X-Era
01-01-2006, 10:38 AM
Its actually really easy. Right now today, NEITHER is good enough.
I think as fans we have been lulled into looking for any spark in any place and then trying to nurture it like a seed of some rare plant. Or, we have spent so many years walking through the desert that we will drink the sand thinking its a mirage of greatness.
Dont be fooled. If you were to set aside all the other positions on the team, the defense, the coaching, the overall talent level, even the other 10 offensive starters and place the entire fortunes of the team on the Quarterback, we could convince ourselves that NEITHER, as of right now, is good enough. It took a hall of fame Quarterback with a Linebackers mentality and an ego larger than the team to get us to 4 straight Superbowls. Would it not take something even better to win one?
And then came the scourge that would plague us up till now. We have watched QB after QB parade in here and do nothing. Now, I dont claim for one minute that all the aforementioned components of a winning team should be set aside. In fact, I can easily argue that most of our problems resided in other areas along the past decade and those issues had more to do with our quandry than anything else. But, the purpose of this thread is to analyze the Quarterback position and what we have today just isnt good enough.
First it was Todd Collins, he was the heir apparent to Kelly. However, he had all the bad traits and none of the good ones. He was an immobile QB, who couldnt take a hit, and didnt have the pocket presence or ego necessary to overcome anything. Then, there was the Rob Johnson mess. A man who showed in one playoff game that he was worthy of starting an entire season. But was unproven that he actually could do so. Does a guy who showed some promise in one playoff game sound familiar? It should. Rob proved to be a big mess because he was as fragile as porcelain and had no pocket presence or decision making. Next we had Flutie. An exciting player to watch, had the right mentality, and made plays. But he lacked the size and long arm to be a complete Quarterback and it cost us. Had he been another 6 inches taller he would have been a hall of famer, but a limited Quarterback, physically, can be schemed against, and we suffered because of it. Then we had Van Pelt. A person who simply didnt have enough of anything to lead the team anywhere. He proved with a long losing season that mediocre isnt good enough. Does a career backup starting and leading us to a losing season sound familiar? it should. Finally, we had a Superbowl and playoff proven Quarterback in the name of Drew come in here. Many, including myself, thought we finally had enough of what we needed in every aspect of the Quarterback to get to the playoffs. But theres no way around what happened. Drew was simply owned by his former team, and his talent, at his age, was on the decline. He simply could not overcome the Patriots, which inevitably meant that we would not win our division. If we could not do that, we would have to get a Wildcard, which we were in position to do. Drews bad game against Pittsburghs 3rd stringers cost us the playoffs, and cost Drew his position with the team. It seemed to tell us that we needed a QB who would step up when the chips are down and win game for us, Drew in that last game, did the opposite. A Quarterback who could win games DESPITE the rest of the team, do we have that? We should.
Now, we enter into this year. We signed a Quarterback who has been a career backup but did play well in one playoff game. We also traded up for a Quarterback who had all the measurables, but obviously hadnt proved anything on the field.
In my honest opinion, there were a variety of other things that had nothing to do with the QB that cost us MOST of our games this year. And therefore, WHICHEVER QB we started would have suffered through a losing season. But again, the purpose of this thread is that of being critical of what it would take from our QB to be a playoff winner, and hopefully a Superbowl champion. So, In Holcomb we saw a game manager who could rally the team and move the ball but was unable to get enough touchdowns to put games out of reach, and also showed that he could throw interceptions at critical moments. To analyze him using past Bills QB measuring sticks, I would say he overall would earn us Van Pelt type of seasons but was able to lead more like Flutie or Drew. His arm was more like Fluties, limited, but his decision making was much more like Drew. He had no real scramble-ability and would be sacked pretty easily much like Drew. As for JP, was saw flashes of a big arm like RJ or a young Drew, but green youth like Collins. He suffered from bad decision making like RJ, but could scramble and make plays on the run like Flutie. Overall, we saw flashes of greatness but overall not enough consistency to win games. Now, I didnt see EITHER QB all year step up and take over a game when all the other aspects failed. Thats something that Kelly did from time to time and something that a team lacking mental toughness needs.
So, where does that leave us? Well, I honestly hope that we will be honest with ourselves and admit that on this team we must have a big time player who isnt all talent potential but has an adequate mix of tough bravado, decision making, and pocket presence to makeup for the inevitable bad games from the rest of the team. Using that measuring stick NEITHER is good enough right now. Rather than endlessly argue over who should be our starter next year, I would rather be honest going forward about what IS expected from the Playoff boudn, Superbowl worthy Bills Quarterback. Well, its a mix of everything we have watched and learned from our past. Overall, it will take something the likes of Kelly to take this team anywhere, and to keep this team competitive. Donahoe, I think, had enough brains to realize this. Enough brains to trade a 1st for a SB proven QB like Drew, an denough brains to trade up to get a young QB with loads of unproven talent. Donahoe failed at least once and maybe twice. But the approach was correct. We should know by now, that the journeyman or mediocre QB with a great defense, etc... just wont work here.
What we need is a Quarterback who can beat you no matter what you throw at him. We need a guy who can throw accurately when our receivers are well covered. We need a Quarterback who can throw long balls to open up our deep game, score quickly, and keep defenses honest. We need a Quarterback who will step way up at times and WILL his failing team to win, whether its verbally, physically, or mentaly. We need a Quarterback who will make precise, strong decisive throws despite a relentless pass rush so as to break the will of the opposing defenses and show them that no matter what they do, we will move the ball. And we need a Quarterback that will either tacke sacks and keep getting up or scramble for first downs when the pocket breaks down. A mediocre Quarterback WILL NOT have ALL of these qualities and therefore, as the past decade has proven, will NOT lead us to where we want to go. We need a Pro-Bowl Quarterback, it needs to be the greatest combination of the aforementioned attributes possible. There is NO way around that. NO journeyman, career backup, or floundering young "potential" type will EVER be good enough here, I am now conviced. If you are too, you will have a well honed measuring stick to look at our Quarterbacks with and would have no need to even think about guys like Aaron Brooks, Trent Dilfer, Matt Schaub, Kyle Orton, Philip Rivers, or RIGHT NOW JP or Holcomb.
The stakes are MUCH MUCH higher, the requirements MUCH MUCH higher. Some other teams successfull equations just wont work here, lets not even try to fit a round peg in a square hole anymore. Lets, as fans, require that we get or develop our Superbowl winning Quarterback as soon as possible.
I think as fans we have been lulled into looking for any spark in any place and then trying to nurture it like a seed of some rare plant. Or, we have spent so many years walking through the desert that we will drink the sand thinking its a mirage of greatness.
Dont be fooled. If you were to set aside all the other positions on the team, the defense, the coaching, the overall talent level, even the other 10 offensive starters and place the entire fortunes of the team on the Quarterback, we could convince ourselves that NEITHER, as of right now, is good enough. It took a hall of fame Quarterback with a Linebackers mentality and an ego larger than the team to get us to 4 straight Superbowls. Would it not take something even better to win one?
And then came the scourge that would plague us up till now. We have watched QB after QB parade in here and do nothing. Now, I dont claim for one minute that all the aforementioned components of a winning team should be set aside. In fact, I can easily argue that most of our problems resided in other areas along the past decade and those issues had more to do with our quandry than anything else. But, the purpose of this thread is to analyze the Quarterback position and what we have today just isnt good enough.
First it was Todd Collins, he was the heir apparent to Kelly. However, he had all the bad traits and none of the good ones. He was an immobile QB, who couldnt take a hit, and didnt have the pocket presence or ego necessary to overcome anything. Then, there was the Rob Johnson mess. A man who showed in one playoff game that he was worthy of starting an entire season. But was unproven that he actually could do so. Does a guy who showed some promise in one playoff game sound familiar? It should. Rob proved to be a big mess because he was as fragile as porcelain and had no pocket presence or decision making. Next we had Flutie. An exciting player to watch, had the right mentality, and made plays. But he lacked the size and long arm to be a complete Quarterback and it cost us. Had he been another 6 inches taller he would have been a hall of famer, but a limited Quarterback, physically, can be schemed against, and we suffered because of it. Then we had Van Pelt. A person who simply didnt have enough of anything to lead the team anywhere. He proved with a long losing season that mediocre isnt good enough. Does a career backup starting and leading us to a losing season sound familiar? it should. Finally, we had a Superbowl and playoff proven Quarterback in the name of Drew come in here. Many, including myself, thought we finally had enough of what we needed in every aspect of the Quarterback to get to the playoffs. But theres no way around what happened. Drew was simply owned by his former team, and his talent, at his age, was on the decline. He simply could not overcome the Patriots, which inevitably meant that we would not win our division. If we could not do that, we would have to get a Wildcard, which we were in position to do. Drews bad game against Pittsburghs 3rd stringers cost us the playoffs, and cost Drew his position with the team. It seemed to tell us that we needed a QB who would step up when the chips are down and win game for us, Drew in that last game, did the opposite. A Quarterback who could win games DESPITE the rest of the team, do we have that? We should.
Now, we enter into this year. We signed a Quarterback who has been a career backup but did play well in one playoff game. We also traded up for a Quarterback who had all the measurables, but obviously hadnt proved anything on the field.
In my honest opinion, there were a variety of other things that had nothing to do with the QB that cost us MOST of our games this year. And therefore, WHICHEVER QB we started would have suffered through a losing season. But again, the purpose of this thread is that of being critical of what it would take from our QB to be a playoff winner, and hopefully a Superbowl champion. So, In Holcomb we saw a game manager who could rally the team and move the ball but was unable to get enough touchdowns to put games out of reach, and also showed that he could throw interceptions at critical moments. To analyze him using past Bills QB measuring sticks, I would say he overall would earn us Van Pelt type of seasons but was able to lead more like Flutie or Drew. His arm was more like Fluties, limited, but his decision making was much more like Drew. He had no real scramble-ability and would be sacked pretty easily much like Drew. As for JP, was saw flashes of a big arm like RJ or a young Drew, but green youth like Collins. He suffered from bad decision making like RJ, but could scramble and make plays on the run like Flutie. Overall, we saw flashes of greatness but overall not enough consistency to win games. Now, I didnt see EITHER QB all year step up and take over a game when all the other aspects failed. Thats something that Kelly did from time to time and something that a team lacking mental toughness needs.
So, where does that leave us? Well, I honestly hope that we will be honest with ourselves and admit that on this team we must have a big time player who isnt all talent potential but has an adequate mix of tough bravado, decision making, and pocket presence to makeup for the inevitable bad games from the rest of the team. Using that measuring stick NEITHER is good enough right now. Rather than endlessly argue over who should be our starter next year, I would rather be honest going forward about what IS expected from the Playoff boudn, Superbowl worthy Bills Quarterback. Well, its a mix of everything we have watched and learned from our past. Overall, it will take something the likes of Kelly to take this team anywhere, and to keep this team competitive. Donahoe, I think, had enough brains to realize this. Enough brains to trade a 1st for a SB proven QB like Drew, an denough brains to trade up to get a young QB with loads of unproven talent. Donahoe failed at least once and maybe twice. But the approach was correct. We should know by now, that the journeyman or mediocre QB with a great defense, etc... just wont work here.
What we need is a Quarterback who can beat you no matter what you throw at him. We need a guy who can throw accurately when our receivers are well covered. We need a Quarterback who can throw long balls to open up our deep game, score quickly, and keep defenses honest. We need a Quarterback who will step way up at times and WILL his failing team to win, whether its verbally, physically, or mentaly. We need a Quarterback who will make precise, strong decisive throws despite a relentless pass rush so as to break the will of the opposing defenses and show them that no matter what they do, we will move the ball. And we need a Quarterback that will either tacke sacks and keep getting up or scramble for first downs when the pocket breaks down. A mediocre Quarterback WILL NOT have ALL of these qualities and therefore, as the past decade has proven, will NOT lead us to where we want to go. We need a Pro-Bowl Quarterback, it needs to be the greatest combination of the aforementioned attributes possible. There is NO way around that. NO journeyman, career backup, or floundering young "potential" type will EVER be good enough here, I am now conviced. If you are too, you will have a well honed measuring stick to look at our Quarterbacks with and would have no need to even think about guys like Aaron Brooks, Trent Dilfer, Matt Schaub, Kyle Orton, Philip Rivers, or RIGHT NOW JP or Holcomb.
The stakes are MUCH MUCH higher, the requirements MUCH MUCH higher. Some other teams successfull equations just wont work here, lets not even try to fit a round peg in a square hole anymore. Lets, as fans, require that we get or develop our Superbowl winning Quarterback as soon as possible.