Players don't progressively get better

[Kelly the Dog]

One of the big myths in sports is "he's getting better every day". Players don't get better every day. They get better over time, seen in retrospect. Even Hall of Famers have terribe games, slumps, dry spots, moments they lose their composure and abilities. It's stupid to expect JP to look better each game, and it's not going to happen. In fact, it's much more likely that he plays very well one game and everyone thinks he's got it, and then the next game completely suck.

 

A team, a unit, a player, has a ton of peaks and valleys, sometimes in a season, in a stretch of games, in a single game, or even on a single play. We're in for a long rollercoaster ride with JP this year, and perhaps his entire career because of the kind of player he is. He is probably not going to be "polished" even by the end of this season. He is going to have terrible brainfarts. What we need him to do is simply keep the turnovers to a minimum, makes some plays with his cannon and his feet, and not do things to lose games. So far, he is even doing that.

 

There is going to be a lot of wasted bandwith on his "progress" this year.

 

Not that there isn't a lot already.

[Dwight Drane]

The problem with the whole idea of "not making mistakes" or "playing not to lose" is that when you do make a mistake, it is that more costly.

 

If Mularkey has this kid playing conservative with outlet passes and 4 yard outs all year, we will not take enough risks to be rewarded. I don't care how good the defense is, you can't play offense scared and expect to win. I like Mularkey and think he has the team playing together as a team, but I am worried that by the time they let the kid play free, it may be too late.

[Kelly the Dog]

The problem with the whole idea of "not making mistakes" or "playing not to lose" is that when you do make a mistake, it is that more costly.

 

If Mularkey has this kid playing conservative with outlet passes and 4 yard outs all year, we will not take enough risks to be rewarded. I don't care how good the defense is, you can't play offense scared and expect to win. I like Mularkey and think he has the team playing together as a team, but I am worried that by the time they let the kid play free, it may be too late.

420719[/snapback]

Not making mistakes and playing not to lose does not necessarily mean you don't open up the offense or throw the ball downfield, or run a lot of formations and plays to confuse defenses. It means keeping JP from forcing passes, from losing 20 yards in unnecessary scrambles, from trying to win games on one play. I fully expect the first game to be a completely different kind of offense and play-calling than we have seen in the pre-season.

[jarthur31]

One of the big myths in sports is "he's getting better every day". Players don't get better  every day. They get better over time, seen in retrospect. Even Hall of Famers have terribe games, slumps, dry spots, moments they lose their composure and abilities. It's stupid to expect JP to look better each game, and it's not going to happen. In fact, it's much more likely that he plays very well one game and everyone thinks he's got it, and then the next game completely suck.

 

A team, a unit, a player, has a ton of peaks and valleys, sometimes in a season, in a stretch of games, in a single game, or even on a single play. We're in for a long rollercoaster ride with JP this year, and perhaps his entire career because of the kind of player he is. He is probably not going to be "polished" even by the end of this season. He is going to have terrible brainfarts. What we need him to do is simply keep the turnovers to a minimum, makes some plays with his cannon and his feet, and not do things to lose games. So far, he is even doing that.

 

There is going to be a lot of wasted bandwith on his "progress" this year.

 

Not that there isn't a lot already. 

420688[/snapback]

 

Man, who said JP was going to improve overnight? It's going to take him 3 years to understand the NFL game.

 

The disturbing part of the offense is that the line hasn't improved from last year with regard to run blocking! We are still fumbling in the red zone and dropping easy passes once again. This is what we should be worried about, not some rookie QB.

 

The defense and ST are going to surprise no one this year so the offense has to stop playing stupid and help out with yards and points. No more excuses.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

There is going to be a lot of wasted bandwith on his "progress" this year.

420688[/snapback]

 

Or his lack thereof. More likely, in fact.

[Buftex]

One of the big myths in sports is "he's getting better every day". Players don't get better  every day. They get better over time, seen in retrospect. Even Hall of Famers have terribe games, slumps, dry spots, moments they lose their composure and abilities. It's stupid to expect JP to look better each game, and it's not going to happen. In fact, it's much more likely that he plays very well one game and everyone thinks he's got it, and then the next game completely suck.

 

A team, a unit, a player, has a ton of peaks and valleys, sometimes in a season, in a stretch of games, in a single game, or even on a single play. We're in for a long rollercoaster ride with JP this year, and perhaps his entire career because of the kind of player he is. He is probably not going to be "polished" even by the end of this season. He is going to have terrible brainfarts. What we need him to do is simply keep the turnovers to a minimum, makes some plays with his cannon and his feet, and not do things to lose games. So far, he is even doing that.

 

There is going to be a lot of wasted bandwith on his "progress" this year.

 

Not that there isn't a lot already. 

420688[/snapback]

 

 

I agree. I didn't yet see the Bears exhibition (I will see it Monday!) but to read some of the posts of the people who did, you really would think this was the second coming of the 1984-85 Bills, all because of one bad preseason performance. Football is such an emotional sport, every game means so much, so I can, to a degree, understand the overreaction. But people have to remember what they said when Bledsoe was released, "JP can do no worse than Drew". I never agreed with it in theory (he could do a LOT worse), but I don't think he will, in the end. In the end, I think the Bills current coaching staff is too good, and too smart, to let this kid fail miserably. As one who was lucky enough to have season tickets in 1986 (the begining of the Kelly era) I realize that QB's like Jim Kelly are hard to come by, but it doesn't mean they will all turn out to be Todd Collins, or even worse, Rob Johnson. If Losman has any talent, this coaching staff will get it out of him. It may take some time, but he will learn...lighten up!

[Alaska Darin]

The problem with the whole idea of "not making mistakes" or "playing not to lose" is that when you do make a mistake, it is that more costly.

 

If Mularkey has this kid playing conservative with outlet passes and 4 yard outs all year, we will not take enough risks to be rewarded. I don't care how good the defense is, you can't play offense scared and expect to win. I like Mularkey and think he has the team playing together as a team, but I am worried that by the time they let the kid play free, it may be too late.

420719[/snapback]

Yeah, we're not playing conservatively because we want every advantage going into the opener. [/sarcasm]

 

Mularkey, unlike so many here apparently, understands how much we need to win that opening game and he's going to pull out all the stops to make sure that's exactly what happened.

[RkFast]

Mularkey and crew are out there running plays stictly to "test" them out in game situations. Fri night, he had the starters out there in the 3rd quarter stictly to see how they would perform after Halftime. These games are played with 3/4 of the playbook sitting back in the locker room.

 

Meanwhile, us "educated" fans still look at each pre season game like its the real thing.

[CoachChuckDickerson]

One of the big myths in sports is "he's getting better every day". Players don't get better  every day.

 

[cåblelady]

Or his lack thereof.  More likely, in fact.

420741[/snapback]

 

That's it, Tom. I'm sending you a Believe bracelet.

[nero47]

Mularkey and crew are out there running plays stictly to "test" them out in game situations. Fri night, he had the starters out there in the 3rd quarter stictly to see how they would perform after Halftime. These games are played with 3/4 of the playbook sitting back in the locker room.

 

Meanwhile, us "educated" fans still look at each pre season game like its the real thing.

420777[/snapback]

Well Put.

 

This is a training period. JP appears to be adjusting well. The O-line is running plays according to the book and does not appear to be adjusting to the type of defense being portrayed by the otherside. Otherwise I think you would see other linemem in there.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

This whole approach that it will not be straight-line improvement up even if the team does things well is simply truth. This is also where dumb luck simply rears its ugly head and depending upon which was the oddly shaped ball bounces or whether the refs do something like blow te coin flip, two teams could demostrate exactly the same skill, effort, or composure and in one case they get a W and in another case they get an L.

 

One cannot simply throw up your hands and give up because your best efforts may not result in a reward which matches those efforts (and in fact the teams do not have to because they will get a financial reward whether they win or lose). Like the NY Lotto says, if you don't play you can't win and in the end the best you can do is all you can do.

 

In terms of MM and the TEAM I think this emphasizes that they have to have a TEAM approach if they want to maximize the chances of getting a W.

 

Like it or not JP is not a vet yet and will not be a vet for several years. To demand that he play with the knowledge and experience of a vet will not happen because he hasn't had those experiences yet. Nevertheless though he cannot play with that level of knowledge and experience he CAN achieve the same results, but to do so he will need to depend upon the knowledge and experience of his TEAMMATES and hope for simple dumb luck to be kind to us.

 

MM seems locked in on simply providing JP wth the best chance he can have to succeed with his great natural gifts, supplemented by his hard work, and being picked up by a good and talented band of teammates. I think it is hard to do more than that.

 

In the end, I hesitate to attribute the most important thing to something as trivial as pro sports, but it does have import in our life because nothing is so special as the bond of working together toward a common goal whether you are on the same sport team, married and in a family or even in the trenches trying to survive in a war.

 

Ultimately one must let go and let God. When you do this one cannot actually lose because whether you are sharing triumph or sharing grief the key to life is that all of you are sharing.

 

Until 18 I was a lifelong Chicagoan and being able to share the 1985 Bear's SB victory with my best buddy and workmate who was born in Chicago and also was a lifelong Bear's fan was a great thing! However, I then totally transferred my allegiances to the Bills in 1988-89 when I got married to a Buffalo gal who used to go to the Rockpile as a kid with her Dad using his season's tickets.

 

For me adopting the Bills in a real way meant a lot to me because it became a part and a symbol of joining the WNY community. I had my dumb luck of joining the Bills faithful right in the midst of their transition from the futility of the record which led to them getting the #1 choice which they used on BRRRuuuccceee, and a few years before the peak of qualifying for 4 consecutive SBs (well the last peak as even better occurences are a comin).

 

At any rate, in a real way I experienced both the euphoria of having my life long team the Bears win it all with an impressive display. I also experienced the thrill of victory/agony of defeat in seeing my Bills come to the edge and go down in the SB 4 times in a row.

 

Still, the funny thing is if I were asked to either give up the feeling of seeing my team win it once (and believe me the Bears were my team - the mother of one of my housemates still laughs about calling her daughter and getting our answering machine which featured me doing a rendition of the Bear's Super Bowl Shuffle asking folks to leave a message) or give up the shared feeling I had when 20,000 Bills partisans welcomed the team back to Niagara Square and forgave Scotty Norwood for missing that kick wide right or shared in the pain of 4 straight losses.

 

I'd take sharing the 4 losses everyday of the week over sharing the 1 win (in fact, I think sharing the 1 loss of the first one was a greater experience that having the one win.

 

So JP go for it, do your best, and count on your teammates.

 

If you do this we can't lose!

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Or his lack thereof.  More likely, in fact.

More than likely he DOES progress. I guess we'll see though.

[Coach Tuesday]

What we need him to do is simply keep the turnovers to a minimum, makes some plays with his cannon and his feet, and not do things to lose games. So far, he is even doing that.

420688[/snapback]

 

I like your optimism, but how can you say he's doing that when he fumbled away a great scoring opportunities?

[Kelly the Dog]

I like your optimism, but how can you say he's doing that when he fumbled away a great scoring opportunities?

421015[/snapback]

Because he has one total turnover I think in three games, and even the stupid, stupid play losing 20 yards ended up with the Bills getting a FG on the drive. Sure we should have scored first down from the three, sure he made a terrible play, but he didn't turn the ball over and we still scored. And that is the kind of play that a guy can learn from and not do (much) again. He hasn't thrown an interception.