To answer Jerry Sullivan...

[ICE74129]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060205/1010859.asp

What if? Rothlesburger would have not been 1/2 as good as he is in Pittsburgh and been labled a bust just like JP. That is the REALITY of the situation.

[Jersey1031]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

I was just thinking about this the other day... The fall-back being we wouldn't have Lee

[Charlieguide]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

I'm so f**king tired of jackass reporters pressuring young players like this!!! They want every player to be the exception. How long did it take Steve Young to develop? (no, he didn't sit behind Montana . . . he played in TB first!) What about the rest of the team? The coaches?

I think this franchise has gone a long way to proving you can have a lot of good players in the wrong places, being coached by the wrong people, and managed right out of contention.

Here's a better question for reporters to ask, if they can't just support the team:

What if we had Pittsburgh's offensive line? Well, my guess is, we'd still have a qb on our team that might very soon become only the fourth ever to reach 50,000 career passing yards . . . but that's just a guess. We'd certainly have had a lot less sacks, pressures, hurries, and generally paranoid QBs, not to mention a sound running game. But then, what do I know? I'm no reporter, after all.

[BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

Jerry Sullivan is a dickhead!, he's a terrible writer, he's the biggest boob that the Buffalo News has. He should be fired from the Buffalo News actually the whole news should be shut down it's a fest it only has three pages for the sports page and that includes the ads!

[vicmantak]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

The Bills picked 13th that year, the Steelers 11th. The Bills were determined to get their quarterback of the future. They tried to move up to get Roethlisberger, to no avail. Later, Donahoe said he couldn't find a willing "dance partner." He took Lee Evans with the 13th pick, then traded with Dallas to get J.P. Losman later in the first round.

It's hard to say but we will always live with this fact. Buffalo was only TWO SPOTS to get our franchise QB! + no costly trades + no QB controversy and mainly TIME...

J.P. Losman
Positives: J.P. Losman has the physical attributes you want in an NFL quarterback. He has good size (6-3, 220) and strength, a very strong arm that can make all the throws including the deep out, and one of the quickest releases in all of college football.
Losman has decent agility, and good speed. He also has above average athletic ability. He can make plays with his feet and can throw on the run. He's a fiery competitor, a tough leader and can take a hit. He doesn't get shaken often.
Negatives: Losman doesn't set his feet real well, throws off his back foot often causing the ball to sail, and doesn't rotate his hips properly. At Tulane, he played mostly out of the shotgun and will have to adjust to playing under center. He tends to rush his throws at times and will force the pass too often. Sometimes tries to make too much happen by himself. Also needs to work on reading coverages a little better.
Projection: Tulane's J.P. Losman has everything NFL scouts look for in a quarterback, but he needs to polish his game a little, especially his footwork. He should be selected anywhere from the late-first to second round of the 2004 NFL Draft.

Ben Roethlisberger
Positives: Ben Roethlisberger has everything you look for in a franchise quarterback. He's got the big arm, but he also has excellent accuracy (69.1%) and nice touch. He is a pure pocket passer with excellent size and he moves around in the pocket well. He also has great escapability, often making the first defender miss. He also throws with incredible accuracy on the run... especially for a player his size.
Negatives: There's not much to dislike about Roethlisberger's game. The only knock on him is that he played in the MAC, but with guys like Pennington and Leftwich coming out of the conference in recent years, I doubt his draft status will be adversly affected.
Projection: At this time, Ben Roethlisberger appears to be an early first-round pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, and could possibly be the first quarterback taken.

It seems that James Alder predictions are totally correct and if I'm not wrong... we better stick on our QB situation. In other words, stick with Kelly Holcomb as a starter until J.P. finish his "polishing..."

[Bill Cody]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

To get ahead of the Steelers I'll bet TD would have had to give up the 13th pick plus our 2nd and he was unwilling to do so. Instead he gives up a 1st 2nd and 5th to get Lossman.

[SabreEleven]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

If the Bills got Roeisthberger, this article would have been written with Losman and Roeisthberger names switch

[kgun12]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

If the Bills got Roeisthberger, this article would have been written with Losman and Roeisthberger names switch

You are correct. I was thinking the exact same thing!

[Historian]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

Exactly.

[ddaryl]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

To get ahead of the Steelers I'll bet TD would have had to give up the 13th pick plus our 2nd and he was unwilling to do so. Instead he gives up a 1st 2nd and 5th to get Lossman.

We did not give up a 1st... we swapped a 2005 1st rd picks with Dallas. It pnly cost us a 2nd and 5th.

AND if we had Ben R you would be the 1st Bills fans to label him a bust after our OL fails him and he ends up sucking.

If Bills fans cannot see the difference in the Bills and the Steelers then obviously these same Bills fans cannot see what players are worth developing and which ones are worth cutting bait.

The steelers have Ben R, he is a solid QB, but his situation is 10 x's superior then what the Bills have provided JP. Our D sucked, our Special teams was good, but wasn't as great as in 2004, and our OL is litterally the laughing stock of the NFL.

[ICE74129]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

If the Bills got Roeisthberger, this article would have been written with Losman and Roeisthberger names switch

Exactly. Ben would be a bust and JP would be possibly looking at a superbowl ring. The TEAM Ben went to is the thing.

Fans seem to think this TEAM is in the same league as the steelers, Broncos, Panthers, New England etc. It isn't. And until the TEAM is, NO QB will be leading us anywhere.

Marv Levy, in his polite and PC way' said so at his PC. It never was JP....it was the lack of a good TEAM around him.

[AndreReed83]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The entire team, INCLUDING JP, sucked last year. It's a process. He should be better next season. His teammates probably play better around him. Improve the O-line, and the team improves drastically. All that jazz. No one escapes this season's fiasco.

[tat2dmike77]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

We can say this about every player that any team has passed up on lets run through a short list.

What if the bills drafted
Dan Marino would he of won a super bowl in buffalo?
Tom Brady see above
Hines Ward Would he be as dominate as is now?
Jake Delhome Would he be a good QB in buffalo?
Larry Johnson Would he be a good back in buffalo?

The list can go on and on and on. The draft is a crap shoot and you never know how a player is going to fit in. BR came into a rookie QB wet dream. We can all sit here and think about what might of been and continue to kill ourselves about it or we can just look ahead and think what could be. Jerry sulivan is a trouble maker he's just writing some garbage cause he has nothing better to do with his time. Most of his articles i read are about how the bills stink. He needs to go play in traffic on the 290.

[ICE74129]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

We can say this about every player that any team has passed up on lets run through a short list.

What if the bills drafted
Dan Marino would he of won a super bowl in buffalo?
Tom Brady see above
Hines Ward Would he be as dominate as is now?
Jake Delhome Would he be a good QB in buffalo?
Larry Johnson Would he be a good back in buffalo?

The list can go on and on and on. The draft is a crap shoot and you never know how a player is going to fit in. BR came into a rookie QB wet dream. We can all sit here and think about what might of been and continue to kill ourselves about it or we can just look ahead and think what could be. Jerry sulivan is a trouble maker he's just writing some garbage cause he has nothing better to do with his time. Most of his articles i read are about how the bills stink. He needs to go play in traffic on the 290.

Agreed. Everyone wants 'X' QB to have rothlesburger success. Ok, put a team as good as the steelers, with the good coaching they have, around that QB and he will be as successful.

And this is FACT. There are no great/ very successful QB's that didn't have a great TEAM around them.

[tat2dmike77]

Re: To answer Jerry Sullivan...

BR has now offically put more presure on every young QB that will play or that is going to play in the NFL.

From now on that will be the standard and it's not fair. Your going to hear he's no BR for a very long time. Even fans will look at thier new young rookie QB and say well if BR did it why can't this guy do it?

The steelers winning the super bowl was just not because of BR. They have solid players solid coaching and great chemistry amongst the players and coaches. I'm not saying that BR wa a big part of thier march to the super bowl but he's not the sole reason they won.

The point is and ICE stated it clearly BR has a good TEAM around him. Without Ward, Bettis, Randle El, Porter, Palomalou, Parker and the great offensive line BR would be anthor young QB still developing.