Well, we're over 14 hours after the conclusion of the Bills/Patriots debacle, and Buffalo is spending its Monday picking up the pieces. I'm not going to talk about the game much - if you all actually want to, be my guest in the comments section. There is, however, one thing I'd like to address before getting to the news of the day:
If you read the Buffalo News, stop. They're gluttons for punishment, and they like to inflict it upon a Buffalo sports fan base that already knows how awfully the Bills played last night. According to them, Buffalo's secondary was bad last night. Really?!
That much is obvious - thank you, Allen Wilson, for twisting the knife. It feels good, you know. At least Wilson knows why the secondary looked like Pee-Wee leaguers last night:
"I said from the beginning of the week that we needed to put pressure on Tom Brady and get him off his game," Bills defensive end Chris Kelsay said. "We weren't able to do that tonight. We put our cover guys in some bad positions to cover for a while, and obviously that's tough when you've got receiving weapons like they have on the outside."
Hey Mr. Wilson... that's what your article should have been about. Buffalo's defensive ends - all four of them, Schobel, Kelsay, Denney and Hargrove alike - are simply not quite right for Buffalo's Cover-2 scheme. Sure, they work their tails off, play pretty well against the run and generally fit in well with a young team. But until the Bills can get a pass rusher who can, you know, sack the quarterback, quarterbacks will have plenty of time to wait for their receivers to find holes in Buffalo's zones. Just about every quarterback the Bills have faced this season has resembled a surgeon, and it's because there's no time limit on when they have to get rid of the ball. Memo to Marv Levy: it doesn't have to be your top priority this off-season, but it's up there. Get one or two situational pass rushers. You'll be revered as the genius who fixed Buffalo's defense.
So much for a clouded QB picture - no such thing exists in Buffalo, at least for this weekend's tilt with Jacksonville. J.P. Losman is getting the nod. Can't say I disagree, as Losman was one of literally a handful of Bills to make some plays in last night's debacle. Anyone else getting the feeling that Jauron wants to give Losman the rest of the year to see if the veteran can take Buffalo to the playoffs? That's my theory, at least - if Losman can't deliver, it's likely he won't be starting in Buffalo next season. Just my belief - here's hoping he can rebound a bit and pick up a much-needed win in Jacksonville.
Unfortunately for Losman, he likely won't have Marshawn Lynch at his disposal for that ultra-important Jaguars game. Dick Jauron played the "not optimistic" card again, which means that we won't know until late next week whether or not the youngster will actually be playing. One thing is painfully obvious - 31 rushing yards from Anthony Thomas isn't going to come close to helping the Bills score enough points to win. We need our team MVP back ASAP.