Monday Night reaction

What a heartbreaking loss for Demetrius Bell, Terrence McGee and the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football!

But it was not without highlights for the two former Demons. McGee received repeated praise by the ESPN announcing crew, especially former Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden, before he made a clutch breakup against star Patriots receiver Randy Moss on a two-point conversion play that momentarily seemed to give Buffalo a big advantage late in the game, leaving New England behind by five.

As for Bell, he seemed to make a good impression, based on the story in the Buffalo News this morning by Allen Wilson about the Bills' retooled and inexperienced offensive line:

Second-year left tackle Demetrius Bell and rookie guards Eric Wood and Andy Levitre held their own against the New England Patriots' defensive front seven for most of a disheartening 25-24 loss Monday night.

Bell got the left tackle job when the Bills surprisingly released Langston Walker, who was anointed as their guy after trading Jason Peters to the Philadelphia Eagles.

But the coaching staff grew increasingly impressed with Bell, a seventh-round draft pick who didn't play football at any level before 2005 and had only two years at left tackle at Northwestern (La.) State. Despite a sore back that sidelined him for a couple of weeks in the preseason, the Bills felt the time was right to give him a chance.

For the most part, Bell didn't let the team down Monday night. He made some nice blocks on run plays and protected quarterback Trent Edwards pretty well until late in the game.

"There were a lot of things I could have done better," Bell said. "For the most part, I finished every play and played every play. I didn't leave any doubts in my mind as far as playing hard and as far as working my techniques. But towards the end I kind of got out of my comfort zone. It was poor technique that got me beat. But overall, I had a hard-fought game."

If there was one thing Bell has to improve on it is penalties. He was flagged twice for failing to line up on the line of scrimmage and once for a false start. He also was penalized for holding, but the Patriots declined it.

"It wasn't inexperience," Bell said. "It's just making sure my head is even with the butt of the center. It's my job to get up on the line. On the false start, it was a lack of concentration. Those are mistakes I'll get cleaned up."