Buffalo's loss to the New England Patriots on national television Sunday night was embarrassing. All the talk of the Patriots running the score up is absurd. The bottom line is Bills needed to stop New England from scoring. It's embarrassing to get beat that bad and have the opposition dominate the game the way the Patriots did at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Tom Brady had all day to find open receivers and it hurts that New England broke a Bills record for the largest margin of defeat in the 48-year history of the franchise, eclipsing a 43-0 loss to the Baltimore Colts in 1971.
It's important for everybody, not just J.P. Losman, to bounce back and play well this weekend against Jacksonville. The Bills need to figure out how they can score points and stop people again on defense. The Jaguars are a tough team and this will be another tough match up. J.P. needs to be at the top of his game if Marshawn Lynch is not in the lineup. As the quarterback, J.P. must not only be able to pick up the slack on offense but he must show his leadership ability throughout the course of the week. It's not always what you say to your teammates, but it's how you say it and J.P. will need to show he can be the leader that the coaches, fans and players were hoping for at the beginning of the season.
Of course Thanksgiving is upon us this week but it will be business as usual for the Bills and many other NFL teams. That's just the way it is. When you play professional sports there really aren't any holidays unless your season is over before Christmas.
Under Marv Levy we would practice earlier in the morning on Thanksgiving so that we could spend some time with the family and have a nice family dinner before getting back to work the next day.
I grew up watching football on Thanksgiving so it was special to have played on Turkey Day back in 1994 against the Lions. Aside from a fourth quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown, it was one of my better days statistically, having completed a personal record 82 percent of my passes. It was fun because you knew you were the main game and the one fans and fellow players were watching. It's like playing on Monday Night except it's during the day and everyone is home eating turkey and watching football.
This year I will be spending Thanksgiving with my family in Ellicottville. I've got so many things to be thankful for and I'm looking forward to spending it with people I love very much.
