Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings

At the end of the first quarter, the Bills are down 14-0. Holcomb was uninspiring at best, and terrible would be a better adjective. Two for four for 16 yards and one int. No first downs. The defense was shaky to start, but got better as the quarter progressed. The special teams were, as usual, stellar.

In the second quarter, things were a little better. Losman looked relatively good, completing 5 of 11 passes for 45 yards, three first downs, no INTs. Ryan Denney made afew good plays, and Powell had an almost sack and could have been called for roughing the quarterback but wasn’t. Greer had a nice tackle. There was a punt blocked, but “Fast Freddie” Smith had a couple of decent returns. The Bills ended the quarter with a 50-yard field goal by Lindell.

The third quarter was much better for the Bills. They picked up a fumble which ultimately resulted in a touchdown run by Gates which was challenged unsuccessfully. Losman, in that drive, had an 18-yard run, and had a couple of nice passes. The Bills also got a field goal, and held the Panthers to a goose egg. Greer had another nice open-field tackle. The Bills ended the quarter on another drive that came from an interception. Losman was 6 of 7 for 62 yards.

Up until the fourth quarter, the Bills played relatively mistake-free. I say relatively, because they had 5 sacks, an interception and six penalties by the end of the third quarter. This, I think is pretty good, considering the Bills were playing several second and third stringers. Still, the first 6 plays in the fourth resulted in 4 penalties and a sack: not good. Then there was a nice run after a short pass by Burns, which was negated by a questionable facemask call on Pennington. The scrubs finished the game relatively well except for some sloppy penalties, both committed by the players and invented by the officials. Considering it was a bunch of guys I didn’t know that were playing, it wasn’t so bad. Kingsbury and Jackson (who are these guys?) had a couple of nice plays. I guess Jackson is from Coe College, and ran for almost 1700 yards his senior year.

I noticed the officials changed their uniforms slightly, with different sized stripes, and the numbers different on the back. The Bills were wearing black sneakers, which was different, but didn’t change the uniform look that much. I heard the Bills are supposed to wear the throwback jerseys twice this year. Don’t ask me about Carolina, as I don’t know about their uniforms.

Overall, I wasn’t enthused by the way they played, but then I wasn’t disappointed. The first stringers definitely have to play better on offence, and I think Losman played bettter than Holcomb, even though he was sacked 5 times to Holcomb’s 1. Losman’s numbers definitely speak to that: 15/24 for 144 yards, versus 2/4 for 16 yards and an INT. You could tell the Bills wanted to win, and they certainly kept themselves in the game. There were flashes of quality, and if they are able to continue that and string some good plays together, the Bills could wind up winning more than 8 games this year. That remains to be seen, and I won’t hold my breath waiting.

I’m not terribly enthused about the team this year, and I don’t know why. It’s a general malaise that I feel. Maybe it’s because of the way the Sabres played last season. Maybe it’s Ralph’s looking to the past to go to the future. I don’t know why I feel somewhat apathetic about the Bills this year; maybe it’s just that it’s the preseason. We’ll see what happens when the regular season starts.