Well. . . it's just the preseason right?

It's taken me two days to sit back and objectively look at Friday night's Bills preseason debut. If I had written this Friday night after the game, or even yesterday, my expletive filled tirade may have scared off anyone actually reading this.

So I'm going to start off with the good things that happened Friday night. Stick with me, because I'm sure the bad will far outweigh the good, and you might get some of those expletives anyway.

Steve Tasker was in mid-season form already. While Tasker doesn't have the flash some of the other color guys do, he makes up for it with concise descriptions of what's going on in the game. (For those who watched the Redskins broadcast on NFL Network and didn't see him, you really missed a great analytical and fair representation of what happened.) Tasker didn't pull any punches when it came to what the Bills did wrong, despite being an ex-Bill. Too many times, ex-players exhort the virtues of their team as they're commentating, and instead of being unbiased.

Brian Moorman. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He's the best player on the Bills. It's a shame more people don't place a value on special teams. Moorman consistently punts well under pressure. He averaged 52.4 yard per kick Friday night, with a long of 64, and 3 inside the 20. The man is a machine.

Chad Simpson and Joique Bell looked good. Of course, that's with Marshawn out with an ankle injury, Freddie out with a hand injury, and CJ barely playing, as well as being against 2nd and 3rd string players. 7 rushes, 67 yards for Simpson and 5 for 52 for Bell isn't bad. I'd like to see them tag team in the same way they use Freddie and Marshawn to see if they're the real deal, or just lucky against the scrubs.

Ok, I will do my best not to be too vulgar. No guarantees.

Trent Edwards needs to stop looking like Justin Beiber and learn to play football. Is all the hair in that helmet causing him to make the same stupid errors he did last season? This is our number one guy, and he's throwing 50% with nothing down field? Plus that horrific pick. . . really he's lucky that didn't go for 6. This is supposed to be a new system but honestly, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and keeps throwing ducks, pull him. I'd rather have Brohm in there.

3/5 of the starting offensive line was out Friday night. You could blame that on Trent playing like. . . well Trent, but honestly none of the QB's got sacked or even really pressured ALL that much. I understand the need to keep the injured players out until you're sure they are capable of handling the rigors of game play, but I still believe they should have played at least a series.

Receivers. Why are veteran guys dropping the ball? WHY?! WHY?! Ugh.

QB's as a whole. NOT ONE PASS OVER 15 YARDS. Two QB's with ratings UNDER 30. (Trent - 29.2, Levi - 14.9. Fitzpatrick had a 97.6 against second teamers.) Two QB's 50% or less completion percentage. If that happens on Thursday, I swear to you, what I was screaming at the TV on Friday will look like a sermon.

I hold a special place in my heart for the Special Teams. I proudly wear the punter's jersey and a special teams hat to the games, and Tasker was my favorite player as a kid. That being said, what the hell was that MESS on Friday night? Run north and south, stop dancing. BLOCK, please. If I have to beg I will. There was only one great special teams punt return by hometown boy Naiman Roosevelt on Friday night with a couple of great blocks. Kick team coverage was better, but nothing like some of the breakouts last year.

Defense, you looked great in the first series. And then it looked like you forgot to go after the guy with the ball. Maybin looked like he was getting into a groove towards the later part of the game, and McCargo surprised me with how quick he was. But there was little help in the secondary, and no pressure on any of the receivers who were running all over the field. Still need to get gelled there, I think.


I tried to think positively about this yesterday. First preseason game, so there is going to be rust. There are going to be mistakes made. There are even going to be people who just aren't going to perform in a real game the way they played on the practice field. The husband mentioned he wondered if Chan was pulling a Jimmy Johnson and intentionally tanking the season to pick up Jake Locker. While the thought of having Locker on the team gives me a little gleam in my eye, it'll make for one hell of a long season out there at the Ralph. I can't see that happening. I don't want to believe that's what Chan's doing. I honestly believe it's just knocking out the cobwebs from the old regime. I hope that's all it is. Guess we'll see on Thursday.