Holcomb Wasn't Cut

[BillsCelticsAngelsBama]

Claim Omar Jacobs on waivers and cut Holcomb !!

[Pyrite Gal]

The dirty little secret here is that not only is Holcomb the second best QB on this team, but there is actually some reason in thunking he may be a good back-up for this team.

 

He clearly demonstrated that there is no way in the world he could be an adequate starter for this team. But who out there is shocked about that. In 10 years of play he never proved to be a consistent enough player to be designated the starter for any of the teams he played with.

 

He had inherited the starter role due to injury or failed play by the guy who beat him out and actually played quite well in a few of these episodes. However, even with these performances which raised hopes he never put it all together and everuone in the league knows this.

 

He was #1 on our roster when camp began but mosy assumed that the job was JPs but he had to earn it with his play. Ultimately he did show enough episodically strong play and at least the ability to learn from the mistakes he made early in pre-season and though he uis still far from perfect the great episodes like the passes to Peerless and the greater command an calmness he showed later in camp compared to the occaisional panic reactions early in camp gives some legitimate hope that he may well develop into at least an adequate QB during this season.

 

Holcomb actually was surprisingly bad in his production early in camp IMHO. I did not doubt that JP would win the starting job, but from what I saw and heard of what a Fairchild led O was likely to be it seemed to fit a lot of Holcomb's likely strengths and did not call for him to perform a lot in areas of weakest play.

 

By this I mean that many seem to assume that because an offense which many would call Rams East eas going to call a lot of passing plays that this meant the QB would consistently need to throw deep.. I think this is a false assimption as the Bills have a bunch of speedy receivers not because they are going to run deep patterns early and often, but because a Rams style offense relies more on run after the catch.

 

The trick for Fairchild is to design intrixate patterns with crosses and slants which allow the speedy receiver to get quick separation from the DB or pick off the DB without getting called for offensive pass interference.

 

The primary job of the QB will be to make solid reads and identify which receivers will be isolated in one on one coverage or run a pattern which gets them quick separation and actually throws a relatively short pass to that receiver which turns into a big gain. With 10 years of seeing plays from the sideline and over the center' shoulders, KH should have been well prepared to do these reads/.

 

In addition, the talk on TSW went so far as to label KH a ragarm.

 

Clearly a strong arm is not one of JH's stromgest suits. No one would mistake him for having a rocket arm. However, he is an NFL QB and no one should mistake him for Billy Kilmer or a true ragarm either. I do not think that KH can throw the ball long with consistency accuracy and stremgth. However, the Bills O though probably pass-happy should not call on him to do this. Instead, the Bills O if based on a St. L model will use the long bomb occaisionally to set up the plethora of short passes which make the offense work so well.

 

If anythinf, the key to the offense will be whether McGahee can do enough to play a reduced version of the Marshall Faulk role of being a great checkdonw guy who can perform the RAC game.

 

Many folks hate KH because of his overreliance on the checkdown, but if our O works well, doing good reads to determine the opponents are playing centerfield so the RAC will not be there and instead throwing the ball quickly to the checkdown receiver will make our O score a bunch of points like St. L.

 

Even better for KH if you want to insist he is a rag arm, the long passes even when thrown will not require a powerful arm. As with the TD to Peerless where JP simply arced the ball downfield instead of throwing a frozen rope and PP ran under it or Davis TD where he actully caught a relatively short pass and thne outsprinted the coverage are the type of long passes we will use to back off the opponents and force them into zones or cover 2s.

 

Yet, I was amazed at hoe bad KH was in the intiail and ongoing practices and in the first three pre-season games. Even though the Fairchild O should have lent themselves to KH's stremgths amd weakenesses he simply sucked making hirrible reads like the one on his INT returned for a TD in the first pre-season game.

 

Once nall got hurt and essentially missed the first couple of weeks, there wa no way he was going to seriously compete for the starting job unless JP really sucked and he still played lights ou against the scrubsin the last two pre-season games. However, JP fortunately showed enough to win the job amd KH sucked so bad that Nall has a real shot at the #2 job if he played well.

 

However, Nall was simply inconsistent as is his good plays for TDs teamed with bad plays giveing the other team INYs. In addition, though he was quite inventive and exciting in getting the ball off when being sacked, it was like the old Brett Favre playing in the current Brett Favre body. The mind conceives of neat plays but the body and talent level is not there to always pull them off.

 

A big part of the reason why i think KH is still #2 on the depth chart is that he finally showed play against the Lions which may well indicate he now gets it. He may not so by all means keep practicing Nall and try to see how he plays when a little calmer and not trying to do 4 games worth of productiopn in two games.

 

However, if KH's performance against a bunch of Lion reserves is a true sign that he gets it now and can perform up a level that his eposodically good but not good enough to be a strater allows, then he actually is amd can be a fome back-up QB to have.

[Kelly the Dog]

As far as I can see, Jauron still has Holcomb listed #2 on the depth chart, and it was updated yesterday, and he may stay there a little while. I really am not sure what we have in Nall, but if Losman goes down I do know I don't want to go into or through the season with Craig Nall and Joe Nobody as my QBs.

[Larry Playfair]

As far as I can see, Jauron still has Holcomb listed #2 on the depth chart, and it was updated yesterday, and he may stay there a little while. I really am not sure what we have in Nall, but if Losman goes down I do know I don't want to go into or through the season with Craig Nall and Joe Nobody as my QBs.

760459[/snapback]

 

exactly, and losman will go down (as most QB's do) especially with our o line and his tendency to hold the ball too long. Not a knock on JP, he will improve and so will our o line, but for now we need a QB who has experience to step in. This isnt arena football. Holcomb was signed for this very reason, and he will provide quality backup play.