A Peak Offseason Thread: Looking back at the JP Losman era

[Mango]

1 hour ago, Albany,n.y. said:

I don't buy the lack of love of the game.  He could have moved on from football after his playing days but instead went into college coaching and is the current QB coach of the Washington Huskies.  

 

He was also at Clemson for a while too. In 2019 he was the QB for the WR pro day. The kid could definitely spin it. Arm talent wasn't the issue.

[Ga boy]

40 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

He was also at Clemson for a while too. In 2019 he was the QB for the WR pro day. The kid could definitely spin it. Arm talent wasn't the issue.

So what, I saw Peterman spin it once. I apologize for this.  Actually, I think his career was longer.

[Paup 1995MVP]

3 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

For me I did have that early hope with JP that he could be our guy.  It was a fleeting moment that didn't last too long and I think it actually scarred me for a long time because I never again had that feeling with Trent, Fitz, EJ, Orton or even Tyrod.  When Josh came along it was the first time since Losman that I had a glimmer of hope we may have finally found a franchise QB.  With Josh his physical and athletic attributes were just so strong it was hard not to feel a little optimistic.  It's fantastic that it finally worked out this time. 

I never heard any comparisons to Favre or Kelly.  That is just silly talk.  It was 20 years ago.  I remember he had that big game against the Texans.  But I also remember him not being a particularly well liked guy on the Bills.  And that started when Troy Vincent tripping him in practice his rookie year fracturing his leg.  Not an auspicious start there. 

 

Our QB's were garbage during the draught years other than Fitzie.  But Fitzie came up small in clutch moments.  That is what separates the great ones from guys who can just chuck a football well.  (Although I did love Fitzie's moxie.  He just could not get it done in crunch time for us.)  Him and Jameis are in the 30/30 club.  Every game could be 400+ yards 4 TD's 4 picks, 2 fumbles and a minor concussion because neither likes to slide, and good for them.  QB's sliding is the worst part of football.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

You are welcome friends

[Goin Breakdown]

29 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

You are welcome friends

Man I remember some of these TDs like it was yesterday. 

[Ga boy]

6 minutes ago, Goin Breakdown said:

Man I remember some of these TDs like it was yesterday. 

How many times was Evans wide open??  With DJ Moore I’d expect to see Josh improve his long ball.

[BuffaloBillyG]

I always liked JP. It didn't work out, but not much really did in that era. I wish him well. 

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

I never heard any comparisons to Favre or Kelly.  That is just silly talk.  It was 20 years ago.  I remember he had that big game against the Texans.  But I also remember him not being a particularly well liked guy on the Bills.  And that started when Troy Vincent tripping him in practice his rookie year fracturing his leg.  Not an auspicious start there. 

 

Our QB's were garbage during the draught years other than Fitzie.  But Fitzie came up small in clutch moments.  That is what separates the great ones from guys who can just chuck a football well.  (Although I did love Fitzie's moxie.  He just could not get it done in crunch time for us.)  Him and Jameis are in the 30/30 club.  Every game could be 400+ yards 4 TD's 4 picks, 2 fumbles and a minor concussion because neither likes to slide, and good for them.  QB's sliding is the worst part of football.

I can vividly remember articles being written with comparisons to Kelly and Favre after he was drafted.  He was supposed to have a bit of an edge to him

I never saw it though 

[boyst]

8 hours ago, transient said:

He was a panic pick when Pittsburgh scooped them on Roethlisberger and any talking him up in the moment was wishful thinking. 

All I wanted was Big Ben on our team. Playing against him in HS (when he was a WR) and seeing him get Mr Baseball for Ohio the dude was an athlete.

 

Seeing Pittsburgh get him stung. 

[Capco]

2004 was my first season as a full-time Bills fan, including following the draft.  I remember being excited about JP's athletic traits, but I was also happy he sat for a year behind Bledsoe. 

We had a new head coach in Mike Mularkey, a new vertical threat in Lee Evans opposite Eric Moulds in his prime, a productive Travis Henry plus an emerging Willis McGahee, and a 4th overall pick on the line in Mike Williams (who I still had high hopes for).  Our defense was 2nd overall in 2003 and 2004, and was stacked with talent at all 3 levels:  Sam Adams, Fat Pat, Aaron Schobel, London Fletcher, Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements, Terrence McGee, and Lawyer Milloy.  Our special teams was 1st overall in 2004 with Bobby April at the helm and Brian Moorman doing Brian Moorman things.  

Speaking of 2004, what a wild ride that was for my first season.  We started 0-4, then 1-5, but went 8-1 after that on the backs of our special teams and defense.  I remember reading an article about how much of a statistical anomaly our turnover rate and return game was during that stretch.  Any game where McGahee went over 100 yards was a win.  Losing to Pittsburg's 3rd stringers in a win-and-in situation to end such an exciting season was arguably my first definitive "Billsy" moment.

Even though Bledsoe was past his prime, he still performed pretty well in 2004 and I thought he should have been retained as the starter for 2005 as well.  But after his release, I purchased a Losman jersey that summer and went to my first Bills game for the 2005 home opener.  Iirc, we won 22-7 against the Texans.  I remember feeling optimistic, but I also had this lingering doubt since we scored 5 field goals to 1 touchdown.

Had JP sat another year and spent time working on his mechanics in the ways they do today, I think it's possible that he could have had a productive NFL career.  His short and intermediate game felt uncontrolled and inconsistent though, and our offensive lines during those years were average at best until we developed Jason Peters.  

As others have said, he just didn't seem to have "it" on the field on Sundays.  But the organization as a whole didn't exactly put him in the best position to succeed either.  

[machine gun kelly]

His nickname says it all in a forgettable time for the Bills.  JP Loseman.  He was one in a string of bad QBs.

[BillsPride12]

3 hours ago, Capco said:

2004 was my first season as a full-time Bills fan, including following the draft.  I remember being excited about JP's athletic traits, but I was also happy he sat for a year behind Bledsoe. 

We had a new head coach in Mike Mularkey, a new vertical threat in Lee Evans opposite Eric Moulds in his prime, a productive Travis Henry plus an emerging Willis McGahee, and a 4th overall pick on the line in Mike Williams (who I still had high hopes for).  Our defense was 2nd overall in 2003 and 2004, and was stacked with talent at all 3 levels:  Sam Adams, Fat Pat, Aaron Schobel, London Fletcher, Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements, Terrence McGee, and Lawyer Milloy.  Our special teams was 1st overall in 2004 with Bobby April at the helm and Brian Moorman doing Brian Moorman things.  

Speaking of 2004, what a wild ride that was for my first season.  We started 0-4, then 1-5, but went 8-1 after that on the backs of our special teams and defense.  I remember reading an article about how much of a statistical anomaly our turnover rate and return game was during that stretch.  Any game where McGahee went over 100 yards was a win.  Losing to Pittsburg's 3rd stringers in a win-and-in situation to end such an exciting season was arguably my first definitive "Billsy" moment.

Even though Bledsoe was past his prime, he still performed pretty well in 2004 and I thought he should have been retained as the starter for 2005 as well.  But after his release, I purchased a Losman jersey that summer and went to my first Bills game for the 2005 home opener.  Iirc, we won 22-7 against the Texans.  I remember feeling optimistic, but I also had this lingering doubt since we scored 5 field goals to 1 touchdown.

Had JP sat another year and spent time working on his mechanics in the ways they do today, I think it's possible that he could have had a productive NFL career.  His short and intermediate game felt uncontrolled and inconsistent though, and our offensive lines during those years were average at best until we developed Jason Peters.  

As others have said, he just didn't seem to have "it" on the field on Sundays.  But the organization as a whole didn't exactly put him in the best position to succeed either.  

Good recap of the 2004 season which really was a wild ride.  I too had high expectations for the Bills that year.  That Pittsburgh game was one of the most brutal losses I ever sat through at the stadium(being surrounded by Steelers fans and having terrible towels waving in my face the whole game added to the misery). On paper that seemed like such a talented roster though 

[RobbRiddick]

20 hours ago, KHAN said:

You spelled "error" wrong.

Oh this is wonderful!

[colin]

imo josh allen is the greatest qb to ever lace up shoes, and jp losman had a much better deep ball than josh.  he really sucked outside of that (he's was athletic tho, it didn't seem to amount to much).  

 

i remember two things that summed up jp losman more than anything else 

1  he had 3 super long td's, all to evans, in the first half (maybe the first quarter?) vs miami, and he came back to lose the game.

 

2 ina  game (at the jets i think, it was vs the jets) on a monday night, with denis miller and dan fouts calling the game with all michaels (the 3 man booth was over crowded, but i enjoyed it).  at the end of the game we needed a first down to basically win it, jp rolls out, totally unaware, holds the ball too long, gets sacked, fumbles, loses the ball, and the jets win.  calling it dan fouts said as much and added "and jp losman turned into jp losman" and made the mistake.  just a loser as an nfl qb.  

[st pete gogolak]

I thought he was going to be a savior. Of course, back then I thought Tom Donahue knew what he was doing.

[eball]

I really wanted Losman to succeed; I hope we all did. Knew nothing about him when drafted but early in camp he was impressing the likes of Mike Shanahan, who was caught on tape being “wowed” by a Losman throw.

 

Apparently Losman also had a swagger not all veteran players appreciated, which led to Troy Vincent’s overly aggressive training camp hit that effectively ended any chance Losman had to earn the job in camp. Did that derail his career? Tough to say. But I think he did try to embrace Buffalo; I recall stories of him living downtown and having some sort of charity going.

 

He’s certainly not a guy worthy of any “hate” from Bills fans.

 

[Big Turk]

 

[DapperCam]

19 hours ago, MJS said:

He had the physical tools, but not the mind or the drive to be successful. There are countless guys like that, unfortunately, and often it is hard to tell until they come into the NFL and show it.

Sometimes a guy like that can succeed with the right coach. Obviously we were lacking in that area also.

[BUFFALOBART]

1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said:

Good recap of the 2004 season which really was a wild ride.  I too had high expectations for the Bills that year.  That Pittsburgh game was one of the most brutal losses I ever sat through at the stadium(being surrounded by Steelers fans and having terrible towels waving in my face the whole game added to the misery). On paper that seemed like such a talented roster though 

Oooh.....that game. We must've been sitting in the same upper corner of the stadium. 

[JP51]

23 hours ago, transient said:

He was a panic pick when Pittsburgh scooped them on Roethlisberger and any talking him up in the moment was wishful thinking. 

Donahoe completely blew that...