To What Extent HAS JP Learned from Rookie Miscues?

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I think the answer to this question is that the good news is he has already leaned a lot from his rookie QB miscues but the challenge is that he will still likely have young QB miscues and the trick will be to minimize the importance of the mistakes as he learns the game.

 

I think last year saw a number of rookie QB errors from JP. Namely:

 

1. In his first real play as a pro he looked like a fish out of water throwing an INT and getting hit an fumbling in mop-up duty against NE.

2. In his next appearance he came in late in the game to mop-up in a win and failed to control the huddle and manage the clock and the team took a delay of game penalty when he is key real job was keep the clock moving.

3. In his thrid game he again mopped up and his job was to run the clock but he was forced to take a TO because of his failure to call the play effectovely

4. No huge errors in his 4th appearance.

 

However, the good news in all of this is that his progress was apparent and the miscues were probably based in his gettting his feet wet.

 

1. MM taught the rookie a great lesson in that if a player has on the uniform he needs to be ready to play and perform. He was not ready to play as he assumed that Mathews would get the call. He learned the lesson that being a good athlete is great but simply will not cut it to be productive in the NFL as a player needs to mentally have control over the game. I'm just happy he didn't hurt his body again because the mental lesson was the one he needed to learn and MM force fed it to him bigtime.

 

2. Again a clear rookie error as even though he was all set to come in this time after SEA failed with their onside kick, he failed to quickly and efficiently translate the play to the team. He did show that the NE bruising had not destroyed him as he completed a nice pass to Euhus and handed the ball off to Burns to run out the clock.

 

3. Again he showed a rookie's lack of mastery by failing to translate the play on his first call. but showed some progress as time he avoided the penalty by calling a TO. This was not good as his job was not to TO but to burn clock but it was at least better than taking a penalty.

 

As it happened, it was a good thing he did not take the penalty as the mop-up started so early in the game the team needed 1st downs to burn clock. Losman pulled this off by not only connecting on a nice pass, but by making a run for a 1st down on 3rd down. The kamikaze hit he put on a tackler was fun to see but was a rookie mistake as he already had the 1st and should have avoided the hit because staying healthy is more important for him than a couple of meaningless yards.

 

Overall, i was pretty pleased with the learning he showed last year. In addition to the more objective signs like TDs and completed passes, JP also looks like he learned from watching Bledsoe that it is useful for a QB to run out each and every play even if he does not have the ball.

 

Bledsoe deserved the grief he got last year and getting cut because he did not produce like he should have in the W/L category. Nevertheless, Bledsoe did show some great ability to run fakes and to run out plays which from my view really helped sell the flea-flickers he ran for TDs when WM would pitch the ball back to him and when he pitched the ball back to WM for a TD scamper after a fake QB sneak. Over the season one could see how Losman also began to run out each and every play after he handed off the ball as though he still had it or positioned himself as though it might come back. Sweet.

 

Still from his kamikaze hit in the SF game to the fact he is simply young he still has a lot to learn and master in this game.

 

To the extent the Bills play ST well and reduce pressure on him to win games, to the extent the D sucks it up an makes up for any mistakes he or the offense makes and also delivers the ball to him with good field position I think we will do well.

 

To the extent we force JP to lead us to scores in order for us to win we will lose our fair share of games while he learns the trade. Run the ball to start (throwing in th occaisional JP pass or the flea-flicker to keep the D from simply waiting on WM to run) and then run the ball again even if we only pick up a couple of yards and a cloud of astrturf on the first run and we will be fine.

[smokinandjokin]

I hope he learned not to hotdog down the sideline past Troy Vincent after the whistle blows in a training camp practice.

[Puhonix]

Mop up duty isn't enough to learn from. He's got some game experience, and that's good, but he hasn't had to lead a scoring drive, nor control the clock in a 2-minute offense. Give him time and he'll be ok, but it's gonna take more time.

[Marv Levy]

He needs time. As Yoda says, "Patience young Padwan Learner!"

[drnykterstein]

Mop up duty isn't enough to learn from. He's got some game experience, and that's good, but he hasn't had to lead a scoring drive, nor control the clock in a 2-minute offense. Give him time and he'll be ok, but it's gonna take more time.

372779[/snapback]

what do you think he was doing in college? playing paddle ball?

[Bill from NYC]

what do you think he was doing in college? playing paddle ball?

373276[/snapback]

 

I think that he was playing college football.

 

Imo, JP is a question mark, pure and simple. Yes, he was drafted high. Yes, he is working hard. Yes, he has talent, but probably less than RJ, and we saw what happened there.

 

All that exists is hope. There is at least an equal chance that JP will be good/suck.

He is trying hard, and this is a great thing. I choose not to delude myself into thinking that JP, nor any other player is a "can't miss." I am fully unable to predict how ther kid will play.

What I DO hope is that he finds himself before key players age, and even this is asking a lot.

Either way, I am in it for the long haul.

GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[San-O]

Don't get your leg broken and sit out the first three months of the season?

[Buffal0 Bill5]

We are hearing alot about his preparation. I hope he is not overdoing it. I think we have all experienced a moment in our lives where we wanted to excel, and poured ourselves into getting ready only too push it to far and freeze up at the big moment.

The pressure on this kid is intense. I want to believe, but there are too many Todd Marinovich, Ryan Leaf, Todd Collins, Rob Johnson, etc. stories out there. The unknown is a killer. Right now he's a lump of coal, and the pressures coming. I hope we get a diamond.

[Buftex]

I think the answer to this question is that the good news is he has already leaned a lot from his rookie QB miscues but the challenge is that he will still likely have young QB miscues and the trick will be to minimize the importance of the mistakes as he learns the game.

 

I

372768[/snapback]

 

 

I bet he won't fall for the "free thanksgiving day turkey" gag again either~

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Don't get your leg broken and sit out the first three months of the season?

373399[/snapback]

 

 

Since it appears that JP has recovered from that imjury without dimishment of his physical ability (based on his play in four games which saw him run for a first and make some nice passes and the braintrust having no fear of throwing him to the lions against the Pats) or his mental desire (based on him stupidly in my view lowering his shoulder and hitting a tackler for a meaningless couple of yards after he had already run for the 1st down) I think there is a fair chance he and we will look back on the injury as the best thing that ever could have happened to his development.

 

He was not gonna play anyway last season even if he was healthy once the Bills went on their winning streak. Because he was injured JP got a phenomenal chance to sit in the booth and to simply worry about absorbing nuggets from Sam Wyche.

 

The definite negative about the injury for me was that he was not able to practice and improve some mechanical issues with Wyche, but brain issues rather than athleticism has always been the area where JP needed work and he was probably lucky to have the fans off his and MMs back last year due to the injury and the Bills winning when he came back.

 

I think we saw a host of rookie mistakes from him in his brief appearances and the good news is that he improved on most of them in his brief play. I think his playing would have made zero diffrence in our W/L last year and because i think we will likely win to the extent we do not depend on great or good play from him this year I doubt playing a couple of games last year would make a huge difference in his W/L rhis year.

[eball]

here's my $.02, and it may not be worth even that, but i believe that the single most important factor in the struggles of most rookie QBs is that they are still learning the playbook. there are two types of confidence -- confidence in one's athletic ability, and confidence in one's knowledge. all NFL players have the first kind, but the second is key, particularly for a QB. you can't go out and "play football" until you know what you're doing and don't have to overthink everything. a veteran can draw on experience, but a rookie doesn't have that so he must know the playbook inside and out or he will be uncertain and likely to make "rookie mistakes." quite simply, that takes time, and most rookie QBs have only had a couple of months to learn before being thrown to the wolves.

 

not coincidentally, this is also the reason why i believe JP will look like anything but a rookie this season. he has had the opportunity to make the playbook second nature. when he gets on the field, i'm hoping he won't have to "think" too much and his natural ability will show through. i'm very anxious to see the preseason games b/c that will allow us to see if in fact he has mastered the playbook and has that second type of confidence. if we see lots of delay penalties, timeouts, or botched plays, it could be a rough early season.

[KnightRider]

here's my $.02, and it may not be worth even that, but i believe that the single most important factor in the struggles of most rookie QBs is that they are still learning the playbook.  there are two types of confidence  -- confidence in one's athletic ability, and confidence in one's knowledge. 

373492[/snapback]

 

Actually there is a third type of confidence, where the QB needs to know where everyone else will be, whether it be WR or OT. He needs to know how everyone with play, whether WR X typically cuts sloppy, or Guard Y pulls slower, or even whether he can depend on his RB and TE to pick up a blitz...

[/dev/null]

JP learned its not safe to be the guy in the red shirt

Troy Vincent must be a Kirk fan

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Actually there is a third type of confidence, where the QB needs to know where everyone else will be, whether it be WR or OT.  He needs to know how everyone with play, whether WR X typically cuts sloppy, or Guard Y pulls slower, or even whether he can depend on his RB and TE to pick up a blitz...

373581[/snapback]

I aggree and I refer to this as chemistry. JP does and should have confidence in his athletic ability.

 

I hope that JP is gaining the knowledge of the playbook and developing his ability to translate the plays and orders of TC cleanly and succinctly to the other players. Rookies often need to develop this ability and have control of the game and JP showed this with the lack of control demonstrated when he had to fall back on his athleticism when thrown into the Pats game. When he got delay of game at th beginning of his next appearance though everyone had tons of time to prepare for this call. He further demonstrated it when he blew his translation job in his next game and was forced to call a TO.

 

However, as lame as the result of this performance was, he did improve each game from a horrendous response againt the Pat, to merely a poor response from JP in his second game, to an inconvenient but inconsequential response in his third game.

 

JP was inadequate in all three games but actually there was improvement and this is a good sign.

 

However, this third type of confidence and performance which I call chemistry is something that will be determined and take a lead from how good a player and QB JP is, but the result will also depend and be determined by how good the Bills O braintrust is and how good the other players on the TEAM are.

 

One of the unfortunate things many Bills posters on TSW seem to conclude is that it is all up to JP whether he is good enough or not in terms of how this team and O perform. This is wrong.

 

JP can be truly as talented as he wants to be, but if the braintrust does not put our players into the best position for them to make plays, into a position where their opponents are forced to watch and react rather than have a pretty good idea what we are going to do (Kevin Killdrive's problem as he refused to vary his scheme and habits), and the TEAM does not build a chemistry and knowledge of each other that they cannot predict what their teammate will do in a certain situation, we simply will not perform as well.

 

I think JP will struggle early not necessarily because he does not have the athletic talent to do extraordinary things (he does), and not because he does not understand the Bills playbook and approach (he should as he has lots of time and has been diligent in his studies by all reports), but because their is little replacement for time and the experience of playing and practicing together to develop the chemistry of the TEAM and of th O.

 

We are simply going to need a lot of good bounces and dumb luck in the first few games until the O becomes a TEAM that make its own luck. The god news for us is that from our opponents, home dates and the way the season is set up, I think we are facing opponents who are beatable early even with us learning how to play well together.

[jarthur31]

He's learned very little from his mistakes because he hasn't caused many of them. This year will be a learning year for him and playoffs are not expected from me.

 

Oh, I think D might play well but ST may not. Let's not talk about our All-Pro line now that DB is gone. I just hope Willis doesn't get hurt.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

He's learned very little from his mistakes because he hasn't caused many of them.  This year will be a learning year for him and playoffs are not expected from me. 

 

373652[/snapback]

 

I disagree in that he clearly progressed from the NE game where some folks evoked the deer in the headlights language (he was bad but not that panicked in my view). to his next game where he tool am unecessary delay of game penalty, to his next game where he took an unecessary TO but did show some learning in what would have been a bigger mistake to take a bad penalty.

 

he also showed in that third game that he does not flinch in that he lowered the boom instead of taking a dive when a tackler hit him (I'm glad that he has learned the lesson to take a bad TO instead of a bad penalty without losing his toughness, but he still needs to take a dive when there is little to be gained from being a "real man" on a play.

 

I think as exhibited both in his brief onfield play and in his comments (and the comments of coaches) about his study habits that whule JP clearly has a lot to learn he has learned a lot as well.