On a slow news day read about JP

[RVJ]

The end is nigh for an NFL legend. The 2004/05 season is

officially over and as has happened seemingly every year

this century, the talk about Brett Favre’s retirement

has begun. If the great man does in fact choose to hang

his boots up one last time in a few months and retire to

a quiet life with his family and fishing rod (at least

until the moment when he will be forced to re-enter the

spotlight briefly as he accepts his entry into the Hall

of Fame in his first year of eligibility) who, out of

the numerous passers out there will be stepping up to

the plate and inheriting Number 4’s title of: Most

Exciting Quarterback in Football?

 

 

There are many quarterbacks in the league right now who

are exciting to watch in one way or another. Manning

(Peyton) is a passing robot, a picture of cerebral

fluidity who can slice defenses to ribbons whilst

posting numbers that could make even the toughest

defensive co-coordinator cry into his cup of Gatorade,

at least until his joints freeze up during his annual

post season game in New England, causing him to look

more like the pre-oiled Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.

Unfortunately he has neither the charm nor the charisma

(on the field or off) to get this award. Besides,

Manning is too methodical to be improvisational (a key

skill needed to be termed truly exciting). If a play

breaks down and his receivers are held in check, Manning

will more likely than not throw the ball into coverage

or sling it out of bounds. If Manning had the ability to

be truly spontaneous he might have found a way to beat

the Patriots in the last couple of years.

 

Tom Brady, like the entire Patriots’ offense has been

labeled as efficient but boring, but in actual fact it

is his sheer effortless efficiency that makes him so

good to watch. No glitz, no jiving, just business. But

still, he doesn’t take your breath away, making you

wonder what you just saw happen and what might happen

next.

 

I could name numerous other great quarterbacks in this

league who are enjoyable to watch for varying reasons,

but it would be a waste of time, as the obvious winner

of Most Exciting Quarterback in the Football should, you

are probably screaming, go to a guy named Vick.

 

But, in true pedantic style, I am going to disqualify

young Michael from this debate, as for all his star

power and athletic ability; he still is a quarterback in

name only. Watch a highlight reel of Michael Vick and,

as exciting as it is, 99% of the clips will consist of

SCRAMBLES. When Vick gets his passing to take up at

least 40% of that footage, we’ll start calling him a

quarterback.

 

And besides, if I automatically gave the title to Sick

Vick there would be no way I could write the rest of

this article with a straight face (based as it is in

blind optimistic Buffalo Bill faith), and that just

wouldn’t be any fun. So here goes…

 

The player most likely to take over the role soon to be

vacated by Brett Favre could… might… hopefully… will

be…. JP Losman.

 

John Paul Losman.

 

Livewire Losman (I just made up that nickname for him

and I like it so much I’m sticking to it).

 

Now before you fall off your chair with unbridled

merriment, let me make it clear that I am in no way

claiming Losman will even come close to achieving the

status, reputation or statistics that the Lambeau legend

has built up over his illustrious career, but what I am

saying is, in a time when Favre is so close to walking

away, and people are asking the question “who will come

along to take his place?” it is at least reasonable to

believe that Livewire (I love that name…) will have a

chance of continuing that tradition of the gun slinging

firecracker who overpowers with his passion and thrills

with his throwing.

 

And if you think I’m the only one crazy enough to come

to this assumption, stop pointing your guns at me and

instead toggle them towards the Buffalo number 7

himself.

 

You see, before the 2004 NFL Draft, there was some talk

that Green Bay would draft Losman as an eventual

replacement for the ageing Favre. Losman believed it

himself, and went so far as to meet with Favre – his

childhood hero – during the summer of 2003. "Brett is

the best, the No. 1 guy in the league. To get the chance

to meet him was incredible”, a pre-draft JP said.

 

Losman claims he modeled his style of play on his hero,

and although that is no guarantee whatsoever of a

successful pro career, it does at least show that it’s a

possibility; model yourself on greatness and you

yourself could be great. After all, Tom Brady’s boyhood

hero was Joe Montana, can you tell? And if the Pats

could be lucky enough to land themselves with a player

who is capable of living up to his idol, surely it’s not

too much to ask that Buffalo might catch a break in the

same vein?

 

"From the style of football we play, all the way to our

personalities, Brett and I are very similar”, Losman

continued, hinting at the competitive streak that

allowed his 6 feet 3, 220 pound body to take hit after

hit during two starting years at Tulane where he played

behind a Swiss cheese offensive line and yet still

managed to throw for 6,754 yards, 60 touchdowns and,

perhaps most impressively, only 27 interceptions for the

Green Wave.

 

The comparisons are intriguing. Coming out of college

the knock on Favre was that he was too risky with the

ball that he believed too much in his strong arm and

natural ability. Check under the ‘Cons’ part of Losman’s

pre draft scouting reports and you will see much the

same thing. However, if you then look under the ‘pros’

category you will also see some comments that might

remind you of you-know-who: “Strong arm, quick release,

gets up after taking a hit, great leader, hugely

competitive…” and et cetera et cetera. Not to mention

the fact that both guys ended up in tough, working class

cities where the fans wear their hearts on their sleeves

and have a storied history of tradition and pride.

 

This season, during Buffalo’s Sunday night, nationally

televised debacle in New England, with the team

resembling high schooler's and Drew Bledsoe looking like

a rabbit in the path of an 18 wheeler, Mike Mularkey

made the odd decision to throw his rookie lamb to the

slaughter. Losman had been out since training camp after

getting his leg broken on a freak accident involving a

hit from cornerback Troy Vincent during practice, and

when he stepped on the field at Gillette Stadium for his

first taste of real NFL football, all eyes turned to the

rookie. Joe Thiesmann, commentating for ESPN, remarked,

“he needs some polish. He’s a little bit of a

gunslinger.” These words were then proved somewhat

correct as Losman finished his short stint against the

world champions with a fumble and an interception in

only five plays. Not a debut to be proud of, especially

someone as fiercely competitive as JP Losman. “I

couldn’t sleep for a couple of days after that” he said

the following week.

 

At the time I thought it was a crazy decision by

Mularkey. Why does he decide to put the kid in there

against the world champs, when the game is lost and the

Patriots’ defense is trying to shoot fish in a barrel? I

asked in a loud, incensed voice.

 

But now, months on, and just 24 hours after seeing that

same Patriots team win their third Superbowl title in

four years, I am glad he did it. If the critics were

right, and Losman did believe he could get by on his

natural ability and competitiveness alone, he must be a

little crazy to still think that way now. If that

depressing night in New England had any positive side to

it at all then it’s that Livewire Losman might just have

realized that in order for him to lead the Bills against

those World Champion Patriots twice next season, and to

come out on top, he is going to have to use a lot more

than the physical gifts God gave him… he’ll have to use

his head, as well.

 

But don’t fear (the pessimistic side of my Bills

personality was starting to rear its ugly head for a

second there) because I have yet another comparison to

make. JP’s final regular season stats as a rookie were:

4 games (no starts) 5 attempts, 3 completions for 32

yards, no touchdowns, 1 interception, and 1 fumble.

Brett Favre’s first season in the NFL ended up like

this: 2 games (no starts), 5 attempts, 0 completions, 2

interceptions.

 

Pretty cool, huh?

 

Of course, Brett Favre was on a different team at the

time, but still it does show that players like this

always need to mature a little, to calm down and stop

trying to do too much too soon. Put the bread in the

oven too early and it won’t rise, you first have to be

patient enough to let the yeast take effect.

 

Favre also benefited from having Mike Holmgren as his

mentor, a coach who coaxed the best bits of Brett out of

him yet kept him on a tight enough leash that he

wouldn’t go out and try to perform miracles from the

word go.

 

Coaching is so important with young quarterbacks that it

cannot be overestimated. High draft choices come into

the league every year and only a few of them ever go on

to do anything of note. For every Big Ben, there are 5

Ryan Leafs (ironically, Leaf also drew comparisons to

Favre coming out of college...) But one has to wonder

how some of the quarterback busts could have been

avoided had these kids been taken under the wing of a

mentor who knew how to handle such players.

 

Fortunately for Losman he has not one, not two, but

three men of experience to guide him through his baby

steps and put him on the path to sprinting. Sam Wyche

has helped develop a couple of well known players of

yesteryear named Boomer Esiason and Joe Montana, whilst

Mike Mularkey and Tom Clements achieved the impossible

by sending Kordell Stewert and Tommy Maddox (definitely

not the Boomer and Montana of their generations) to

Honolulu.

 

If JP Losman spends as much of his time before training

camp as possible in the company of these three men then

he might just learn enough about the pro game to set him

up for next season and send him on his way to a

glittering NFL career. It might be too much to expect

another Brett Favre (there is after all only one Brett)

but after years of has-beens and also rans, the people

of Buffalo may conceivably get themselves their very own

Livewire, and with a tough defense, the number 1 special

teams, an improving offensive line, an exciting young

receiver, and a guy named Willis carrying the bulk of

the load (something he is more than capable of doing),

that may just be enough to send this team to the

promised land.

 

And believe me, if Losman shows the talent that Tom

Donahoe saw when he invested a first round pick to get

his body in Buffalo, the young man will become a star of

the league. He has the looks to be an NFL poster boy,

the personality to be a media darling, the dress code of

a kid who has just been kicked out of a National Society

of Surfer Dudes party for being too casual, and, most

importantly, possesses the style of play that makes a

naked bungee jump over the Grand Canyon seem dull.

 

The legs, the cannon arm, the fire, the passion, the

intensity, the lightening release, the hair (seriously,

he has cool hair), the will to win and the swagger.

These are things not to be scoffed at or ignored, but

cherished and nurtured. And if Losman steps on the field

during the Bills home opener next season and displays

any number of these qualities whilst engineering a

Buffalo victory, just listen to the decibel heaven as

80, 000 lunatics lose their minds, as well as their

voices, from shouting those two letters, JP! JP! JP!

 

And, I have to say, if this were to all begin the very

same year that marked Brett Favre’s first season away

from the league he excited for so many years, it would

indeed be a thing of ironic, poetic beauty. The end may

be nigh for an NFL great, but that doesn’t mean there is

no future. It might even start sooner than you think.

[BillsNYC]

Starting to read...but football players wear cleats...not boots!

[CoachChuckDickerson]

If JP is 6'3" and 220lbs then I am Shaq's big brother.

[stuckincincy]

TMQ once remarked that the most dangerous space in the world was that between Brett Favre and a camera. He has a great PR machine. And the network gods insure that I get at least 10 Packers game per year.

[BillsNYC]

Love this:

 

Put the bread in the

oven too early and it won’t rise, you first have to be

patient enough to let the yeast take effect.

[Dan III]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writ...bine/index.html

[bobblehead]

"Livewire" ? He might as well have just scratched a chalkboard in front of me.

[BillsNYC]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writ...bine/index.html

233496[/snapback]

 

 

I love how Marv Levy, in his book, gives so much credit to Green Bay for sending us Kenneth Davis, James Lofton, etc...

 

And here we are 10 years later and we f-ed them over by stealing JP!

[Moose]

Interesting read, indeed. Let's hope it is prophetic!

[BillsNYC]

I'm sending that article to every Bills fan I know.

 

Is there a link?

[Guffalo]

I love how Marv Levy, in his book, gives so much credit to Green Bay for sending us Kenneth Davis, James Lofton, etc...

 

And here we are 10 years later and we f-ed them over by stealing JP!

233499[/snapback]

Actually, a very good article, I just can't wait to see him go full out this summer.

[RVJ]

I'm sending that article to every Bills fan I know.

 

Is there a link?

233508[/snapback]

it on the bills i n si d er

[Bob4Bills]

RVJ,

While your topic is very fan friendly, I must complement you on your diction and story formatting. Very well done! I look forward to more of your entries.

 

This should shut Drew- lovers up forever.

 

Bob

[BillsNYC]

OH...RVJ wrote it? Can you then explain what you mean about how he dresses?