Bills’ fans should be patient with Losman

By Connor Byrne  |   Wednesday, October 05, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Buffalo Bills
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In three of the first four starts of his career, the Buffalo Bills second year quarterback J.P. Losman has struggled. Those three games resulted in losses to Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and New Orleans. The lone bright spot thus far was in the season opening win against Houston when Losman played brilliantly, going 17 of 28 for 170 yards with a touchdown. Losman's stats for the year read like this: a passer rating of 55.8, a completion percentage of just 47.9 percent, 433 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Those stats are downright awful. However, they are not uncommon. Many great quarterbacks have struggled in the beginning of their careers.

After watching Buffalo's first four games, it is clear to me that Losman has the arm and the mobility to be a big success in the NFL. However, he needs to improve upon his accuracy, his reads, and his mental approach to the opposition. Those tools could very easily come with more experience. Losman is a brash young quarterback who is willing to stand up and admit mistakes when he makes them. He clearly has the work ethic to be a success in the NFL as he spent the entire off-season watching film and learning the game from former NFL quarterback, and current Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach, Sam Wyche. Losman would be the first to admit that he has been disappointing so far in his young career but this rough start has led him to work even harder. So far this season, Losman has been forced to deal with a terrible offensive line and terrible play calling by the offensive coaching staff. It's probably fair to say that Losman isn't having too much fun throwing short patterns just about every pass play. He has a cannon for an arm and that strength needs to be emphasized with calls for deep throws down the field. He threw a couple of excellent downfield passes early on against the New Orleans Saints last week, but the coaches then abandoned that style of play.

After Losman's rocky start, many Western New Yorkers have called for veteran backup Kelly Holcomb to take the reins and pull the team back into contention. However, I hold the opinion that starting Holcomb makes no sense and would set the team back. The Buffalo Bills are currently 1-3 with an incredibly difficult schedule through the final thirteen games. Their toughest remaining contests consist of New England twice, Miami twice, San Diego, Kansas City, Carolina, and Cincinnati. Forget the playoffs. The best Holcomb could do is lead the team to 8-8 or 9-7. History tells us that young quarterbacks often start to progress in the second half of their first year. Next year, Losman could be to the Bills' what Carson Palmer is to the Bengals or Eli Manning is to the Giants. Each of those two struggled in the earlier stages of their careers but have blossomed into two of the games better passers. Granted, they were both number one overall picks but that doesn't mean Losman can't have success. Keep in mind that Losman was selected 22nd in the 2004 NFL draft.

If Buffalo continues to struggle week in and week out, it could easily pay dividends next year. The Bills could end up with a very high pick in April's NFL draft and possibly repair their offensive line. D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the tremendous offensive tackle from Virginia, and Eric Winston, the top-notch tackle from Miami both are candidates to be drafted in the top five or ten. Buffalo could draft one of them and give Losman the protection he deserves.

Next year, Buffalo will return star linebacker Takeo Spikes from his Achilles injury. There is no question he'll be hungry to prove that he is every bit of the player he was before the injury.

Lastly in the free agent period before April's draft, Bills' General Manager Tom Donahoe (assuming he's still employed) had better look to upgrade the team's offensive and defensive lines with the salary cap money that Buffalo will have to spend. It is imperative that Losman have time to throw and that the Bills' defensive line can actually rush the opposing passer. Otherwise, the future for the Bills will be exactly like the present...disappointing.
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