The more I think about it, I wonder...

[The Riddler]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

[NYGPopgun10]

I'd say 7-8 wins. Why? Because I think the Bills are capable of it even with a first yr QB.

[ROCCEO]

Losman may not have been the ideal move, but at worst I'd say he is hte lesser of 2 evils. Plus, One must consider the salary cap ramifications of such decisions.

[boomerjamhead]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

363805[/snapback]

 

What 'g'od are you praying to?

[PromoTheRobot]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

363805[/snapback]

Funny...most of the stuff I've read, including Peter King and Dr.Z, predict Losman will be a stud. One disguntled ex-bill says something negative and you're ready to sh*tcan the season? Take a pill, my friend!

 

Get a grip and look at the facts: Bledsoe S-U-C-K-E-D!! Keeping him around one more year guaranteed the Bills another sub-.500 season. Losman is mobile, has a better arm, is more accurate, and can throw while he's running! He is the Anti-Bledsoe!

 

Furthermore, JP has shown more leadership qualities so far than Bledsoe, RJ, and Todd Collins ever showed.

 

Are you trying to tell me Losman could be any worse than "Pat, Pat, Sack???" The whole "rookie QB" arguement is a knee-jerk reaction from the media. It's a safe catch-all answer to the "how good is the unknown QB?" question. They all said the same things about Tom Brady and Ben Rothlisburger.

 

Keep in mind the Bills have one of the best defenses and special teams in the NFL, not to mention a budding superstar RB. Add to that a top-notch line coach, and you have plenty of reason to be optimistic.

 

I think 4 years of Drew Bledsoe have dulled people's expectations around here.

 

PTR

[eSJayDee]

I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect our offense to actually improve this year.

Statistically speaking, it most categories, we were toward the bottom of the league.

Again, based on stats, we had one of the better Ds and THE BEST ST.

Assuming JP (& Co.) don't screw up too much, and assuming/hoping the other facets of our team don't slip too much, we should be better than last year.

[ROCCEO]

I think 4 years of Drew Bledsoe have dulled people's expectations around here.

 

PTR

363824[/snapback]

I dont know what nightmare you're living in, but thankfully I(along with everyone else on this board) only had to deal with 3 seasons of Drew.

[MrLocke]

I'm not sure if it was Mularkey's decission or Cowher's decission, but a couple of years ago one or both made the decission to go with Tommy Maddox and bench Kordell Stewart and this ended up being the correct decission. In any event because possibly Mularkey made the right decission to go with Maddox I trust here he is making the correct decission to go with JP. I wasn't sure about going with JP after the 9-3 finish last year, however I trust Mularkey.

[Buftex]

They get paid to make the tough decissions! Pat Williams does not deccide who starts at QB for the Buffalo Bills, TD and MM make those deccisions, and they deccieded what they deccided, so we will have to live with their deccision. If they deccide that we shouldn't use spell check, or spell the word decision differently than the rest of the NFL, than so be it....deccisions, deccisions, deccisions....

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I disagree that 4 years of Bledsoe dulled Bills fans expectations of the QB at all. Flat-out the fading and remembered good parts of the Kelly era have heightened Bills fans worship of the QB position that we really demand far more out of the position and attribute far more importance to it than any football player deserves based on a rational football judgment of their play,

 

Granted the QB position is central to O performance. He is called upon to make critical snap decisions all the time and really is the initator of just about all great plays the O makes.

 

However, between the league and the networks desperately wanting needing to promote personalities in this game where most players faces are repetiviely covered with helmets.

 

Where actually most plays are really determined by team work and the seeable coordination between the recever and QB and the merely intitiated coodination of the RB and QB and the often unseen or unexamined work of the blockers which may be critical the play working.

 

And between the NFL becoming oversysematized and the QB role is really that he is able to translate orders on the headphones to the team quickly determing good play more than good judgment as seen in the days where Kelly (no brain surgeon clearly) at least made great judgments among the fairly limited play calls the K-Gun allowed him.

 

The QB role is hugely overvalued as being central to team performance by most fans.

 

Even more rediculous is that not only is the QB central but far far from the only thing determining O success, the amazing run the Bills had in the second half of last year with the D and ST leading the way shows that a team can win going away even with simply moderate or adequate QB play.

 

My sense is that JP will have a good share of the usual struggles that a sophomore QB has in this league.

 

However, several things give me what I feel is reasonable hope (and even some confidence that the Bills will put up a lot of Ws this year and actually have a good shot at making the playoffs.

 

1. The Bills clearly demonstrated that they could actually destroy many opponents both at home and on the road and even on the left coast where travel always seemed to cause us problems even with the adeuate play of Bledsoe. The team did get killed against Pittsburgh, but I think this game wa actually the exception that proved the rule of Bills performance rather than it being the real team and they simply got lucky 8 times in a row blowing opponents out.

 

2. i do not expect JP to be much of an upgrade over Bledsoe in total performance. However, I think the two of them will add up to be about the same with a different combination of strengths an weaknesses. I think the braintrust realizes this and will actually call the games with the more pliable young JP more easily reined in by the coaches to not try to win the game or be depended upon by the rest of the team for him to perform and even provide the leadership to win the game.

 

JP will actually be worse than Bledsoe in a number of key areas:

 

1. Bledsoe has an incredibly powerful arm which provided a threat even in bad wins which made the oppenents play to stop the potential long pass and this made WM a more effective runner. As the season rolls on I think opponents will force JP to beat them with his arm and pinch down the running game. We will have to see if JP is as much of a threat on the deep ball as Bledsoe regardless of the wind.

 

2. Bledsoe does have 10 years of pro experience and even though he has the bad habits of locking onto his receiver and going into his familiar pat and also simply having brain farts like the one where he through the ball away on a fourth down year before last and then realizing his error made an obvious DOOHH slamming his head, Bledsoe showed some great skill:

 

A. Tunning play fakes like the one where he faked the QB sneake and pitched it back to WN for a 40 yard TD scamper, several time receiving a pitch from WM and hitting Evans and Moulds on long flea-flickers.

B. He has usually been a great ballhandler and despite a horrendous fumble against NE last year he did gather in nicely some dicey pitches from WM on flea-flickers and he really did a phenomenal job fielding some awful shotgun snaps from Teague until he learned this part of the game (unfortunately the concentration on the snap this required did add to his time reacquiring command of the routes being run and slowed his delivery of the ball).

C. One good part of JPs game is that he very quickly seemed to mimic a good Bledsoe habit of running out each play and doing fakes even after he had given the ball away. We'll see if JP retains this good Bledsoe habit.

D. Bledsoe will never be a good runner, but TC/MM showed last year that he is a good enough runner to be effective. Bledsoe pulling off a few effective but not groundbreaking QB draws sneaks last year did a lot with WMs outside threat and better blocking by a JMac taught line of stopping opponents from selling out on the blitz and reduced our sack totals.

 

However, as good as I feel about parts of Bledsoe's work last year and feel many posters were not being rational in declaring him a total reject. The good thing for us about some of JPs demonstrated skills is that they are exactly some of the areas where Bledsoe had issues. JP demonstrated in college where he had to run for his life behind a porous Tulane line that he makes good snap decision while Bledsoe simply had too many brain cramps under pressure.

 

Further, JP is far more mobile than Bledsoe and his running ability has the potential to make QB draws more than adequate but even outstanding. Also, Bledsoe is a big boy and seemed willing to hang in their and take a hit rather than getting rid of the ball or bailing out when he had too. As admorable as Bledsoe's toughness was, I'd rather have a QB like JP who seems to already have a pocket sense equal or better than Bledsoe. Also, JP has shown this skill while still being a tough guy not afraid to take a hit rather than showing the happy feet of a player like Todd Collins.

 

I expect JP to be an equal to Bledsoe in the occaisional frustrating faux pas, but his strengths and weaknesses should fit a well run team better and TC/MM demonstrated they can run and O and a team.

 

3. In addition to my analysis of the Bledsoe/JP tradeoff being an equal one that can work out well for the Bills iff TC/MM exert good control. I think the Bills gained a lot of confidence from the example of RoboQB in Pitts last year. He an the team showed that it is possible to win with a young QN IF you do not ask him to do too much and depend on him to win being a manger like Trent Dilfer than demand he be a John Elway.

 

Just like with Bledsoe I think a key to the Bills winning is the braintrust ability to rein in their QB a bit and depend on WM, better blocking and some outstanding receiving to make the O work, but most important really look for top quality D and ST work to lead this team to Ws.

[jarthur31]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

363805[/snapback]

 

I don't think he will be the problem. Our wins and losses will rest on that damned O-line. It was true when DB was here and it still holds water now that he's gone. D-line must generate more of a pass rush on its own.

[Fezmid]

Keeping him around one more year guaranteed the Bills another sub-.500 season.  Losman is mobile, has a better arm, is more accurate, and can throw while he's running!  He is the Anti-Bledsoe!

 

Ummm, you do realize that we were 9-7 last year, right? And that we've only had one sub-.500 season in the last three years...? It honestly seems like some people think we've gone 1-15 the past three years...

 

Furthermore, JP has shown more leadership qualities so far than Bledsoe, RJ, and Todd Collins ever showed.

 

What leadership has JPL shown? That he watches film??? That's hardly leadership...

 

Are you trying to tell me Losman could be any worse than "Pat, Pat, Sack???"

 

Oh, here we go again... YES, JPL can EASILY lead us to worse than a 9-7 record. And remember that once WM started at RB, DB was sacked on average LESS than golden-boy Brady. Coincidence?

 

I'm not saying JPL is going to suck, but to blindly assume he's going to be just as good, or better, is just as naive as saying that DB would've taken us to the Superbowl. You have no way of knowing.

 

CW

[Bill from NYC]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

363805[/snapback]

 

First of all, my compliments on a brave post.

I have said all along that going another year with Drew was my choice. The Bills have some very good players (Fletcher, Milloy, Vincent, Moulds) that may not last as long as it takes for JP to develop, especially behind a very average OL.

NC will be a ufa, and it is unrealistic that an 87 year old owner who has less cash than most others will fork over 50 million dollars to keep a cornerback. Frankly, I have my own doubts about that kind of cap allocation to a corner.

 

Despite the above, I have nothing but praise for JP in terms of how hard he is working. I have taken a liking to the kid because of this. He also does have some pretty good teachers.

 

Additionally, it is a done deal. We cannot have the 6 or so slots we traded up for JP back, nor can we recoup the 2nd and the 5th. Drew is on the cowboys, and I wish him well. I think they are a team on the rise.

 

Can JP take us to the playoffs? I will agree with the other poster who implied that the OL might be the deciding factor. It HAS been for more than 10 years, thus the lack of playoff appearances/wins for the Buffalo Bills.

[eball]

losman isn't a rookie, riddler. he's a first-year starter. the difference between those two descriptions is significant. losman doesn't have on-field NFL experience in a meaningful situation, but to compare him to a rookie is inaccurate. he has had over a year of NFL coaching and already seems to have earned the respect of his coaches and teammates. no rookie has that. plus, he has first-round talent. there are many more positives to take from this scenario than negatives, in my humble opinion.

 

nonetheless, until the bullets start flying for real none of us really know what will happen and it's all speculation.

[CajunBillsBacker]

If not now, then when? Despite what some say, Bledsoe was not leading this team to the playoffs this year or any other year, it's time to move on and build this team around JP.

[mead107]

If not now, then when? Despite what some say, Bledsoe was not leading this team to the playoffs this year or any other year, it's time to move on and build this team around JP.

363882[/snapback]

well said , give the kid a chance to play . drew led us to nothing .

[Tony the Tiger]

What can we really expect out of this kid, I mean we cant get down on him if he even goes 7-9 with this team. The fact is hes a rookie and no matter how good our defense is, he will have growing pains. I mean 10-6 is a bit too much too ask for JP.

 

I prey to god he proves me wrong but the closer we get to the season, the more i think we should have gone with drew one more year and took our chances. I just wanna make the playoffs but that will be hard when we have a new QB learning the ropes.

 

Something else that tends to be scary is alot of these websites say alot of teamates feel losman was a bad choice and now you hear fat pat say it as well, it just makes me as a bills fan nervous.

 

What is acceptable for JP as the Bills QB this year as far as win totals go before you guys wanna kill him?

363805[/snapback]

 

I thought that there was an agreement that we were going to give Losman a chance and not jump on him until the end of the season, if warrented?

[CoachChuckDickerson]

If the Bills had 100% faith in JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb would not be a Buffalo Bill. The Bills wanna make a run this year, with or without Losman. If you think anything else you are fooling yourself.

[Johnny Coli]

I thought that there was an agreement that we were going to give Losman a chance and not jump on him until the end of the season, if warrented?

363911[/snapback]

Are you kidding me? The Bledsoe crowd will be on him from game one. Jesus, can you imagine what will happen if the Bills lose to Houston, and Bledsoe and the Cowboys rack up 35 points on San Diego?

[Bill from NYC]

If the Bills had 100% faith in JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb would not be a Buffalo Bill. The Bills wanna make a run this year, with or without Losman. If you think anything else you are fooling yourself.

363915[/snapback]

 

If you are correct, JP might have a shorter leash than many expect. Agreed?