Well, Well, Well

[JayFromDC]

Boo Hoo, I hear all these damn Drew Bledsoe fans crying, FACE IT, HE'S DONE HERE, so if you don't like it you might as well not be a Bills fan because JP LOSMAN IS NOW OUR QB, like it or not, oh and I don't care about him being a damn class citizen, I want to win football games, so Drew good luck and like Pam use to say on Maritin Peeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaacccccccccccceeeeeeeeeee

[Rico]

Welcome back JayFromDC!

[IDBillzFan]

Boo Hoo, I hear all these damn Drew Bledsoe fans crying, FACE IT, HE'S DONE HERE, so if you don't like it you might as well not be a Bills fan because JP LOSMAN IS NOW OUR QB, like it or not, oh and I don't care about him being a damn class citizen, I want to win football games, so Drew good luck and like Pam use to say on Maritin Peeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaacccccccccccceeeeeeeeeee

237677[/snapback]

Just out of curiosity...would you please show some links from all the Bledsoe fans crying...because I've been up and down the board, and can find one, maybe two examples of people trying to display some respect for Bledsoe.

 

But boo-hooing? Ummm...I'd really like to see what you're talking about;.

[Fezmid]

Just out of curiosity...would you please show some links from all the Bledsoe fans crying...because I've been up and down the board, and can find one, maybe two examples of people trying to display some respect for Bledsoe.

 

But boo-hooing? Ummm...I'd really like to see what you're talking about;.

237724[/snapback]

 

There you go, letting facts get in the way of a good anti-Bledsoe rant. What were you thinking?!

 

I'd also like to see the so-called proof that DB is leaving. All I see is speculation; havn't heard anything from DB, TD, RW, etc, etc, etc. Not saying that it definately won't happen, but there were a lot of "reports" that said Lewis was going to be our HC, and look where that ended up.

CW

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I will be bummed if/when Bledsoe is cut/traded because i think the accelerated cap hit from TD's dumb resigning of Bledsoe last off-season will be very hard to manage and may well make it hard for this team to win this year.

 

By far I see the better course of action for the Bills putting up Ws this year is for Bledsoe to accept the fact he is on the backside of his career and that the offer to him to trust in the Bills braintrust to give him a fair chance to win the starting job on the field in a competition with JP Losman is a good deal for the Bills and for him.

 

I suspect he will lose that competition (not because JP is a great finished product as a QB) but because JP actually will need to produce less than DB because merely by showing potential he will get the nod over Drew who would have to demonstrate that his improvement from the horrendous job he did in 2003 to merely being inadequate in 2004 will be matched in 2005 with improvement from him being inadequate to him being adequate or a stud (it could happen but I don't see it).

 

We would have a mucn better team if Bledsoe were to restructure and lower his cap hit than a situation where he turns the majority of his contract into deadspace and we would likely need to add on the cost of buying a quality back-up to the QB cap hit.

 

Unlike those who falsely claim that Bledsoe has lost at every level, my view is that in 2002 he played the back-up QB role perfectly because injury gave him no other choice. Brady gives him lots of credit for helping this young 2nd year QB learn to be a pro and clearly this would help JP. In addition, Bledsoe stepped in when JP got hurt in a must-win game and played QB in the majority of this must-win game and even threw the winning TD. The complaints from some posters (even some I respect for showing they had their heads screwed on straight about football- except that odd belief in Raion Hill) that Bledsoe sucked in that game strikes me as whining about style point because all I demand from my back-up QB is that they just win win baby. Bledsoe did not play as well as a starting NFL QB should in that game against Pitts but who cares as he was not NE's starter and by my judgment should not be the Bills in 2005 unless he accepts he is on the backside of his career AND JP simply sucks.

 

So defintiely mark me down as one who will be bummed if we have to deal with Bledsoe's potentially derailing another team with an accelerated cap hit from cutting him. Even a genius like Belchick and his Pats completely missed the playoffs in 2003 in large part in my view because absorbing the Bledsoe cap hit stopped them from buying a bunch owe well scouted players as they did in 2003 and from buying FA stalwarts like Rodney Harrison for 2004. The Pats made the right choice because keeping Brady over Bledsoe was a no-brainer. However, I do fear that if Bledsoe chooses to make us cut him instead of restructuring he will be able to put another notch in his belt for killing a team that cut him in the season after they dissed him

[Snorom]

I will be bummed if/when Bledsoe is cut/traded because i think the accelerated cap hit from TD's dumb resigning of Bledsoe last off-season will be very hard to manage and may well make it hard for this team to win this year.

 

 

 

 

you do realize that the "dumb" resigning freed up money for us last year, and that cutting DB pre 6/1 this year still saves us 2.2 million, with no hit next season.

[JimBob2232]

you do realize that the "dumb" resigning freed up money for us last year, and that cutting DB pre 6/1 this year still saves us 2.2 million, with no hit next season.

 

In hindsight the best thing to do (financially) would have been to cut drew last year and go with JP. But JP was hurt and then would have been rushed back, while Shane matthews was playing. We would have been nowhere near 9-7 last year, and would have just given up a top 10-15 pick (or higher) for Losman and everyone would be complaining about that.

 

While the way TD handled drew was not the best as far as cap management goes, he absolutley needed to do what he did. I personally say keep him one more year as a backup and cut him next year. I dont see the cap savings by cutting him, when we would have to sign a backup to replace him.

[deep2evans]

Just out of curiosity...would you please show some links from all the Bledsoe fans crying...because I've been up and down the board, and can find one, maybe two examples of people trying to display some respect for Bledsoe.

 

But boo-hooing? Ummm...I'd really like to see what you're talking about;.

237724[/snapback]

 

check out njsue's posts over the past 5 days. It's a joke. I think i'm stupidier after reading them.

[HOF]

check out njsue's posts over the past 5 days.  It's a joke.  I think i'm stupidier after reading them.

237776[/snapback]

 

Iw wil be better for Drew to leave this little market!!!

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

you do realize that the "dumb" resigning freed up money for us last year, and that cutting DB pre 6/1 this year still saves us 2.2 million, with no hit next season.

237744[/snapback]

 

Actually. I think I am fully aware of the cap impacts last year and this year and I think there is a more accurate description of them than laid out in your post.

 

2004 off-season-

 

The trade for Bledsoe was a good move on the football and business side since RJ clearly had to go and AVP was a great guy who was not the answer. The likely choices seemed to be FAs like Jeff Blake (now a third stringer in this league and beaten out for the starter job last year by Delhomme in Carolina- suffice to say not a starter) or Chris Chandler (what hospital is in today?). In terms of the less important but critical side which is business (mentioned first here to dispose of it and not because of its importance). Bledsoe played a key role in reviving a region and fans who had lived through a 3-13 season as we went through cap hell.

 

On the field, this proved to be a wash for us as Bledsoe played QB with us pulling off a near historic improvement from 3-13 to 8-8 (I think 5 games at that time was the second best one season improvement in league history though worst to first is possible now like ever before). Bledsoe played QB for a far more productive offense which saw several O players (including Bledsoe and if you think someone else deserved the nod more then please say who ans why or move on) make the Pro Bowl. Meanwhile NE made the right move because choosing Brady over Bledsoe was a no-brainer, but paid the price as the accelerated cap hit from trading Bledsoe played a major role in NE getting raped by the trade and not even making the playoffs that year despite being virtually guaranteed two wins over the Bills as Belichick knew better than anyone how to exploit Bledsoe's failings.

 

I view his comeback player of the year 2002 star turn as a wash at best for the Bills though because Bledsoe simply sucked with his 2003 play, I advocated thanking him for the revival post RJ which coincided with his QB work but for us to say goodbye and cut him last off-season. One can take the view that by cutting him we spent a 2003 1st round choice to get him and that cost was gone. However I think this view does not correspond to reality in that Bledsoe paid us enormous returns on the field when we most needed them in the post-RJ era.

 

Further, the absence of the 2003 1st rounder traded for Bledsoe was replaced (and certainly had a role in increased urgency by TD to manufacure a first round pick out of nothing for PP) with an AT pick which was used to get McGahee. Maybe the same thing with PP/WM would have happened without us missing our 1st rounder because of the Bledsoe deal. Who knows. I think it is farfetched to claim that the Bills intentionally traded their 2003 1st rounder and Price for Bledsoe and a 1st rounder who became WM, but this is actually how it lays out.

 

At any rate, under his contract which we assumed from NE we got subsidized for two years by NE taling the accelerated cap hit. We paid an extremely reasonable base salary hit alone for Bledsoe in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 he was owed a $7 million balloon payment. However, we could have "saved" this amount by cutting him as well as we could by restructuring him.

 

The restructuring move was a bad move by us because the "new" bonus paid to Bledsoe prorated over the 3 year life of the contract made it very hard to cut him before his march 2nd payment this year as $4.3 million of the Bledsoe deal becomes deadspace. Management of this cap hit is the problem we face now. We could have saved the $7 million due Bledsoe last year and also the deadspace we have noew by cutting him. The difficulty we would have had in doing that was that we would have had to buy QBs for 2004. In my world we would have still traded the 2005 pick for Losman, used the $6 million or so in 2004 Bills cap hit to pay Billy Volek to come in as our starter (a deal we tried to make for him as a back-up but he actually went back to TN for less money and interest than we offered him). We also would have had enough money to get Kordelis and used hin as a slash/disaster QB if everyone bought this fiscally possible arrangement. If you believe that restructuring Bledsoe was the only way we could deal with his bonus and still put a competitive dquad on the field you are probably wrong. Cutting him and going elsewhere was certainly fiscally possible.

 

You also do not do full cost accounting for the Bills in terms of the effects of cutting him pre 6/1 this year. Yes there is a $2.3 million cap savings in the deadspace charge for Bledsoe versus his salaried cap hit if we kept him.

 

However, if we take over a $2.3 million cap hit charge for our back-up to Losman this year then we will pay more for QB than if we kept Bledsoe. Judging bu the 4 year/$25 million contract which Jeff Garca signed and the several million $ cap hit contract Kurt Warner signed we are going to go after a true journeyman as our back-up QB. We probably will npt have to go so low as a Shane Matthews talent for $2.3 million, but JP better play like RoboQB did for Pittsburgh because for $2.3 million we will not be able to get a former SB player or likely a former Pro Bowl accomplished back-up QB.

 

We'd be far better off if Bledsoe took TD up on his offer and restructured his deal to a lower cap hit as we would have even more cap room to spend on FAs, would not need to spend the cap room we have on QB and would have a former Super Bowl player and a fellow who is a proven teacher of young QBs (based on what Brady says) and who stepped in when Brady was nicked and successfully played QB in the majority of a must win game.

 

Its doubtful but not too late for Bledsoe to do the right thing for the Bills an restructure his deal.

[kasper13]

Sure. That dumb move cutting Bledsoe next week puts the Bills $14 million under the cap. IT SAVE THE BILLS CAP SPACE. How is that dumb?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[IndyMark]

check out njsue's posts over the past 5 days.  It's a joke.  I think i'm stupidier after reading them.

237776[/snapback]

 

And you clearly have contributed much to this thread. Well answer me this Einstein, other than NJ Sue whom else is crying?

 

Yea I did not think you could answer that. Again, nice contribution.

[njsue]

Here's to Drew bledsoe stay and restructure.

[Fezmid]

Sure. That dumb move cutting Bledsoe next week puts the Bills $14 million under the cap. IT SAVE THE BILLS CAP SPACE. How is that dumb?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

237824[/snapback]

 

Yeah, it also leaves us with only one QB on the roster... So we'll need to sign someone else, eating up most/all of the cap savings from cutting DB.

 

Assuming the Bills even cut him, which I'm not convinced is the case.

 

CW

[IDBillzFan]

other than NJ Sue whom else is crying?

237826[/snapback]

That was really my point. There are not that many people crying about Bledsoe, but that doesn't keep someone from making it sound like half the people on the board want Bledsoe to stay in Buffalo. Kinda fugged up.

[the_franchise]

Alright, first off we would have not been half as good as we were offesnsively this year if it wasnt for DB.. not saying i like him i think he sucks but if Losman would have been the starter we would have been on the same level as the phins... So untill next year when J.P. is whooping some ass lets not bash bleedslow.

[wwovince]

Im a Bledsoe fan I admit but you know why? Because Im a BILLS fan and i support the WHOLE TEAM. Even supported those bums like Watson. So if JP is QB great. I just want to win games I dont care who it is Bledsoe or JP it doesnt matter to me!! LETS GO BUFFALO!!!!

[BADOLBILZ]

In hindsight the best thing to do (financially) would have been to cut drew last year and go with JP. 

237759[/snapback]

 

I disagree because I think it was important for the Bills to get back some self respect and create a winning atmosphere. Losing is contagious, and while the Bills won some games in 2002, they've been toothless in the Donahoe era until the second half of this past season when they learned how to win on the road and acquainted themselves with killer instinct. Bledsoe did his part by managing games, making some plays and not turning the ball over at inopportune times in that stretch between the Baltimore and Pittsburgh games.

 

Despite Ben Roethlisbergers success, it seems unlikely that Losman would have been able to play well enough for the Bills to get back on the winning side of the ledger. Losman is talented, but his track record in college was not one of efficiency. He took a lot of sacks, turned the ball over a lot and his teams were not terribly successful. A year on the sideline, seeing first hand what being an NFL QB entails was probably the best thing for him, IMO. Hopefully, he can step in this year, hand the ball off, hit the open receiver and make a play with his feet from time-to-time and allow his teammates to win the games while he is learning the ropes.

[Grant]

That was really my point. There are not that many people crying about Bledsoe, but that doesn't keep someone from making it sound like half the people on the board want Bledsoe to stay in Buffalo. Kinda fugged up.

237832[/snapback]

 

I thought that the whole idea behind arguing on TSW was to make up an argument and then repeat it as often and loudly as possible.

 

For instance, when people critiqued Bledsoe's play, people would make it out as if the critiquer had a personal vendetta against the man. It didn't matter how false it was. So, it goes both ways and all sorts of ways, really.

 

Incidentally, have you ever noticed that it seems like these sorts of threads always tend to have the same basic structure:

 

 

-Original Post makes some sort of statement.

 

-Someone that disagrees replies with a counterpoint.

 

-Someone that also disagrees replies with a tongue-in-cheek "What are you doing, letting facts get in the way?" invariably followed by a smiley icon of some sort. I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen this post from tons of different people. Was it ever funny?

 

-Then a bunch of other people reply with unoriginal thoughts that are basically variations on the first two posts.

 

-And occasionally someone points out the routineness of it all.

[JimBob2232]

I disagree because I think it was important for the Bills to get back some self respect and create a winning atmosphere.  Losing is contagious, and while the Bills won some games in 2002, they've been toothless in the Donahoe era until the second half of this past season when they learned how to win on the road and acquainted themselves with killer instinct.  Bledsoe did his part by managing games, making some plays and not turning the ball over at inopportune times in that stretch between the Baltimore and Pittsburgh games.

 

  Despite Ben Roethlisbergers success, it seems unlikely that Losman would have been able to play well enough for the Bills to get back on the winning side of the ledger.  Losman is talented, but his track record in college was not one of efficiency.  He took a lot of sacks, turned the ball over a lot and his teams were not terribly successful.  A year on the sideline, seeing first hand what being an NFL QB entails was probably the best thing for him, IMO.  Hopefully, he can step in this year, hand the ball off, hit the open receiver and make a play with his feet from time-to-time and allow his teammates to win the games while he is learning the ropes.

237908[/snapback]

 

I agree with you, which is why i said the best thing to do FINANCIALLY was to release him last year....