Pats Beat Bills.. My Report Card

[patmoran2006]

It’s pretty basic. A team that is very good and getting better, easily beat up on a team that’s very bad and getting alarmingly worse. This loss as a Bills fan bothers me more than any other loss this season. The Jets loss was simply a few stupid mistakes. The Bears loss was a blowout to a superior team and the Lions was at least a case of being overconfident (why I’ll never know) But for the first time this season, the Bills looked totally disinterested and the SECOND the score became 21-3 the team flat-out ran for the bus. This team is in no better shape than last year, and I’m not talking physical talent. They are developing a “whatever” attitude and its alarming.

On to my report card:

Quarterback: I don’t care what the numbers say. 16-25 for 193 yard and a INT doesn’t sound like a real bad game; but once again Losman was absolutely TERRIBLE. For the third consecutive week he TELEGRAPHED an absolutely horrid interception that killed a point-gaining drive. Yes, Chris Villarrial got beat bad and Losman should never be blamed for that first half sack…, but is it written into JP’s contract that he HAS to fumble on every third sack? Jesus, take the hit and hold on to the ball… And to make matters worse, he fumbles on his own and loses the ball because the ref got in the way on a scramble. That’s nearly comical and symbolic of what a pure IDIOT this guy plays like. You’re a liar if you say that everytime a defender is about to hit him you DON’T close your eyes and prey he doesn’t fumble. But that’s not the most alarming thing to me. What’s alarming is he is showing absolutely NO leadership with this team at all. He’s not the quarterback of the football team; he’s merely just another guy in the huddle. For three weeks running now, I’ve yet to see him on the sidelines in someone’s face, in a ref’s face, getting his team pumped.. absolutely NOTHING. In the huddle and on the sidelines, he looks absolutely LIFELESS, the worst trait your “leader” could possibly have. He still has no clue how to consistently check off his receivers when his primary (and only) target isn’t open, which continue to translate into ridiculous, back-breaking interceptions. What pissed me off the most, on both his and Jauron’s end, is we’re down 21-3 with 11 minutes left in the game and we’re going through the motions in the huddle and walking up to the line. I counted 3 out of 4 plays where we took 40 seconds to get a play off. I’m convinced without question he’s at least “part” of the problem and not the solution. Get his ass out of there and start Nall. If Nall does nothing as a starter, as most suspect he won’t, then you know you need to get a real quarterback in here before next season. I’m tired of the babying with Losman. The things he doesn’t do well are far more than physical. I could be wrong, but after he lost that second fumble, it almost looked like he was yawning on the bench. If you want to win 4-5 games for the next couple of years, then keep starting him. Otherwise, it’s time for a change, and sooner rather than later. Grade: F

Running Back: McGahee had some of the toughest 59 yards I’ve seen in a while. He got at least 2-3 first downs when he was hit before the marker and bulled his way over the chain. His 56 yard shovel pass was nice, though he should’ve went all the way. He’s more of a victim of a weak OL than Losman. Grade: C

WR: Evans had 1 catch. That’s not good enough. Price played decent. Grade: C-

Tight End: Nice to know Royal is on the roster. He had a very good game: Grade: B+

OL: Peters did a good job on Warren. Merz wasn’t awful in his first game. Villarrial was awful. Gandy was better than last week, which isn’t saying much. Fowler, who cares. Grade: D

DL: With two minutes left in the game, Larry Tripplett stopped Corey Dillon for a loss. The significance? It was his first tackle for a loss in seven weeks. He has zero sacks, zero forced fumbles and zero fumble recoveries. TO this point considering his salary, he’s been useless and not much less a non-factor than Tim Anderson. That’s real bad. Kyle Williams played decent. Schobel and Kelsay brought pressure to Brady and got three sacks. This unit didn’t lose the game today. Grade: B+

Linebackers: None played particularly bad, but in a playmaking position, none made any plays. Spikes looked better than last week, but still has a way to go to become an impact player again. Grade: C-

Corners: I just realized something. I haven’t seen ONE of Nate Clements’ ugly dances all season long, not once.. There’s a good reason for that; he hasn’t made a single important play this season, unless you count a block in the back penalty early in the season. He didn’t get beat much today at least. McGee got his weekly serving of toast courtesy of Chad Jackson. I don’t know what happened to this guy. He was on the fast-tract to the top corner spot early in the year, now aside from Losman he’s regressing more than anyone on this team. Grade: D

Safeties: NO babying here. They didn’t hold their coverages in the middle good at all. Whitner made some nice hits against the run. Simpson got beat more than once and missed a few makable tackles. Grade: D

Coaching: This unit is quickly making me sick. How Jauron could field a team that looked disinterested in playing a division foe in front of a sellout crowd is mind boggling. He has balls when he’s not supposed too, and then gets conservative when the situation doesn’t call for it. Down 18 points in the fourth quarter, he should’ve grabbed Losman’s face mask and told him to get his ass to the line and run plays quicker. What few strengths Losman has Jauron and his staff doesn’t play too. The Bellicheck and Levy “losing records at one time” comparisons are becoming laughable. What baffles me more is that he once led the Bears to a 13-3 record. He is truly a chump and while we all knew that, I at least thought he’d have his team ready to play. Even that’s becoming more debatable. Grade: F

Summary: IF we beat Green Bay next week, we may still salvage 5-6 wins. I honestly think if we lose that game, we’ll be LUCKY to win four games. And considering this team CLEARLY needs a quarterback who doesn’t have a loser mentality in the draft, maybe that’s not a bad thing.

[shelby]

[Kerr]

Good post, pat, but I disagree on benching jp for nall. Nall is not the future.

[patmoran2006]

Good post, pat, but I disagree on benching jp for nall. Nall is not the future.

Your probably right, but #7 is DEFINITELY not and lets be SURE Nall isnt either so we know what we need to do when the season is over.

I wouldnt expect Nall to do any better, possibly would be even worse, but I want to see first-hand.. What do you have to lose? Jp's "progress"? LOL

[DraftBoy]

Well said Pat!

[DraftBoy]

Your probably right, but #7 is DEFINITELY not and lets be SURE Nall isnt either so we know what we need to do when the season is over.

I wouldnt expect Nall to do any better, possibly would be even worse, but I want to see first-hand.. What do you have to lose? Jp's "progress"? LOL

EXACTLY!!!!!

[Scumbag College]

Very thorough and entertaining read, despite the circumstances behind the report. I agree pretty much with everything except drafting another quarterback in the first round. There are veteran QBs to be had during free agency every year that could come in and contribute and start in 2007. (I don't have a list and wouldn't know where to find one so early in the 2006 season though.) Drafting a QB with the first round pick would mean at least another three years of "rebuilding."

If you absolutely need a rookie QB in 2007, I wouldn't mind a guy later on in the draft. Guys like Palko, Drew Tate, and Drew Stanton (I don't know where these guys are predicted to go, but I don't think any are first rounders) could be had later on in the draft while at the same time you don't have to mortgage the present by getting a QB that won't play for a year or two anyways. Guys are proven tough competitors and winners in college, also guys who can scramble around if the OLine problem is ignored for the seventh straight year.

[BILLSROCK1212]

without reading F-

[Mad Bomber]

If you absolutely need a rookie QB in 2007, I wouldn't mind a guy later on in the draft. Guys like Palko, Drew Tate, and Drew Stanton (I don't know where these guys are predicted to go, but I don't think any are first rounders)

With our O-line, Drew Tate would be a good choice. The guy scrambles like Fran Tarkenton, and that's exactly what he would have to do every other pass play. He also has the fire and leadership qualities that JP sorely lacks.

[DraftBoy]

With our O-line, Drew Tate would be a good choice. The guy scrambles like Fran Tarkenton, and that's exactly what he would have to do every other pass play. He also has the fire and leadership qualities that JP sorely lacks.

He's also one of the most inconsistent QB's in college football this season

[kernowboy]

Stanton has begun to slip. Initially down as a 1st rounder he has now slipped to the 2nd round according to www.condraft.com. As they have us taking Levi Brown in the 1st I can live with that. I'd also be happy to see us draft Jake Long if he comes out, or even drop to the bottom of Round 1 take Doug Free, another quality LT, take Stanton in the 2nd and have an extra Day1 pick.

Despite being inconsistent this season I think that has had a lot to do with injuries and bad coaching. Against the Wildcats, he gets knocked out the game, comes back injured and continues to engineer the biggest comeback ever. We've traded 1st round picks based on one game, so I'm happy to use a 2nd rounder as long as we get a proper QB coach. Its good to see Merz did ok, he may be a solution for Villarial though I'd like us to spend a mid round choice on a guard like Mike Jones.

The DT selection this year is poor. We definitely need to bring another body in here but Branch, Oram and Bryant might not to come out. Most of the rest are under 300lbs so rather than overpay for a pick I'd rather look at a big small schooler here, big like Damion deRosia, hope to get lucky with him as a late round sleeper, but if not address the DT again in 2008. Williams has played well, McCargo still might do so, but we need more.

Unless players get cut, FA is not going to help the defence this year. What there is is going to demand huge money because there is so little choice or will get franchised

[ParanoidAndroid]

I don't think this team looks disinterested. I see a lot of players playing hard and making plays. The problem is that they make more mistakes than the average team and they make them in the red zone.
I do agree that Losman looks like he should be on Prozac. I really do think he is clinically depressed.

[YardRat]

I'd upgrade the o-line to a C.