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

[BillsPride12]

48 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

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

I was sitting in the scoreboard endzone area in the 100 level but man there were Steelers fans all over our stadium that day😡

[BUFFALOBART]

45 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

I was sitting in the scoreboard endzone area in the 100 level but man there were Steelers fans all over our stadium that day😡

I had sold my usual seat as I was disgusted with the Bills. I had second thoughts, and bought a ticket from the ticket office. (The ticket office sold ticket returns from the visiting team, in those days)  It was miserable. - Particularly since the Bills were playing against the Steelers backups. 

The most loudmouth fans, that I've ever had the displeasure to sit next to. 

[JohnnyBuffalo]

23 hours ago, Iiiiiiiiive Got a Feeeelin said:

Had an inside source that Losman was spooked by playing under the lights.  in practice etc he was incredible but put a camera on him and he crumbled.  

Also, had a buddy who ended up sitting next to him on a plane randomly and all he had to say about him was he came across as incredibly dumb, for whatever thats worth

This last bit of your post is all I remember thinking when they had him propped up for an interview with the California waves crashing behind him and sunshine that I don’t think Buffalo will ever see and they asked him how a California kid would be able to make it in the winter of Buffalo and his response…left me wondering how he graduated from any educational institution.   I was disappointed from that moment on and here we are dredging it up again…haha

 

Go Bills!

[Ayjent]

I got pretty excited after his first start then I flew down for a game against Tampa soon after meeting some family and friends.  Every bit of excitement was gone, and it was not a pleasant afternoon in September because of both the play and the humidity.  That was pretty much the JP Losman experience - enough to get you excited at times only to be countered with struggles and inaccuracy at others.  I wanted him to succeed and I always liked him better than Edwards... maybe if you combined the two you would've had a complete QB. 

[Dunkirk Donski]

I knew from day 1 the guy named Los-Man wasn't gonna cut the mustard.  I woulda killed it as GM during those drought years.

[Ayjent]

1 minute ago, Dunkirk Donski said:

I knew from day 1 the guy named Los-Man wasn't gonna cut the mustard.  I woulda killed it as GM during those drought years.

A monkey throwing crap at a dartboard probably would have been more successful than those Bills FOs at the time.  So I agree you probably would have killed it.

[skibum]

I remember thinking he was a great fit for the team and the city - he lived downtown and was very relatable, etc.

 

But I never really believed he was going to be very good. 

[corta765]

JP is an interesting case because he is probably the one drought drafted QB there is a universe he may have been a real starter for a while. John Clayton once even said similar that Losman probably deserved a better fate.... BUT circumstance and org matter sooo much when growing guys.

 

When they drafted JP I felt it was a bit overkill just simply because we still had Bledsoe, they were trying to get back into the playoffs/maybe division so to me wasting a 1st when we needed more help seemed like bad resource management (lol). Additionally that draft the big 3 were Eli/Rivers/Ben so if you were going QB you were going with one of them, JP was not in that realm by comparison. Buffalo absolutely panicked when Big Ben went to PIT so the pick in itself was forced. The original coach that even picked him was gone by his 2nd true year. Overall though the infrastructure across the board sucked for JP if I am going to defend him from coach to GM to the players on the roster. 2006 he had a pretty solid 2nd year finishing 13th in passing yds, 15th ypa, 11th in TD passes, and 16th for QB rating which at that time carried more weight. The NFL had not yet fully transitioned into the QB passing behemoth it is today and those numbers were decent for that time especially a year 2 QB. But 2007 he never took the next step, the roster was not good enough, the Pats hit max dominance, etc.. that was that. Even though they actually had a solid look at the playoffs at 7-6 going to CLE in December it was over for him by that point.

 

So to me if I am weighing the whose at fault scales for his lack of development:

 

JP 60%

Bills 40%

 

It is always on the player first to make the most of a chance and he clearly didn't. BUT as we saw with Josh's development it is also on the organization to truly setup an environment for the player to have the chance to grow as best as possible. From 2005 until honestly the 2013 season when we had Woods, Stevie, Goodwin, Fred, Spiller etc.. the Bills offense was just lackluster across the board from O-line to skill position. Lee Evans was the outlier he never had a good WR3 let alone WR2 minus the TO that one year. I am honestly convinced even if Big Ben came here he would've failed. The defense was bend not break win or lose by 3, he wasn't getting that Steelers monster on defense that could win games with ease. The organization just didn't have enough across the board and it showed up in spades when trying to develop the most important spot.

Edited June 1 by corta765

[Freddie's Dead]

He was never the same after Troy Vincent broke his leg in TC his rookie year.

[Mr. WEO]

Most predictable bust in years

[The Firebaugh Kid]

On 5/31/2026 at 10:51 AM, Lafromboise said:

That houston texans game in 06 I thought we finally had something. Those j.p to Lee evans deep connections were absolutely beautiful I will say. It would be nice if Josh had something like that.

I punched a celebration hole in the drywall when he hit Price for the winning touchdown. Ahhhhh to be drunk and young again 😂🤷‍♂️

I remember seeing him on a float in a parade in Rochester during training camp being hailed as the savior and thinking…. There’s no way this kid is that guy. I bought his jersey and I wanted him to succeed but other than the deep ball he really didn’t have a whole lot. 

[TheBrownBear]

I hated the pick and knew he'd suck and set us back another three years and posted as much at the time on the old Buffalo Bills boards.

[The Firebaugh Kid]

On 5/31/2026 at 6:16 PM, TheyCallMeAndy said:

You are welcome friends

Crazy how many of these I remember. And crazy how many were to Lee Evans on the long ball.

[C.Biscuit97]

I regret very little about my life. Live and learn. But I hate the hours and hours I wasted arguing about John Paul and finding stats to compare the start of his career with Brett Favre’s (JP is a better human though). 😬

[TheyCallMeAndy]

For those wondering, JP is the QB coach for the Washington State.  

[corta765]

On 6/1/2026 at 7:54 AM, 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 

 

I think for many of us in the drought kids generation 2004 was THAT season that was the first full ride, excitement, and beyond depressing heartbreak. I have minor minor memories of the Bills Kelly days, I remember decently Flutie including that Jags comeback in 98, I remember both playoff games with Flutie & RJ (music city miracle live was an experience), and the first two years of Bledsoe I certainly watched a decent amount of games. BUT 2004 was the season where I watched basically every game with my dad and fully embraced it. I actually got him to buy tickets so we could see the Bills Dolphins week 5 when Willis started and ran all over the Phish. It was a blast, I remember hoping it would snow because all the Bills highlights of the good 90s teams the snow and cold looked fun! ... Narrator after now attending MANY snow/cold games including the SnowBowl in 2017 & 49ers in 2024 I am now good with the "FUN" of snow games lol.

 

But yea that run they went on in 2004 where they looked invincible on defense and the offense played fine was so much fun. I remember thinking the Steelers game it was ours as the were playing backups and we needed just some luck to get in. I think that started a decade and half of me absolutely hating Pittsburgh with the fire of a thousand suns. That fire went out when Josh and the Bills torched them in 2022 to the point we were actively mocking Steeler fans in the stadium and they couldn't say a word.

[SoTier]

On 5/31/2026 at 11:06 AM, Fan in Chicago said:

I was happy the Bills took a QB that high because we really needed to. I did not have any knowledge of him as a prospect but was supportive and hopeful. But much of his time was me trying to reconcile his terrible performances, his bad decisions and lack of field vision. Then this game happened and I still remember being incredibly depressed that night. The Patriots were rolling over us and our offense did absolutely nothing to show resistance. 

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/brady-moss-show-buries-bills-316826

That did it for my hopes for him as a savior. 

 

The coaches had realized it, when they picked Trent Edwards in the 2007 draft. 

The Losman and Edwards eras were bad. 

 

The Bills coaches, Mularkey and Jauron, were both incompetent.  Mularkey failed to get the best out of Bledsoe, a Pro Bowl quality QB, and a top quality defense in 2004, ending with that awful loss at the end of the season to the Steelers backups.  To be fair to Mularkey, he apparently had little if any say in the Bills personnel.  Jauron was not only an incompetent coach, he had significant control of the player personnel.  Jauron's mind set was to play games not to lose by too much.  Losman wasn't Jauron's type of QB because he wanted to win too much.   Edwards OTOH was a perfect player for a Jauron offense: "Take No Chances" Captain Checkdown.

 

Neither one even tried to develop Losman, and remember that Jauron continued to start Edwards over Fitzpatrick even after Fitzpatrick repeatedly showed he was a better QB.   Fitzpatrick didn't become the Bills starter until after Jauron was fired.

 

[corta765]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

The Bills coaches, Mularkey and Jauron, were both incompetent.  Mularkey failed to get the best out of Bledsoe, a Pro Bowl quality QB, and a top quality defense in 2004, ending with that awful loss at the end of the season to the Steelers backups.  To be fair to Mularkey, he apparently had little if any say in the Bills personnel.  Jauron was not only an incompetent coach, he had significant control of the player personnel.  Jauron's mind set was to play games not to lose by too much.  Losman wasn't Jauron's type of QB because he wanted to win too much.   Edwards OTOH was a perfect player for a Jauron offense: "Take No Chances" Captain Checkdown.

 

Neither one even tried to develop Losman, and remember that Jauron continued to start Edwards over Fitzpatrick even after Fitzpatrick repeatedly showed he was a better QB.   Fitzpatrick didn't become the Bills starter until after Jauron was fired.

 

Oh the drought days!

 

The teams drafting overall from like 2004-2011 was just atrocious. Finally in 2012 they hit on like 5 guys who became anywhere from starters to pro bowler. The team was such a damn mess for so long once Donahoe got canned as you could see there was no vision or identity outside of playing not to lose like you said. I have went through season by season their drafts in that period and it is so dang messy and bad. You could've had McVay or McDonald here and that team was going 7-9 or 8-8 lol.

 

The Bills issues starting after 2004 were so multifaceted and bad leading with ownership and the future of the team in WNY that by the time you got to the team itself and how it was run you were exhausted.

[C.Biscuit97]

2 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

The Bills coaches, Mularkey and Jauron, were both incompetent.  Mularkey failed to get the best out of Bledsoe, a Pro Bowl quality QB, and a top quality defense in 2004, ending with that awful loss at the end of the season to the Steelers backups.  To be fair to Mularkey, he apparently had little if any say in the Bills personnel.  Jauron was not only an incompetent coach, he had significant control of the player personnel.  Jauron's mind set was to play games not to lose by too much.  Losman wasn't Jauron's type of QB because he wanted to win too much.   Edwards OTOH was a perfect player for a Jauron offense: "Take No Chances" Captain Checkdown.

 

Neither one even tried to develop Losman, and remember that Jauron continued to start Edwards over Fitzpatrick even after Fitzpatrick repeatedly showed he was a better QB.   Fitzpatrick didn't become the Bills starter until after Jauron was fired.

 

Look at Jauron’s (RIP) roster and QBs. Him getting those teams to 7 wins was amazing coaches. His beats teams sucked too. An insane hot take: Jauron with Allen and the Bills roster of the last years makes a SB!!!

 

also, Lee Evan’s would have been the perfect receiver for Allen. What a waste of a really good player.

35 minutes ago, corta765 said:

Oh the drought days!

 

The teams drafting overall from like 2004-2011 was just atrocious. Finally in 2012 they hit on like 5 guys who became anywhere from starters to pro bowler. The team was such a damn mess for so long once Donahoe got canned as you could see there was no vision or identity outside of playing not to lose like you said. I have went through season by season their drafts in that period and it is so dang messy and bad. You could've had McVay or McDonald here and that team was going 7-9 or 8-8 lol.

 

The Bills issues starting after 2004 were so multifaceted and bad leading with ownership and the future of the team in WNY that by the time you got to the team itself and how it was run you were exhausted.

Part of the problem is they were never outright terrible. Nothing helps a rebuild like top 5 picks. Dareus had hall of fame talent and was part of one of the Bills defenses in my lifetime but had issues that prevented that. Also, we apparently wanted Cam but won a stupid game.

15 hours ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

For those wondering, JP is the QB coach for the Washington State.  

Honestly, I salute him because i remember talking to him and he basically said football was his job and he’s not really big about sports. He’s been grinding for a few years now.

Edited June 2 by C.Biscuit97

[MPL]

I remember being very excited for Madden 07 to come out, thinking that surely JP Losman would have a significantly approved overall rating and the Bills would finally be a useable team again.