TC in St. Louis Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 I admit to jumping up whenever I read a rumor about Moulds being dealt, or JP being on the block, or trading up or down. It's fun to be a fan in the offseason. But I think Marv is one sharp guy, and he will do what is right for this franchise. A 4th rounder from Houston is equivalent to a late 3rd rounder, except you have all night long to think about it. I'd rather we get Houston's 3rd round pick, which is like a late 2nd round pick. I think it would be insane to trade JP Losman at this point. He was coveted by bothe the Packers and the Rams, two offensive minded teams. He's got something going there, and we should explore that. I believe Marv will keep him on the team. Marv keeps signing guys who excel in special teams. Special teams are 1/3 of the game. We must maintain our status as the top ST team in the league. He is fortifying our unit.
cantankerous Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 I was just thinking about how important special teams are today...Like think about this for instance - What if we had an average starting position at the 20 yard line instead of the 36 which we had this last year? How would we have done then? My guess is we'd have lost 2 or 3 more games without Terrence Mcgee and all the other kamakazi special teamers. I don't think we'd have faired as well as we did at all. A lot of people on this board whine and cry because we are picking up and re-signing blue collar type players but what they fail to realize is what they truly mean to the team. As for Losman, i'm really on the fence on this subject. I don't think i'd be too upset if we let him go in a trade...He has great escapability and a superb arm, but his lack of poise and vision make me really nervous. I know he's only started half a season but from what I saw...he needs a lot of improvement. As for being a overreactor...that's definatly not me, so I cannot speak for those people but i'm sure excited to see what Marv will do in the coming weeks. I hope Marv and the Bills front office work things out with EMO so he can retire a Bill, though that may seem unlikely...I still think it's possible. GO BILLS!
Dan Gross Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Listening to the rhetoric it appears the bridges are burned and Moulds will not play for the Bills this year. The Bills will look for any compensation in a trade deal that will allow the Bills to help decide where it is that Moulds goes. Levy floated a 4th out there as an ideal, but I wouldn't be surprised to have him accept less to a.) ensure Moulds is out of the East, b.) get Moulds' contract off the cap, and c.) move on. I would expect that Levy will hold Moulds as long as it takes to convince those interested that the decision now is to trade Moulds. Despite the "we can wait 'til he's cut" mentality, there are teams that are desperate/crazy enough to do the trade to ensure they get Moulds. Houston's a prime example, as Moulds the free agent would obviously take less money to play for the Eagles (his clear desired destination, and why not?) than more money to play for Houston. I don't see Moulds as one to refuse a trade, so that may be the only scenario for Houston to be able to get Moulds... Losman is, dare I say it, a victim of last year's coaching staff. He was named the starter without earning the job, which is something that even he was uncomfortable with it. As a result, I'm sure his teammates, who have all had to fight to earn their starting spot, did not fully buy in to a QB who was inserted into the mix. That certainly didn't help Losman last year as he tried to keep his starting role. It would also account for any rumoured "team doesn't like him" messages... As to where things are now, it's kind of silly to think that the Bills would be ready to shuffle him off without even seeing him make one throw live, just based on tape. They just started the offseason conditioning program last week, so it seems far too early for the coaching staff to have assessed his current capabilities. Does that mean that Marv and company are not "testing the trade waters?" Absolutely not. You have a 3 way competition at QB (as Marv and Dick pretty much had said all along...Dick saying no one will be handed the starting job at any position, that it has to be earned, and Marv saying they'd be picking up a 2nd tier Free agent QB to give us 3 (non-NFL Europe) QB's), which means that there are 2 out of 3 outcomes that result in Losman not getting the starting job. Now this doesn't mean that Losman only has a 33% chance of getting the job, but if he can't beat out two other candidates in a practice scenario, then he's not going to cut it as a #1 QB for this offense during the season. If one of those two situations happen (Nall or Holcomb get the starting nod), you need to be ready for plan B. Plan B cannot (or at least shouldn't) include keeping Losman as a number 2 so you have to determine what your other options are. A trade is the best overall option because you get something for him. So where people are complaining that Levy won't get anything for Moulds because it's already clear the Bills will release Moulds, he's taking the opposite tack of looking for trade partners first in case he needs to dump Losman. This rumored "trade scenario" is not about Losman losing the team's confidence before he even steps out on the practice field, it's not about dumping a "TD guy," it's talking hypothetically with other teams to guage interest in anticipation of a possible outcome. This scenario would be completely consistent with everything we've heard from the coaching staff and front office, and I haven't seen them do anything that's inconsistent with what they've said they were going to do.
Stevie Ray Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Listening to the rhetoric it appears the bridges are burned and Moulds will not play for the Bills this year. The Bills will look for any compensation in a trade deal that will allow the Bills to help decide where it is that Moulds goes. Levy floated a 4th out there as an ideal, but I wouldn't be surprised to have him accept less to a.) ensure Moulds is out of the East, b.) get Moulds' contract off the cap, and c.) move on. I would expect that Levy will hold Moulds as long as it takes to convince those interested that the decision now is to trade Moulds. Despite the "we can wait 'til he's cut" mentality, there are teams that are desperate/crazy enough to do the trade to ensure they get Moulds. Houston's a prime example, as Moulds the free agent would obviously take less money to play for the Eagles (his clear desired destination, and why not?) than more money to play for Houston. I don't see Moulds as one to refuse a trade, so that may be the only scenario for Houston to be able to get Moulds... Losman is, dare I say it, a victim of last year's coaching staff. He was named the starter without earning the job, which is something that even he was uncomfortable with it. As a result, I'm sure his teammates, who have all had to fight to earn their starting spot, did not fully buy in to a QB who was inserted into the mix. That certainly didn't help Losman last year as he tried to keep his starting role. It would also account for any rumoured "team doesn't like him" messages... As to where things are now, it's kind of silly to think that the Bills would be ready to shuffle him off without even seeing him make one throw live, just based on tape. They just started the offseason conditioning program last week, so it seems far too early for the coaching staff to have assessed his current capabilities. Does that mean that Marv and company are not "testing the trade waters?" Absolutely not. You have a 3 way competition at QB (as Marv and Dick pretty much had said all along...Dick saying no one will be handed the starting job at any position, that it has to be earned, and Marv saying they'd be picking up a 2nd tier Free agent QB to give us 3 (non-NFL Europe) QB's), which means that there are 2 out of 3 outcomes that result in Losman not getting the starting job. Now this doesn't mean that Losman only has a 33% chance of getting the job, but if he can't beat out two other candidates in a practice scenario, then he's not going to cut it as a #1 QB for this offense during the season. If one of those two situations happen (Nall or Holcomb get the starting nod), you need to be ready for plan B. Plan B cannot (or at least shouldn't) include keeping Losman as a number 2 so you have to determine what your other options are. A trade is the best overall option because you get something for him. So where people are complaining that Levy won't get anything for Moulds because it's already clear the Bills will release Moulds, he's taking the opposite tack of looking for trade partners first in case he needs to dump Losman. This rumored "trade scenario" is not about Losman losing the team's confidence before he even steps out on the practice field, it's not about dumping a "TD guy," it's talking hypothetically with other teams to guage interest in anticipation of a possible outcome. This scenario would be completely consistent with everything we've heard from the coaching staff and front office, and I haven't seen them do anything that's inconsistent with what they've said they were going to do. 646732[/snapback] Excellent post!
BuffaloBob Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 As for Losman, i'm really on the fence on this subject. I don't think i'd be too upset if we let him go in a trade...He has great escapability and a superb arm, but his lack of poise and vision make me really nervous. I know he's only started half a season but from what I saw...he needs a lot of improvement. 646456[/snapback] Yeah, how much vision, leadership and poise did Brett Favre and Steve Young show before their respective first teams let them go in their first couple of seasons in the league? Short-sightedness and the need to see immediate success can come back to bite a team in the ass. Just ask the Buccaneers and Flacons.
cantankerous Posted March 31, 2006 Posted March 31, 2006 Dan...great post, that was a good read. Buffalobob...I can see where you're coming from, I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all shakes down. I hope to God he improves greatly though! Thanks for reading my post.
finknottle Posted March 31, 2006 Posted March 31, 2006 :I think it would be insane to trade JP Losman at this point. He was coveted by bothe the Packers and the Rams, two offensive minded teams. He's got something going there, and we should explore that. I believe Marv will keep him on the team. : 646452[/snapback] Is this now, or from before he was drafted? Regardless of what we think of him, I find it hard to believe that there is any team out there coveting him based on this season...
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