Tonight's QB performance doesn't change things

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

From my perspective you start Losman when he is ready to start and it helps develop him as our QB of the future.

 

Bench Bledsoe or don't bench Bledsoe matters in terms of short-term benefit of not having to bear watching Bledsoe struggle. However, as a Bills fan, the long-term future of my team and the development of our QB of the future is so much more important than my not wanting to watch Bledsoe as a fan it isn't even close.

 

I really doubt you start Losman next week because it seems more like the Todd Collins development stratery of handling him rather than the Chad Pennington/Michael Vick development strategies successfully used by NYJ and ATL. JP is a different player than either Vick (less talented than Vick) or Pennington (about the same level of talent) so the Bills should not follow in lockstep the approach taken with another player. However, though subbing in Foxboro as a mop-up is not a true showing of Losman's talents, i think his play tonight gives some indication that he needs a bit more work to be ready to maximize his learning in game situations.

 

These are among the items I would consider before starting JP:

 

1. It was great to see him tonight because this was a true sign that he has recovere from his injury. However, as JP himself said in interviews that the leg still hurt him more than he wanted but the adrenalin of playing in the game made him not feel or worry about the pain. The docs get the first call in my mind as to wether JP should start even if the braintrust judges that to be the best thing for him to do. If the injury site swells in any significant manner, if his range of motion is limited by pain after playing tonight, Isit him next week. I'm still interested in getting him some time in mop-up duty if Bledsoe goes south again (or heck if we somehow blow-out STL) but if his recovery raises any questions I am more interested in playing Shane Matthews than playing JP if I want to sit Bledsoe.

 

2. How did his reads look to Wyche- One of the problems for all rookie QBs is making pro reads of NFL defenses. Losman obviously had some issues doing this as seen by the INT. If he expresses any confusion in debriefing what he saw or the players who played with him report any confusion or lack of communication with them then back to the drawing board and do not start him.

 

3. Look at his mechanics in detail- One of the better things about having this be his first game is that running for his life against NE should provide some good examples of any bad mechanics which have survived moving from Tulane to the pros. Assessment needs to be done as to whether he profits more from time on the practice field and repetitively throwing the ball the same way to work on his mechanics or whether he profits more from game conditions.

 

All in all, I doubt JP is ready and if anything it will take a couple of days to see how the break responds to seeing game action and to assess his performance and how best to continue his development.

 

They never should have reinked a deal with Bledsoe or should have gotten a more seasoned back-up for him once they did. however, this is all hindsight now and it must all be about whether JP develops better on the bench or playing/ This question is far from the straight-forward easy answer folks seem to want to give as JP has a lot more to learn than simply playing will give him and actually playing before he is ready can do his developmemt more harm than good.

[AirBledsoe11]

J.P. back on the bench next week where he belongs at this point....