Bills have meltdown in Steeltown

It has been one horrible week for the Buffalo Bills. First they lost their season opener by a mere point when the Broncos somehow were able to kick a last second field goal. Then the horrific new about Kevin Everett sent shockwaves throughout the Bills locker room and the football community.

The Bills themselves were shaken by the severity of Everett’s spinal chord injury and played like they were still in shock Sunday in Pittsburgh. Losing 26-3 highlighted the fact that the Bills were not ready to play this one. The "not ready for prime time" label fit Bills quarterback JP Losman to a tee. In fact, after an interview last Wednesday, the young quarterback appeared distraught over the nature of Everett’s injury after visiting him in the hospital. Losman was God awful Sunday, completing 15 of 25 for 154 yards and was held out of the endzone. On top of that, he was sacked 4 times. While Losman can’t be blamed entirely for the loss, he definitely isn’t making good on this "make or break" year. And he seems to be losing his cool in the locker room also.

Losman felt he was throwing well and pointed the blame to the coaches for their game plan.

"Everybody, speaking from the offense, we’re ready to open it up,"reflected Losman. "We’re ready to just let it go, let it hang. We don’t want to sit back on our heels. I know the coaches don’t and the players don’t. Let’s see if we can get that done this week."

Bills in state of shock

It was feared that the Bills would not be in the proper state of mind to play this game against the Steelers, considering the traumatic week they had with the news of Everett. While Everett now seems to be improving every day, earlier in the week it seemed as if he would never walk again. That affected Losman and the entire team.

The Bills definitely didn’t have their heads in the game. Would they have played better if the Everett incident had never happened? Probably. But they still wouldn’t have won, especially with all the injuries on defense.

The Steelers came out and were stopped from scoring a touchdown by the Bills D for the entire first half. Jeff Reed kicked 4 field goals, of 34, 28, 39 and 31 yards respectively. The Bills should have been down at least 20-0 at half time, but it was only 12-0. The Bills got a field goal themselves to start out the second half, but that proved to be the only Bills points of the day.

Ben Roethlisberger hit Matt Spaeth from one yard out to finally get the Steelers in the endzone. That was followed by an 11 yard run by Willie Parker half way though the 4^th quarter end the scoring for the day.

"We want Trent Edwards"

Fans are already calling for Losman's head and for the Bills to start Trent Edwards next week against the Patriots. Such a move could damage the career of both young quarterbacks. One does not start a rookie quarterback in his first game against the powerful Pats. They would have his head and more.

Losman obviously was not mentally ready for the Steelers game, with the shock of the injury to Everett affecting him. Hopefully next week, Losman will have his game face on and play a better game. He will need to in order to keep the Bills close to the Pats.

Copyright © 2007 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.