Sullivan: Why keep Brohm in closet?

[yordad]

Link (http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/896839.html)



As of Sunday, it'll be one month since the Bills signed Brohm. He has been working exclusively with the scout team. Clearly, he's not ready to be trusted with the profound intellectual challenge of running the Bills' offense. It wouldn't be fair to throw him into the fire with so little preparation.
This is, of course, the organization that fired its offensive coordinator 10 days before the opener and gave the job to a virtual novice, Van Pelt. That was around the time they cut a veteran left tackle and gave the job to a kid who hadn't played a down in the league.
It was those same Bills who hired a general manager, Russ Brandon, with a marketing background and no significant experience in player personnel. Oh, and the guy making the decisions on the field right now, Fewell, had no head coaching experience one month ago.
Gee, it seems the Bills lead the league in allowing people to figure things out on the fly. But suddenly, a month isn't enough time for Brohm to at least suit up as the No. 2 quarterback.
Fewell paused for eight seconds before answering. Then he said Brohm hasn't had enough chance to develop in the offense. He said it might be a "recipe for failure" to throw him in now.
"But you never say never," Fewell said. "You approach each day as it comes, each situation as it comes, and you never rule out a possibility."
My translation: At some point, someone in management, or owner Ralph Wilson, might order him to do it. But these are the Bills, who never make a move until it's absolutely the right time.
Much more in the link

[YardRat]

I maintain he sees the field against Atlanta, if not New England.

Unless we manage to pull off an upset this Sunday, then he might not see the field at all.

[Typ0]

If he plays that would be great. It would signify he's shown enough that he's not going to go out there and get smeared. But I think he's been acquired to be part of the talent pool competing for the job going into next season and, as the article states, the organization isn't exactly in the best situation in any facet to breed a new guy right now. Throwing him in there would be a desperation move to find something positive amidst a bunch of crap. It's too much weight on a kid that's struggling to get it together already.

[Novacane]

The article said he is only dressing as the emergency QB Sunday so we won't see him against NE

[Nighthawk]

Perry Fool needs to go...PLEASE!

[Novacane]

Perry Fool needs to go...PLEASE!


3 more games

[hydro]

3 more games

3 games that we could see players that are our future. But Fewell is playing for his job not the future of the team...

[Novacane]

If he actually believes he has a shot at this job then Perry Fool is a good name for him.

[Ron Burgundy]

Helpful hint to keep in mind for the future: Brohm isn't any good, either, so it's much ado about nothing.

[Nighthawk]

Helpful hint to keep in mind for the future: Brohm isn't any good, either, so it's much ado about nothing.

And you know this how?

[Ron Burgundy]

And you know this how?

Well...

Because he couldn't beat out a seventh rounder to become a backup

Because Green Bay stuck him on the practice squad instead of protecting him on their full roster

Because he isn't good enough to play this year, for whatever reason

Because we're Buffalo and this sort of thing never works out for us

...and so on and so forth.

[Ron Burgundy]

I guess my question would be, why does anyone think Brohm is any good?

Is it the college success? The fact that he was picked in the second round?

I mean, if you go to a Green Bay message board or read comments on their online newspapers, 80% of the people who follow the team say some variation of "slow-decision making" or "was handed the number two QB position and couldn't beat out Matt Flynn" or "bust."

[TrEd FTW]

If he actually believes he has a shot at this job then Perry Fool is a good name for him.

WTF do you expect Fewell to do? If he pulls a miracle and finishes 5-2 with this godawful roster, it's gonna be hard to deny him the job.

[TrEd FTW]

I guess my question would be, why does anyone think Brohm is any good?

Is it the college success? The fact that he was picked in the second round?

I mean, if you go to a Green Bay message board or read comments on their online newspapers, 80% of the people who follow the team say some variation of "slow-decision making" or "was handed the number two QB position and couldn't beat out Matt Flynn" or "bust."

Green Bay has thrown Matt Hasselbeck and Mark Brunell to the scrapheap in the past, so you never know. Brohm was certainly thought to have the tools to succeed in the NFL when he was at Louisville. Will he ever amount to anything as a Bill? Probably not. But it's worth finding out.

[jamze132]

WTF do you expect Fewell to do? If he pulls a miracle and finishes 5-2 with this godawful roster, it's gonna be hard to deny him the job.
You rehire Fewell to be the HC of the Bills and watch all the season ticket holders decide NOT to renew their tickets. Ralph knows this, Perry knows this. Perry isn't auditioning for the Bills job, he is marketing himself to the rest of the NFL.

[TrEd FTW]

You rehire Fewell to be the HC of the Bills and watch all the season ticket holders decide NOT to renew their tickets. Ralph knows this, Perry knows this. Perry isn't auditioning for the Bills job, he is marketing himself to the rest of the NFL.

So in the totally unlikely event Fewell wins out and finishes 5-2, he shouldn't be considered for the head coaching job? I doubt any of the big-name coaches available could do any better than that when you consider how awful the Bills' roster currently is.

[Crisis]

I guess my question would be, why does anyone think Brohm is any good?



our QBs are Trent Edwards and Ryan friggin' Fitzpatrick.

No one thinks he's good right now, but lets at least see what he has, because it's not like we have Joe Montana under center right now.

[Mr. Pink]

Green Bay has thrown Matt Hasselbeck and Mark Brunell to the scrapheap in the past, so you never know. Brohm was certainly thought to have the tools to succeed in the NFL when he was at Louisville. Will he ever amount to anything as a Bill? Probably not. But it's worth finding out.


Brunell was traded for a 3rd and 5th

Hasselbeck was traded to move up in the first round and swap a 7th for a 3rd.

Not exactly thrown to the scrap heap.

They allowed Brohm to walk away freely.

[jamze132]

So in the totally unlikely event Fewell wins out and finishes 5-2, he shouldn't be considered for the head coaching job? I doubt any of the big-name coaches available could do any better than that when you consider how awful the Bills' roster currently is.
No. If we do finish 5-2 under Fewell, look back at the teams we beat. Chiefs? Suck. Patriots? defense is almost as bad as ours this year and their two best D-linemen are out. Colts? Well they won't play their starters more than 1 Qtr.

Point being, Fewell isn't beating the top teams when they are on their game. Fewell is basically a product of DJ and that will scare a lot of fans off. Especially the fairweather fans. If we can't get Cowher or Shanahan, I wouldn't mind seeing Russ Grimm move in.

[Jan Reimers]

I mean, if you go to a Green Bay message board or read comments on their online newspapers, 80% of the people who follow the team say some variation of "slow-decision making" or "was handed the number two QB position and couldn't beat out Matt Flynn" or "bust."
Sounds just like the negative opinions that are so prevalent on here. I would make NO judgments on the guy based on opinions from a message board.

[kernowboy]

Green Bay tried to resign Brohm, but Brohm chose to join Buffalo.

To say the Packers dumped Brohm is factually inaccurate

[Ron Burgundy]

our QBs are Trent Edwards and Ryan friggin' Fitzpatrick.

No one thinks he's good right now, but lets at least see what he has, because it's not like we have Joe Montana under center right now.

I agree that our top two QBs haven't done much at all to prove they're legit NFL starters.

I'm just trying to save us some time. It would be best to get a good quarterback in there. We can endlessly pluck experiments and young prospects from the street and practice squads and stuff, that doesn't make them the answer. All it does is burn up games and seasons until we DO find the right guy.

I'd rather get it right than pin my hopes on yet another castaway.

[Ron Burgundy]

Sounds just like the negative opinions that are so prevalent on here. I would make NO judgments on the guy based on opinions from a message board.
Read this statement and tell me if you think it's a negative opinion:

"Mike Williams, even though he has started several games this year for Washington, was a huge bust and is not a very good NFL offensive lineman."

It's not just something negative if it's got some basis in fact. I'm not looking for sunshine and roses here, I'm just looking at the sky and calling it blue.

Again: what has Brohm shown to make you think he's going to be any good at all?

I would think that even the majority of folks on here who start sentences with things like "if Brohm doesn't pan out" or "once we find out about Brohm" would have a hard time finding something showing that he'll be successful.

I've already given you several reasons why he won't.

[Ron Burgundy]

Green Bay tried to resign Brohm, but Brohm chose to join Buffalo.

To say the Packers dumped Brohm is factually inaccurate

Can you quote where anyone in this thread said that Brohm was dumped, or are you arguing with yourself?

What Green Bay did was match our (tiny) offer to him, and he chose to come here. And I can't imagine why a quarterback who can't get off the scout team would come to a place where there's no clear starter, for the same amount of money. :rolleyes:

[Historian]

Really, how much practice and film study are required to check down to Fred Jackson on third-and-13?

:roflmao:

[Typ0]

You are preaching logic to people who don't believe it if they don't see it for themselves. Hence, they believe it's their right to see Brohm playing like crap this year so they can decide for themselves. To me, it seems quite ignorant of the growth that can take place, especially for a young QB, during the offseason. I'm pretty confident that Brohm is not where the Bills or Packers or any other NFL franchise would like him to be to get playing time. Couple that with a clearly horrible OLine and offense in general this year playing him now doesn't make a lot of sense.

However, they have also seen enough to give the guy some time to grow and see if it happens for him. There literally was no risk getting him off the Packers squad this year. Now, we own rights to him next season and if he starts to show he's on our squad. If not, we can always choose to cut him. It's a pretty smart move to pick up any guy like this when your team is in shambles and going to go through management and coaching change. It just gives more options and doesn't take anything away.


Read this statement and tell me if you think it's a negative opinion:

"Mike Williams, even though he has started several games this year for Washington, was a huge bust and is not a very good NFL offensive lineman."

It's not just something negative if it's got some basis in fact. I'm not looking for sunshine and roses here, I'm just looking at the sky and calling it blue.

Again: what has Brohm shown to make you think he's going to be any good at all?

I would think that even the majority of folks on here who start sentences with things like "if Brohm doesn't pan out" or "once we find out about Brohm" would have a hard time finding something showing that he'll be successful.

I've already given you several reasons why he won't.

[Saratoga Slim]

Well...

Because he couldn't beat out a seventh rounder to become a backup

Because Green Bay stuck him on the practice squad instead of protecting him on their full roster

Because he isn't good enough to play this year, for whatever reason

Because we're Buffalo and this sort of thing never works out for us

...and so on and so forth.

Yeah, I think a lot of us are still stuck on his two year old college draft profile. Two years is enough time to prove yourself off the practice squad. While this is a nice flyer on a developmental prospect, I am willing to give Fewell and Co. at least a little credit here. We out here in the cheap seats really have no basis for saying he should be on the field other than what we saw him do in college. I think the great likelihood is that he's not showing them that he deserves to be on the field yet.

[Bill Cody]

Where else would you keep a Brohm but in the closet?