An Honest look at the QB situation

[mikecole1]

The Bills invested a lot in JP, too much to justify him sitting on the bench when he could be on the field. I’m not saying JP is going to be great, he may stink. He may be terrible. But he may be the next Jim Kelly. The point is, how are we going to know unless he plays? And since this team isn’t a contender, what are they really risking by turning the team over to a first year starter?

 

I guess what worries me about this line of thought is that we've said this about Todd Collins and Rob Johnson already, both touted as "maybe" the next Jim Kelly and look where it's gotten us. There's your summary of the state of the post-Super Bowl Bills the past decade. The "We got to find out about this guy" is getting to be a tired refrain is all I'm saying. Not to come off as a flake but we squandered at least three years on RJ.

[CosmicBills]

Against about every single playoff team we played this year, Bledsoe play very badly.

Im not saying Losman would do any better, but the main reason for why we lost to those playoff teams was because of Bledsoe.

242479[/snapback]

 

And you're right to a point. That's a big reason why it was time to move on. But I'm not buying that the only problem on the team this year was QB. I think that is too superficial. If QB were the only problem, then I would be clamoring for a Vet QB to step in and take over for DB rather than entrust the club to JP.

 

But...that's not the case in my view.

[CosmicBills]

I guess what worries me about this line of thought is that we've said this about Todd Collins and Rob Johnson already, both touted as "maybe" the next Jim Kelly and look where it's gotten us. There's your summary of the state of the post-Super Bowl Bills the past decade. The "We got to find out about this guy" is getting to be a tired refrain is all I'm saying. Not to come off as a flake but we squandered at least three years on RJ.

242478[/snapback]

 

You are totally right. But what are the alternatives? We can't be afraid of giving JP a shot because Collins, RJ and other young QBs have busted. There is certainly no guarantee that JP will succeed, but there is also no guarantee that he will fail either. But either way, the Bills have to find out what they have.

 

If he is a bust, then it's better to find out now.

[Simon]

The Bills didn't play a weak schedule, they just didn't beat any good teams.

A-ha, now I understand.

However, even though we didn't see the postseason I still think its a not insignificant accomplishment to play above .500 ball in the league's toughest division, against one of the league's tougher schedules with a rookie coaching staff.

Cya

[SouthernMan]

Before reading anything more, you should know this about me: I don’t care who the QB of the Bills is. I’m not a Drew guy. I’m not a JP guy. I’m a Bills guy. All I want is wins. That being said, here is how I see this situation:

 

So far there appears to be three camps on this situation. The first camp wants .......etc

 

 

I think everyone is missing the big picture.

 

I have a theory: I believe the new strategy is to put Losman behind center, knowing that the opposing defenses will fall down laughing in hysterics when Losman calls out signals in that 12-year-boy voice. The O-line should be able to take full advantage of the weak in the knee defenses and send Willis barreling through for big yards.

 

Watch. Just our luck. Two days after releasing Bledsoe, Losman's voice will change.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

So I'll give you they had a tougher schedule than some, but they didn't have any quality wins. Miami (2), St.Louis (terrible team, playoffs or not), Browns, 49ers, and Arizona.

242459[/snapback]

 

 

Thanks for the post. I also found it thoughtful.

 

Though I agree with lots of it, I will point out a few areas where I think your perspectives might use a little more explanation for us dumb folk or strike me as incorrect.

 

1. In general, the quicker we can leave the Bledsoe era behind the better life is from my perspective. He never delivered a playoff berth for this team during his time here when he had a central role. Even worse for TSW purposes he made trying to figure out how to make this team a winner with him at the helm a repetitive chore on TSW because the conversation had to involve him to have much to do with reality. Now the Bledsoe era is over and those of us more interested in reality can mention him in passing (as I hope this does) but simply ignore the detail.

 

Thus, though I found your description of the only three options for the Bills completely lacking in describing a realistic option which TD tried to make happen, namely get Bledsoe to accept a back-up role and a lower cap hit as by far the best option for the Bills, Bledsoe did not go for this and TD correctly cut him. I wish Bledsoe had stayed and restructured to a lower cap hit, but he didn't and he is gone and time to move on.

 

2. The main point though I think you might reconsider in judging the Bills 2004 schedule is the point that Simon and others have picking on that the schedule was not that weak. As you acknowledge upon prodding, all you can do is play the schedule you get from the league and the Bills did that to a winning record. Upon additional prodding, trying to claim the Bills lost all their games against quality teams has correctly evoked an acknowledgment from you that this is only true if you acknowledge that non-quality teams do well in the NFL as we beat several playoff teams like St. L, Sea. and NYJ (its cut but inaccurate to hold the loss against NYJ against them without holding the win against NYJ for them. I think the other big point that you do not give the Bills the credit they deserve as you bring in the RPI point is that actually, I would count the wins against St. L, the Browns, the 9ers, AZ, and at least one of the MI wins as quality wins not because these teams are any good, but because we beat them going away.

 

In my mind a quality win is not merely beating quality teams, but in beating bad teams in laughers. I think the Bills deserve a lot of credit for not only doing what they should do against these teams, but quite frankly for doing more than can reasonably be expected against another proud pro team and particularly against pro athletes on the road by embarassing them in their house.

 

The Bills can and should be faulted a lot for losing to Pitts in our house, but when you put 30+ points on the board against an opponent this is a quality win in my book and deserves some acknowledgement beside just saying this is a bad team and disregarding it.

 

3. I have great hopes for the Bills in 2005, but they are not because I have great hopes or condifence in JP. I have hope because just like what seemed to be going on with this team with Bledsoe, MM had learned to play the game successfully while minimizing the import and the role of the QB. I think that is winning football in this league. To the extent the Bills can do just as they did during the streak and not depend upon the QB to win it for us, so to do I think we can be even more succesful this year if we give JP the room to learn the games and have his up and downs that most young QBs have, but beat other teams like a drum because of out superior D play, ST play and handing the ball off to WM and then hand it off again,

 

I think our formula for winning football remains the same minimize the role Bledsoe had to play and now minimize the role JP has to play, If we can look back on next season and point to the game or two where JP stepped up because they happened to be the game like Pittsburgh where our D and ST sucked and he filled the gap, it will be a good season. However, if we play a seaspn where JP needs to play like a stud most weeks in order for us to win it is likely going to be a long season.