eball Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Paul Riederer (West Seneca, NY): J.P. struggled in the preseason, particularly the last two games. With the excellent defense and special teams the Bills have, there is an expectation to win now. If he struggles, at what point would you go to Holcomb, who is not a long-term answer, but someone who could effectively manage a game with his NFL experience? Tom Donahoe: Our coaching staff may not agree with your assessment with J.P. in the preseason. His best overall game was probably the Detroit game in terms of decision making and throwing the ball with accuracy. We had five passes dropped in the game and other than the first interception, which was a bad throw by J.P. and one deep ball that he did not throw, he made very good decisions in the game. We should also remember that in the Chicago preseason game when J.P. came out of the game we were winning 12-3 so it may not be fair to say that J.P. lost the Chicago game or that he lost the Detroit game. Wins and losses are a team effort and the quarterback play is just one part of the equation. We feel fortunate to have great experience with our backup quarterbacks in both Kelly Holcomb and Shane Matthews. -------------------------------------- sure, it's GM-speak from the egomaniac who won't admit a mistake, but would TD really have been that specific if he wanted to just answer the question vaguely and move on? he could have easily said "JP has progressed like we expected since camp began" or some other blah blah blah. anyway, just found the comments interesting -- particularly since that's what i also saw when watching the detroit game. i love it when people agree with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkwwjd Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 i hear ya, eball. I thought that other than the first INT (I don't know which long ball he didn't throw) his passes were at least 90% on target. If we can just catch the ball, JP will put us in a position to win. I also got the feeling that they forced JP to throw the ball most of the night to work on forcing the passing game -- even when the D knows you're gonna throw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 The interesting thing to me is the question of who dropped the passes which should have been caught? I did not see the game so I;m not sure. Reed apparently led the team in receptions though I hear he also dropped one. Perhaps we are keeping 7 WRs because no one has really stepped up and taken control of the WR position from amongst the many back-ups. The bad news may be that in fact Reed is an inadequate receiver AND he is the fourth best receiver on this team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblehead Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 it's GM-speak from the egomaniac who won't admit a mistake i love it when people agree with me. 430359[/snapback] Just kidding. Actually, I finally got a chance to watch a tape of the game yesterday, after reading on the board how much JP sucked Friday night, and couldn't figure out afterward what everyone was talking about. JP lobbed one for an interception, threw another hospital pass at someone, and brought one down and ran it at the end of the half when it was apparant the coaches wanted a bomb thrown there. Other than that, I thought he looked pretty decent. Threw hard, threw to the right people, threw it away from the defenders. If fact, I would say he worked hard on staying in the pocket, and got his ass kicked for it a few times, thanks O-line! But that's part of learning the patience needed for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkwwjd Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 The interesting thing to me is the question of who dropped the passes which should have been caught? I did not see the game so I;m not sure. Reed apparently led the team in receptions though I hear he also dropped one. Perhaps we are keeping 7 WRs because no one has really stepped up and taken control of the WR position from amongst the many back-ups. The bad news may be that in fact Reed is an inadequate receiver AND he is the fourth best receiver on this team. 430505[/snapback] I know Lee Evans had at least one drop, maybe more. I found it interesting, after JP seemed to take the blame for the first INT (letting it sail into the wind), Mularkey (in the Q&A on the TBD front page) said that neither INT were solely JP's fault. I wonder if Aiken ran the wrong pattern, misread something, which further accented the bad throw by JP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick in* england Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Hmmm interesting. There seems to be a ground swell of opinion that the Detroit game wasn't as bad a game as we all saw it to be. I had in the back of my head while I listened to the game that 'it's just preseason' - but it's hard to see that as your team is getting beat, whatever the season. But I got to thinking - at one point in the first half we had run 15 offensive plays - only running on 3 of them. Thats 80% passing offence. 80%. The WRs didn't do a lot to help us out for sure, and Detroit sure wanted to prove something more than we could be bothered to do, but JP got a really good workout on those passing schemes and apart from the first INT (the speed out to Aiken) which IMO was fugged up timing on JPs part. In the cold light of day (and with a pair of THICK rose tinted glasses on) I think JP did enough to settle my nerves going into Sunday. ALSO - look at the progression over preseason. JP made better and better decisions as the games wore on, started well enough vs Indy, OK vs GB, not so sharp against the Bears and OK against Detroit. To me that's enough to show me he's learning fast enough to make sure we don't lose games as a result of him and could look to JP to rally one maybe two games this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkwwjd Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Hmmm interesting. There seems to be a ground swell of opinion that the Detroit game wasn't as bad a game as we all saw it to be. I had in the back of my head while I listened to the game that 'it's just preseason' - but it's hard to see that as your team is getting beat, whatever the season. But I got to thinking - at one point in the first half we had run 15 offensive plays - only running on 3 of them. Thats 80% passing offence. 80%. The WRs didn't do a lot to help us out for sure, and Detroit sure wanted to prove something more than we could be bothered to do, but JP got a really good workout on those passing schemes and apart from the first INT (the speed out to Aiken) which IMO was fugged up timing on JPs part. In the cold light of day (and with a pair of THICK rose tinted glasses on) I think JP did enough to settle my nerves going into Sunday. 430553[/snapback] I had noted in another thread, somewhere, that it was the 4th quarter before we had rushed the ball as many times as JP had thrown it in the first half. Ball control, smash mouth team? Not when you're forcing your young QB to throw the ball into a defense that is expecting the pass on every play. They were working JP hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick in* england Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 I had noted in another thread, somewhere, that it was the 4th quarter before we had rushed the ball as many times as JP had thrown it in the first half. Ball control, smash mouth team? Not when you're forcing your young QB to throw the ball into a defense that is expecting the pass on every play. They were working JP hard. 430558[/snapback] Sure but that's not a bad thing huh? For preseason planning I like it. They gave Willis his carries against the Bears stout D to get a good practise against one of the league better Run Defences, and we then rest the run game in the final preseason game to work on the passing game some more. I have no doubt this O is a ball control Offence come the regular season. Preseason games are practises, and we practised passing with the starters in. All good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheRocks Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 QUESTON: Who has the FINAL say on roster cuts? Can you step in and override Mike Mularkey's decision on who stays and goes or does it all come down to what Coach Mularkey thinks is right for this team? Tom Donahoe: The personnel decisions that we make, whether it be the draft or other roster moves, are basically made as a group decision. The coaches and scouts have input into the decision and if there is a tie or a question mark, coach Mularkey and I will meet to break the tie. I can honestly say that in all the years I have been in football I have never forced a player on a coach. It is a group effort and we try to make decisions based on what we feel is in the best interest of the team. Coach Mularkey has to be comfortable with the makeup of the team. I wonder if Greg Williams would have agreed with that when TD drafted McGahee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick in* england Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 I wonder if Greg Williams would have agreed with that when TD drafted McGahee. 430565[/snapback] If Gregg coulda been a halfway decentl Head Coach he might have agreed. And he might have been here to have Willis run over defences for him. But thats all water under the bridge right? Donahoe is son of the devil after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in Chicago Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Sure but that's not a bad thing huh? For preseason planning I like it. They gave Willis his carries against the Bears stout D to get a good practise against one of the league better Run Defences, and we then rest the run game in the final preseason game to work on the passing game some more. 430561[/snapback] Never thought of it that way but by golly, it makes a lot of sense. Using the pre-season to get individual teams their workouts - brilliant. Now I am even more fired up about the regular season. Go Bills !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 This is why most people here dont know what they are talking about and I dont pay any attention. I have thought that JP has been fine as well. We have to wait and see the games when they really count and they are game planned and the starters play the whole game. Till then, enjoy the ride ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Paul Riederer (West Seneca, NY): J.P. struggled in the preseason, particularly the last two games. With the excellent defense and special teams the Bills have, there is an expectation to win now. If he struggles, at what point would you go to Holcomb, who is not a long-term answer, but someone who could effectively manage a game with his NFL experience? Tom Donahoe: Our coaching staff may not agree with your assessment with J.P. in the preseason. His best overall game was probably the Detroit game in terms of decision making and throwing the ball with accuracy. We had five passes dropped in the game and other than the first interception, which was a bad throw by J.P. and one deep ball that he did not throw, he made very good decisions in the game. We should also remember that in the Chicago preseason game when J.P. came out of the game we were winning 12-3 so it may not be fair to say that J.P. lost the Chicago game or that he lost the Detroit game. Wins and losses are a team effort and the quarterback play is just one part of the equation. We feel fortunate to have great experience with our backup quarterbacks in both Kelly Holcomb and Shane Matthews. -------------------------------------- sure, it's GM-speak from the egomaniac who won't admit a mistake, but would TD really have been that specific if he wanted to just answer the question vaguely and move on? he could have easily said "JP has progressed like we expected since camp began" or some other blah blah blah. anyway, just found the comments interesting -- particularly since that's what i also saw when watching the detroit game. i love it when people agree with me. 430359[/snapback] You sort of argued with yourself what I was going to say. To me it's not GM-speak at all. It's unusually candid; especially compared to John Butler's vagueness when he was taking questions from fans on Empire. As for JP's play - dunno - didn't see the game. There were really 5 drops in the 1st half? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 I wonder if Greg Williams would have agreed with that when TD drafted McGahee. 430565[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 One WR who has really been irriating me with his untimely mistakes is Sam Aiken...... Aiken should have caught that second int or at least should have knocked the ball down...... See....that is the difference between a team like the patriots and other teams.....Brady's receivers actually help him out here and there..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 One WR who has really been irriating me with his untimely mistakes is Sam Aiken...... Aiken should have caught that second int or at least should have knocked the ball down...... See....that is the difference between a team like the patriots and other teams.....Brady's receivers actually help him out here and there..... No they don't. The Patriots' WR's are garbage and wouldn't even start for NFLE teams. Brady runs their routes for them, creates separation for them, and catches the ball for them. He also throws the ball THROUGH defenders, amazingly enough. Or so I've been told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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