Orton's Arm

Or maybe the coaches had zero confidence in the offensive line's ability to pass protect long enough for someone to get open downfield.

The last major injury to a NE starting QB resulted in the Bills trading a first round pick for Bledsoe. Be careful what you wish for . . .

Holcomb also knows a few things about short dump passes, and McGahee has the talent to run for over 200 yards as well. I'm not saying the Bills will win, just that with an offensive line this offense would be good.

Something tells me the Pats will use this game as an opportunity to get back on track. Giving Belichick two weeks to prepare is not a comforting thought.

Something tells me Eric Moulds knows a thing or two about which QB is better.

I see by your sig that when life gives you lemons you should throw them at people. My offensive line has been giving me enough lemons to feed a Third World country. Yes, I am fatigued!

Every QB except Losman.

I'm not going to excuse that fumbled snap, which was clearly Holcomb's worst play of the game. But the sack wasn't as black and white. The first group of defenders came in practically as soon as the ball was snapped. Had Holcomb tried throwing it then chances are good the ball would have been stripped. Instead, he evaded that group of defenders. I believe he was still inside the tackle box at that point, so simply throwing the ball to the sidelines wasn't an option. He seemed to take a brief second to look for the dumpoff option or something, which is when the second wave of defenders came for the sack. Clearly he would have been better off rolling out to either his right or his left and throwing the ball away. But it looked like both the right and the left were blocked off by defenders.

Without an offensive line, your team isn't going to complete many deep passes. Rob Johnson played without pass protection, and he'd take the sack while waiting for the deep throw to open up. Holcomb also plays without an offensive line. But when he takes the dump-off option instead of the sack, people complain that he's not going deep. On that badly underthrown pass to Moulds, Holcomb was hit as he threw. Yesterday Holcomb was hit practically every time he dropped back to pass. Many QBs would have responded by becoming rattled and throwing interceptions. Holcomb didn't. His 70% completion percentage is a testimony to his coolness when everything around him was going to pieces.

I have serious doubts about JP's ability to be the QB of the future. He hasn't shown the flashes of brilliance you'd expect. As for Holcomb, he completed over 70% of his passes today. Not bad for a guy who's only started 16 games, who played today without a running game or an offensive line, who only got introduced to the Mike Mularkey/Tom Clements offense a few months ago, and who got only a small share of the reps in all those training camps and practices.

Drew led his team's offense to 10 points, compared to Holcomb's 17. The difference was that Dallas's defenders were physically present during their game. That's more than can be said about the Bills' defense or their offensive line.

Amen to this! I strongly preferred our former flexible 3-4 alignment to the Williams/Gray 46 defense. When TD first took over, the final round of interviews consisted of four candidates. All four were mistakes because all four were from the defensive side of the ball. Why replace Buffalo's existing defensive scheme? It was clearly the offensive and special teams coaching--not to mention player selection--that was to blame for the problems of the Wade Philips era.

He was punished because--at least up to this point--he has done nothing to show he can play.

Holcomb didn't play as well today as he did his first two starts. Even so, he completed over 70% of his passes, and had 1 TD and 0 INTs. The offense scored 17 points despite a very quiet day by Willis. Had our defense played well, we would have won 17-14 or something.

Funny.

I hate the New Englad Patriots. I hate the way they always beat the Bills. I hate how the announcers constantly talk about how great everyone in that organization is, and how brilliant all the organization's moves are. But when Bruschi suffered his stoke in the first place, I was unhappy. I wanted the Patriots organization to be taken down a notch, but not in that way. Bruschi is exactly the kind of player the Bills need more of. He's a tough competitor who plays with a ton of heart. He took a lowball contract from NE, not only to stay with the organization, but also to give it salary cap room to sign other players. So he's unselfish. Now it appears that he is completely healthy, and that he will once again have the chance to pursue his lifelong dream. I don't begrudge him that, even though it helps the team I hate the most.

Just because a dozen men and women were misled by Johnny Cochran's racial stuff doesn't mean O.J. didn't commit murder. O.J. once said (not an exact quote) "I didn't do it; and I want that understood before we go any further. But if I did do it, it was because I loved her too much."

Thus far, Holcomb has had a high completion percentage but a low yardage total; so you're correct in saying his production here in Buffalo has been average. But Holcomb has had big yardage days with Cleveland, and I feel he can do the same in Buffalo given more aggressive playcalling. Look at what's been expended on the QB position in an effort to replace Kelly. A 2nd round pick on Todd Collins. A 3rd rounder on Billy Joe Hobart. A first and fourth rounder on Rob Johnson. A first rounder for Drew Bledsoe. Picks in the first, second, and fifth rounds for J.P. Losman. If the other areas of the team are worse than last year, maybe it's because of all the investments at the QB position. Where would we be right now if we'd have invested the Losman first rounder on a DT, the second round Losman pick on an offensive left guard, and the fifth round pick on a backup right offensive tackle?

I like this post, because it doesn't automatically pigeonhole Holcomb into the journeyman/quick fix category; as so many people seem to do. Holcomb has been absolutely dominant in some of his games with Cleveland; and with the Bills he has played smart, sound football. People talk as though Losman's development is more important than Holcomb's, on the assumption that Losman has the bigger upside. How can we be sure this is true? A QB's upside is based on his intelligence, his field awareness, and his heart. Holcomb has shown all three traits; as well as a Kelly-esque coolness under pressure. I'm tired of the QB roller coaster we've been on ever since Kelly retired. Collins, Hobart, Johnson, Flutie, Bledsoe, and then Losman. Finally we've found a QB who actually looks like a QB; and who--unlike Johnson or Bledsoe--doesn't need a lot of pass protection in order to produce. Unlike Flutie, Holcomb is young enough that we can build around him the next few years. Let Losman be or trade him away, and focus on improving the offensive line and the defense.

The Bills have a choice to make. On the one hand, they can go with the guy who has the big arm to make downfield plays. On the other, they can choose a guy who doesn't have the same arm strength, but is more aware of where his receivers are, is more accurate on the short and imtermediate passes, and is quicker at getting rid of the ball. Faced with the same decision, Bill Belichick chose Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe.

Drew is a good guy, and I wish him the best. But he isn't the right QB for Buffalo. Holcomb is much better able to sense pressure and get rid of the ball quickly than Drew. His rating was over 80 today and over 100 last week. If Holcomb can continue those kinds of numbers, he'll be our Drew Brees; with Losman being our Philip Rivers.

Now if only we could play that well against NE in two weeks . . .

IIRC, it was 3rd down. Throwing it away is tantamount to giving up on the TD and settling for the FG. Instead, Holcomb chose to throw it to a guy who was a few yards back. If the defender makes the tackle, the field goal is still a chip shot. If the receiver puts a spin move on the defender or something and breaks the tackle, it's a TD.

I know, but in this case the media are clearly mistaken. I can only speak for myself, but if I was a member of the Cleveland defense, I would have felt inspired by being in a playoff game, and by the fact that my team's QB threw for 3 TDs and over 400 yards against the Steelers' defense.

Then why do it? In one of Holcomb's losses, he had 3 TD passes and over 400 yards. But the defense allowed over 50 points. Should the members of the defense be able to get away with saying, "We attribute our defensive meltdown to the quarterback's failure to provide us with sufficient inspiration and leadership."?