Fake-Fat Sunny

nod (and others)- Do you have belef in MM and the Bills braintrust to make the right decision or at least the best decision they can make regarding QB and how do you think that decision will work? Right now I think the Bills have DB as their #1 but have announced and created the pressure on him to earn the job for 2005 which will give JP the opening to push for the starters; job in the "voluntary" minicamps and pre-season. If JP shows well in practice and plays well in pre-season I do not think this can or will be hidden and if Bledsoe does not play well the only way to keep Bledsoe in the job will be for the braintrust and Bledsoe's teammates to push to keep him there (which they show no willngness to do in the face of poor Bledsoe performance or good JP performance). In terms of what will happen, it really depends. It depends upon how diligent JP gas been in becoming a vet rather than a rookie. His on field play improved in his brief appearances and he is clearly a good enough athlete that though it is necessary to play against pro athletes and to see Ds over Teague's back if he has learned pro offenses and defenses and downloaded well from Wyche I think he can learn to produce quickly and can be productive this year if he is good enough. It depends on how good Clements/MM really are at the demonstrated ability they have shown to run and develop Os that revive failed QBs. I was pretty much a non-believer in MM/Clements but they certainly revived the play of a failed Stewart and Maddox and I think they demonstrably improved Bledsoe's play and production from horrendous in 2003 up to inadequate but more productive this year. Squeezing additional improvement and production out of Bledsoe this year strikes me as a difficult thing to do, but MM/Clements proved me wrong this year so I'm not stupid enough to say doing as well this year is impossible.

I think that folks are correct in saying that the market will determine what JJ gets, but for one thing I do not see the market being set yet for LTs and it is unclear where JJ will fall into that market. I think posters often make the mistake of assigning a particular player a contract level based on the quality (or lack thereof) of his play. They assign some absoluted assessment of a player's worth based on whether he is a better or worse player than another player as though salary is some absolute statement of how a player performs. However, it is supply and demand which governs contract amounts, If a worse player enters a market which is constrained he will get (and deserve in our sorta free market system) a bigger contract than a player who enters a market where there are lots of options. JJ needs to decide whether he wants to sign early in the process or late. By signing early or signing one of the first offers that comes to him he risks not getting a bigger offer later as the supply tightens. However, if he waits too long the market of buyers may be the one which tightens and he will lose negotiating ability. I think the issue for JJ right now is that until teams announce who they are going to tag or not, there are many better LTs on the market. Pace and Jones are likely to be tagged again (yet they may not) which will help JJ by reducing supply but if I have cap room I'd rather over pay Tra Thomas than JJ. Maybe Thomas will get tagged or a deal will be made and he will be off the market as well. However, if I am Philly I wait to see how this off-season plays out and try to figure out what is up with Terrell as this influences my cap overall and what I need to spend if I do or don't win it all or go far in the playoffs. To add even more complexity to this situation, I think folks look at what has been offered to LTs before and peg this as what an LT is worth, but they need to recognize that it is exactly these rich contracts which may work against JJ signing a big deal. Teams have had to overpay to get an LT such that talents like Kyle Clifton and Petitgout have gotten the LT deals cited at a $10 million bonus and $5 million for 5 years. However, because even these rich contracts are not in the top 10 cap hits for OL players (8 of whom are LTs) that many teams have already committed and shot their wads in terms of LT or additional OL spending. The franchise # for OL players (most of them LTs) is at about $7 million a year cap hit. The transition number (again mostly LTs) is $6 million. Even stranger these 8 LTs does not even include folks like Pace, Jones or younger players like Thomas. To tighten demand even more, teams like AT who want an LT and both they and JJ have an interest in a deal have potential huge cap constraints from signing a $100 million dollar deal with Vick and giving a huge FA deal to Price. I will not be surprised if these playoffs reveal to AT that the way to win it all for Vick is not to blow the wole wad on the offense (the Indy route) but in fact to spend their small remaining cap room on helping their defense stop folks like Carolina from pushing them into OT by scirung at will on the AT defense. I think the bottomline is that it only takes one team to make a deal with JJ to take him from the Bills. However, I will not be surprised if the KT demand is actually lower than it has been in the past which has drive contracts through the roof because many teams are out of the market having spent big long term bucks on the 8 LTs (out of 31 competitors) in the top 10 OL cap hits. In addition there is some number I do not know enough details about other teams to judge they are out of the market having overspent on players like Clifton and Petitgout. In addition, some teams have younger players under contract has the Bills have had the last two years with Jennings so they are not in the market, plus there are teams which have deals or possibilities with better players like Pace, Jones or Thomas that take them out of the market. JJ any way you cut it will get more money than he has ever had, but I really doubt it is going to be top 10 LT monry (transition tag at about $6 million) and actually it is going to be less than the $5 million lesser players got from more friendly markets. Right now the Bills highest OL cap hits are folks like MW approaching $3 million and Teague around $2 million. i don't think that the market will allow JJ here for $3 million but I will not be surprised if it less than the $5 million which seems to be the going rate for a just outside of the top 10 LT players and if we get him for $4 million TD has done quite well.

I think it would be a big mistake in trying to understand the game, predict future Losman performance or to set expectations for JPs performance using RoboQBs performance as a yardstick. First off using one player as a yardstick for another is difficult and quite likely to be the wrong approach anyway as individuals are individuals and quite different. Comparisons are legit and what sports is all about anyway, but know that these comparisons are going to start off as somewhat tortured and get worse the more detail and specificity you require. Speed of development is an example where these comparisons fall apart. Eric Moulds simply sucked in first year production and it paled next to that of a WE drafted that year such as Eddie Kennison. Would you make any legitimate claims about their quality as players or who is better based on a comparison of the first year stats of these two? Second, if you are looking to compare production between players, as Steve Young was saying this weekend, pro football is the ultimate team game in many ways. The production of an individual player is so tied to the production of his teammates that mrely comparing one year's performance to another is going to resyult in some oddities and inaccuracies. In the end comparisons of careers versus careers is so much more relevant and accurate for drawing conclusions about a particular player it ain't even funny. Third, RoboQB has really experienced some extraordinary production of W/L compared to all players at QB in their first year. A comparison of the two is find if you are looking for evidence that JP is not the best QB ever, but it falls a part a bit after that. It would be like insisting that any b-ball player who did not put up Michael Jordan numbers was some how a bust and even worst you decide to use MJ's best year as a yardstick. Why not use Philip Rivers or Eli Manning as your yardstick, this is just as legit as using RoboQB. JP has some specific limitations and benefits that are his case and the best analysis strikes me as an exploration of that rather than comparing him to someone who has done well and saying that he has been developed improperly or is a bust or comparing him to someone who sucks and declaring him a god.

Cliff notes begin : The question is whether Bledsoe and the O can continue to improve in 2005 from 2004 at the same rate they improved from 2003 to 2004. I doubt it because opponents will have the tape on what we did well in 2004 and have a blueprint on how good teams can stop it from the Steelers game. Yet, I doubted that MM/Clements could even pul off what they accomplished this year and they did. In addition to their being some possibility (though not a likelihood) they can continue to improve Bledsoe in 2005, with TDs comments expressing inadequacy as a judgment of Bledsoe'as 2004 play and stating that all starters must prove themselves again, there is an opening for JP to prove himself on the field. There is also a possibility this may happen (though again not a likelihood). The best thing to me is that I really believe in the Bills braintrust sticking with Bledsoe if they judge he can win OR going with Losman instead if they think he can win. I am comfortable with there only being a 1 out of 3 chance that Losman will be adequate (hypothetically as this is not the place I want to debate Losman's chances) and there being only a 1 out of 3 chance of Bledsoe being adequate (again hypothetically as I do not want to descend into this debate of the future either) if that gives us a 2 out of 3 chance of the Bills having an adequate QB next year because though I do not have faith in Bledsoe or Losman being up to the job. I do have faith in MM/Clements/Wyche and the gang making the right choice. Cliff notes end This is the same old question, but perhaps folks may be able to say the same things they seem intent on saying taking this from a new angle. I think a couple of things are true and folks can argue against them if you want but if you do I think your arguments will not reflect reality: 1. Bledsoe was inadquate in terms of his play and production in 2004. I think that assessment of play and assessment of production are intrinsically linked but are two different facets of the same thing and most accurately are talked about in terms of these differences if one chooses to go in depth. An athleres play is how he performed in terms of the mechanics of the game. An athelete's production is how this play turned out in terms of moving the ball, scoring point, etc. My sense is that both Bledsoe's play in terms of how he read defenses, did his check-off on progressions, attempted to throw passes, ran plays, etcetera was inadequate in the 2004 season and his production in terms of how it worked in terms of the Bills moving the ball and scoring offensive points was also inadequate. Perhaps, if we had actually made the playoffs, or the offense was the lead and a reliable part of our team scoring points and commanding field position during the streak or the O had put enough points on the board at home against Jax that the D could not have blown the game on 3 poor plays on the last drive I would judge him as having produced adequately, but he didn't and we didn't. 2. Bledsoe's play and production improved a lot when comparing 2003 and 2994. In particular Bledsoe's production in 2004 improved tremendously as the team was able to put up a winning record of 9-7 instead of a losing record of 6-10. This increase in production in my view was not primarily diue to better play by Bledsoe, but because Clements ran a better O scheme which did not depend upon great play using the extraordinary arm of Bledsoe to gain production for the O or for the team. The better O production came from using Bledsoe as a change-up rather than relying upon him and relying upon him in a predictable way as Killidrive did. The better team production came from better production by the ST and D which put new-found points on the board and won the field position battle in many facets of the game. Perhaps most impressive to me as a sports watcher is that in addition to this improvement in production by the Bills because the team raised its play across the board and the offense was operated in a run first and then run again manner that had better production, I would also note that from my view Bledsoe played better ar an athlete in 2004 than he did in 2003. Mind you, this is not saying a world-beating thing in that he improved from being horrendous and virtually totally bad in 2003 to become "merely" inadequte in 2004. However, I think that the anti-Bledsoe crusaders simply destroy their case and arguments by ignoring the fact (from my view) that Bledsoe's play improved from 2003 to 2004 even though in the end his level of personal production (and thus production of the team who he handles the ball for a lot) proved to be inadequate in 2004. In general you cannot teach an old dog new tricks (though the changes and effectiveness we have seen in many athletes who learn how to deal with and actually perform better after Tommy John surgery and the best athletes who deal with the reality of losing a step by using their experience to save two steps happems all the time in sports), but I think the key to imprioved play and production by Bledsoe in 2004 compared to 2003 is that Clements found a way to re-employ old tricks that Bledsoe had used when he experienced success in this league under Parcells and in a must-win game Belicheck. I argue that we saw improvement in Bledsoe's play in these specific areas. 1. MM/Clements used their alarm clock to secure the same results Parcells did when he would repeatedly yell just throw the damn ball at Bledsoe when he would hang onto it oo long and go into his pat-pat-pat mode. One of the clear Bledsoe problems under Kevin Killdrive was that he was allowed to hold the ball too long as he waited for the receiver to get a little room so he could use his rifle arm to deliver the ball quickly as few can. MM/Clements seem to greatly improve on this issue by consistently reminding Bledsoe and developing the game habit in him of delivering the ball with 4 seconds of the snap. He had learned and responded well to this lesson before under Parcells so this was not a new trick. I think he played better than he did in 2003 by getting rid of the ball quicker and this can be seen in the statistic of the team giving up far fewer sacks in 2004. 2. MM/Clements realized that just because Bledsoe isn't at his best when running this does not mean he cannot run at all. I think folks buying into the statue argument really hurt the Bills production. No one will ever mistake Bledsoe for John Elway. Bledsoe clearly throws more accurately from the pocket rather than rolling out. However, if Bledsoe never runs this only allows the LBs and the safeties to sellout completely on the blitz and not worry about the opening they have left in the center of the field when they go wide or hit a particular gap on the blitz. Bledsoe is a big man and though he will never win a footrace, he can pick up 6 yards + on a well run QB draw. Running the QB draw is not a tough read because if a safety drops back in a 1 deep zone, an OLB is left covering the TE alone or goes out to the flat with an RB in motion and the MLB cheats up to blitz into the gap left of the center then Bledsoe merely runs into the gap to the right of center and picks up 5 yards before he is hit. Further, on plays like the Bledsoe TD pass to Evans against SF, Bledsoe hit this toss on a rollout. If we call the rollout on 2nd down which gives us a play even if the pass is incomplete. Bledssoe knows he is not the brightest bulb in the pack and like most atletes he will follow orders and knows his NFL success comes not from freelancing (he ain't Michael Vick) but from doing the same thing with the same timing every time. If he is ordered to throw it away if Evans is covered he will throw it away and move on to 3rd down. Bledsoe did a fine job on us refinding the QB running game and the occaisional rollout during th streak. 3. Bledsoe was not asked to make a lot of choices and this showed in improved offensive production. I think one of the best moves we made this year is seen in Bledsoe saying that we have limited the number and types of audibles he can call. By doing this, we simplified the offense for him and the receivers. We reduced our tendency to be pass happy because not only was Clements less reliant on calling the pass than Killdrive, but Bledsoe could not change the few run calls into passes because he thought he saw something or like any athlete was more willing to rely on his arm than on the RBs legs and he might change the play to a pass. 4. Bledsoe ran some great fakes. From plays like Bledsoe sold the opponents that he was going to run a QB sneak and then turned and flipped it to WM who ran for a score to Bledsoe selling the hand-off to WM but still keeping his eyes in the receivers so he could receive the flip back and throw downfield to an open Evans. Bledsoe did a great job on these fakes. The trick play playcalling of Clements/MM was a new wrinkle and beautifully executed by Bledsoe. Am I saying Bledsoe was great in 2004? No. HE WAS INADEQUATE. However, did he improve his play over a year ago. He sure did and for folks not to acknowledge this drives their arguments further away from reality. It's simply untrue to argue that Bledsoe never won anywhere (he has the deserved AFC Champion ring under Parcells and the deserved SB champion ring under BB to prove he has won big games in his career). It is simply untrue to argue that his play did not improve in 2004 compared to 2003 if only because he stunk so badly running the Killdrive O in 2003. To argue this simply makes you wrong and ignores reality. The important thing here is to understand that just because Bledsoe has won big games before and he improved this past season this does not mean that he is necessarily the right QB for the Bills in 2005. In fact, I hope to gosh and I think there is a good chance that JP Losman will have developed enough that he will gain the Bills QB starting job in 2005 if he show enough in the "voluntary" mini-camps and in the pre-season to meet TDs challenge and win the job. I was impressed with Bledsoe in 2004, because if I were in charge I would have cut him and expected the 2004 Bills under his leadership to be much like the 2003 Bills under his leadership. However, the 2004 Bills turned out to be much improved in ST plsy, in turnovers and to run a much more effective offense in 2004 under Clements than the 2003 version under Killdrive which could go not simply multiple quarters but even multiple games without the O scoring a TD. The question is whether Bledsoe and the O can continue to improve in 2005 from 2004 at the same rate they improved from 2003 to 2004. I doubt it because opponents will have the tape on what we did well in 2004 and have a blueprint on how good teams can stop it from the Steelers game. Yet, I doubted that MM/Clements could even pul off what they accomplished this year and they did. In addition to their being some possibility (though not a likelihood) they can continue to improve Bledsoe in 2005, with TDs comments expressing inadequacy as a judgment of Bledsoe'as 2004 play and stating that all starters must prove themselves again, there is an opening for JP to prove himself on the field. There is also a possibility this may happen (though again not a likelihood). The best thing to me is that I really believe in the Bills braintrust sticking with Bledsoe if they judge he can win OR going with Losman instead if they think he can win. I am comfortable with there only being a 1 out of 3 chance that Losman will be adequate (hypothetically as this is not the place I want to debate Losman's chances) and there being only a 1 out of 3 chance of Bledsoe being adequate (again hypothetically as I do not want to descend into this debate of the future either) if that gives us a 2 out of 3 chance of the Bills having an adequate QB next year because though I do not have faith in Bledsoe or Losman being up to the job. I do have faith in MM/Clements/Wyche and the gang making the right choice.

Eric Moulds is apparently scheduled to get about $8.7 million in 2005 cap hit for the Bills. Even Moulds knows that he should not and will not get this type of cap hit next year (For example, in 2004 Marvin Harrison has a cap hit of around $7.6 million according to the NFLPA web site). Moulds appears from his comments to have made two correct determinations that one he would not get nearly this amount on the open market (though like Lawyer Milloy part of this cap hit is prorated bonus already paid to him so if he were cut by the Bills the question for him in terms of real dollars is whether he could get the$5.5 million in base salary from someone he is scheduled to get from the Bills next year and this issue would really depend upon the market at the time of his realease if it were to occur. Milloy hit the market at a time where the Bills had both the need and the cap room to give him a great deal, the supply of safties of his caliber was non-existent and the Bears also had an opening and the cap room to create a bidding opportunity which forced the Bills to pay him a bunch). Second Moulds sees good prospects for this team to achieve with him and with Evans so taking a more reasonable deal will allow him both on and off the field benefits. The bottomline is that both Moulds and TD have said publicly that they will negitiate a new deal which lowers the Moulds cap hit well below the $8.7 million level and there are very good reasons for both sides to make this so. Still many fans don't seem to understand or choose to ignore the cap and merely rant that he is not worth the money and advcate that he should be cut. This wouldbe risky for both parties, dumb for Moulds if the timing breaks wrong and .dumb for the Bills in virtually all cases. I think the bottomline for he Bills is this: 1. Moulds is by far still the leading receiver on the Bills as seen by him taking in 88 catches (10th in the league) and Evans having a great first season but finishing with 48 catches. Moulds has clearly demonstrated that he has recovered from the injury which limited him in 2003 and showed by the difference in the effectiveness of our offense which parallels his 100 catch season in 2002, his limitations in 2003 and recovery to 88 catches last year that his play and production clearly coincide with the effectiveness of our offense. 2. Evans ultimately appears like he will be a fine replacement for Moulds, but it is simply shortsighted to see him as a replacement for Moulds right now by extrapolating his 2004 performance as meaning he will equal Moulds level in 2005. This view ignores the case that obviously Evans ability to get catches, big yards per catch and TDs is helped in many ways by the attention that Moulds draws and continued to draw with his 88 catch production. Perhaps the better question to ask when assessing the effects of a Moulds cut is not whether Evans can step up to make 88 catches but to ask whether #3 WR receiver Josh Reed could step up and make 48 catches from the 16 he made because he would be our new #2 w/o Moulds here or if you want to cut Reed also can #4 Aiken step up from the 11 catches he made. I think not. For those who want to cut Moulds because correctly folks assess that he does not deserve $8.7 million that this is not the question. Even the good bet that Reed who caught 50 as a rookie was not able to make the jump up to a #2 when Peerless went bye-bye. This only points to how much trouble we would likely be in if we cut Moulds. We do not have a #3 WR we can count on to be our #2 and without a partner threat there is even a question of whether Evans can achieve the great numbers he put up this year much less nearly double them. 3. Moulds is a team and community leader. The Bills demonstrated this year that alot of the achievement of the team stems from the whole being greater than the individual parts. Virtually the same players got off to an 0-4 start, put on a tremednous winning streak and then got cruchced by Pittsburrgh. The quality of the opposition had a lot to do with this, but in terms of our raw output and production it was clear that the team obviously is able to do more with less (or do next to nothing with players who have shown they can produce) depending upon factors such as game situations, distractions and leadership (one could see the air come out of the Bills balloon when Lindell missed a chip shot and soon after Pitts 4th string RB ripped off an outrageous run on a D that has stopped far better rushers). Moulds has been with the Bills long enough, has produced some phenomenal plays for this team, has his own TV show and is clearly one of the team leaders (the failure by him to mouth the same line as Bledsoe and instead parrot TDs line about every player winning his job probably says more about our QB situation than many comments). He is an important part of this team and if he were to go it would be a blow I suspect it would be hard for us to recover from. I am glad to hear that both TD and Moulds want to redo his contract and like things in real life I'm pretty sure that Moulds will profit in the long run from this deal which should allow him to lower his immediate cap hit, but put more money immediately into his pocket by extending the deal and giving hims a prorated bonus which both lowers his cap hit and pays him more money.

According to NFLPA.com Bledsoe has the 10th highest cap hit in the league in 2004. His contract is probably one of the highest if you prorate the bonus he received from "lifetime" contract which NE agreed with him on over its operating time, but the only relevance of this contract to the Bills is that it still amuses me that NE continues to subsidize a Bills player. In general, I still view the contract the Bills originally obtained Bledsoe under as a wash for the Bills. 2003- Bills finish 8-8 under Bledsoe which is by far as good as can be expected for a team which finished 3-13 the previous year. RJ represented a huge upgrade in production for the Bills at QB over RJ's injury plagued disappointing 2002 and AVP's game but L laden effort with a team which showed the impacts of being in cap hell. If one wants to fault Blesdsoe then blame him for killing NE that year as the accelerated Bledsoe bonus which hit their team in 2003 played a big role in them failing to make the playoffs that year after winning an SB in 2002 mostly with Tom Brady at QB, but Bledsoe playing QB in the vast majority of a must win game for them earning his SB ring. As far as the Bills go, the best argument against Bledsoe being a legitimate choice for comeback player of the year that year when on the field he merited his Pro Bowl reserve nod and off the field he played a key role in bringing excitement about football back to this town which suffered through a 3-13 season is that its hard to judge him needing to comeback from a year in which he played an essential role in the SB win. Is any of this not true? 2003- Its hard to imagine a starting QB having a worse season than Bledsoe for the Bills that year and keeping his job as its hard for me to imagine his keeping the job after a lousy campaign. The 6-10 finish was in a large way due to an offensive failure and though no one can legitimately claim that Kevin Killdrive wholly mismanaged his O and GW allowed him to do that and that TD allowed GW to fail to manage Killdrive, one can allocate plenty of blame to Bledsoe for not simply producing as a player. Yet, in terms of judging the Bills situation I think the crucial element is that he Bills reasonably could have cut their losses at this point and let Bledsoe go, thank him for some great contributions to us at a critical time when we needed them, and really thank NE for subsidizing us paying a mere $3 million a year for a QB whose production for the team averaged out to average over the two years (as good as could be expected in year one and as bad as could revolting tolerated in year two). The real mistake in my mind was to resign Bledsoe forthe 2004 season after a horrible 2003 campaign. Yet, though that descision was bad, I think the Bledsoe 2004 story is ironically one of improvement in his play and production over the horrendous 2003 campaign. Bledsoe was the QB in 2004 as thus our record last year was his record. However, this record was a winning record. Any real assessment of Bledsoe in 2004 certainly has to begin with the fact that his play was inadequate, but to be lodged in the truth and accuracy also has to acknowledge the irony that his play while inadequate was also an improvement and that though keeping him was a mistake in my judgement it was not the critical mistake which stopped a team which did not deserve to be in the playoffs out of the playoffs. There is so much debate on TSW because it is both true that Bledsoe's play was inadequate and also that his play and the offenses production improved last year. I think the real questions are whether play and production at the QB position will improve enough to be adequate with Losman in the position (quite possible but doubtful at this stage of his career and development in my few) or that Bledsoe will continue the improvement of his play and the teams will continue the improvement of its production with Bledsoe at the helm (possible despite the often false overclaiming of anti-Bledsoe partisans but in my mind even more doubtful that the youngster Losman coming of age). Overall, though I think both situations are doubtful I think it is quite possible that one or the other will come about and i trust MM and the crew to do the right thing in going with whatever one works.

I'd keep Williams over Jennings for 3 reasons: 1. I think we will get more production for the buck from a Phat Pat who should be cheaper to sign that Jennings. 2. I think there is grave uncertainty about Edwards as a starter, Anderson's development and how well Adams plays with Phat Pat the I am reluctant to give up this key to our run defense and ultimately our D. 3. I would resign Jennings if we can get him for a more cheap salary than the conventional wisdom (he is not worth top 10 cap hit money which many LTs have gotten as he has yet to last an entire season physically, he generally takes a bad penalty a game- I may exaggerate a bit here but it sure feels like that, he probably had fewer than 16 penalties last season because not only do I likely exaggerate, but he did not play one game and failed to finish several others due to injury, and he can get beaten like a drum from time to time as John Abraham did in the first Jets game. He is good but not that good. I think we will have several potential options to replace Jennings if he goes which include: A. Move Teague to LT where he wanted to go in the first place and he manned tge position adequately but not outstandingly in Denver. I suspect he will actually be better at LT now since he will have better experience after his center stint and he is a couple of years further removed from the injury which slowed him at LT for Denver. Tucker filled in nicely for Teague during his injury and makes a credible alternative at center, Further. if we decode to go into the OL FA market it may well be cheaper to buy a center than an LT. B. If Teague moving isn't the answer better play by MW makes a move of him from RT to LT a possibility. C. If you want to keep MW at Rt, then seeing if Price can do the job for a complete season may be your option. D. The Bills have several tackle prospects who more likely would be called upon to fill MW's shoes at RT if you decide to move him rather than have any expectation they are ready to step up to LT duty. However, among those who make a move of MW a possibility or Price stepping up a possibility is that Tucker has started at tackle before in this league and Peters is on the depth chart as a tackle. E. Finally, I think the premise that we can only sign one of the two needs to be tested because I will not be surprised if there is not the traditional FA market for Jenning at LT. Looking at the market, because of the past salary rush, many teams have already overcommitted long term to an LT. The market already has 8 of the top 19 OL salaries going to LTs, several below top 10 cap hit long term contracts to players like Clifton, Petitgout and a few others which takes those teams out of the market and teams with LT openings like AT cap committed by their 100+ million contract for Vick and recent big FA expenditures like Peerless making it hard to offer a big contract to Jennings. There are teams with cap room and an LT need, but if I had big bucks and needed an LT, I'd offer my dollars to Orlando Pace. Tra Thomas and Pro Bowler LT Jones who is an FA before I signed Jennings. If we have to compete finacially with a team like Philly who is already cap hanstrung by paying big bucks to Terrell Owens because NYG took Tra Thomas that's fine with me because I doubt they will be able to offer a big contract to Jennings. I don't know what the Bills budget for FAs is, and someone might offer a franchise size ($7 million cap hit) or transition size ($6 million cap hit) to Jennings, of so I say goodbye and wish him luck. However, it will not shock me if Jennings in the end can be had for more money than he has ever seen, but less money than lesser players like Petitgout or Clifton received. They got $5 million annually (backloading of the contract probably reduced their immediate cap hit to far less) but I will not be shocked if some fool team gives Jenning a top 10 cap hit contract, but I will also not be surprised to see him only command $3 million annually which should fit into our budget.

Unfortunately one of the other things that can happen when folks who live in residences feed deer and provided a regular food site for them is that these "wild" animals tend to come to this regular source of food and if it is in a residential area (unfortunately as developments stray further out into undeveloped areas as folks build their McMansions these residential areas are reducing the amount of deer habitat while populations are kept up by folks feeding them) these deer wander out into the streets and highways we more and more insist are 35-55 mph roads and the car deer collisions increase. The cost involved may be more than just a few troopers here and there but actually ambulances, emergency medical staff, hospital rooms, your and my insurance etcetera. I'm not arguing either point or side just saying this is far more complex than just a WTF summary of what folks are doing.

I voted other as I like the concept of an open competition. Bledsoe is first on my depth chart having completed the season as a starter where his starts coincided with us getting a winning record. However, the fact we did not make the playoffs is what makes us serious about this being a competition where the best QB wins on the field. In my mind JP does not need to beat Bledsoe as a player right off the bat for me to give him the start, but he does have to show me on the field something that makes me feel he can develop into a credible starter for this team pretty early in the season or its back to the bench and to practice field for him to learn as much as he can to force me to let him into the line-up because of his superior potential. I can relate to those who say he has to play to get better, but I have no interest in letting this team blow a whole season just so he can practice to play in the future. He has to show me something that he can develop quickly enough for us to compete or else he can simply have a seat until we're out of it. For Bledsoe he can beat JP in the competition by just winning baby.

Actually seemed to be advocating cutting or trading Bledsoe now or even before the 2005 season in order to allow JP and a mid-round drafted QB compete for the job. I think the facts are that doing this would be devastating to the Bills because of the contract he is under. My apologies if this wasn;t what you were advocating. For those who do advocate this course of action, they are being irrational in this suggestion unless they have some specific plan or alternative for acquiring a #2 QB from the FA list I provided for the money we have left after the acceleration of the Bledsoe bonus. I doubt folks have any real thoughts and are just whining about Bledsoe.

What I don't understand about the wishes of the pro JP or anti-Bledsoe crowd is what they propose is actually the best thing for the Bills to do right now and for the 2005 season. I certainly hope that JP has worked hard and will work hard this off-season and will come into the "voluntary" mini-camps and the pre-season and through his play on the field will make it impossible for MM and the brainrust to bench him. I don'tthink he needs to come in and show that he is already John Elway and Brett Farve rolled into one. I think if he comes in and shows enough that by investing in playing time for him in pre-season he can give us a credible shot at starting the season off on a winning note. Further, by a 1/4 of the way into the season he will have developed well enough that he and we can beat anyone anywhere. The Bills cam within playing a good game against a better team playing its back-ups from making the playoffs and this was after an 0-4 start, so i do not think JP needs to provide a gurantee of initial victories in order to win the job. However, I do trust Clements/MM and Wyche enough that if they judge JP not be up to that level they will and he should sit on the bench, What is it that folks propose? If you cut or trade Bledsoe before June 1st his remaining bonus accelerates into a cap hit for 2005 of $4.3 million, None of us know the cap budget for sure, but based on the best available info thanks to the work of folks like Clumping Platelets we would have about $1.1 million to spend on salary for a back-up to JP. The current FA QB list is: Player Status 2004 Team 2005 Team Shane Matthews UFA Bills Jim Miller UFA Patriots Sage Rosenfels UFA Dolphins Josh Harris ERFA Ravens Kordell Stewart UFA Ravens Kelly Holcomb UFA Browns Charlie Batch UFA Steelers Tony Banks UFA Texans Matt Mauck ERFA Broncos Bradlee Van Pelt ERFA Broncos Todd Collins UFA Chiefs Damon Huard UFA Chiefs David Rivers ERFA Raiders Drew Brees UFA Chargers Mike McMahon UFA Lions Rick Mirer UFA Lions Craig Nall RFA Packers Doug Pederson UFA Packers Gus Frerotte UFA Vikings Shaun Hill ERFA Vikings Josh McCown RFA Cardinals Matt Hasselbeck UFA Seahawks Brock Huard UFA Seahawks Ty Detmer UFA Falcons Rod Rutherford ERFA Panthers Vinny Testaverde UFA Cowboys Jesse Palmer UFA Giants Jeff Blake UFA Eagles Tim Hasselbeck ERFA Redskin You can add likely cuts like McNair to this list (though even he will not likely be cur until after June 1st) if you want but I see no one on this list who it makessense for us to have as our #2 who we can get for a hair over a million. Even if you wait until after June 1st the extra wiggle room you get by distributing his cap hit over two years is more workable doesn't do much for us financially and certainly isn't worth the loss of the spring minicamps and planning for use of this new player. The bottomline is to me that Bledsoe remains a Bill in 2005. This brings us to the next question. I think TDs statement that all players including Bledsoe will have to earn their job is exactly where I think we should be. Some folks seem to be so future is later oriented that they are happy to give JP the starting job so he can develop and practice regardless of its immediate impact on our record. Not me (and fortunately I think no also TD's view). JP will need to show the braintrust of MM/Clements/Wyche that he merits the start with his work in practice and on the field in pre-season. I do not think he should be given the starters job based on his write-up in some draft book or his draft position. Bledsoe does not give the Bills a good chance of winning the 2005 SB, but unless JP can beat him out in the eyes of the brainttrust I say have a seat bud. The question here for Bills fans is not what you think of Bledsoe but whether you trust the leadership or not to win the games.

What in reality were the opportunites to upgrade the QB situation after the fait accompli of re-signing Bledsoe. They were there but it revolved around getting a @2 who was a likely upgrade over Travis Brown (Kordell Stewart?) or after the Brown injury an upgrade over Shane Matthews. The key question going into the 2005 season will be IN REALITY who would upgarde our QB situation. With Bledsoe it is rough because any QB coming in will need to get Shane Matthews money (pretty low amount) and will likely be #3 certainly in terms of emphasis and importance to the team if not on the deptj chart. Without Bledsoe, getting a newcomer would be a far more attractive job because he would now be a #2 with a reasonable shot at being our #1 if JP demonstrates o the field that he is not the man for the job or if he suffer an injury similar in gravity to what he suffered this year. The tough thing is that this potential #1 would have to settle for a bit over a million in annual salary as that is all that will be left in the budget we can see after you subtract the $4.3 million accelerated Bledsoe cap hit from the $5.4 million he will receive to play. The FA QB list is: Player Status 2004 Team 2005 Team Shane Matthews UFA Bills Jim Miller UFA Patriots Sage Rosenfels UFA Dolphins Josh Harris ERFA Ravens Kordell Stewart UFA Ravens Kelly Holcomb UFA Browns Charlie Batch UFA Steelers Tony Banks UFA Texans Matt Mauck ERFA Broncos Bradlee Van Pelt ERFA Broncos Todd Collins UFA Chiefs Damon Huard UFA Chiefs David Rivers ERFA Raiders Drew Brees UFA Chargers Mike McMahon UFA Lions Rick Mirer UFA Lions Craig Nall RFA Packers Doug Pederson UFA Packers Gus Frerotte UFA Vikings Shaun Hill ERFA Vikings Josh McCown RFA Cardinals Matt Hasselbeck UFA Seahawks Brock Huard UFA Seahawks Ty Detmer UFA Falcons Rod Rutherford ERFA Panthers Vinny Testaverde UFA Cowboys Jesse Palmer UFA Giants Jeff Blake UFA Eagles Tim Hasselbeck ERFA Redskin One can add likely cuts such as Mcnair to the list, but judging from salaries former NFL starters will command more than the million cap hit. The bottomline as Amazing Grant likes to refer to is that I think it is incredibly very incredibly unlikely that the Bills can cut or trade Bledsoe before June 1st and get even a credible back-up for JP with the cap room we have left. Further, if we were to get somebody part of his job would be to be as graceful helpful to Tom Brady as Bledsoe was when Brady took his job. Getting rid of Bledsoe after the June 1st deadline gives the Bills a bit more wiggle room as his accelerated cap hit would be distributed over 2 years. Howevr, raising our payout to $2+ million instead of 1+ million makes no difference in attracting the best FA QBs and no reasonable #2 I see on the list. Even worse this player would come to us on the eve of pre-season and not be part of the :xoluntary" camps and our planning at all. Face it, the reality is that Bledsoe will remain a Bill and actually after a winning season but with the understanding that JP can take his job if his on field performance merits it this sounds good enough to me.

A lot of this stems from my sense of the future is now. I hope JP develops this off-season and can lead us to the promised land. However, I wouldn't expect that or bet on that (still I like others would not have expected a second year pro like Brady to lead NE to an SB victory so lets hope I'm wrong again). Since I see it as not a good chance that a second year pro will lead us to the promised land, I think it is even a worse bet that a drafted rookie will do this be it your fave Campbell or whomever. Is this that rediculous? As far as Bledsoe, it is also quite unlikely he will lead us to the SB. However, 30 teams won't make it there so this fact is not a disqualifier in and of itself for JP or even the draftee. I think the issue for us is ranking the likelihood. Until JP proves something or anything on the field or in the eyes of the Bills braintrust, Bledsoe is still the man in my eyes. Again, I'm not saying that the chances are good, but after racking up a winning season for the first time in years and having some fun watching us go on a streak of blowing out tier 3 and tier 2 teams I feel much much better about this team than I felt about the 2003 Bills. I find it strange that folks disagree.

Would you actually argue that Bledsoe's performance and production in 2004 did not improve a lot over 2003? Granted this improvement saw him go from horrendous in 2003 when the team could barely move the ball at all under his guidance to inadequate in 2004 where the offense moved the ball in the second half of the season under his guidance and the ST and D production generally put us way over the top turning games into laughers. However, there were several areas of improvement in how the team operated its O and actually how Bledsoe himself emplued his skills within that O in 2004. Specifically: 1. I thought the most fun improvement to watch was that Clements seemed to realize that just because a particular style of play was not the best for Bledsoe that DID NOT mean he was incapable of doing anything using that style. You'd go hungry if you depended on Bledsoe to pass on the rollout, to sidestep blitzers and even to run as your bread and butter. However, on plays such as him hitting Evans for a TD on a rollout against SF, the reduction in sack total and him even running the QB draw when he detected opposing safeties not covering the middle of the field he did something that Killdrive rarely used him to do in 2003. 2, He showed some great ball fake ability. An exmple of this is when he faked the dive on a 4th and 1, sold it, and turned and lateraled to WM who went for a score. If one watched Bledsoe (and JP as well) they did a good job of continuing the play as though they had the ball even we they did not. If these plays caused the defender to even hesitate a moment in making the tackle attempt on WM, they likely got an even better stiff arm from WM in the face for their hesitation. 3. He converted good ball handling of laterals to him into big pass plays. One ofthe problems I had with Bledsoe in 2003 was that in an effort to compensate for some adventures in long snapping from Teague in the shotgun, Bledsoe did handle wandering laterals quite well but he seemed to have to focus so much attention to the snap that it delayed his abiluity to diagnose the D scheme and to complete the pass. I was quite impressed with the way he handled the laterals (sometimes errant) from WM on flea-flickers and still was able to hit a streaking Evans on the long pass. I think Bledsoe's play improved tremendously from last year to this year and improved after the NE game when we went on the wining streak. Attribute it to weak competition or whatever, but though I think his production proved inadequate in the Pitts game to overcome the D having a bad day stopping 4th stringers and the ST being just plain bad at the skill positions his play and performance improved even if only top an inadequate level.

The main problem here I would say is that folks are taking the time to whine about Bledsoe (he doesn't have nearly the skill he once had because shockingly he has gotten older- tell me something I don't know) but are not taking the time to say in nearly enough clarity or detail what they realitically think the Bills should do about it. We can all have legitimiate (or at least some what rational) difference of opinion as to the reality of the cap implications of cutting or trading Bledsoe. I argue that the implications of an accelerated cap hit from letting Bledsoe go would leave us with this QB threesome: JP- Possibilities but a young player who almost all agree will need some work who may lead this team to glory but whose development can also be hurt if he is rushed a long. Matthews- who may retire and whom most see as a disaster QB talent at best. Unknown- who will quite likely have to at least be a credible #2 and if JP develops badly will need to be the #1 the Bills depend on. The problem is that from the best information we have on the cap (which is all we got and actually thanks to Clumpy and Bill's Daily I think is pretty good) the accelerated cap hit from moving Bledsoe will be $4.3 million and we have around $5.4 million allocated to paying Bledsoe (his 2005 salary plus the prorated bonus) this year. Thus, the proposal to trade him to Dallas or cut him immediately (as some proposed back in his worst moments after the NE debacle) means we would have to find a quality back-up QB and a potential starter for a cap allocation (essentially a salary) of a bit over a million a year. The NFL minimum salary is a bit below half a million and QBs tend to get a bit of a premium, but suffice to say that this amount of money likely brings us another player not much better than a Steve Matthews level player to lead us if JP is not ready (quite possible) or gets hurt (we've seenh that before as well). Its fine with me if folks want to blather on about Bledsoe sucks this way and Bledsoe sucks that way. Its the internet and we all have the right to blather on. However, if a comment purports to be serious, then it should have some realistic description of how and or who makes their proposal rationale. The proposals to get rid of Bledsoe before June 1st simply make no sense that this feeble mind can see and even the proposals to wait until after June 1st need a lot splaining and even a nod toward real world alternatives to be rational. Certainly players change because if we are lucky we continue to get older (you prefer to the alternative?) This is all theoretical but ironically, I think that one o the lead factors in Bledsoe's lack of success in various games and seasons in the past have occured because he and the OC fell in love with what the young Bledsoe and his arm could do. The true irony is that like a baseball pitcher who learns not to rely only on the heat and to control his pitches after Tommy John surgery and he becomes more effective, it certainly seems a possible theory to me that Bledsoe MIGHT actually end up being judged a more effective QB when teams rely on hiss extraordinary arm less as he gets older and rely on surprising skills (to me) he showed under Clements and MM. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season whether Bledsoe could throw on the rollout, I woulda said naahhh. If you askd me how he was against the rush the word statue probably would have escaped my lips. If you asked me about him running, I probably would have laughed. Yet, while I would not build a gameplan around an expectation of Bledsoe becoming Elway, Jake Plummer or even Bobby Douglas, there he was this season throwing a TD on the rollout to Evans against SF, doing some nifty side-stepping and getting a few passes off amidst a sack total that thanks to a better OL and a little movement by him was reduced from a number in the 50s to a number below 40 and there he was making a couple of runs on draw plays for 5 yards or more after he read the safety not filling the middle. While stats do not conclude anything they can indicate some things. I think there may well be a reason why Bledsoe's QB rating has remained about the same in his career seemingly regardless of the ebbs and flows of his athletic ability as he matured into his prime and now is on the backside of his career. While the repetitive hitsundoubtedly slow him down, the repetition and years of practice and experience means he has seen quite a bit. There CAN BE some balance here and the lord giveth and the lord taketh away before we all eventually die and get planted. I think one key to the Bill's improved production (more Ws with Bledsoe as QB) actually is that 1. The Bills limited the audibles he could call which took a lot of his own egotism and self belief out of the game so he audibled less to passes and 2. better playcalling used Bledsoe as a threat and change-up while the basic offense ran WM and ran him again. This thought is all theory and I think the better chance for us winning is that JP will develop and make the future now, but I don't feel totally bad about Bledsoe getting older if it means we do more with less. The numbers do not lie in that the fact remains Bledsoe has won big games early in his career under Parcells and late in his career under Belicheck. I'm sorry, but though I was deeply disappointed to see the Bills come up with no points when Lindell missed the chip shot FG, I think it defies reality to claim that Bledsoe had nothing to do with the Bills driving the ball from the shadow of the own goalposts after the D stopped the Steelers who were knocking on our door and the Bills drove to the shadow of their goalposts (only to have a crtical gain reversed by an offensive interference call to Reed away from the play). Maybe we would have lost anyway if Lindell had made the chipshot FG because Pitts would still have been within 7? Maybe yiu wabt to discount the relevance of this drive or the one afterward when Bledsoe successfully tossed a long pass to Evans because they took more than the 2 minutes you gave. However, it simply undermines arguments against Bledsoe when folks falsely descibe the situation as a no-brainer because the statue can do nothing right and he has never won anywhere. Even your statement that he folds more often than not in pressure situations stretches the truth. More often than not he is not in an alleged pressure situation because the Bills played like a TEAM and blew the opponent out or the opposing team ran us over and blew us out. The more true indictment of Bledsoe is that in the couple a times a season where championship teams need the QB to stand-up and will the team to victory pretty much on their own Bledsoe has not been able to do that. I think that is true, but the fact is almost all players are not able to do that. The key for the Bills is to get go enough in other facets of the game where players are available, we have the cap room and realistically we can make changes so that like Brad Johnson, Brady to some extent in 2001 and Trent Dilfer we don't need the QB to lift the team on their shoulders alone to win it all. If you are saying cut or trade Bledsoe now (or even after June 1st) I say no that makes no sense for the Bills. If you are saying lets go into the off-season and everyone has to earn their job that sounds fine to me. If you are saying that Bledsoe will not be anointed the starter with JP having no chance that sounds fine to me. If you are saying JP should be given the starters job without earning it on the field I disagree with that. I think TD and MM have handled this just right this season. I would not have resigned Bledsoe but given that they did, get the best replacement for Matthews we can (it is to be hoped a credible #2) and go from there.

As far as it goes with Drew, I think like most things I'm pretty middle of the road and go to excruciating detail as to why I have drawn a conclusion. I think I\m fairly middle of the road regarding Bledsoe as well. I think getting him in trade was a good deal to make as he was a vast improvement over what RJ and AVP could produce and it was great to have NE subsidize our purchase of a QB who no longer scared me when we played NE. I think this proved to be true because even with BB undressing him twice he was a big part of producing a huge improvement in W/L to 8-8 that I do not think the other QBs available like Chrus Chandler or Jeff Blake could have pulled off. However, in his second year opposing teams had the videotape to catch up to his game (particularly with BB providing a roadmap of a way to do this) and most of all Killdrive was too hidebound to switch Drew andthe Os game to a more winning form and GW already having burned through his first try at OC proved powerless to make him switch. Yet, overall, I judged the Bledsoe era a wash as he brouight a much needed excitement to this region after a 3-13 year and he simply sucked his second year. I was happy and willing to say adios at that point. However, TD never listens to me and he resigned Bledsoe against my wishes. However, there were two saving graces to this move, TD renegotiated a deal with Bledsoe which was the only cap friendly way to keep him and MM/Clements proved capable of relying on the team rather than relying on Bledsoe which I think is the best if not only way to win with him. As far as judging between the two extremes of Drew lovers and Drew haters, it seems to me that both are wrong in their extreme attitudes however of the two I find the pole represented by folks like AKC much closer to the truth than the pole which some would label as Drew haters (you can name yourself to this group if you want but the banter back and forth between posters really is a sideshow so I will pass on calling anyone out by name here). The bottomline for those who are interested is this from my perspective: 1. Bledsoe is our QB because of the ill-advised deal TD resighned him to and that will not change next year and if it does it will have totally disastrous or near disastrous impacts on the team. This has little to do with Drew's play but the cap hit on this team for letting him go before June 1st would mean $4.3 million in dead space. Replacing him with another QB even using the extra left over from Drew's cap hit if you kept him would leave us with a QB crop of JP, Matthews, and I don't know who but in terms of salary it likely would be someone not much better than a Matthews level QB. It ain't gonna happen and I think the idea that it will real defies reality. 2. Bledsoe strikes me as having the same strengths and weaknesses that he always has had. One of the bigger idiociies on TSW has been the folks who keep claiming that this player who played QB under Parcells and got an SB berth and who played QB in the majority of a must-win game in NEs 2001 SB run has never won a big game in the NFL, Huh? Teams can clearly win with Bledsoe QBing if they find away of following the Parcells mantra of getting him to throw the damn ball rather than going into his pat or run the O Weis developed for Brady which relies on the team rather than on the QBs arm. MM/Clements did a tremendous job of running the O through the streak which proved to be the bulk of our year's production and seem to have developed a good feel for running the TEAM in a way that it is one of the better teams in the NFL. 3. TD has said publicly that Bledsoe an all other players must win their jobs. Yhis is the greatest thing and quite frankly all the folks who want Bledsoe gone are going to get. if JP is ready this will be enough as he will show qualities which cannot be denied. if he isn't good enough yet he will sit on the bench which is where he belongs if he is not good enough. Its hard for me to see how anyone can logically disagree with that. JP does not have to be perfect to get a start. He needs to demonstrate to MM/Clements.and Wyche that he is close enough that playing in a couple or games will complete his education enough for him to be competitive. If he can;t do that, if he needs 6 games of real time practice before he is good enough then I think he should sit. If folks are right about Bledsoe the season will be done soon enough and he can play for practice next year after the season is done.

If people have some answer besides yes or no (and no should include some statement of the their reasons for believing in Mattherws who after all was the top rated passer in the NFL in 2004 accirdubg to NFL.com), then I think you should include some explanation based on at which game you make the switch from Bledsoe to JP. I disagreed with resigning Bledsoe and not looking elsewhere, but once that error was made then I think the Bills started the right guy at QB all the way through the season. One mighj make a 20/20 hinsight case for starting JP in the last game but this strikes me as fantasy league silliness, I think having made the flawed decusion to go with Bledsoe (at least he made this error the best way it could have been done by resigning him to a cap friendly deal) the Bills made the right choices with their starting decision throughout the season. The even better news is that with TD saying Drew is #1 on the depth chart but he must win the job, he has created an opening for JP to take the job on the field of play if he is player enough to do so.

People are not so much OK with 9-7 as as they with progress from the 6-10 record of last year. Likea glad beng half empty or half full both are true.

I am very hopeful about Losman for feelings from his playing like the activity you broke down. I agree though with the take TD is saying in the articles that he isn't there yet. but I am hopeful that with some hard work by him this off-season, and a good showing and work in the "voluntary" camps that he will force his way into the line up. ICE is right that he has to play to get better, but Losman has to do his part by showing through his work and in practice that he cannot be denied time and he deserves to play. Right now, I would say there are some good sign like his performances in the scrimmage against Cleveland last year and in the pre-season, the play you noted in the NFL Network showings, and the fact he was successful in games of leading the team to a couple of TDs in garbage time. However. there are some signs he has shown that he is not ready yet as well: 1. The delay of game penalty in first appearance in a blow-out game for us is an idicator that his basic control of the huddle and of the game situation may well not be there yet. 2. The TO he had to call to avoid the delay of game in his second low-out mop-up. This was an improvement over the delay but still showed the command is not there yet. 3, His awful production when he was thrown into the NE game. poor production happens but the two things which were troubling is that he apparently was not prepared to play (from his own comments) like he should have been anytime you put on the uniform and stand on the sideline (I think the B word slapping which MM might have provided him with this maneuver of throwing him to the wolves was understood by JP and is now part of his learning) and how his ballhandling fell apart under the duress. 4. His injury in practice apparently occured because he has overused the tutu that QBs get to wear in practice to gain some yards without contact. Its unfortunate that he lost games to what apparently was a vicious shove from vincent and unfortunate that his attitude apparently prompted this shove from a teammate. 5. Some disquieting murmurings that seem to be out there that JP may not have used the opportunity to study without the distraction of preparing himself in case he is needed to lead the team. I hopelike heck that JP took advantage of the unforunate opportunity that the injury gave him to attach is ear to Sam Wyche's mouth up in the booth during games. JP really had an unparalleled opportunity to advance his cause in becoming a vet by learning from Wyche during games without the distraction of being one of the boys. I am hopeful that the good things I and we have seen from JP will really blossom this off-season. If a player drafted in the 6th round who never played in his rookie year can absorb enough to lead his team to an SB win his second year, if a rookie QB can start for Pittsburgh because of their great D and lead them to their great record this year, there is no reason why Losman cannot refuse to be denied a starting shot by his practice this off-season and his play next pre-season.

You must be forgetting how awful Bledsoe's production and play were last year to not see that his play and production improved this year. Granted this is improvement from horrendous and losing football to merely inadequate and winning football, but his play did improve. Specifically, I'd point to these improvements: 1. Redzone performance- There were a lot of factors ranging from the alarm clock, to having a better rushing RB, to having some receiving threats due to the Moulds injury, but his redzone production improved a lot this year, particularly after Clements made switches with Bannan that improved the blocking. 2. 3rd down performance- Again having multiple go to option and not having Bledsoe lock in on Moulds helped. 3. Play fakes- This was probably the area of purest Bledsoe improvment as efforts like him sellingthe QB plunge before pitching to WM werekeys and he took pitches from WM and threw some beautiful bombs to Evans. one of the nice things in Losmans development is that after the hand-off he now also seems to be continuing the play as though he may be involved. 4. Running and rollouts- Killdrive made the mistake seemingly of assuming that because Bledsoe was not at his best running or rolling out that he should never do this. Bledsoe ran a few QB draws when he saw the safeties falling back in one or two deep coverages or doing a wide blitz. These plays not only picked up a few yards but actually will cause a hesitation in the blitz which Bledsoe desperately needs. The TD to Evans in the 9ers game was a great example of Bledsoe actually pulling off the rollout effectively. it can be a good 2nd down play for the Bills with strict orders to Bledsoe to throw it away and move on to 3rd down if it is covered well or at all. Bledsoe has never, still can't and wil never be able to load the team on his back and carry it to a win like Elway used to do and we imagine Kelly doing. However, as he showed under Parcells and in a must-win game under BB the Bills can win even with marginal play from Bledsoe if the rest of the team picks up for him.

If we tag him, we'll probably have to cut him because no way is he worth the $7 million annual cap hit a franchise LT would command. If we wanted to play fast and lose with him you tag him until the market dries up even further for LTs as NYG will also have a shot at UFAs like Pace, Walter Jones, and Tra Thomas who if I am going to spend transition money on I would much prefer to Jennings who is good but not top 10 OL cap hit money good. Ifthe Bills developed a rep for playing the game this way then say goodbye to attracting FAs here and get ready for a lot of disquiet among players on the roster.

THE FUTURE IS NOW I've have disagreed with a lot of things that TD has done and tried to say so early and often (I was saying that GW needed to be canned as our 8-8 season drew to a close because it was clear to me he did not have the right stuff to HC us to victory and that TD was still gunshy from Cowher having run him out of town when he hired and the way he managed GW, I also advocated going in another direction than keeping Bledsoe after last season). However, reality is reality and because fortunately I'm not in charge, I also advocated taking an approach where this team could win with GW as HC (TD needed to use him and his lists more as an adminsitrative assistant and run his team using the same judgment and balls which brought WM, Adams, Modrak and Spikes here) and where this team could win even with the strengths and deficits of Bledsoe as QB (use him as a change-up rather than rely on him to carry the team because he can't do that). I was pleased as punch to see TDs comments regarding Bledsoe and Losman which have appeared the last couple of days. I for one love to hear it when the GM of my team has as his attitude that we are not going to take a step back to develop a particular player, but our plan is to win and to win now. The thing that I find hard to believe is not the concept that the Bills are going to roll life's dice and have MM/Clements try to expand upon the same good form they showed against bad and average teams last year to expand that performance to play against good teams, but the thing i fin hard to believe is that so many fans are willing to bank so much of the their faith in having a losing season in the hopes that Losman might be the new savior in the future. Life is too short, injuries happen out of the blue, and worst to first is possible like never before for anyone to seriously invest in development for the future as their strategy for playing the game in my view. Losman should start when he is ready and not a moment sooner (or a moment later unless Bledsoe gets his act together managing this team) than he is ready to play and win. You don't back down or you don't win in this game and starting Losman with the idea that we will be able to see or he might get some experience that will help him win in the future is just foreign to my thinking. If Losman is that good (which I hope he is) he needs to be play the game and make it impossible for MM and the Bills braintrust to deny him his chance. No one is going to give him anything and he has to take it on the field. TD has given MM the opening to act on things if Losman's off-seaspn study and minicamp play forces MM to take notice. Bledsoe has given Losman an opening by not leading this team to the playoffs and is trying rhetorically to hold onto his job, if Losman plays the way we hope he plays he cannot be denied. I'm more disappointed that some fans seem to want to trade Bledsoe for draft picks that MIGHT give us some benefit in the future in exchange for taking an accelerated cap hit from moving Bledsoe that WILL cripple our ability to sign playesrs this year. Let's not be weenies and aim for some might be future, when if we seize the day things can be there for the taking in the here and now. THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!!!!!!!

I don't think folks and I know I am not saying that all 11 players have the same impact. However, almost as outlandish and equally untrue as this false statement would be to make the claim that 1 player has all (or even a majority) of the impact on the Os performance. Clearly the QB position has the most impact because from start to almost finish he is the main provider of the particular play. However, in my mind, winning football comes from a QB who does the best job at translating and giving out the play effectively to the entire O from the OC and then acts well as a conduit for others to do their job, rather than being an athlete who can haul the team on his shoulders and carry them himself. It would be great to have $20 million and the cap room to pay someone to both, but given the limitations of the real world I would much rather go for getting a QB who is a good conduit (Brady during his short career) than get a QB who is the best athlete in the world (Micheal Vick in his short career).

nod, you touched upon the key point with this line above. Drew is not able to hoist a team on his shoulders and win a big game. This is certainly a great way to have your team win an SB, but it is simply not the only way. In fact, since far more teams have a history of not winning the SB than do, the team records themselves are not despositive for a particular line of reasoning. However, there are ample cases of the failures of a team to do well and certainly win it all where they have devoted huge parts of their cap to get the best of QBs who can haul a team to a win only to have that team be too weak overall to win it all. My cut on the QBs role in the modern era: 2003- Brady has developed the ability to carry a team (mostly through tremendous decision making under pressure), though NE has realized and played in a way that succeeds because he rarely has to. 2002- Johnson is no one to rely on to carry your team and he did little things but mostly made no fatal mistakes as his role. 2001- Brady was in development to the player he was today but could not carry a team. 2000- Dilfer could not carry a team 1999- Warner's play at the time could carry a team but of course had tremendous help from a Faulk led running game, a solid OL led by the newly acquired Pace and a remarkable receiving corps and he has not reenacted that talent before or sense- 97 & 98- Elway clearly could carry a team like few others in history but ironically could never get over the top until he realized he had to not take $ he deserved in the market to hang onto players like Davis and Sharpe to get the crown. 96- The same is true for Farve who took less than his market value to hold onto his running game. I also disagreed with the decision to resign Bledsoe because I think OCs when coaching him become too enthralled with his arm and depend upon him to put the team on his back when his extraordinary arm cannot be relied upon to do this when (and most QBs cannot). I think Kevin Killdrive was a prime example of this when he repetitively went to the pass on 3rd and less than 2 less season (some folks have him going this 30 something times in a row which may not be true but is easily believable given watching the Bills). I think Bledsoe himself made this tendency worse by taking a pass-happy game call and even when a running play was called he would audible to a pass when he saw the least little opportunity to pass because he is so darn overconfident (as most good athletes are actually). MM/Clements did a great job by adopting a run and then run again attitude towards making our offense hum. Even better, the reduced the number and type of audibles which Bledsoe could call which simplified the O for Bledsoe and the receivers and I think limited the pass-happy nature of things. I agree that Bledsoe has limitations that reduce him to being an average starting NFL QB. However, he is average because that is how the upside of his extraordinary arm and years of experience balance out with him being inaccurate often on shorter passes and going into brainlock when given too many options. Parcells and BB both showed how you can win big with his combination of strengths and deficits and that has been true of him since the start and appears to be true now as well. I'd fault the Bills Sunday for panicking a bit, making mistakes (the turnovers and the Lindell miss) and getting away from our gameplan. it would be great if we did not have to ask Bledsoe to do things he is unlikely to do, but it is far from essential that the do those things as long as the team plays like a TEAM even against the best of opponents. The fact is that his salary is at about the level that is too large but not rediculous for a starting QB in the NFL of his talent. There are players like Manning and Farve who can carry a team but they are paid $14 mill. and $10 mill to do this rather than the $5.whatever mil Bledsoe gets. Even worse, there are folks like Brunnell and Warner with cap hits well over $8 million for sitting on the bench and Couch at over $7 million for whatever he is doing. The Bills strike me as able to do better than Bledsoe, but with the plans we have if we stick to them we can easily wait to see how JP looks and possibly even win with Bledsoe if we get the breaks like NE got making the playoffs in 2001 and the refs application of the tuck rule against a better Oakland team way back then.

If TD is so sick and tired of Bledsoe or his job or standing in the NFL is so bruised by the Bills failure to make the playoffs in his tenure, why do you think that any rookie who will be behind another young QB in terms of development time or attention is going to deliver anything to TD on a timeline that fits his nees or him still having the job. We will almost certainly have to get another QB to replace Matthews who may retire or will probably get the boot, but the Bills seem far more likely to get an old vet who had failed previously like Kordell and Maddox did who Clements/MM revive rather than find a rookie to pull a RoboQB (Jason Campbell or otherwise).