JP Losman's Second Chance

-Coast

Everyone who reads this blog knows that I think JP Losman is a star in the waiting if he doesn't have to play under Mike Mularkey or Dick Jauron. Tonight at 9 PM, Losman will get a chance to resurrect his career in the United Football League as his team, the Las Vegas Locomotives hosts the California Redwoods at 9 PM on Versus.

I semi-jokingly made the comment today that I am more excited about this game than I am about the Buffalo Bills in general and the more time goes on, the more this statement might actually be reality. One thing is for sure, this game will be more exciting than last Sunday's, and a majority of the games we watch under Jauron.

JP Losman's head coach is former New York Giant head coach and NFC Champion Jim Fassel. I don't think anyone can make any case that Mularkey or Jauron have more credibility than Fassel, who has actually had some success in the NFL. Here are some comments made by Fassel about his starting quarterback.

"If I had doubt that he should not be a starting winning quarterback, I wouldn't take it on," Fassel said. "But I had the same feeling with Kerry Collins ... J.P.'s got tremendous athletic skills. This guy should be a starter in the NFL. I mean, come on ... But I still understand you can help a guy. Even Tiger Woods needs a swing coach.

"Listen, if he'd have went back to the NFL and sat on the bench this year, then he'd have been no better off next year. Whatever anybody thought about him, they'd still say the same thing. Nothing would've changed. ... Instead, you go in this league and you play. The risk you take is you don't play well. But if you're an aggressive person, you say 'I'm going to play well, people are going to see me, and maybe I can erase some of those negatives that were in the past, and a lot of people will say, wow, look at him play now. He's a new guy.'"

"Quarterbacks, all they need to do is fit in the right circumstance," Fassel said. "I can name a lot of Hall of Fame quarterbacks that at the end of four years, you'd be shocked at their numbers and where they were. You take Steve Young, who was at Tampa. You look at his numbers after four years. You look at Terry Bradshaw's numbers after four years, you look at John Elway's numbers after four years, and you look at Brett Favre's numbers after four years. And if I didn't have a name on those, you might've cut them.

"Now that's after four years ... and my study is based upon having patience and the right circumstances with quarterbacks. And they didn't have great circumstances. Listen, Brett Favre got traded, Steve Young got traded or cut, I'm not sure. Dan Reeves tried to trade John Elway. And Terry Bradshaw was just playing on a frigging great team, OK? Three out of four of those quarterbacks were either traded or tried to get traded. And you know what? They're Hall of Fame guys."

Fassel said his point is that Losman's career isn't a bust yet. "You've got to be blind not to see this guy can play quarterback," the coach said. "And if he does his job this year and everything works out, I'll be the happiest guy in the world if next year, there's 12, 14, 16 teams saying, 'This guy's a quarterback; we all miscalculated this thing. He can play. Let's go get this guy now.' And then he's back where he wants to be. That's fine with me. I have no problem with that.

"In fact, I've thought about it a lot at night. I want that for him, and I feel the accountability. It's my job now to get him going. Because I think he'll make the commitment and I'll make the commitment, too."

And most recently, Fassel has said:

“Holy smokes, Losman’s an outstanding player,” Fassel said. “He was offered a backup contract to play in the NFL, but he’s doing the right thing to play here and re-establish himself. With some of these [NFL] teams struggling with the quarterback position, I can’t imagine that he couldn’t start for them. No question in my mind.”

Take his opinions for what they're worth, but he knows a lot more about quarterbacking and football than anyone on our current staff. What kind of coach takes an athletic strong armed quarterback and tries turning him into a straigh pocket passes a la Drew Bledsoe? Ridiculcous.

The Redwoods are coached by former NFL Coach Dennis Green. Rounding out the coaches of the rest of the teams in the league are Jim Haslett and Ted Cottrell. Green and Haslett have had more success head coaching in the NFL than Jauron without a doubt and former Bills Defensive Coordinator Ted Cottrell...well I would take him in a heart beat over Jauron. Jauron is worse than all coaches in the United Football League...ouch.

Go Loco's.