harassed by some very mediocre if not awful football teams. The Cowboys' opponents to date have a combined record of 3-13 and have been outscored 417 to 265. While during the off-season teams like Chicago, NY Giants, Miami and St. Louis may have seemed like strong contenders, it is pretty clear now that all of them are not. Neither Miami or St Louis has won a game yet. Chicago has only won 1. The Giants are split 2-2 but have looked pretty bad, especially early in the season when they faced the Cowboys.

On the other hand, the Bills have had to face some of the best teams in the league. Their opponents have a combined record of 10-6. Three of those losses belong to the Jets. (I think Mangini proved he is not the football coach he has been made out to be when his team could only put up 60 yards on the ground against a team that had been allowing nearly 150 per game.) The Bills first three opponents were against top defenses in games where the Bills lost many starters to injuries. Despite all that the Bills were seconds away from beating the Broncos. They got handled by the Patriots but so has everyone else. Despite playing a rotating cast of backups on defense, the Bills have only allowed 93 points and were surprisingly solid against the Jets.

The Cowboys' passing attack is solid and the Bills secondary is extremely thin. The Bills' secondary will struggle against the pass unless they can get consistent pass rush. The return of Anthony Hargrove will help quite a bit in this area. Not only will this give Kelsay and Schobel more opportunities to catch their breath, but Hargrove had a strong preseason and has a lot to prove to his teammates coming off the suspension. If the Bills can force Romo to scramble and get some sacks, it will take some of the burden off the depleted secondary. Jabari Greer played a great game last week and was recognized for it. Some people are giving him a hard time for the catches Randy Moss made in the Patriots game, but his coverage was solid on those plays. Moss is just good enough to make the catch anyway.

Speaking of Randy Moss, the reason he is a Pro Bowl receiver is his ability to bring the ball down even when it looks like the defense has him covered and/or beat. Lee Evans has shown the ability to do this in the past but has not shown much at all this season. The Bills' quarterbacks (especially Losman) have been criticized for not throwing the ball to Lee Evans enough. The criticism is misdirected though because Evans has not made the plays when the ball was thrown his way in the first three weeks. Even against the Jets in week 4, Evans was good at times but failed to help his quarterback at others. The end zone interception should have never happened. Evans, had he been playing the way he is supposed to and can, should have broken the play up at a minimum and made the reception if possible. He wasn't even paying attention. He made no effort to even try to catch the ball and just watched it get intercepted. If Lee plays with heart (which he has started to) and gives a 100% effort, the Bills offense can be difficult to stop.

Marshawn Lynch has been running well and will get 100 yards if the passing game can gain yards more consistently. The offensive line has looked a little better each week and is starting to give the quarterback time and provide holes for Lynch to run through. Based on performance so far, I'd like to see less Anthony Thomas and more Dwayne Wright spelling for Lynch. Lynch needs to be involved in the passing game as well, so they need to leave him in on third downs. Dallas has a high ranked rushing defense at 8 but the ranking is deceptive because the team has played with large leads so much that opponents have mostly been forced to pass to play catch up. Dallas also hasn't really faced any significant running back threats. Ronnie Brown in Miami was probably the most skilled but he is on a miserable team.

The Bills took another blow this week when Peerless Price was put on IR. This may actually help the Bills because he has not been as productive as Josh Reed and Roscoe Parrish. Peerless Price's departure will force the coaching staff to keep Reed and Parrish on the field. I think this will actually result in more success for the team. Dallas has a mediocre pass defense as it is and has injuries on top of that. The Bills need to pick on the injured secondary by spreading the ball around to all three top receivers and the Tightends and backs as well.

Trent Edwards has come in for Losman and looked like a natural in the NFL game. He just looks comfortable in there in a way that Losman rarely does. Even when he was getting mugged by the Patriots, he seemed to keep his head and try to make a realistic play. He's made a few rookie read mistakes and underthrew a few receivers, but he still has been more consistent than Losman. I am not against Losman coming back after the BYE because he brings a level of athleticism that Edwards lacks, but if Edwards plays really well and beats the Cowboys, I think the coaches will have to make the switch. This is Monday Night Football at Ralph Wilson Stadium for the first time in 13 years against an undefeated team. There is no greater regular season pressure. If Edwards handles it in stride, the starting job will be his. We have seen what Losman can do in 26 games, if Edwards can play in primetime and win, it will be hard to go back to Losman's long growth period.

Its hard to criticize the coaching staff to severely on the Bills considering the number of injuries. If anything, Perry Fewell is doing a pretty amazing job of holding his squad together. The offensive coaching has to be questioned until they can find success on a regular basis. If the Offense comes alive under Edwards and the team improves, they can blame it on Losman. For the Cowboys, Wade Phillips is no stranger to Buffalo. He is getting a lot of props for his hot start with the well loaded teams he inherited from Bill Parcels. Wade makes really bad decisions at clutch times and thats why he has lost his job more than once.

I think the Cowboys are over-rated and have been fortunate to play a soft schedule. The Bills are a big wild card and have to be seen as an easy match-up based on their current standings. The Cowboys will certainly have to stay focused considering New England is next week. There are a bunch of weird voo-doo statistics in the Bills favor like: Last time the Bills hosted MNF they faced Wade Phillips as the coach of the Broncos and beat him. Dallas has not started a season 5-0 since 1984 (not once with Troy Aikman). The Bills also have a really impressive record against undefeated teams with 4 wins or more 9-2. Hard to believe. Its hard to string together 5 wins no matter how good a team you are. The Patriots almost slipped today against the Browns but fought through it. Dallas is not nearly as good on defense as the Patriots.

Dallas gets caught looking to next week, Bills 28 Dallas 17

I think we may have witnessed history on Sunday, folks. It could be that from the ashes of this "lost" season full of broken players, we may have discovered what we have all been longing for since the retirement of our beloved Jim Kelly. It's possible that not only did Trent Edwards win the first game of the 2007 season for the Buffalo Bills, he may have won himself a job, as well as the hearts of the entire city of Buffalo, and Bills fans around the world.

You think I'm kidding?

When was the last time you felt confident when a Bills QB took the field? When was the last time you knew we could convert a third down play? How about a 4th and goal from inside the one... on a play-action, rollout pass to the TE??

Yeah, that's what I thought.

There are three things that I really noticed yesterday. (1) Better play calling, including - and especially - (2) the call to go for the TD on 4th and goal, and (3) the play of Trent Edwards. I do believe they are all interconnected, but let's look at each area individually.

Steve Fairchild Opens Up The Offense
Just last week I finally came around to my fellow BBR co-host, Dave's way of thinking. He has been on Jauron, and more specifically Fairchild's case since they got here. Bad play calling has been a frequent subject of the popular "See Dick Coach" segment. And last week, my biggest beef was just that - offensive play calling. I attributed that to Steve Fairchild, and stated that the Bills could not get rid of him soon enough! Horrible use of our talent, I thought.

What a difference a week makes.

I can't say I'm sold on the offensive genius of Steve Fairchild, but did you notice that they finally opened up the playbook this week? There were rollouts and play-action passes, there were misdirections, end-arounds, and yes... we threw passes to our tight ends! They had seven receptions between them! There were even a few Lee Evans sightings!! Six, to be precise!

The offense did a great job of mixing up the pass and the run, and sticking with the run even when the Jets were bottling up Lynch pretty effectively. The run game only averaged 3.1 yards per carry. (But did score a TD when Lynch ran one into the end zone in the third quarter.)

What brought about that sudden change of philosophy? Why did the playbook open up so much that our offense looked like a completely different group of players?

4th Down and Goal
We'll finish that thought in a moment. First, in continuing with the play calling theme, there was one play in particular that once the call was made, showed me that we were serious about winning.

With a precarious 10-7 lead, the Bills got the turnover they needed. Jabari Greer stepped in front of a Pennington pass and gave the Bills the ball at the NY Jets 25. Fantastic field position that they really needed to take advantage of. The Bills were on the good side of a penalty, which put them in a first and goal at the NY 9. From there, Lynch got back to back four yard carries, which set the Bills up with a third and goal at the one. Unfortunately, the Jets stopped Lynch for no gain on the third down play, and - much to my quite vociferous chagrin - the Bills sent out the kicking team.

Thankfully, the coaches had instructed Moorman to call a time out as the play clock ran down, which he did. This not only smartly used the clock... it gave them a chance to reconsider the decision.

The offense came back out, and my jaw hit the floor. It was the right call - it's what they should have done in the first place - but I still couldn't believe they were really doing it! Lynch had been able to get at least a yard on almost every carry that day, so with a 3-point lead, it made sense to go for it from inside the one. Barring a turnover, you either go up by two scores, or you give them the ball inside their own one, which still puts you in a very good spot. It was the right call, too, for a team that really needs confidence.

What I was not prepared for was the actual play that was called.

They sent Edwards onto the field with this call: a play-action, rollout pass to the TE Gaines. Every player I have heard, and the head coach as well, have all said that took guts. Calling a play action pass with a rookie QB starting his first game? Guts.

And that leads me to the final of three intertwined highlights from yesterday's game.

Trent Edwards
When Edwards came into the game against the Patriots, I told my family (with whom I was watching the game) that the game was lost. Not Trent's fault... you just can't expect a rookie who has not practiced as the starter all week, to come in and beat the best team in the league. And, aside from a quite welcome shock on the first drive, I was right. He was not able to do anything out there after that drive. They did a good job confusing him.

Not so this week. With a whole week to prepare, Edwards looked confident, made quick decisions, and threw accurate passes. He was sacked a time or two, and did throw an interception, but overall, there was definitely something different about our passing game.

To be fair, for much of the game I kept saying, "If they would open up the offense for JP, he might look like this too!" And, I understand that it was the Jets. They are not much better than the Bills. (Maybe they aren't better?) So, was I just seeing a mirage? Was this all inflated results due to a poor opponent, home field advantage, and (for some strange reason) better play calling?

By the end of the game, and especially when they called the play-action pass on 4th and goal, I knew that it was not.

See, I think I finally realized that maybe the reason the play calling looked so bad - so conservative, so vanilla - was more on the quarterback than on the coach? It could just be really, really bad timing for JP. All of it. They seemed to have thrown in some more wrinkles in the game he started in New England, but he didn't get to carry them out. And Trent's first start was at home against the Jets. But I gotta think it's more than that.

We've seen JP for four season. We've seen Trent for two games. Nearly every Bills fan I have read or heard or talked with sees that Edwards is the future, and should probably even be the present. That's so crazy, because Losman seemed to be "coming around" at the end of last season. But there's just something different about Edwards. And I think the play calls from his coaches proved that they know that too.

So, I'm off Fairchild's back, and big time on the Trent Edwards band wagon. I can't wait to see what the offense can do at home, on a Monday night, against the undefeated Dallas Cowboys! I don't imagine the Bills end the game on top on the scoreboard, but I do think we will give them a good challenge, if Edwards wasn't just smoke and mirrors.

Something tells me that he is not, and that is the best news Bills fans have had in a very long time!

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Labels: Current Bills, Games, Players