Dan

cut him! he sucks!

Thanks for the excellent post in response. And I do agree with many of the statements. And it is refreshing to see you say... "The the only way JP Losman could possibly deserve to be benched this season would be for him to reprise his performance of last season over multiple games. No one game could do it, in my mind, and personally I don't see any sign of that happening at this point." I do agree that there seems to be far many more short passes then perhaps we'd like. However, I think it may be 2-fold on the caoches part. (1) It certainly helps JP gain completions and consequently confidence. Seeing him constantly in 5-7 drops last year and looking down field was abissmal. However, (2) I think the coaches are also effectively masking our inferior OL with the play calling as well (and perhaps even more so). There's very few occasions it seems to me that JP drops back and has a true pocket from which to scan the field, complete with passing lanes. More often, he seems to drop back and have 2-3 seconds before he has to either scramble around a bit and throw or just throw out right. So, I think the short passing game is helping both JP and the OL mature. And, quite, honestly, I applaud these coaches for designing game plans that we can execute, rather than try to force us to do something our players are incapable of. The one thing I have noticed regarding JP is he doesn't seem to dump it off to Willis enough. I've seen on numerous plays (granted, I have no idea how many nor have I really analyzed it or anything) where Willis releases out of the back field and turns around in front of the line maybe 3-5 yards down field. And JP throws elsewhere. Granted usually for a completion at about the first down marker (so I'm not too upset about the eventual result); but is he just not seeing him? I can't help but think that Willis could break some of those for big gains. Perhaps just wishful thinking. JP has definitely improved and continues to. (As has our OL) Which at this point in the season is all I had hoped for back in the off season.

Definitely makes you appreciate the cleanliness of this board. I agree.

Agreed. Keep the old format. Film it whenever and air it later that night or all day on Monday under a different name. But that was and is, by far the best highlight show. Sure Berman could get a little over board. But, at least they showed all the games and actually commented on them. As opposed to making stupid jokes back and forth and competing with each other to see who can come up with the lamest segment that has nothing to do with the games that were played. Prior to me getting Sunday NFL ticket, there was a long time when Primetime was just about the only way I saw any Bills action. I can't imagine what it would be like today without NFL ticket.

Having recorded the game and watched the play (I'm loving the new DVR! That's to those who offered advice on the installation). The Viking guy does "appear" to call fair catch. I initially thought no way. Now granted, it was about as piss poor of a fair catch signal as there could be. My initial thought was that he was pointing to blockers. But, upon review, he did look up and then raise his right arm following by a Sabanesque wave. However, after that - he made ZERO attempt to actually catch the ball. He dropped his head and ran forward watching #25 catch the ball. Now is that interferring with the fair catch? I don't know the rule there. I also don't know the rule regarding signalling for a fair catch. I thouht there were times when guys did it and then got hit, but the ref said he didn't signal properly?? I'm not sure. Definitely, the flag came late. If there ever was one. I never saw one on the field. It wasn't for several moments before they showed the refs huddled and discussing it. However, as the Bills are running off the field with the ball, the refs can be see in the background beginning to discuss. So, they did discuss it within seconds of the Bills getting up with the ball. So, it does appear to be a penalty and the refs seem to catch it on their own with little input from the Vikes. Darn it.

Ok, perhaps I've extrapolated from you comments. Those exact words have not been written by your hand. For implying you did, I apologize. However... You have yet to say a single postive thing about JP without qualifying it. Lets take the original post here, as an example. First, you acknowledge that his accuracy has increased, but then immediately follow it to say, it's because of WR screens and screen passes, which the Bills do so "almost unusually". It's these type of back handed compliments that lead everyone to suggest you have a crusade against JP. I think everyone would agree that JP has a long way to go, but would it be so terrible to just say... JP played a good game yesterday. I saw HA do it in a post yesterday. And I commend him for that. That's all there is to it, a simple job well done. JP is not the best, but he's certainly not the worst either. I think, in fact, many statistical categories this year would put him in the "good" category. That's not to say he doesn't have a long way to go, but again... he played a "good" game yesterday.. and it seems that cannot be said (by some) unless its followed up by a ..but. Look at all other starting QBs yesterday; JP played on par with most of them. And in the end, the Bills won because of it. I think that deserves a compliment without reservation. For at least one week. I don't suggest you annoint the next Brady. But to read your posts, you seem to think the Bills would be better off without him. So, lets cut to the chase. We both agree JP needs to improve. I think he is showing weekly improvement, and is unquestionably te starter for the rest of this year and at least another 2-3 years. Would you agree with that? (Borrowing some collosal collapse of course).

To be sure, that was not a greatly thrown ball. However, if the ball is properly thrown, Peerless is probably tackled. The defender was right there and it seemed to me the only reason Price got by him was because he was down on the ground. Then many of the defensive players let up for a second, thinking he may have been down by contact. So, not a great pass, but great effort by price led to a touchdown. Had the pass been thrown properly, the entire dynamic of the play changes and we likely don't score. All in all, I'll take the poor pass on that play and the touch down. I'm not saying all passes should be poor, or that JP even gets a good job on that play. All I'm saying is that the game is more than just one player. Sometimes a good receiver can make a QB look better. That play exemplifies that fact. But, after all is said and done, we're nit picking one pass. Can you honestly say JP didn't look like an NFL QB yesterday? He's progressed so little that we should draft a new QB?

Agreed. I win against Chicago would be nothing short of miraculous. It's nice to hope, but nonsensical to think we'll actually win. I'll be happy with competitive.

I do agree he has the talent. But, you can't expect perfection from him. Willis, like most of the team is relatively young. So, they're gonna make mistakes. I think you have to expect that. Although, I'm not a big fan of the OL; I thought they did a commendable job against a big DL. I thought going into the game, Willis would be lucky to have 50 yrds rushing. So, altough not stellar, I'd give them a passing grade for the game,

That's what I noticed too.

True. But at least it was there. Progress, that's what I saw.

Willis seemed to excel in his blitz pick ups.

Correct. But you know there'll be those posts coming... and they won't be kidding. All in all.. this was a great game for Losman, McGehee and the rest of the offense. They're definitely making progress in all the right areas.

Agreed!!

Sure he won in a mistake-free game; but he still didn't drive the length of the field in the final 50 seconds to win. I know, I know we weren't losing. But he still needs to drive the length of the field. Oh yeah, and his yards per pass was too low for an elite QB. And Willis! Sure he picked up some blitz and finally scored a TD. But it took him till week 4 to do it AND is YPC sucked! When will he ever prove something!? (sorry, just couldn't resist)

One big difference between the Mannings, Favres, Brees, et al. and Leaf, Mire, and others (including Losman) - The first set was given time to develop; the second group was not. IMO, the most important thing for a young QB is for him to get on the field and be the starter, with no one in the wings, and a season or 2 to develop. Very few, very few QBs have ever looked good when they were on a team that was inconsisten, then they're given 1 or 2 starts before the #2 guys starts. Pulling a young QB in and out of the is the worst thing a coach can ever do. Not only does it shoot his confidence, but it also shoots the teams confidence in him. Consequently, give Losman a full year or 2 as starter with no looking over his shoulder and then (and only then) will you know if he's an NFL starting QB. To the idiots that say he's never shown anything to prove he's an NFL caliber QB... well, I can only assume you've never actually watched a game of football. Because those statements are completely moronic. Drafting another rookie QB would still mean a minimum of 2-3 years watching him develop before we knew we had a "stud" QB. So, now you want to start the search all over again? Although I suspect if we would have drafted Cutler (for ex) you'd already be screaming for his replacement, because he'd be playing pretty bad with only 3 starts as well. When does it end? Because we'll never find a QB that plays 100% perfect all the time. You actually mean to suggest that great QB's never took a safety or made a bad play? Is Favre is so great that he's never made a bad throw, gotten intercepted, or ever done anything that could possible be construed as a bad play? Let me guess, all those interceptions are receivers running bad routes. Please. Bottomline, Losman has shown that he can play. All he needs is a little time to develop. Only then will we know if he can truly succeed or not.

As much as like Whitner and think it was a far better pick than anyone imagined, Mangold wouldn't have been a bad pick either, IMO. I agree he may not be contributing much this year, but a good center for the future would be nice. Stiill, no sense crying over spilt milk. What's done was done and now all we should do is move forward and be thankful for what we have. And what we have is the NFL Rookie of the Month. I'd say that's pretty darn good!

I thought it was a small town in southern California (kinda east of LA).

Regardless of all his INTs and all, and the fact thatyou don't want to hear his name called; you still expect him to tackle the ball carrier when they run right by him! It's almost as though he's afraid to get hit.

Exactly. Last year a different QB throws a pass short of the first time. This year, JP makes the score happen. They really don't show the receivers working down field on TV, but my guess is they were doing sh--. Because on quite a few drop backs JP actually had time and scrambled around only to find nothing. Absolutely nothing. On that play, JP look determined to get the score and the spike and walk off the field looked like a guy frustrated that no one could get open, yet determined to get a score. Excellent play. And again, more progress for our young team and QB.

Peyton scored for the Colts on nearly the exact play. First we want Losman to be more mobile, then we want him to throw more, then we want him to hand it off to Willis, no Willis sucks - give it to AT, pound it out, but don't be predictable, JP needs to throw it away, JP needs to make plays, yada yada yada.... when does it all end?

You're right there. And if he does keep playing like this, I'll pitch in to pay for his moving expenses.

Exactly. That sums the game up perfectly.

I saw it and thought the same thing. Why did he run directly into the blocker?

He's done nothing, IMO. Perhaps no big catches against him, but they're really not throwing to his side either. But, he's definitely sucking it up in run support and tackling in general. Plus where's the self-proclaimed playmaker on all these short passes? He's backing up so no one beats him long. Meanwhile, the receiver catches it shorts and moves the chains. If he keeps this play up all season, he'll definitely be a Bill next year; because no one will pay big money him.