There will come a point in my sad little life when I decide that there are literally a million things I'd rather be doing on Sunday afternoons. The Buffalo Bills are that bad.
The latest debacle? A 16-3 "home" loss to the Miami Dolphins, in front of a "sellout" Toronto crowd that is sure to never want to watch live NFL football again.
Nothing about this game was "good". Even the Dolphins weren't outstanding. Of course, when you play the Bills, you don't really have to be. Miami's 8-5, tied for the division lead and streaking toward the playoffs; the Bills are thinking about a season gone down the tubes.
Losman fails audition
We heard it all week - with Trent Edwards (groin) out, J.P. Losman had his golden opportunity to prove, on an international stage, that he's worth a look when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next March. He then proceeded to complete 48 percent of his passes for a paltry 123 yards. He threw an interception, was sacked four times, fumbled three times and lost one of them. His QB rating was a whopping 45.8.
Not that Losman had much of a chance to begin with. Despite trailing by 10 or fewer points for much of the game, Buffalo once again abandoned the run too early, an error quickly becoming a trademark of offensive coordinator Turk Schonert. Marshawn Lynch ran the ball 13 times for a measly 31 yards; Fred Jackson didn't touch the ball once. Losman himself was the Bills' leading rusher with 53 yards on 5 scrambles. Without a running game, Buffalo held the ball for just over 22 minutes.
Another slow start
For a seventh consecutive game, Buffalo's opponent opened up the scoring when Chad Pennington hit Anthony Fasano for an early 7-0 lead. In seven games, Buffalo's opponents have opened up the game with 57 points before the Bills could counter with a score of their own.
Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for 110 rushing yards, and Miami converted key third downs to control the flow of the game from start to finish. Buffalo's defense wasn't spectacular, but once again, they did enough to win if Buffalo could ever figure out how to field a competent offense.
The offense was terrible... again. The defense was... there. The special teams were... a non-factor. The Bills have three games to play in their 2008 season, but honestly, I'm struggling to find reasons to care. The 2009 NFL Draft is just under 139 days away, folks!
Game Ball
CBS announcer Kevin Harlan, for being a gigantic moron. You can only say "Ricky Brown" so many times before it's ridiculous.
Roll call
I'm not sure why y'all keep dropping by, but I'm glad you do. 1,122 comments today is well played, and we need to congratulate norcaliangelsfan for pacing us yet again in number of comments, because once his new baby comes, he won't be around. Or at least, he shouldn't be. Congratulations, sir - on both counts, but obviously more importantly on the good news.
Thanks to the 44 folks who joined me today.
norcaliangelsfan, spavery, MonStarr_716, Brian Galliford, TheK-GunNeedsReloaded, D.O., jj24, Future Considerations, StuckInNJ, twoeightnine, macfresh, Kurupt, Fort Worth, jdol1568, Ron From NM, Sky Kalkman, ccthemovieman, thatguy455, krytime, RabidBuffalo, BeastMode23, kaisertown, Joe P., NJBillsfan, chaosthepitbull, Kumario!, IbreatheBills, keuka121, silverstreak3k, hightower_mc, tony_flow, TheAfghanTwilight, dontuan, Cinga, SSreporters, BILLS, BuffaloWhiner, DolfinPhan, LuBAR, mavadjdj, Hassanali181, JPH, roscoe11, NYTXFAN, MARVelous
I have nothing else to suggest, other than this: "This team is terrible" comments aren't necessary, because we know. Let's brainstorm by answering this question: "If you ran the Bills, what would be the first thing you'd do?" Have at it.