No Buckwheat or Velvet Jones, but Losman was still adequate

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, October 07, 2008  |  Comments( 117 )

Buffalo Bills
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!

It would be easy to excuse away Bills quarterback J.P. Losman’s weak moments in Arizona, but two things come to mind: 1. It’s his job to prepare for immediately going from boredom to the center of action; 2. He didn’t perform that badly overall. While the former Chosen One is still plagued with inconsistency, particularly pertaining to ball security, the fact is that Losman put up a 101.3 rating in his only action this season. He certainly wasn’t the reason the Bills -- who dropped a 41-17 decision -- are no longer undefeated, unless he also filled in at cornerback.

Losman either has more targets now than when he was intermittent starter or he used what he has better: He completed passes to seven different receivers while succeeding on 15 of 21 throws and amassing 220 yards. About 40 percent of those gains came on one play, namely his brilliant successful bomb to Lee Evans that went so far that NFL scientists are still attempting to calculate its exact distance.

While it’s easy to claim that Losman was middling the rest of the day, the fact is that one great play counts toward the total, and getting lots of yards at once is still getting lots of yards. The exquisite connection brought about fond memories of something that never happened, namely the decade that the Tulane and Wisconsin products, respectively, were going to spend growing old together in the NFL and reacting to each other’s timing perfectly like Brooks and Reiner. Even though Losman actually ended up as a Joe Piscopo type to Evans’ Eddie Murphy, it’s still exciting when they get now-rare chances to link up, completions that provoke wistful sighs.

Plays like that didn’t come immediately, either, as offensive coordinator Turk Schonert started Losman off with a pair of handoffs, the latter of which the oxidized second-stringer lost on the exchange in a moment of recent inexperience and not incompetence. But the boss opened it back up a bit once the reserve looked at least marginally comfortable under the harsh circumstances. Losman threw on the initial three snaps of his first full drive and dropped back on five of the nine plays after that first partial effort, as it was nice that they didn’t temper the offense on the backup’s behalf.

Schonert even dusted off a play that would have gone unused if the starter remained well: Losman’s sneaky touchdown sneak under the first half’s 2-minute warning was a play that wouldn’t be called with the concussed Trent Edwards under center, which made it especially astute as the Cardinals spent zero time preparing for such a move last week.

It’s not that he was perfect, as Losman did inflict a few infuriating Losman flashes on Bills fans, as when he made a bad read on his interception and accordingly threw it directly at the wrong jersey. But the game was decided by that point with less than 7 minutes left and the ultimate final score in place; attempting to force a pass under those conditions is understandable.

And the sacks can’t all be pinned on him, either, especially late when he was brought down on consecutive plays on the Bills’ drive that began with about 10 1/2 minutes left. The line was simply overwhelmed on first down; on the next play, left tackle Jason Peters pushed his man, Clark Haggans, but not aside and rather right into his quarterback. It was a meaningless play, but meaningful for the quarterback’s health, especially if the team prefers that third-string passer Gibran Hamdan takes no snaps this season.

Other than Peters’ weekly dreadful lapse, right guard Brad Butler also had a mostly tough day, evidenced by a false start and hold credited to him. But on occasions when the blocking held up and when non-Evans receivers helped Losman he displayed competence and the occasional electrifying deep completion.

In fact, that’s the most positive way to remember the forgettable Losman era. There’s never good news after an injury to the starting quarterback, and if we’d like to pretend there is it’s that the first mate displayed glimmers of hope even with zero time to prepare.

His performance may have been dotted with warts, but a quarterback who hasn’t pouted put forth a respectable showing under instantaneous pressure. With Edwards’ status still uncertain for their post-bye game, the second-stringer will get more preparation time to make the best out of a bad situation for all. Losman will never get the chance to be a great quarterback in Buffalo, but his attitude this year and instances of decent play on Sunday combine to show that he can be a good teammate.
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (117)

About Anthony Bialy

I'm just here to submit ...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report
CommentsComments: 117  |  Sign Up  View all comments
Avatar
No.1
8and8Forever		08:04 AM
10/07/2008
that was the ultimate trap game. lets just move on. TE will be ok and back at QB for the chargers, Ko and McGee will be back, ...
No.2
Kegman		08:07 AM
10/07/2008
It's time to rally' round JP and as true Bills fans, support him. We can win with JP, and the guy is a competitor (yes, who hangs ...
Avatar
No.3
Mike T.		08:24 AM
10/07/2008
Missed yesterday's post-mortem. What team was that, Sunday? No pass rush? and the Cards LT is Mike Gandy! Oh well, 4-1 is OK. ...
Team News  |  View All Bills Content
Edwards’ turnovers overturn ...
Restaurateur, car dealership owner, and former professional footballer ...
1 day, 7 hours ago   |   Edwards’ turnovers overturn Bills’ hopes ( 98 )
Third-rounder Edwards must o ...
On top of everything that’s gone wrong for the Buffalo Bills lately, t ...
2 days, 7 hours ago   |   Third-rounder Edwards must outperform first-rounder Quinn ( 164 )
Remaining games resemble pas ...
The Buffalo Bills have faced a few bad teams and some decent ones, and ...
5 days, 7 hours ago   |   Remaining games resemble past games for Bills ( 105 )
Not running Lynch enough kee ...
One of the big three for the Buffalo Bills sets up the other two, and ...
6 days, 7 hours ago   |   Not running Lynch enough keeps the Bills from running well ( 71 )
Bills’ Whitner missed by Poz ...
Whether it be Starsky and Hutch, Bill and Ted or the guy from Run-DMC ...
1 week ago   |   Bills’ Whitner missed by Poz, everyone else ( 98 )