bluv

But the football gods don't like the Bills; just our luck JP plays good, get hurt and resigns and plays like a top 5 QB; maybe for the Dolphins or Pats while Quinn comes in and plays like Todd Collins!

I mean he doesn't hit every open WR; no QB does. Of course he is going to miss a target here and there but I'm not concerned with that this year as I was last year when he consistently missed open targets; that is not happening this year. And you cry about the few passes underthrowed or skipping the ball on outs, a lot of times he can't step into his throws and plus those are timimg routes. But it isn't because he doesn't have the arm strength to make such throws. While he is part of the struggles on offense he is far from being the sole source as there are no units on offense that is playing well and it starts up front. I think the only thing holding JP back is his inexeperience combined with playing on an awful offensive unit with no scheme, shaky pass protection, and limited receiving options.

True; there aren't many dominant O-lines. Before the shuffle was made to the offensive line I think they received too much blame. But after the shift the pass blocking has been horrendous. But back to the issue; it doesn't take a dominant line line to block in the red zone. But answer this: how come very team we play against the O-line suddenly becomes dominant and run the ball down our throats in the red zone or run the clock out at the end of games? Or how come most teams find ways to keep our pass rush under control and QB's have ample time to throw except for a few plays here or there? An opposite question on offense: how come when we play teams that are he worse in the league at stopping the pass one week and the run the next, they suddenly become at least average or great at stopping it? Reality: because we are just not a very good team and poor in the trenches on both sides and we are rebuilding and fans seem to forget that. And in the red zone these shortcomings are definitely exploited and brought to the front even more. On both sides, offense and defense there is nowhere to hide. If you are weak up front, it will show. On offense if you have either big receiving targets at either WR or TE, a big bruising back, or an experience QB who can thread the needle consistently you may can get by and make an extra play or two that the average team won't. We have none of the above. We have suspect blocking, small WR, no passing threat at TE, and average RBs. SUre some can pin it all on JP or another specific player but in reality if you have no threats you have no options the defense has to respect thus you have no success! And if you want to compare JP to Romo or Pennington, they both have been in the league longer. Romo has played with the same coach and system for the past 4 years and has proven Pro Bowl quality receiving threats. If we had TO, Glenn, and Whitten and we had even the pass blocking we had before the last 2 games when we made the shuffle, I'd be way more critical of JP and the playcalling. But all we have is an unproven #1 WR and a bunch of #3 WR; I won't even mention our TEs! That combined with the poor pass blocking the past 2 weeks all you can expect from JP and Fairchild is to not lose games by turnovers.

But JP doesn't throw a lot of easy dumpoff passes; ala Holcomb for most of the TE's and RB's are helping with the blocking. The biggest difference between the two is that Brunell is an aging QB with no upside and a weakening arm and doesn't have the ability or arm strength to throw the ball down the field; ala Holcomb. JP can and when those plays are called he has shown that he can make all the throws. And in the redzone, not having a dominant run blocking O-line, smaller WR's, and not receiving threat at TE become even bigger factors in the redzone when the field shrinks and defenses have less real estate to cover. I know you will come back and say look at Peyton Manning and what a great QB like him can do and change the game; well what if we had Peyton? What if I had Beyonce', Janet, J'Lo, Hyatt,Jessica,Electra, & Halle as sex toys for every day off the week anytime I choice; sounds great doesn't it!

Quinn is over rated! The only good thing about drafting Quinn is that he will be given more patient by the media and fans because he played at a big time university. If after 17 starts and he puts up the exact numbers but played in the same situation as JP, completing 60% of his passes but getting sack every other down, there would be more talk about building a better O-line around him and giving him more targets; etc and about giving him time to develop in the next 2,3 seasons; you know how most teams do when they draft a QB in the 1st round; give them time to develop. But just our luck it won't happen that way; Quinn would hold out, come in late and allow JP to stick around. And then finally the light bulb goes off for JP, as itdoes for most QB's in their 3rd year. He plays lights out and were stuck with paying a 1st rd QB big time money to sit on the bench!

Now look up that stat for the other games besides the Colts and you will notice shotgun a lot on 3rd down for JP.

I agree for they have some success running the ball. If they combine that with more short passes to TE's and RB's and quick passes such as curls and slants to the WR it will keep the chains moving and also give the WR a chance to get RAC yards. It is obvious that keeping TE's in to block accomplish nothing as the passrushers are still getting through and that one less receiver the defense has to account for. Earlier in the season we were getting hurt more by blitzes and it's understandable to max protect. But the past 2 games hasn't been the case at all. My biggest issue is that in the 1st 2,3 drives of games when the plays are scripted they call more of the passes we just mention and they have a little success moving the ball in every game. But after that the go away from it. I don't understand. I need to see some coaching tape or go sit in the stands and watch the game if I could so that I could see plays develop fully and see who is getting open and so forth.

Oh yes they are; %75 on 3rd down JP is in shotgun; especially the 2nd quarter on! That is what got me so frustrated as this made them so predictable. They run up the middle on 1st down for minimal gain. They hardly ever pass the ball on 1st down and when they do, it's not even distribution to get passes to the TE's or RBs to make 2nd and 3rd down more manageable. Or if they do have a decent 1st down pickup, there will always be a sack or penalty to set them back. Almost every meaninful drive is ended this way. We may get lucky and pick up a few 1st downs on plays that gain 10 yards or more but along the way a sack or penalty will set us back and put us in 3rd or long with JP being target practice in shotgun!

Aikman and the Moose Daryl Johnson are OK; I hate Simms as much as the rest. AIkamn, Johnson, and on a few occasions I've seen him Sterling Sharpe actually spend more time breaking down what is going down as speculating and throwing out crazy analogies. And the ones I hate the worse are those who spend most of their time commentating either overpraising a premeir team and washing a star players you know what; that is so annoying! I hate it when Madden always kissed up a star player, usually a QB the whole game! Brett Favre was a prime example; I hated it when Madden hate to commentate a Green Bay game!

But shotgun is where he is getting killed on 3rd down for then this takes away the run threat and defenses pin their ears back. What they need to do is call more quick passes and playaction passes on 1st down when the defenses have 8 or more in the box expecting a run. The also need to pass more with base personell and run the ball more when they run 3 Wide to keep the D off balance and become less predictable.

I honestly think the coaches have lost more faith in the O-line than in JP. If you notice earlier in the season he would attempt to throw a lot of deep passes. Against the Dolphins he got a crucial pass interference on a deep pass attempt to Evans. Against the Jets he kept trying to throw deep balls against that cutting wind. He even had a few drops and near misses on deep passes against the Lions and Pats and completed a deep pass on a broken play to Parrish. In the past 2 games since the O-line shuffle the protection has been worse and you haven't seen but one pass attempt beyond 20 yards as he just hasn't had the time in the pocket. My biggest complaint with JP earlier in the season was that he sometimes held the ball and took coverage sacks but then I began to realize that this must explain the reason why the TEs and RBs aren't involved in the passing game for they are either blocking or chipping DL and aren't options for dumpoff passes. I wathc the game from TV but I'm not in the stands to see plays develop. Those who act like they know and complain that he looks lost and can't read D maybe are just reacing looking at the TV view but not caring about what is happening downfield. But what I can see is the pocket and after they have made this O-Line shift he clearly doesn't have anytime in the pocket to scan the field; barely even to setup. I have been very critical of Fairchild but maybe I'm not taking into account the fact that he must keep those TE's and RB's in to block aginst a 4 man line or really get JP killed. And if that is the case their is no way 2 or even 3 WR can get open against 6,7 defenders consistently, especially if they only pass on known passing situations.

The big positive JP has going for him is that when he has time and there is an open WR, he is hitting them more consistently than last year in which he often missed wide open WR short and deep. Yeah I know his haters will point to a few open players he has missed but you can say that about any QB. I just wonder what he could do if he better blocking and more receivng threats besides Evans. I can tell you this: Eli might get more hype and more production playing on a better team but JP is way more accurate than Eli and doesn't miss half as many open WR!

Remember it is a team game and while we won a few games the 2-3 years Flutie was here a lot of those games were won by the defense. The offense would just get us by. That is why he was replaced. Enough about RJ and Flutie; while JP may not be able to carry this team and live up to some peoples expectation, he is pretty much following the learning curve of an average NFL QB and he is far from the worse QB in the league as some make him out to be. The only way you give up on a 1st round QB with under 20 starts is if he constantly loses games by throwing int's, making stupid mistakes and is completing less than half his passes. JP doesn't fall under that type category. If you complete 60% of your passes when given time to throw then you at least have a chance to make it in this league. But you can't expect any QB to put up great numbers when he has no blocking, poor offensive scheme, or playmakers. I'll bet if you look at the Chargers message board 3-4 years ago I'll bet they bashed Drew Brees nonstop. Guess what JP is playing better than Brees did to this point and he never had the best RB in the league on his team; just a self perceived one!

Before the O-line shuffle, I would agree with your analysis that JP and the blocking together shared equal fault. But the past 2 games he has not had a fair shake as the blocking has just been horrible. Jauron has stated driectly himself that he hasn't lost as much faith in JP as he has the pass protection. My biggest issue isn't just goes getting beat but them letting D-lineman running free at the QB. Those missed assignments are unexcusable. As far as the comparison between RJ and Flutie and JP, there is none. RJ would run out of bounds for a loss or take unneccessary sacks rather than throw the ball away; he seemed more concerned about his passing percentage. JP has just been getting smacked after 2-3 seconds with no quick passing play calls. And he will throw the ball away on occasion. As far as Flutie goes he was allowed to rollout the pocket and make plays happen but even he wasn't consistent; he was just at his best when a play breaks down and at ad-libbing; something JP has been taught not to do.

Like I've said before if you take away Evans and the guard against sideline routes you basically take away 90% of our passing game. There are no passes to the RB and TE's; I guess they are too busy blocking. So there are no guys to dump the ball off to. There are no passes across the middle after the 1st couple of sereies whent he plays are scripted. At least before the O-line shuffle, at least half the sacks where those where JP held the ball too long. Now the pressure is getting to him before he sets up.

I don't think that the poster was trying to imply that we should get rid of these guys but the fact that these guys will not want to stay with such a dysfunctional team that underutilizes their talents and future quality free agents will not want to come here. Spikes came here for he thought he saw a team with potential and a desire to win. That has been far from reality. I do agree that some people are quick to bash our good players for either having a few bad games or the fact that don't play like Pro Bowlers every single play and every single game. My god Lindell misses 2 FGs all year and people started to criticize him and bring up the fact that he played poor 2 years ago. There are good players here who are treated like trash because they are not great players. Take JP; while he hasn't lived up to expectations and carried the franchise on his back, he is far from being the worse QB in the league as some have made him out to be!

To those who say he has no awareness and can't feel the rush, there is no pocket to step up into. Case in point: yesterday he stepped up into the pocket to avoid Freeney's outside rush but stepped right into McFarland for a sack. The O-line is not forming a pocket whatsoever and the said thing is that the playcalling hasn't adjusted to it. There should be way more moving pocket schemes and playaction passes. I'm hoping Reyes or even Merz can step in at RG for an injured and ineffective CV and provide some relief.

And it would help if the coaching staff realized that as well and called more such plays. JP doesn't call the plays or even audibles. He just call the plays given to him. And it's one thing to have a LB or DB come in unblocked but another when a D-linemane is unblocked.

But at least they have a scheme so that they can build upon that and bring in upgrades to fit that scheme. For instance they were looking to add DT that fit the scheme such as McFarland or Ryan Pickett before the season. We have the DE's to fit the scheme. The LB's can fit almost any scheme and 2 young safeties have done an OK job and can build off next year. The offense is a different story as weh haven't establish anything. At least the O-line shuffle gave us the identity that we will be a power running team to the left and they run a few misdirections off that. But other than that no other identity besides getting sacked! There are no personell or formation established. No They never exploit a defense and find a weak link like teams do in reverse to us. We just have no direction on offense.

For one, JP hasn't been one to throw many interceptions. And two, you can't even spell interceptions

There has to be something wrong with the blocking scheme we employ. Every game there seems to be a defender running unblocked at JP at some point. Since we have made this shuffle it has gotten 10 times worse so that now he doesn't even have the chance to setup. It's one thing to have a TE chip a DE but another to have him blocking one. CV got hurt later in the game and let's hope it last another week and that Reyes is healthy. Then maybe we can plug him in and he can be an upgrade over CV.

I agree totally. Even though I am a devote Bills fan, I wish they do him a favor and cut him so that he can get away from such a pathetic staff and poor fans. I mean come on; I've heard people blame him for the sacks he took. I mean Mathis was UNBLOCKED; think god he came from the right side and JP saw him. And Freeney was blocked by a TE and hit him blindside; thank god he didn't fumble. The only time he had to make a good throw over 5 yards was the bomb he missed to Evans. Thats it. My biggest frustration is that when he has time to throw and he attempts a pass, this year he is completing passes he was missing last year. But with this horrible playcalling and shabby blocking I just feel for the kid.

The Pats are mostly run a singleback set with 2 TE and 2 WR. They can run or pass effiecently withthat base personell. Unless it is 3rd and short or 3rd and 10 plus, 85% of the time you will see the Pats with that lineup. We run too many different personell groups in the first few drives were plays are scripted that we never establish anything. I mean we can't even settle on WR. Evans is the only WR who gets 95% of the snaps. The whole year there has been a shuffle between Price and Reed at the 2nd WR. Since everyone knows Reed is a better run blocker and we tend to run the ball when he is in doesn't that make you predictable? How many teams you know shuffle their 2nd WR as much as the Bills do? If we want to be a smash mouth team I say you have to be able to at least pass with that smash mouth personell group and use more short passes to the backs and TE's to keep he chains moving and throw in an occasional playaction to go deep. That way we stay out of 3rd and long. If we wantutilize our team speed at WR and spread defense out then we have to be able to run the ball with that group. Have you ever notice that we sometimes have a good drive going and then all off a sudden we change modes and personell midstream and then have a negative play or penalty that puts us in a bad 3rd down situation. We never force the D to have to adjust to us for we never establish anything.

That's been my biggest beef with playcalling the whole season as they seem to develop a least some sort of chemistry at the beginning of games. We seem to spread the ball around an have a good mixture of run and pass. But after that playcalling seems lost. We never make a defense defend the whole field. There are no quick passes across the middle.

Well when think of Philly or Green Bay you think off a West Coast Offense. When you play the Colts they use a singleback spread offense. Most succesful offensive teams can both pass and run with their base personell. Those that have to do a lot of substituing like us, aren't as succesful because they become predictable. For instance if we were a West Coast team then we could expect to seea lot more quick 3 step drops and more passes to the TE's and RBs. We barely pass when we have a FB in the game and when we do the backs and TE's are rarely thrown to. When we go 3 WR we never run the ball. I want to see an offensive scheme in which we have versality in both run and the pass.