My friend Gary called late Sunday afternoon, leaving a raspy voicemail message.
“I can hardly talk,” said the Buffalo Bills season-ticket holder, who had just returned home after sitting through Buffalo’s 28-6 beat-down at the fists of the New England Patriots. “Apparently, I was the only one determined to boo J.P. Losman every time he walked onto the field.”
If the rest of the sellout crowd was less initially pessimistic than Gary ,Aei which, to be honest, is probably good for the collective psyche ,Aei he wasn’t alone by halftime, when Losman and the rest of the Bills were fortunate to get hit only by the anguished wails of the increasingly skeptical.
Even the best quarterbacks are going to fumble once in a while when attacked by rampaging 300-pounders and throw the occasional interception. After all, the other guys are getting paid, too.
But when you start the game by dropping a snap from center on third down deep in opposing territory and get separated from the ball by a game official to finish it, you’re not going to hear a lot of encouraging words.
“If you even try to defend him,,Aeu Gary said, ,AeuYou’re going to have to answer to me.”
Not to worry, Gary. J.P.’s on his own until further notice.
Losman wasn’t alone in earning the crowd’s wrath, as discussed in this week’s BillStuff column in the Niagara Falls Reporter.
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.
Of course, there’s a bright side to Buffalo’s three-game losing streak. They may be rapidly falling from anything approaching playoff contention, but the Bills have provided the million or so locals who endured the worst autumn storm in the region’s history with an outlet to vent their well-earned frustrations.