2020 Our Year For Sure

Drew Bledsoe once went to a Superbowl, but nobody credits him for that anymore.

They should've used those red crossed swords unis full-time. Those were bad@ss.

Agreed!

I think he was quoting somebody from the Jets board.

If you really think Holcomb moves the chains when he dumps the ball off, you need to be reminded of a certain 4th and 7 last year on a Monday night in Foxboro. I don't think Holcomb's dump off was moving the chains on that play.

He needs more game action to get used to the way things look in an NFL game. This goes back to what you believe to be the central debate here, the years vs. starts argument. I think the more live game action he sees, the more comfortable he'll be going through progressions. I haven't seen or heard of Nall making all that many big plays. I don't think he represents a legitimate deep threat.

There happens to be a logical explanation for that though. The fact is that Losman has always shown the ability to throw the deep ball, and the intermediate routes. I don't think anyone will argue that he can make the big plays. He's done it in camp and preseason ever since we got him, he hooked up with Evans quite a bit last year, and hit some deep balls this preseason as well. So we know he can make connections down the field. The question is, of course, whether he can do all the other things. And for me, seeing Losman play the short game for 60 minutes of game time was very encouraging. He didn't get nervous doing something we haven't seen him do too much of, he rarely made the wrong decision (even if things were simplified, JDG), he wasn't standing back there holding on to the ball too long. He showed me he can be decisive and efficient in a dink and dunk offense, and that was the aspect of the game we've never seen from him before. And that's the difference between Losman and Nall/Holcomb. Losman is actually capable of throwing the ball downfield and making plays, so seeing him dump it off is seeing a young quarterback take the first small steps. When you see Nall or Holcomb dump it off, they're just doing the only thing they're capable of doing. This explains why we get excited when JP throws short, but frustrated when Holcomb does the same thing! The next step for JP will come when the coaches deem he's ready to go through progressions in the short game. It will be exciting to see when they try to get him to hit his third option on a given play, and if it even happens this year. I don't believe Roethlisberger was asked to do much of that early on. Once (if?) he displays he can do that, the next step will be the coaches deciding he's ready to put it all together. That will be JP dropping back to pass and checking from a homerun ball to a hook route to a dump off in the flat. But because JP can make things happen deep, he unlike our two other QBs at least has hope of becoming a complete quarterback. Seeing him work the ball short all game against Miami was encouraging, at least for me.

Uh...how do you know? Hiding out in the locker room, are you?

He doesn't have any kind of hidden agenda. He just really, really likes the yards per attempt stat.

Does it matter? We can blame it on Losman regardless.

We let them hang in the game, instead of staying aggressive and looking to put the game away. We should have had more than 16 points in that game, and if Miami found a way to overcome the defense and come back and win, the fault would lie (for the 2nd consecutive week) with our 2nd half playcalling. You say it wasn't needed, and I say we're lucky it wasn't needed, and in future games this year it will be. I hope the coaching staff recognizes this and the next time we have a 2nd half lead we're a bit more aggressive.

Come on now, the playcalling in the 2nd half was easily too conservative. I don't think they threw a deep ball the whole half, but let's forget about the deep ball. They weren't even throwing the intermediate routes anymore. There was a time in the late 3rd where I found myself whining at the TV to just throw one ball somewhere downfield. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bomb, just something to create some space in the defense. This way they can't crowd the line and each individual Dolphin won't be looking for the run every play. This will help McGahee in the 2nd half, too. Against the Dolphins it didn't matter that we went into our shell, but in the coming weeks at some point the coaches will have to let JP do his thing in the 2nd half. As I've said, ultra-conservative 2nd half playcalling has already cost us 1 game this year. Also, when we do continue throwing intermediate-deep routes once in awhile into 2nd halves, we will account for Holcomb's Arm's yardage difference between Losman's numbers and a Dilfer/Roethlisberger type of game.

Why is it that anyone who presents a point-of-view that isn't pro-Losman, they can expect to have both their allegiance to the team and their intelligence brought into question? I myself like Losman and I think we've found our quarterback. I can't really explain it, I get confidence more in watching him than in anything I see in the numbers. I liked his performance against Miami, and I think alot of the lack of passing yards people are complaining about comes from the 2nd half play-calling, which involved us going into a shell. That play-calling cost us the New England game, but Miami is so bad they couldn't take advantage of it. In the future, we're going to have take shots downfield every once in awhile or teams will overcome us in the 2nd half as the Pats did. Once we decide to open things up a bit, you'll see JP's yardage totals closer to that of Roethlisberger. The one deep ball we did try against Miami resulted in a long pass interference call. This team can throw deep, and once they do so consistently JP's stats will resemble that of a real quarterback. Patience, Holcomb's Arm. Let the coaching staff bring things along slowly.

Yes, and that's exactly what we did! We discounted the positions and took the best football player on the board that would help our team the most. This guy is looking like he's going to play at a high level for a long time. How can we argue with that? The most important thing is to get successful players from the draft and not take busts. Donte Whitner is another step to building this team. The lineman wasn't there, so we'll look to address it this offseason. But right now we can be glad we've filled the SS spot with a playmaker.

Thanks alot, that is just what I was looking for! The station it leaves from is about a 2-minute walk from my building. Thanks Jokerman! And G. Host, thanks also for your idea, but the Game Day Express is simpler. Thanks everybody, now all we need is tickets...

There was no reason for him to ever be IN the fans' doghouse, if you look at him strictly as a special teamer. It was a mistake from the coaching staff to start him at safety against NE, they should recognize that his only position is special teams.

To quote your original post: I'm not disagreeing with you in that New England looked impressive. I'm also not disputing that we should be favorites in the Jests game. However, your first post (2nd one quoted) seems to imply that just because the Jests got their touchdowns on "crazy," "big," or "amazing" plays, they somehow don't count. This is what I disagree with. You're analyzing what the Jests did against the Pats and discounting their touchdowns just because they came on impressive individual efforts. You said the Patriots would have blown out the Jests if not for their two "amazing" touchdowns, and I sarcastically said that the Dolphins would've beaten us today if not for our 16 "amazing" points. Those two statements make the same amount of sense, but neither make a whole lot of it.

As a freshman attending the University at Buffalo, I have no knowledge of the area. A friend and I want to attend the Bills-Jests game in a week, and we're both out-of-staters who most likely will have no use of a car. Somebody help!

And if it weren't for the 16 amazing points we scored today, the Dolphins would have beaten us.

You could take the Bills.

Where and when can I see that show Chris Berman and Tom Jackson have thats exactly like PrimeTime? I'm in the mood for some wagon-circling.

Did this give anybody else chills?

Yeah I just heard that...we're a team to watch now all of a sudden!

Please just win this one boys...I'll have the worst feeling in my gut for 7 long days if we lose this damn game.