Trust me, I didn’t slip and hit my head on the toilet while hanging a clock and then envisioned the Flux Capacitor (That’s Back to the Future humor for you). Speaking of movies, I know the Bills quarterback situation looks like the Friday the 13th Anthology. It just seems like a horror movie saga that will never die.
However, in the interest of being able to live in NYC and not have the look that my puppy just died when someone asks me about the Bills chances for next year, I’ve decided to try and look for any way to at least raise our curiosity level with these quarterbacks. Hey, I always try and give myself, and the reader options before we decide to commit to an asylum with the thought of watching these guys play.
And for the record, I don’t think the Bills quarterbacks are going to play well, but at least, I want to try and tell you something that you may have not thought of.
5) A fine wine gets better with age
I’ll be honest, I think at times, some fans, media members and yours truly have a tendency to write off younger players a little too early in their careers. Yes, Aaron Maybin was terrible last year, but he’s not a bust…yet.
Look, quarterbacks aren’t like stock options that have a specific date for maturity. It’s not an exact science when your signal caller is going to see the light. For instance, take Drew Brees. Brees was selected in the 2nd round of the draft in 2001. He had three forgettable years to start out as a pro. The Purdue product passed for 28 touchdowns and 31 interceptions during those years.
By all intense and purposes, Brees was a bust. The Chargers decided to draft Phillip Rivers, who ended up being a rookie holdout which opened the door again for Brees. The rest was history. Brees passed for 27 touchdowns in 2004 and is now considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I assure you, watching Brees play from 2001-2003 didn’t give you the idea that this guy was going to become a star. No hints. It just happened. Actually, experience happened. The Chargers didn’t add Terrell Owens or Chan Gailey to the team. Brees just got it.
There are a number of other quarterbacks over the last 25 years that have started their NFL careers on shaky ground and were left for dead. Steve Young, Kerry Collins, Alex Smith and Doug Flutie are ones that come to mind. In the end, Trent Edwards is still a young player and if he starts opening day, it would only mark his 31st career start. That adds up to less than two seasons. Maybe Edwards just needs some more time. Maybe that light switch will turn on.
Sometimes you have to be a little patient with certain players. Hey, at one point, fans were thinking that this guy was going to be the franchise. The journey to becoming an NFL quarterback has peeks and valleys. Edwards should look at Drew Brees career as an example to not give up when everyone else already has.
4)The unknown
This category is more geared towards Brian Brohm. Look, I’ve repeated the notion that I would rather have Brohm start because we don’t exactly know what we have with this guy. If you think about it, and this is as big of a reach as Yao Ming picking up his sneakers, Brohm has the elements of being
an NFL quarterback that has a rags to riches type career. Kurt Warner was bagging groceries before he was bagging touchdowns by the dozens. Tony Romo wasn’t hooking up with Jessica Simpson or the country singer girl when he was an undrafted free agent. Guys have come from crazier football backgrounds than what Brian Brohm is coming into.
an NFL quarterback that has a rags to riches type career. Kurt Warner was bagging groceries before he was bagging touchdowns by the dozens. Tony Romo wasn’t hooking up with Jessica Simpson or the country singer girl when he was an undrafted free agent. Guys have come from crazier football backgrounds than what Brian Brohm is coming into.
Here’s what we know about Brohm. He started exactly one NFL game and really didn’t do much. Of course, he played against Atlanta in week 16 and at that point, all of the Bills were looking at their tee times for January. However, the guy at one time was slated to go number 1 in the NFL draft.
Brohm had a stellar 2007 college season, throwing for 29 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions. I’ve read scouting reports online that Brohm’s pros are that he’s a very accurate passer and learned in a pro style offense for three years at Louisville.
For whatever reason, his stock went down before the 2008 draft and he dropped to the 2nd round. From what I read on the Internet (They are always right), Brohm had question marks about durability and concerns about coming from a pass happy offense. As for Brohm’s career in Green Bay, well, it was a nightmare. He pretty much was drafted as a safety net in case Aaron Rodgers failed as a quarterback. Well, Rodgers didn’t fail, but Brohm sure did. Brohm was regulated to the practice squad in 2009 and was picked up by the Bills in mid-November.
Brohm seems to have that rags to riches story. You can easily make the case that he has better credentials at this point than Tony Romo, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady had when they all started their first NFL game. Yes, that’s the Yao Ming reach I was talking about.
Bottom line: We have no clue what Brohm will bring to the table, but if you were to just judge by his college career, he seems to have a lot of upside. Then again, this ain’t college.
3)Doomed from the start
Lets flashback to a year ago at this time. What were your thoughts on Trent Edwards? I’m assuming you didn’t hate him as much as you do now. He had an up and down second year, but played well in two of his last three games he started (Against KC and Denver). For the most part, a lot of people believed he was going evolve. Throw in T.O. and the rebirth of the no-huddle offense and some people slated Edwards to become a breakout star for 2009.
Unfortunately, the thing was doomed before the regular season even started. Think about what happened between April and August of last year. Lets start with the offensive line. The Bills traded their starting left tackle (Jason Peters), started two rookie guards, and had Brad Butler and Langston Walker play at positions that they have never played at before at the NFL level. Yeah…that sounds like a recipe to remake The Hogs.
Then the Bills decided it would be the perfect time to adapt the no-huddle offense. Look, I loved the K-Gun offense, but to have an inexperience offensive line involved? Sorry, not going to work.
Then in late August, the Bills decided that Langston Walker wasn’t the answer at left tackle and cut him for a guy that never started an NFL game. Look, I know Walker stunk, but he was definitely a better option than Demetrius Bell. And of course, the cheery on top, lets fire our offensive coordinator and promote a guy that had been a position coach for just one season.
Sorry, but as much as we may dislike Edwards, there had to be a small part of you that felt bad for the guy. It was as if he was told to take the wheel of the Titanic while it was sinking.
Now as for today, I can only assume that Chan Gailey isn’t going to be fired before the season starts. Plus, it looks on the surface that the offensive line is going to be mostly in tack from last year (Cornell Green bei
ng the newcomer). Hey, I know keeping the line the same comment will offer a long eye roll from you, but at least this line has played a down in the NFL unlike last year’s.
ng the newcomer). Hey, I know keeping the line the same comment will offer a long eye roll from you, but at least this line has played a down in the NFL unlike last year’s.
Bottom line: Whoever the quarterback is, at least they are walking into a situation where continuity shouldn’t be a problem like it was last year. Maybe fans attacking the quarterback was a byproduct of things out of their control. You saw what Edwards and Fitzpatrick had to deal with last year. The line and coaching was at Pop Warner level, injuries mounted up on the offensive line, and Terrell Owens was more interested in his reality show than getting better on the field. Sorry, but I don’t think half the quarterbacks in this league could have succeeded with those problems.
2) It can’t get any worse, can it?
OK, I’ll be honest, I only came up with four legit reasons to feel optimistic about the quarterback situation. However, if you think about it, can it really get an worse than last year? Hate to open up old wounds, but do you remember some of the passing numbers from last year? Please, turn away from your computer screen and put the kids to bed when I read to you the following: Ryan Fitzpatrick’s individual games from last year go like this in yardage: 116, 123, 117, 297, 246, 98, 86, 178 and 155.
U-G-L-Y.
And to think that Fitzpatrick was the best quarterback on the roster?! I could go over Edwards numbers, but I wouldn’t want you to gouge your eyes out. The Bills haven’t had a quarterback pass for 300 yards since 2006 and the last time a QB threw for 20 plus touchdowns in a season was 2002. They have ranked 25th or lower in passing offense for the last 8 years. You would at least think it can’t get any worse, right? Then again, we said it last year and the year before….and the year before that…and you get the picture.
1) A teacher
Look, I wasn’t a big fan of the Bills hiring Chan Gailey. Judging by his coaching credentials and what others have said about him, he seems to be the offensive version of Dick Jauron. However, Gaily is an upgrade over previous Bills offensive coaches like Steve Fairchild, Turk Schonert and Alex Van Pelt. I’ve always said that one of the main reasons the Bills have been so poor over the last 10 years have been the lack of offensive coaches. Maybe the Gailey hire will be different.
I’m sure we have all studied what Gailey did at his previous jobs in football. We know he helped make Kordell Stewart into a 1-year phenom. We know he made Jay Fiedler into a serviceable quarterback. Hell, Tyler Thigpen threw for 18 touchdowns in 2008. All of these quarterbacks were unknowns before Gailey got his hands on them. You’ve always heard members of the media mention that Gailey thinks he can turnaround any quarterback that he touches. The quarterbacks that I’ve mentioned haven’t been all-pros, but they have had their better years with Gailey.
He’s also been a coach whose been able to develop schemes in protecting the quarterback. In Gailey’s years with the Dolphins, the offensive line only gave up 28 and 27 sacks each year. If you look at Miami’s offensive lineman during those years, none of the names are going to jump out at you. No high first round picks or all-pros.
In the end, Gailey thinks he can make chicken s#$t into chicken salad. He also represents the major reason to have some confidence in what this offense can do. He’s Buffalo’s best offensive coach since Kevin Gilbride and before that, you can go all the way back to Ted Marchibroda. Yes, it has been that bad with the offensive coaches for the Bills.
Gailey h
as always taken pride in being able to turn junk into gold. Well, he’s going to have his work cut out for him with these quarterbacks.
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