Observations about JP

[Peter]

I am not pro JP or anti JP. I do really hope that he turns out to be worth the investment that we have in him.

 

It seems to me that the game is just too fast for him at this stage of his career or the corollary of that -- he is thinking too much.

 

An example of this that I noticed watching the replay of the game on the NFL Network was when the Bills almost got a delay of game penalty. He did not even notice. I believe it was Shaud Williams who had to call the time out. Perhaps JP has got so much swimming around in his head at this point in his career that the position is not as instinctive for him at this level.

 

Part of this may be explained by his lack of experience. Perhaps with experience, he will be able to work through this and, as a result, the game and his reads will become more instinctive.

 

The other troubling aspect of his game is his lack of accuracy. When Aiken was wide open for a TD, JP threw the ball out of bounds. When the Bills called the quick pass to the wide out, JP threw it into the turf. It seems as though his accuracy has not improved from last year.

 

I never saw the guy play in college so I have no idea if this is indicative of his college career. I just hope that he can work through this and be the kind of QB many of you are convinced he can be.

 

As of now, I think that the best that we can expect at the QB position is that whoever does start does not lose us any games. I really hope that one of the three QBs will emerge as a real threat and be able to take advantage of the weapons that we have at WR and cause the opposing defenses to not commit eight guys to the box as they did most of the time last year.

 

Otherwise, it is going to be a very long and frustrating season.

 

With any luck, we will see improvement each week during the preseason and in the regular season. I really would like to see the kid end the ten years of frustration that we have had at the QB position.

[ajzepp]

IMO, that's exactly why QBs need time to develop....they need to adjust to the speed of the game and develop a comfort level with all that goes on before they can begin to manage things effectively.

[DanInSouthBuffalo]

The other troubling aspect of his game is his lack of accuracy.  When Aiken was wide open for a TD, JP threw the ball out of bounds.  When the Bills called the quick pass to the wide out, JP threw it into the turf.  It seems as though his accuracy has not improved from last year.

 

742579[/snapback]

 

I heard both Vic Carrucci and Steve Tasker on seperate occasions the other night talk about another aspect of Losman's passing; his touch on the football. A couple of times early he threw it WAY too hard and then later he had a couple of throws that seemed like he was trying to put too much "touch" on it. Those passes barely made it to the receiver.

[zow2]

I pretty much agree with you. Some people here think i hate JP. I don't. I want him to succeed and be a great QB on my favorite team. There are glimpses that he can play. He can hit the wide open WR pretty well. However, he can't yet throw a touch pass over the outstretched arms of a LB and he can't consistently throw accurate passes into a tight spot. He simply has to get better on 3rd downs to keep drives going. I'm tired of hearing excuses about our O-Line. Either a QB "has it" or he doesn't. We'll see this season for sure because JP is the MAN for now.

[Catholic Guilt]

UGH here we go again...

 

I watched the game on our local Carolina station and former quarterback Steve Buerelin was raving about Losman and his play making abilities in the third quarter.

 

I was at the game. The kid is going to do well. He JUST NEEDS TIME TO PLAY!

[ajzepp]

UGH here we go again...

 

I watched the game on our local Carolina station and former quarterback Steve Buerelin was raving about Losman and his play making abilities in the third quarter.

 

I was at the game. The kid is going to do well. He JUST NEEDS TIME TO PLAY!

742607[/snapback]

 

exactly. the one thing that you hear almost every NFL PLAYER say, not just qb's, is that the biggest adjustment they have to make is to the speed of the pro game. It's a HUGE jump over that of college ball, and it takes a little time for things to slow down.

[Gary M]

UGH here we go again...

 

I watched the game on our local Carolina station and former quarterback Steve Buerelin was raving about Losman and his play making abilities in the third quarter.

 

I was at the game. The kid is going to do well. He JUST NEEDS TIME TO PLAY!

742607[/snapback]

 

Steve Buerelin, Sam Wyche Ron Jaworski , what do they know.

[Wraith]

Two points:

 

On both of the delay of game plays (or near delay of game as it was in one case) Losman broke the huddle with less than ten seconds left on the clock. This is indicative of a problem, but with the play callers, not Losman. Now, a more seasoned quarterback might have been able to read the defense with one eye on the play clock, true. But I wouldn't put the blame on him alone.

 

Secondly, it's hard to find fault with J.P.'s "touch" or accuracy on the deep ball, as anyone who's been to camp this year can attest that is what he does best. If that word of mouth evidence isn't enough for you, simply look to last year's Texan's game, Kansas City game, or Miami game. He showed over and over again that he can hit people in stride, through tight spaces, deep.

 

He missed one deep receiver by a very small margin last night and people are overreacting.

[cantankerous]

Wraith...are you forgetting all the passes where he overthrew receivers deep last year? How he could rarely hit his receivers on simple out patterns...by throwing it way out of bounds?

 

I see the same thing so far this pre-season and from all the notes from training camp. He needs to learn when to throw rockets and when to throw it with touch. When your receiver is 5-10 yards away you don't give them much of a chance if it's a 100mph fastball.

[Peter]

Two points:

 

On both of the delay of game plays (or near delay of game as it was in one case) Losman broke the huddle with less than ten seconds left on the clock. This is indicative of a problem, but with the play callers, not Losman. Now, a more seasoned quarterback might have been able to read the defense with one eye on the play clock, true. But I wouldn't put the blame on him alone.

 

Secondly, it's hard to find fault with J.P.'s "touch" or accuracy on the deep ball, as anyone who's been to camp this year can attest that is what he does best. If that word of mouth evidence isn't enough for you, simply look to last year's Texan's game, Kansas City game, or Miami game. He showed over and over again that he can hit people in stride, through tight spaces, deep.

 

He missed one deep receiver by a very small margin last night and people are overreacting.

742633[/snapback]

 

1. All he had to do was call time out. He is the QB not Shaud Williams. He was not paying attention - probably because he has so much else swimming through his head right now.

 

2. Accuracy is not his strong suit. At least not yet. I really hope that changes.

[Rubes]

I don't know...I remember a nice pass where he dropped it right over one defender and in front of another one. He wasn't gunning it...very nice touch.

 

I think he can really be a good QB, he just needs to get comfortable in the pocket. Sometimes he is, sometimes he isn't.

[Dibs]

.....He needs to learn when to throw rockets and when to throw it with touch. When your receiver is 5-10 yards away you don't give them much of a chance if it's a 100mph fastball.

742636[/snapback]

I'm not saying JP is the new Elway but....

Wasn't what you wrote above 'the' big knock on Elway for years & years?

What difference does it make?

He is a young QB learning how to play NFL football.

He will not be perfect(or even good) in every aspect of QBing....hell, not even the greats were perfect in every aspect.

If he improves in enough areas, he can still be a top QB & you might still be saying..."He needs to learn when to throw rockets" or he needs to become more accurate etc.

[Pyrite Gal]

I saw specific improvement in JPs play over last year (not a big achievement since last year's play was so bad) and also specific improvement in his game over the course of the game last night which was reflected in better production from him and I think looked like an improvement larger than the benefit gained because Caeolina was going down in talent as the progressed to their 3rd string and beyond.

 

The big improvement I saw over last year was that JP was reluctant to hang out in the pocket to the extent that some folks accused him of having a case of happy feet. While I do not think he had this problem the way that Todd Collins had this problem (TC seemed was so afraid of getting hit he bailed out to early and never got settled to throw). JP instead I think had a mixture of good escapbility. a desire to make big plays, a habit of running for his life behind a horrid Tulane line and actually a pretty good sense of the pocket.

 

These factors combined last year to have him bail out not to defend himself but instead as he kept trying to make plays on his own.

 

Yesterday, I think you saw a JP who hung in the pocket pretty well. Sometimes he took a sack he might not have taken last year because he would be long gone, but there also were positive cases which saw him hang in there and like on one of his long passes to Aiken give the WR an extra second to get open and he hit him long. Perhaps the play which impressed me the most was where JP combined his pocket awareness with hanging in there as a Carolina DE was bearing down on him for what I thought was gonna be a sack, he merely stepped up a little and still through the pass for a completion/

 

You could see how he was hanging in there as on several plays it looked like he was gonna be sacked but he unleashed his escapability and avoided a sack on several plays when opponents originally had their paws on him.

 

I suspect this aspect of his play will get better unless he gets sacked in a way that puts the fear of getting tackled in him. However. i suspect that out OL will actually do better pass pro as the FA vets acquired develop some chemistry with the 3 folks who finished last season.

 

I also saw a specific improvement in his play over the course of the game which coincided with far better performance of the O as the game went on. Again specifically, he threw a few wildly off passes early on, but his accuracy improved a great deal in the secoond half. I think this was simply due to him calming down a little bit.

 

One hopes these were simply first game of the season jutters and this problem will not reappear, but overall though I think JP will still need some work and experience before he is adequate or good QB, I was impressed with the specific development I saw compared to last season and over the course of the game.

 

I think there will also be further improvement as this team gets used to working the new playbook and JP develops more chemisty with the receivers.

 

I think the key for the Bills getting Ws this year is actually not going to be whether JP becomes outstanding over even good (I simply doubt he will achieve these levels until he gets another season of experience at least). I think the Ws will come if the Bills O scheme is such that they can win games with merely adequate play from their QB (which I think is the max JP can produce this year). We have the right tools:

 

1. Speedy receivers who should exploit teams when the players get one-on-one and the QB reads this coverage.

 

2. A vet OL which is better than last year's starters and as they develop some chemistry should be much better, the problem is that after these starters the backups are unproven at best.

 

3. A productibe runner who also can be a receiving threat as checking down when the other team is covering deep should lead to some good RAC for a good runner.

 

4. Very good play design and play calling as Fairchild will need to design plays which allow the speed receivers to get quick seaparation by running slants and also nice creosses where we set picks we do not get called for.

 

Its gonna be difficult to make all these pieces work but all the pieces are there.

[HurlyBurly51]

2.  Accuracy is not his strong suit.  At least not yet.  I really hope that changes.

742637[/snapback]

 

 

I'll take 63% completion percentage any day of the week. And yes, I saw "some" passes were off target, but I also saw some drops, and I also saw some other nice passes he placed right in between defenders. He's made progress.

[Pete]

Disclaimer: Peter is a huge Drew Bledsoe fan

[ajzepp]

Disclaimer:  Peter is a huge Drew Bledsoe fan 

742720[/snapback]

 

GET THE TORCHES!!!!!

[richNjoisy]

1. Speedy receivers who should exploit teams when the players get one-on-one and the QB reads this coverage.

 

2. A vet OL which is better than last year's starters and as they develop some chemistry should be much better, the problem is that after these starters the backups are unproven at best.

 

3. A productibe runner who also can be a receiving threat as checking down when the other team is covering deep should lead to some good RAC for a good runner.

 

4. Very good play design and play calling as Fairchild will need to design plays which allow the speed receivers to get quick seaparation by running slants and also nice creosses where we set picks we do not get called for.

 

Its gonna be difficult to make all these pieces work but all the pieces are there.

742698[/snapback]

 

Pyrite - don't you think it would have helped JP if McGahee and Evans were in the game for his time on the field?

 

I will be at this Friday's game (coming up from Joisy)

 

Go JP!

 

-RnJ

[keepthefaith]

Pyrite - don't you think it would have helped JP if McGahee and Evans were in the game for his time on the field?

 

I will be at this Friday's game (coming up from Joisy)

 

Go JP!

 

-RnJ

742818[/snapback]

 

McGahee, no. Right now Lionel Gates is the best RB on this team. Willis needs to get his butt in gear. He looked indecisive again and did not show the 2nd effort that Gates showed and Gates looks quicker.

 

If JP picks up where he left off in the Carolina Game he shjould do well.

[1billsfan]

I am not pro JP or anti JP.  I do really hope that he turns out to be worth the investment that we have in him. 

 

It seems to me that the game is just too fast for him at this stage of his career or the corollary of that -- he is thinking too much. 

 

An example of this that I noticed watching the replay of the game on the NFL Network was when the Bills almost got a delay of game penalty.  He did not even notice.  I believe it was Shaud Williams who had to call the time out.  Perhaps JP has got so much swimming around in his head at this point in his career that the position is not as instinctive for him at this level.

 

Part of this may be explained by his lack of experience. Perhaps with experience, he will be able to work through this and, as a result, the game and his reads will become more instinctive.

 

The other troubling aspect of his game is his lack of accuracy.  When Aiken was wide open for a TD, JP threw the ball out of bounds.  When the Bills called the quick pass to the wide out, JP threw it into the turf.  It seems as though his accuracy has not improved from last year.

 

I never saw the guy play in college so I have no idea if this is indicative of his college career.  I just hope that he can work through this and be the kind of QB many of you are convinced he can be.

 

As of now, I think that the best that we can expect at the QB position is that whoever does start does not lose us any games.  I really hope that one of the three QBs will emerge as a real threat and be able to take advantage of the weapons that we have at WR and cause the opposing defenses to not commit eight guys to the box as they did most of the time last year. 

 

Otherwise, it is going to be a very long and frustrating season.

 

With any luck, we will see improvement each week during the preseason and in the regular season.  I really would like to see the kid end the ten years of frustration that we have had at the QB position.

742579[/snapback]

 

It's funny that you mentioned thinking the game is too fast for JP. Yesterday the NFL Sirius radio talk show guys thought that JP was too fast for the game and that he just needs to calm down (something I agree with). Maybe he is making an effort too settle down resulting in the delay of game mistakes. Remember, it was the first preseaon game and the dude did lead us to three scoring drives making positive plays in the process.

[MDH]

I'll take 63% completion percentage any day of the week.  And yes, I saw "some" passes were off target, but I also saw some drops, and I also saw some other nice passes he placed right in between defenders.  He's made progress.

742717[/snapback]

 

Apparently some people think that other QBs always hit open receivers and that their 60-65% completion percentage is achieved because the opposing teams DBs have lots of breakups with skin-tight coverage..