Gotta Dream Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 By MATT HIGGINS Published: November 30, 2006 ORCHARD PARK, N.Y., Nov. 29 — J.P. Losman was the last of four quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2004 N.F.L. draft, but in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of pro football there was grumbling in Buffalo that the Bills had squandered their pick. Skip to next paragraph N.F.L. Scores/Schedule Schedules: A.F.C. | N.F.C. Standings: A.F.C. | N.F.C. Teams | Statistics Transactions Injuries: A.F.C. | N.F.C. Discuss the N.F.L. Giants Team Page Schedule/Results Statistics | Roster | Injuries Depth Chart | History Discuss the Giants Jets Team Page Schedule/Results Statistics | Roster | Injuries Depth Chart | History Discuss the Jets What a difference a month has made for Losman. Buffalo has won three of its past four games, and Losman engineered the winning score during the final possession in two consecutive games. The Bills (5-6) have managed back-to-back wins for the first time in more than a year, renewing hopes — slim as they may be — for a playoff berth, their first in seven years. A wild-card berth will probably be determined here on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers (9-2). The game will feature another quarterback selected in 2004, the Chargers’ Philip Rivers, taken fourth over all, in a trade with the Giants. Young quarterbacks aside, the similarity of the teams’ offenses end there. San Diego is the N.F.L.’s highest scoring team, averaging 32.1 points a game; Buffalo scores 17.4. Although he is not close with Rivers, or Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger — the other quarterbacks taken in 2004 — Losman said he had monitored their careers. “We all keep tabs on each other,” said Losman, who was the 22d pick over all. “It’s all just a curiosity thing really. It’s fun and exciting to see who’s doing what — who was right, who was wrong.” At the moment, Losman and Rivers are doing right; Roethlisberger and Manning have had their stars dimmed this season. Rivers’s passer rating is 94.5, seventh in the league; Losman (84.1) ranks 12th; and Manning (76.0) is 23rd and Roethlisberger (72.3) 24th. Roethlisberger, selected 11th in 2004 by Pittsburgh, became a starter as a rookie and led Pittsburgh to a Super Bowl title last season. But this season he leads the N.F.L. in interceptions (19) for a struggling team (4-7). Manning was picked first over all in 2004 and became a starter late in his rookie season. He led the Giants to the playoffs in 2005, but has foundered in 2006, throwing 15 interceptions, and the Giants (6-5) have lost three consecutive games. Rivers, brought along the slowest of the four, is having the best season. He had only played four games and thrown 30 passes before becoming San Diego’s starter following the departure of Drew Brees in the off-season. Over 11 games, he has completed 65 percent of his passes and has just six interceptions. Losman’s career has been a series of ups and downs. He was named the starter in 2005 following Drew Bledsoe’s departure to Dallas. But after a 1-3 start he was replaced by the journeyman Kelly Holcomb. “When you lose, the quarterback is going to take all this blame,” Losman said. “Sometimes it’s rightfully so. But 99 percent of the time you needed everybody on this team for things to work. I’m talking about offense, defense, special teams.” Named the starter again to begin 2006, Losman seemed at a nadir only three weeks ago. In consecutive games against Green Bay and Indianapolis, he attempted a mere total of 27 passes. But a week after a 17-16 loss to the Colts, who were unbeaten at the time, the Bills’ offensive coordinator, Steve Fairchild, cut his quarterback loose in a 24-21, last-minute victory at Houston. Losman threw for a career-high 340 yards to six receivers. He had a career-high passer rating (111.7) and tossed the winning touchdown pass to Peerless Price in the end zone with 13 seconds remaining. Last week against Jacksonville, a team with a legitimate shot at a playoff berth, Losman completed 21 of 28 passes in a 27-24 win, including a 30-yard strike to Roscoe Parrish that set up a winning 42-yard field goal by Rian Lindell as time expired. On the pass to Parrish, Losman rolled left on a broken play and waved for his receiver to go downfield. Parrish made an leaping catch, but after practice Wednesday he gave credit to Losman. “It’s sort of like backyard football to me,” Parrish said. “I try to get open once I see him scrambling to my side. Somehow he just sees me downfield and always completes the ball to me.” Among the quarterback class of 2004, Losman is the best scrambler, but he has learned to stay in the pocket, too. During victories over Houston and Jacksonville, he has completed more than 70 percent of his passes. “We’ve shown the coaches we want some more down the field throws,” Losman said. “We’re starting to get those, and we’ll have to continue to connect or we’ll have to cut back.” Buffalo’s turnaround coincided with an offensive line shakeup following three straight losses in October. In order to better protect Losman’s blind side, left guard Tutan Reyes was replaced by left tackle Mike Gandy. Right tackle Jason Peters filled Gandy’s vacant spot at left tackle, and the rookie Terrance Pennington took Peter’s spot at right tackle. During the Bills’ first seven games, Losman was sacked 21 times and threw 6 interceptions. But he was not sacked against Jacksonville, and he has thrown only two interceptions during the four games since the offensive line was retooled. Bills Coach Dick Jauron has kept tabs on the careers of quarterbacks selected with Losman in the first round. Asked about similarities between Rivers and Losman, he said, “It appears to me both of them are developing into leaders on the field. ... Two, in my opinion, good young quarterbacks.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I'm proud of the kid....I even feel bad for starting to get frustrated with him, but I didn't know that Jauron was purposely keeping the shackles on him. I feel better about the whole thing now, and I hope five and ten years down the road we can all look back and talk about how JP was one of the greatest picks in our history. And then maybe my man TD can get some credit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluv Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 It is already starting to happen: the media is beginning to at least mention JP against his 2004 QB class. It is the 1st step. If we either win this week or JP has a monster game then a few GM will start to admit that they were taking a hard look at JP in the draft and how athletic and strong arm he had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloWings Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 It is already starting to happen: the media is beginning to at least mention JP against his 2004 QB class. It is the 1st step. If we either win this week or JP has a monster game then a few GM will start to admit that they were taking a hard look at JP in the draft and how athletic and strong arm he had. 852470[/snapback] Very true...and unfortunately, we'll see Mort and Pasquarelli say what a good draft pick TD made. The wins have been nice and I'm very glad JP played a big part with the last-minute drives. I stopped defending him after the NE game (and called for Craig Nall, as well), but let's hope he keeps proving me wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortured Soul Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Anyone know Matt Higgins? He seems to write a few stories about Buffalo sports for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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