Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings

It’s the quarter point of the season, and it will be time for an assessment. This game will tell us just where the Bills are. I think they are better than people think and the win/loss column shows. They are almost there – and the games show it. They almost beat New England, they beat themselves against the Jets. Minnesota should be a good game to see how they will do against the rest of the league. The weather is better than expected, former President Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton are in attendance, and the stadium is sold out. It should be a good game.

Minnesota marched down the field on a long, 6½ minute drive that resulted in a field goal. There were a couple of bad penalties that the Bills took, and a couple of long plays for the Vikes. Then the Bills went three and out. Then the defense stepped up and shut Minnesota down. Forcing the punt, the Bills managed to get better field position, but not much, especially considering the penalty that was tacked on.

It isn’t even 10 minutes into the game, and the Bills have three penalties. That is not good, but I like that they are trying to run the ball into the throat of the defense. And it’s good on this drive that Losman is making his throws. He doesn’t have to throw long balls all the time, just effective ones. His cadence is getting better, too. I’ve seen him pull people offside more times so far this year than he did last year. Nice run after the pass from Evans, immediately after Price and McGahee went off the field when they collided. Thankfully, neither was hurt, and they came back in time for the clock to run out on the quarter.

Losman: 5/6 for 47 yards, McGahee ran five times for 14 yards. Overall, the teams are about equal in stats at the end of the first, and it shows in the score: 3-0, Minnesota.

The Bills start the second in the red zone, an area they have had troubles in for a long time. Royal had a nice catch to take it down to the five. Royal doesn’t impress me all that much, but if he makes a few more catches like that, he might win me over. Losman pulls another guy offside, and Willis dives in for the score. Right into the left side, and he extended just far enough to break the plane. Twelve plays, 79 yards, beautiful.

What a play, with the Bills recovering the ball on the kickoff, but it looks like the refs are going to give the ball to the Vikings because someone supposedly called for a fair catch. Now, call me crazy, but I didn’t see it. It’s a bullshit call by the refs. That means on an onside kick any player can call a fair catch, and the kicking team will get penalized if they recover the ball. What a load of crap.

So Minnesota gets the ball, and there are about 79,000 pissed off fans. The Bills stuff the Vikes, and then the refs call the Bills for running into the kicker. What is up with these refs? Do they want to give the game to Minnesota? It was a touch back. Then the refs give a makeup foul, and the Vikes really commit fair catch interference. So the Bills get a couple of makeup calls.

When refs have to do makeup calls instead of refereeing, it’s shitty officiating. Sure, Baker actually did interfere, but that play should never have happened.

The Bills go three and out. Preston is in for Villareal. He is apparently getting x-rayed. Hopefully, he is all right, because we can’t afford to lose him.

So the Bills punt, and there’s ANOTHER fair catch interference called. I don’t think that’s ever happened in NFL history, three times in one half. The refs are way too involved in this one. There’s seven minutes left in the half, and there have been 12 flags thrown.

Not to mention the fact that there have been five straight three-and-outs. The Bills get the ball on the four, and try running it up the gut to get nowhere. Evans breaks the 1st down drought, finally, but then, there’s another penalty, and the Bills are pretty much right back where they started: 1st and 18 at the 9. A couple of plays later and Losman hits Evans all the way to the 41. A couple of plays later and McGahee rips one for 18 yards. A minute and twelve left, and the Bills are driving a the 35. But then Losman gets sacked for 8 yards. Then he takes advantage of a free play, and hits Evans for good gain, and then misses on third down. Lindell misses a 44-yarder into the wind, and Minnesota gets the ball on the 34 with all three timeouts and a little over a half-minute left. The Vikes scratch out a few yards to the Bills’ 30, and the Vikes hit one with the wind to make it 7-6 at the half.

Losman hit 14/19 for a buck-33, and McGahee has 11 runs for 39 yards and a touchdown. That’s almost 2-1 passing to roughing. they have to even it out a little more in the second half, but that might be a little difficult with Villareal out for the game. They did have the ball for most of the half, and from a statistical point of view, the Bills should be winning by just a little bit. It wasn’t that bad of a half.

At halftime, Andre Reed was put up on the Wall of Fame. What a team that was. A good speech, recognizing people on the team, his friends, family, and the fans. Those were the days.

I feel about this team like I did about that team, when it was first starting out. Cautious optimism, but knowing good things were going to come, and they did. Will it happen again? Will history repeat itself?

The Bills start out with Losman throwing, throwing, throwing. Then he has a nice scramble for 15 yards. Then Price runs it in on a broken screen for a touchdown. It’s good to see them come out in the second half and jam it down the field like that. So what, there were only 2 running plays. Scoreboard. Take what they give you, and make it hurt.

The defense is playing pretty well this season, as young as it is, and hold the Vikes to a 3-and out. Then, a bad punt (only 13 yards???) gives the Bills the ball at the Minnesota 39. A touchdown here could make this game into a statement game. So, what do we do? Go backward. The Bills lost 7 yards on that series, and after the punt, the Vikes are on the 24 because of a shitty spot.

Three plays later, Crowell intercepts the ball for the Bills, and they get it on the 31. McGahee drops the ball and they lose four yards, but Losman get it all back and more, almost getting the first down and going over 200 yards on the game. Then, he dives for the first down. Nice to see him doing what he has to do to win. He’s learning how to lead.

A few runs later, and the Bills are doing what I said they should do: pound it out on the ground. It takes time off the clock, and tires out the defense. They finish the quarter on a second down loss to end at the Vikes’ 6-yard line. Losman’s at 20/27 for 212 yards, McGahee has 53 yards on 20 carries, and the Bills are pretty much kicking the Vikings’ asses.

Third and goal at the six, and the Bills settle for the field goal. They should have passed.

Minnesota starts driving, and London Fletcher intercepts the ball. The Bills go nowhere fast. Then three times in a row, Moorman has to punt. First there was running into the kicker. Then, an illegal shift. Finally, he gets it off, and the Vikings get it on their 10. They drove to the 40 and wind up punting after a nice pass is batted away by Clements.

The Bills wind up with the ball on their 16, with 7:39 left in the game. Now, it’s time to eat clock. Nice big slices of clock, slathered with mushroom gravy and a side of mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmmm. Clock. Yummy.

they call a time out, which may seem counterproductive, but it’s either that or take a penalty. What I didn’t understand is why the long ball to Evans? It stopped the clock, and there was a chance of an interception. Another run and pass, ad Moorman punts it out of bounds, placing the Vikings at their 45.

Time to shut the receivers down and keep the ball in bounds. Johnson fires three incompletes, and on 4th down, they convert. That’s five for five in favor of Bills opponents on fourth down. A couple of more plays, and they call a shaky pass interference call on Kelsay. This gives the Vikings a chance that they capitalize on for the touchdown. Going for two points, they Vikes get backed up for drawing the Bills offsides. but it doesn’t matter, as the conversion attempt falls incomplete.

That leaves about 3 minutes on the clock, and the Bills get the ball on the 29. All they have to do is get two first downs. Minnesota has 3 time-outs. Force them to use them before the two-minute warning. Because of a measurement, the Vikes are given a timeout back, and the Bills need six inches. The Vikings encroach, and oops! It’s a fresh set of downs for the Bills. the Bills go about five yards, and the Bills are called this time.

Great punt by Moorman, pinning Minnesota on the 12, with 1:39 left. Time to stop them, and get the ball back. Two first downs in a row. They have to get to Johnson, and knock balls around. They don’t and Robinson is wide open, but he drops the ball. Minnesota picks up the first down (that’s 6-6 fourth down attempts on the season). Then the Bills are called offsides again. These refs are trying to give the game to the Vikings. What a load of crap.

Nineteen seconds left, the ball on the Bills 25, 2nd and 10. Pass out of bounds.

Third and 10. A short pass up the middle, and the Bills force the Vikings to run the clock out.

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What a game. It wasn’t the greatest game, it wasn’t the worst game. The Bills had control, but they didn’t seal it. That seems to be the story of this season so far: they are good, but not good enough for sixty solid minutes of football.

You can see flashes of brilliance, you can see potential for future successes. Losman has had two consecutive games of over 200 yards passing. He’s spreading the ball around, to eight different receivers today. McGahee is one of the better backs in the league. The defense is better than anyone expected, and special teams are among the best in the league.

However, some of the play-calling is questionable. They have a hard time with the running game, a difficult time in the red zone. They are getting better on third down defense, but can’t stop a fourth down if they tried. Penalties are getting out of control, and they make bad mistakes at inopportune moments.

So what’s the verdict? I’m sticking with my pre-season prediction: 2-4 over the first six games, and 9-7 on the season.