Michael,
I appreciate your points and thanks for the kind words on my column. I really don't think the debate should be reduced to stats and numbers. I agree with the organization that Edwards has more long-term potential. They do not intend to give Losman the type of contract extension he will surely be seeking after the season -- something in the $50 million range with $15 million guaranteed money. The NFL is big business and that's the reality. They have to decide if he's a franchise QB and they expressed their lack of confidence in him when the drafted Edwards. Edwards should be judged as a rookie who will have the expected struggles of a first-time QB. I think the coaches are encouraged despite his struggles and the lack of points. I reject the Kelly Holcomb comparison. It's an easy and chic one to make, but I think it's off-base. Given time and experience, I think Edwards will make plays down the field. He has the arm. He is no Kelly Holcomb, any more than Losman is a Brett Favre.
Jerry
(Can there be any more proof that this decision is strictly financial? Who is to say that Losman will be seeking $50,000,000? Also, isn't Losman under contract until 2008? Why not keep him one more year? I don't know the business side of the NFL well enough to make any comment as to what Losman will want and whether or not he would want to play without a new contract in his final year. Where is the evidence of this strong arm that Trent Edwards allegedly possesses? The only significant deep ball I have seen him throw was drastically underthrown. The one he completed, which was only about a 40 yard throw in the air, was a duck. Why go with a rookie right now, when as unbelievable as it is to think about, we are right in the middle of the AFC wild card race. If the Bills can win their next 2 games and get to 5-4, talk will change dramatically, especially if those wins come with JP under center. The point Sullivan makes about the money is a valid one but again I have not seen nearly enough in Edwards to believe he is the quarterback of the future. Finally, Sullivan says that the coaches demonstrated a lack of confidence in Losman by taking Edwards in the 3rd round. That is a false statement. The Bills have no plans to draft Edwards. He was supposed to be gone in the 2nd round and the Bills didn't draft him until the end of the third. If the Bills were going to take a quarterback because of a lack of confidence in JP, they would have made a move to get one in the 2nd round or drafted Brady Quinn. You don't draft a quarterback in the third round because he magically fell to you to be your starting quarterback or because you do not have confidence in your current starter. It was a value pick. Finally, I never staked claim to JP being Brett Favre. But, I think the similiarities thus far that we have seen between Edwards and Holcomb are much more valid. Jerry Sullivan, we will wait to see what you say in your comments Monday if the Bills win under JP.)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Bills links and youtube
Losman To Start: Email to Jerry Sullivan (Written prior to QB Decision)
Jerry, First off, I love reading your columns, they are always interesting and informative.
Now about the quarterback. I am so sick and tired of people backing Trent Edwards and saying that he should be the starting quarterback. In a recent column, you mentioned that Jauron is correct in that he should be hesitant to put Losman back in, implying that the Bills have a better chance to win with Trent in there. People keep pointing at the record, 3-1 as a starter. What about these numbers? 2 wins over the Jets and a win over Kyle Boller and a banged up defense at home. How about 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions. Two of these interceptions came in crucial situations in the fourth quarter which effectively refutes any statement that Edwards is smart with the ball, and doesn’t make big mistakes. He made huge mistakes in 2 of his 4 starts. How about the 9.8 offensive points per game we have averaged with Trent Edwards at quarterback? This number is inflated because of a touchdown in the first meeting against the Jets by Greer in the red zone and another field goal set up off a turnover against the Ravens. How about 3 points through 3 quarters against one of the worst defenses in the NFL? Why are fans so sheltered by the fact that we won three games against 3 bad teams? People are so quick to point to weeks one and two in which JP and the entire offense struggled. The game plan in the opener was terrible. Week two, again another game with terrible play calling, was in Pittsburgh in their home opener. Further, the Bills defense wasn’t playing nearly as inspired defense in those two games as they are now which forced Jauron into a close to the vest try and keep the other teams offense off the field type of game plan. No quarterback in this league, except maybe with the exception of Brady, Favre and Manning would be able to produce in that type of situation. Also, why are people so eager to forget about the improvement we saw last year? JP in the 2nd half of the year showed signs that he could be a good and even great quarterback. He led us to two fourth quarter comeback wins in the last second. He won 5 of 7 games and should have been 6 of 8 if Robert Royal could get his feet down and he also could have had another fourth quarter comeback in that game against the Titans if it wasn’t for another coaching lapse in the final moments. JP Losman has 25 NFL starts. That is less than 2 seasons of NFL action and his first 7 starts under Mularkey may have done him more bad than good. The more I analyze Trent Edwards, the more he reminds me of a young Kelly Holcombe. Either the coaches don’t have confidence to throw the ball downfield and open up the offense with him in there (which leads to the fact that the decision to play him is indeed financial) or Trent just doesn’t take any chances down the field. Say what you want about the 85 yard touchdown pass, but Losman threw the ball to his best player down the field to give him a chance to make a play in a game where we still needed to score. And it was a breath of fresh air to see something exciting. Finally, JP has come to Buffalo and cherished the city. How many players that come here can you say that about? He has taken strides to clean the city and made his permanent residence here. It is hard not to feel bad for the guy who has worked so hard and done all the right things (except take us to the playoffs in his ONLY year as a starter) only to get screwed over worse than anyone I have seen in this league.
Edwards has done nothing to win this job except beat 2 bad teams at home when the defense played over their heads. Trent was rewarded with 3 non offensive touchdowns against Dallas. All he needed to do was produce 5 offensive points in that game. He couldn’t do it. Our offense has been bad under Edwards, plain and simple and the lack of a downfield attack is hurting Marshawn Lynch and our running game. Losman proved last season that he deserved a chance this year so earn the extension. He did not do anything to warrant losing the job this year except take a cheap shot from that scum bag Vince Wilfork.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and any response would be appreciated greatly.
Michael J. Costanza
(PS: My fellow blogger is apparently a huge Trent Edwards fan and hates Losman. Well, how about we hear some concrete reasons why Edwards should be playing other than Losman besides pointing at JP's 7-9 record last year and 0-2 start. I would like to hear one good quality of Trent Edwards please other than he beat 2 bad teams at home. C'mon give me a break. JP is starting Sunday and he will put up numbers that won't allow him to be benched again. This game is for his job that is 99 percent gone already. Losman knows he is going to have to absolutely light it up every game he plays the rest of the season and he must take this team to the playoffs to stay around here long term. Will he do it? I think he will...he loves Buffalo and he knows he has to perform at an extremely high level to stay here.)
Now about the quarterback. I am so sick and tired of people backing Trent Edwards and saying that he should be the starting quarterback. In a recent column, you mentioned that Jauron is correct in that he should be hesitant to put Losman back in, implying that the Bills have a better chance to win with Trent in there. People keep pointing at the record, 3-1 as a starter. What about these numbers? 2 wins over the Jets and a win over Kyle Boller and a banged up defense at home. How about 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions. Two of these interceptions came in crucial situations in the fourth quarter which effectively refutes any statement that Edwards is smart with the ball, and doesn’t make big mistakes. He made huge mistakes in 2 of his 4 starts. How about the 9.8 offensive points per game we have averaged with Trent Edwards at quarterback? This number is inflated because of a touchdown in the first meeting against the Jets by Greer in the red zone and another field goal set up off a turnover against the Ravens. How about 3 points through 3 quarters against one of the worst defenses in the NFL? Why are fans so sheltered by the fact that we won three games against 3 bad teams? People are so quick to point to weeks one and two in which JP and the entire offense struggled. The game plan in the opener was terrible. Week two, again another game with terrible play calling, was in Pittsburgh in their home opener. Further, the Bills defense wasn’t playing nearly as inspired defense in those two games as they are now which forced Jauron into a close to the vest try and keep the other teams offense off the field type of game plan. No quarterback in this league, except maybe with the exception of Brady, Favre and Manning would be able to produce in that type of situation. Also, why are people so eager to forget about the improvement we saw last year? JP in the 2nd half of the year showed signs that he could be a good and even great quarterback. He led us to two fourth quarter comeback wins in the last second. He won 5 of 7 games and should have been 6 of 8 if Robert Royal could get his feet down and he also could have had another fourth quarter comeback in that game against the Titans if it wasn’t for another coaching lapse in the final moments. JP Losman has 25 NFL starts. That is less than 2 seasons of NFL action and his first 7 starts under Mularkey may have done him more bad than good. The more I analyze Trent Edwards, the more he reminds me of a young Kelly Holcombe. Either the coaches don’t have confidence to throw the ball downfield and open up the offense with him in there (which leads to the fact that the decision to play him is indeed financial) or Trent just doesn’t take any chances down the field. Say what you want about the 85 yard touchdown pass, but Losman threw the ball to his best player down the field to give him a chance to make a play in a game where we still needed to score. And it was a breath of fresh air to see something exciting. Finally, JP has come to Buffalo and cherished the city. How many players that come here can you say that about? He has taken strides to clean the city and made his permanent residence here. It is hard not to feel bad for the guy who has worked so hard and done all the right things (except take us to the playoffs in his ONLY year as a starter) only to get screwed over worse than anyone I have seen in this league.
Edwards has done nothing to win this job except beat 2 bad teams at home when the defense played over their heads. Trent was rewarded with 3 non offensive touchdowns against Dallas. All he needed to do was produce 5 offensive points in that game. He couldn’t do it. Our offense has been bad under Edwards, plain and simple and the lack of a downfield attack is hurting Marshawn Lynch and our running game. Losman proved last season that he deserved a chance this year so earn the extension. He did not do anything to warrant losing the job this year except take a cheap shot from that scum bag Vince Wilfork.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and any response would be appreciated greatly.
Michael J. Costanza
(PS: My fellow blogger is apparently a huge Trent Edwards fan and hates Losman. Well, how about we hear some concrete reasons why Edwards should be playing other than Losman besides pointing at JP's 7-9 record last year and 0-2 start. I would like to hear one good quality of Trent Edwards please other than he beat 2 bad teams at home. C'mon give me a break. JP is starting Sunday and he will put up numbers that won't allow him to be benched again. This game is for his job that is 99 percent gone already. Losman knows he is going to have to absolutely light it up every game he plays the rest of the season and he must take this team to the playoffs to stay around here long term. Will he do it? I think he will...he loves Buffalo and he knows he has to perform at an extremely high level to stay here.)
Monday, October 29, 2007
Losmaniacs suck
by Steve
Alright, enough is enough, I can't take it any more. Losmaniacs or JP Losman die hard fans are running a muck. They're voting on web polls, calling radio stations, blogging on this website, writing to newspapers, amortizing themselves at 1 Bills drive I can't take it!
I'm not here to necessarily bash the dude, but he has started something like 27 games he lost the first 2 this season, he lost his last 2 last season and finished with a 7-9 record. In 2005 he started 9 games and went something like 3-6.
He is no savior, he throws the ball down field when it seems a receiver is breaking away, but the likely hood it is a completion is very low, much below 50%. He can't complete short passes, 20 yard outs outside the numbers and at a "tall" 6'2 he is undersized at the position.
For his career all you "stat" assholes, he has thrown 28 touchdowns while throwing 24 interceptions. His contract is up after 2008 and no quarterback goes into the final year of his contract with out a new deal. He isn't playing any where near the value of $11 million per season ala Tony Homo and has played himself out of the starting role.
Sure, in a perfect world he would have stayed healthy and played all of 2007, however it isn't, he got hurt and lost 2 games pretty much embarrassingly. Does he seem to make the offense more exciting? Probably. Does he throw a nice deep ball? Some of the time. Does he take bad sacks, fail numerously to move the chains, and misses receivers in stride preventing bigger plays? Absolutely.
JP Losman is what he is, a less accurate, less football intelligent version of Brett Favre. He'll get people off their asses and standing up, but he'll get people booing and throwing shit on the field at the same time. I've seen him play mediocre for long enough, he hasn't proven he can win games!
This is not a glaring boner fest for Trent "tReD" Edwards, but Losman at this point, doesn't appear to give the Buffalo Bills any more of a chance to win football games than a rookie 3rd rounder out of a non-football school. Doesn't that say enough about Losman's progression as a starting quarterback in the National Football League?
Don't get me wrong, I want Losman to thrive. I love what he was trying to do for the city of Buffalo. When I saw Evans strip the ball away from Rivas I yelled "He's got it ! Touchdown!" Then I thought, why were the Bills throwing a deep ball in that situation? That ball was under thrown. The fact is the Bills in this parody driven NFL can win boring close games without a gun slinger. They can win with an efficient game controlling quarterback who hopefully will be able to mature into a better QB that can make plays when he needs to. Edwards probably isn't ready for the big time, but he is winning ball games and certainly keeping the Bills in games. I still say stick with Losman this week if tReD is hurt but unless Losman goes for 350 yards and 3 TDs and shows a miraculous turnaround Trent gets the start when he is healthy.
PS
Fuck QB controversies
Alright, enough is enough, I can't take it any more. Losmaniacs or JP Losman die hard fans are running a muck. They're voting on web polls, calling radio stations, blogging on this website, writing to newspapers, amortizing themselves at 1 Bills drive I can't take it!
I'm not here to necessarily bash the dude, but he has started something like 27 games he lost the first 2 this season, he lost his last 2 last season and finished with a 7-9 record. In 2005 he started 9 games and went something like 3-6.
He is no savior, he throws the ball down field when it seems a receiver is breaking away, but the likely hood it is a completion is very low, much below 50%. He can't complete short passes, 20 yard outs outside the numbers and at a "tall" 6'2 he is undersized at the position.
For his career all you "stat" assholes, he has thrown 28 touchdowns while throwing 24 interceptions. His contract is up after 2008 and no quarterback goes into the final year of his contract with out a new deal. He isn't playing any where near the value of $11 million per season ala Tony Homo and has played himself out of the starting role.
Sure, in a perfect world he would have stayed healthy and played all of 2007, however it isn't, he got hurt and lost 2 games pretty much embarrassingly. Does he seem to make the offense more exciting? Probably. Does he throw a nice deep ball? Some of the time. Does he take bad sacks, fail numerously to move the chains, and misses receivers in stride preventing bigger plays? Absolutely.
JP Losman is what he is, a less accurate, less football intelligent version of Brett Favre. He'll get people off their asses and standing up, but he'll get people booing and throwing shit on the field at the same time. I've seen him play mediocre for long enough, he hasn't proven he can win games!
This is not a glaring boner fest for Trent "tReD" Edwards, but Losman at this point, doesn't appear to give the Buffalo Bills any more of a chance to win football games than a rookie 3rd rounder out of a non-football school. Doesn't that say enough about Losman's progression as a starting quarterback in the National Football League?
Don't get me wrong, I want Losman to thrive. I love what he was trying to do for the city of Buffalo. When I saw Evans strip the ball away from Rivas I yelled "He's got it ! Touchdown!" Then I thought, why were the Bills throwing a deep ball in that situation? That ball was under thrown. The fact is the Bills in this parody driven NFL can win boring close games without a gun slinger. They can win with an efficient game controlling quarterback who hopefully will be able to mature into a better QB that can make plays when he needs to. Edwards probably isn't ready for the big time, but he is winning ball games and certainly keeping the Bills in games. I still say stick with Losman this week if tReD is hurt but unless Losman goes for 350 yards and 3 TDs and shows a miraculous turnaround Trent gets the start when he is healthy.
PS
Fuck QB controversies
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Bills win improve to 3-4
by Steve
Looks like I have the enviable distinction of writing about this highly entertaining thriller in the Meadowlands.. Good thing I really love the Bills or I would have passed out at half time and missed the rest of the contest. God this game was boring.
The Bills won their first game on the road today, and didn't show much expect for a surprisingly respectable defense and a coaching staff that plays it so close to the vest they are numb from the pain. Lets be real, the New York Jets are an awful football team, and the Bills are a mediocre football team. The good thing is, most teams in the NFL are in either one of those categories.
Thomas Jones had a decent day running, didn't get the ball nearly enough, and was held to 70 yards. (Why do teams always abandon the run against this team?)John McCargo is a beast, and is almost making people forget his Mcarbust nickname. The defense was effective all day blitzing a broken down and decaying Chadwick Pennington and forced some turnovers. They only got 3 sacks but the team didn't give CP any time to throw. Perry Fewell is doing something right, the team has players like Butler and George Wilson playing, an undrafted MLB in Digiorgio and an under performing Whitner. (Which brings me to a side point. Whitner sucks, dude is not making plays, he was taken 8th over all, he missed a fumble in the first quarter, misses players, and is not in position to make plays we expected him to make.) The defense again won this football game.
Marshawn Lynch has failed for the 7th straight game to eclipse 100 yards rushing but the dude runs hard, plays with injuries and moves the pile. BUT, he sometimes makes bone head plays chooses the wrong hole and has yet to break a real big one. For instance a 3rd and 1 early in the fourth quarter, instead of the coaching staff calling a straight shot into the middle of the line or HELLO A QB SNEAK they get cute, Lynch goes the wrong way and they lose yards, field goal. He is still a good runner and exciting but something is wrong, and for now I'll still blame the run blocking. I guess just rookie mistakes.
The pass blocking on the other hand has been pretty solid, except for about an entire quarter where Rivas blitzed every single play from the left side that was never picked up, the quarterback has had time to scan the field and get a play off. "The quarterbacks" were 17 of 26 for 243 yards 1 td and 1 int. Good combined numbers but neither knocked my socks off. One has flaws the other doesn't and one has strengths the other doesn't. If you can combine them I'd say you have a good quarterback, but separately neither is very good and right now not winning a playoff game. So again I pose the question, does it matter? Calm down people why does everyone love a god damn quarterback controversy so efffn much?
It was a strange call to throw down the field in that position, they scored a TD, the ball was under thrown, Evans was in a position to make a play, it was picked off then striped away, you can look at it any way you want it wasn't pretty. The other QB hasn't produced in the redzone, he moves the changes and eats up time, hasn't thrown good deep balls, completes nearly every short pass, avoids sacks, makes rookie mistakes, throws interceptions, makes the offense appear to be coherent. etc etc etc Ahhhhhhh. Neither is good, we can't control who the starter is, just cheer for the team. Neither argument is really that good.
Quick hits:
Looks like I have the enviable distinction of writing about this highly entertaining thriller in the Meadowlands.. Good thing I really love the Bills or I would have passed out at half time and missed the rest of the contest. God this game was boring.
The Bills won their first game on the road today, and didn't show much expect for a surprisingly respectable defense and a coaching staff that plays it so close to the vest they are numb from the pain. Lets be real, the New York Jets are an awful football team, and the Bills are a mediocre football team. The good thing is, most teams in the NFL are in either one of those categories.
Thomas Jones had a decent day running, didn't get the ball nearly enough, and was held to 70 yards. (Why do teams always abandon the run against this team?)John McCargo is a beast, and is almost making people forget his Mcarbust nickname. The defense was effective all day blitzing a broken down and decaying Chadwick Pennington and forced some turnovers. They only got 3 sacks but the team didn't give CP any time to throw. Perry Fewell is doing something right, the team has players like Butler and George Wilson playing, an undrafted MLB in Digiorgio and an under performing Whitner. (Which brings me to a side point. Whitner sucks, dude is not making plays, he was taken 8th over all, he missed a fumble in the first quarter, misses players, and is not in position to make plays we expected him to make.) The defense again won this football game.
Marshawn Lynch has failed for the 7th straight game to eclipse 100 yards rushing but the dude runs hard, plays with injuries and moves the pile. BUT, he sometimes makes bone head plays chooses the wrong hole and has yet to break a real big one. For instance a 3rd and 1 early in the fourth quarter, instead of the coaching staff calling a straight shot into the middle of the line or HELLO A QB SNEAK they get cute, Lynch goes the wrong way and they lose yards, field goal. He is still a good runner and exciting but something is wrong, and for now I'll still blame the run blocking. I guess just rookie mistakes.
The pass blocking on the other hand has been pretty solid, except for about an entire quarter where Rivas blitzed every single play from the left side that was never picked up, the quarterback has had time to scan the field and get a play off. "The quarterbacks" were 17 of 26 for 243 yards 1 td and 1 int. Good combined numbers but neither knocked my socks off. One has flaws the other doesn't and one has strengths the other doesn't. If you can combine them I'd say you have a good quarterback, but separately neither is very good and right now not winning a playoff game. So again I pose the question, does it matter? Calm down people why does everyone love a god damn quarterback controversy so efffn much?
It was a strange call to throw down the field in that position, they scored a TD, the ball was under thrown, Evans was in a position to make a play, it was picked off then striped away, you can look at it any way you want it wasn't pretty. The other QB hasn't produced in the redzone, he moves the changes and eats up time, hasn't thrown good deep balls, completes nearly every short pass, avoids sacks, makes rookie mistakes, throws interceptions, makes the offense appear to be coherent. etc etc etc Ahhhhhhh. Neither is good, we can't control who the starter is, just cheer for the team. Neither argument is really that good.
Quick hits:
- Do Tasker and Gus Johnson work for CBS or the Jets?
- When is Thomas Jones getting inducted into the hall of fame?
- Where were the Jets fans today?
- Mangini the genius looked like he had a bit of an acne problem and got a lot of camera time.
- How much does Terrance Mcgee love playing against the Jets?
- What was that shuffle pass call?
- THE BILLS ARE 3-4 LOOKIN TO BE .500 AGAINST A CRAPPY CINCI TEAM
- DICK JAURON!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Bills Jets breakdown podcast style
A breakdown of the Bills @ Jets this Sunday, predictions, Edwards v Losman and Coast still won't give it up about JP Watercooler talk is hosted by Steve (right click save as) to download
Thursday, October 25, 2007
World Series is a joke
by Steve
Have we seen anything more boring and uninteresting than the World Series? WOW! A bunch of bandwagon rich ass hole red sox fans dancing around and signing some shitty Neil Diamond song! All this while their team, who can just blow huge amounts of money on bit players and over rated pieces of shit like Lugo and Gange and a few others while they play a real baseball team with some dude named Spilborghs as their DH. Great fucking job Theo.
Alright we want numbers? How about 1 number $100 million. That should be the SALARY CAP. Ever hear of a salary cap Major League Baseball? The red sox total salary this seas was $143,000,000 roughly while Colorado's was $54,000,000. Just about Ninty million dollars in discrepancy there. Ok so its not all salary, the Yankees lost? Eh efff that it helps to out spend by nearly 200%.
I'll say Rockies in 6 if their offense can awake from its coma because the Red Sox are tired, and about to hit a wall. Book it.
Have we seen anything more boring and uninteresting than the World Series? WOW! A bunch of bandwagon rich ass hole red sox fans dancing around and signing some shitty Neil Diamond song! All this while their team, who can just blow huge amounts of money on bit players and over rated pieces of shit like Lugo and Gange and a few others while they play a real baseball team with some dude named Spilborghs as their DH. Great fucking job Theo.
Alright we want numbers? How about 1 number $100 million. That should be the SALARY CAP. Ever hear of a salary cap Major League Baseball? The red sox total salary this seas was $143,000,000 roughly while Colorado's was $54,000,000. Just about Ninty million dollars in discrepancy there. Ok so its not all salary, the Yankees lost? Eh efff that it helps to out spend by nearly 200%.
- Ubaldo pitched well today, just some how got out pitched by Schilling.
- What happen to the Rockies offense? Fenway is a good hitters ball park, christ. 2 runs in 18 innings?
- Did I really witness the alleged NL MVP get picked off at 2nd in the 8th inning with 2 outs down 1 run?
- Did Colorado really have to sit on their asses for 8 days before playing another game?
- Is Troy Tulowitzki really in the 7 hole? WTF?!
- Is Ryan Spilborghs really the DH in the 9 hole?
- Did I really, no honestly, did I really witness a dude walk 3 straight batters with the bases loaded Wednesday? Did that really happen? 13-1? Beckett got real luck in that game too, I'll say that much, the strike zone was questionable too.
I'll say Rockies in 6 if their offense can awake from its coma because the Red Sox are tired, and about to hit a wall. Book it.
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