It’s a relatively simple formula that many NFL teams use: an inexperienced Quarterback that plays efficient mistake-free games, a defense that forces turnovers, a powerful running game, and solid special teams play.
No, I’m not talking about the 6-3 Chicago Bears, who have perfected this formula so far this year, and are on their way to a home-field playoff game. This was supposed to be the game plan for the Buffalo Bills in 2005. That’s what Tom Donahoe, Mike Malarkey, and the rest of the Bills organization sold the fans but abandoned after only four weeks.
The plan was revisited against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday after Kelly Holcomb went down with a concussion. JP Losman came in for the injured Holcomb and helped the team to a 14-3 victory, improving their record to 4-5.
The defense forced four turnovers and had six sacks, the special teams kept Dante Hall, “The Human Joystick,” in check all day, and Losman threw two beautiful touchdown passes to Lee Evans.
This is how the season was supposed to play out. The coaching staff should have never pulled JP after only four games. It wasn’t JP’s fault that the defense couldn’t get off the field. It wasn’t JP’s fault that they were giving up 150 yards to every running back they faced. And it wasn’t his fault that the coaches were giving Willis McGahee less than twenty touches in some games.
Under Kelly Holcomb, the Bills are 2-2, and are still winless on the road this year. With Holcomb they won at home against the 2-7 New York Jets and the 3-6 Miami Dolphins. The Bills are 2-3 under Losman and probably would have won at least one, if not both of those home games.
This team isn’t going to make the playoffs and win the East, based on the play of the QB. However, they will if the defense continues to make plays and McGahee continues to touch the ball at least twenty times a game.
Last year, when the Bills went on a six game winning streak and were in the playoff hunt until week seventeen, it wasn’t because of Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe, for many of those games, threw for less than two-hundred yards. The defense carried that team, and they need to do the same this year.
Losman has shown flashes of that same cocky playmaking Quarterback coming out of Tulane that the Bills traded three draft picks to get in 2004. He needs to start, and he needs to start this week on the road against the San Diego Chargers.
Even if he struggles, he needs to finish out the year. Holcomb isn’t the future, Losman is. They need to see what the kid is made of.
Is Holcomb better than Losman at this stage in their careers? Yes he probably is. Does it matter? No. To make the playoffs, this team needs the defense to step up like they did last year, and like they did on Sunday against the Chiefs.