On behalf of the Buffalo Bills and the people who watch them every Sunday afternoon, BillStuff would like to formally thank the National Football League for the timing of the upcoming bye week.
If any team and its fans ever needed a Sunday off, it's these Bills and theirs.
Losing to New England, even at home, is no great sin. The way Buffalo did it on Sunday, though, had hundreds of thousands throughout Western New York wishing for another power outage. Or for a cable to come loose in the CBS truck parked outside Ralph Wilson Stadium. Or for the satellite beaming the game to plummet harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean.
Anything to make it stop.
When your center forgets the snap count, somebody on the punt team forgets to take the field when you're punting and your quarterback can't elude a guy in black-and-white stripes, it's time for a break.
Fans moped out of Ralph Wilson Stadium throughout the second half. Who could blame them? Even the BS coverage team -- which, as a matter of policy, normally sits through every play, even the kneel-downs -- flipped over to "Once in a Lifetime," the excellent documentary on the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos soccer team in the late 1970s and early '80s, with 3:11 remaining.
That was right after J.P. Losman managed to get stripped of the football not by a marauding defender swooping in from his blind side, but by an official who was doing everything he could to run away from the Buffalo quarterback.
It was a fitting end to a day that he started with another fumble the Patriots had nothing to do with, his mishandling of a third-down shotgun snap that turned a strong opening drive into a deflating field goal settlement.
In between, he coughed up one second-quarter drive into New England territory and threw away another, both in the most predictable of fashions. On the fumble, he got separated from the ball by a blitzer he somehow didn't see coming. On the interception, he -- all together now -- stared at his receiver from the time he took the snap until he threw the ball, allowing what seemed like the entire Patriots defense to form a picket line around Lee Evans.
Of all the troubling reversals the Bills have suffered over the past three weeks, Losman's regression is easily the most disturbing.
As he did a week earlier in Detroit, Losman put up decent numbers -- 16 of 25 passing (a 64 percent completion percentage) for 193 yards. Which shows how much statistics are worth.
Through three straight defeats, his team has scored all of three touchdowns, two of them coming in the fourth quarter with Buffalo trailing by at least 10 and none of them occurring Sunday.
Once again, Losman flashed some of the ability that convinced the easily seduced Tom Donahoe to trade up in the first round to draft him three years ago. Like on the 21-yard strike to Robert Royal in the second quarter that gave Buffalo a chance to get back into the game at the two-minute warning.
A touchdown would pull the Bills within four, with a chance to take the lead after receiving the second-half kickoff.
But no.
On the first play after the official timeout, Losman fired one into the gut of New England cornerback Assante Samuel. Moments later, the Bills jogged off the field, trailing 14-3 and showered by boos.
Losman and New England's Tom Brady embodied the widening gap between the first-place Patriots and the plummeting Bills.
Their base numbers were almost the same. Brady threw two more passes, completing two more for two more yards, but was sacked twice as many times.
While Losman was busy frittering away his successes, though, Brady stood up to a heavy early Buffalo rush and converted eight-of-15 third-down situations on the way to four touchdown drives, two of which he capped with scoring throws. Where Losman gave the ball away three times, Brady didn't turn it over once.
An even starker contrast could be found between the guys wearing the number 22 on their jerseys.
Samuel caught the aforementioned gimme from Losman, but it hardly takes an All-Pro to figure out where he's throwing the ball these days. Far more impressive was the play he made early in the fourth quarter, with the Bills down 21-3 and driving for a touchdown that would put them within maybe-we'll-get-real-lucky range.
Losman arched a perfect throw to Evans, hitting him in stride down the left sideline, midway through the end zone. Samuel closed at the last possible second, though, making just enough contact with the ball to send it bouncing harmlessly away.
For good measure, Samuel broke up another Losman throw to Evans on the next play, forcing the Bills to kick a thoroughly cosmetic field goal and snuffing even the most delusional of comeback hopes.
Consider, then, Samuel's counterpart in jersey number and position, Nate Clements. He did make one fairly large play, dumping New England running back Corey Dillon for a 5-yard loss on a third-and-3. That it came with Buffalo down by 11 midway through the third quarter didn't stop Clements from leaping around in celebration, as if he had just sealed a playoff victory with the stop.
Other than that, Clements was, once again, largely invisible. To be fair, though, he and Losman weren't the only former No. 1 picks to perform more like undrafted free agents.
McGahee averaged less than three yards per carry. Evans caught one pass.
Samuel, meanwhile, was a fourth-round pick by the Patriots. Brady was a sixth-round afterthought.
At 2-5, coming off three straight demoralizing defeats, Marv Levy and Dick Jauron should spend the bye week thinking about how much longer they're going to wait for the high draft picks Donahoe saddled them with to start earning their keep.
And the rest of us can spend next Sunday doing something slightly less aggravating. Like seeing how much fiberglass you can eat.
BILLS MVP: Ummmm ...
THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: As usual, the Patriots got contributions from just about everybody. Also as usual, Brady put it all together.
STAT OF THE WEEK: In the first half, the Bills outgained New England by better than 2-to-1, 176-87, and were slightly better on third down (3-of-6 to 3-of-7). Thanks to Losman's two turnovers and one dropped snap, the Patriots still led by 11.
WING REPORT: A double order from La Pizza Club on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo, split between mediums and Chiavettas, were meaty and flavorful, if a bit less crisp than those who prefer "extra crispy" might like. Extra points were awarded for an appetizer innovation called Chicken Wing Bread, which involved chunks of chicken, wing sauce, garlic and three types of melted cheese on toasted bread. Extra blue cheese was also involved, of course. A solid B.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: I wasn't able to join him, but Bill Glasgow, owner of the Twist o' the Mist and the Misty Dog Grill, the downtown landmarks he recently decided to close for a number of reasons, threw a farewell party for his employees during the game yesterday afternoon. At least they weren't distracted by an interesting contest.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | October 24 2006 |