Even after two entire days of practice, it's still too early to declare a winner in the Buffalo Bills' quarterback derby.
Even if Kelly Holcomb did throw the first interception at St. John Fisher College in beautiful suburban Rochester on Friday.
We've already made our feelings quite clear on Mr. Holcomb, who looks much better wearing a baseball cap and holding a clipboard than anywhere near the field of play, so we won't dwell on his shortcomings, nor those of J. P. Losman or Craig Nall. Even if Buffalo's all-new corps of decision-makers have already arrived at the most logical conclusion, that Losman has the most potential of the trio, can do any number of things that the other two can't and will only improve with playing time, they're not going to admit it for weeks.
Which makes sense -- at least when you look back one year. You might recall that the franchise's former El Presidente, Tom Donahoe, his head coach, the since-failed Mike Mularkey, and the Bills spin machine spent the offseason selling the fans the concept that Losman was ready to be The Man.
As it turned out, Mularkey didn't even believe it and started flinging Losman into and out of the lineup as early as Week 3. The perception that the Tulane product had been handed the job to justify Donahoe's decision to trade up for him in the first round of the 2004 draft didn't help, either with the fans or the rest of the Bills.
So even if Marv Levy, Dick Jauron and Steve Fairchild -- the replacements for Donahoe, Mularkey and offensive coordinator Tom Clements, respectively -- have reached the same conclusion as their predecessor, they want it to at least look like Losman earned it this time.
It wouldn't be the first time a Buffalo "quarterback competition" was anything but. In 1997, Levy's last season as coach, Todd Collins and Billy Joe Hobert were each given a shot, at least in theory, to succeed the retired Jim Kelly. But Levy named Collins the starter after only two preseason games.
The abrupt declaration of a winner led Hobert to start grousing. He got the chance to prove himself when Collins went down early in the season's sixth game, but stunk the joint out. Then he admitted he hadn't studied his playbook, a core requirement for the job of starting quarterback in the National Football League, and was on the waiver wire two days later.
After it became clear Collins wasn't the guy, either, Doug Flutie was promised a crack at the starting job when Buffalo signed him out of the Canadian Football League. That competition ended when the Bills traded for Rob Johnson less than a month later.
While the two shared time and the epicenter of a raging debate for the next three seasons, there was never a true competition during the summer -- Johnson was named the starter well before camp opened in '98 and 2000, while Flutie was No. 1 heading into '99.
Going back further, Kelly never had a challenger during his 11 seasons in Buffalo. Joe Ferguson took over for an ineffective Dennis Shaw early in the 1973 campaign and held the job for most of the next 12 seasons.
In between came Vince Ferragamo, who for some reason was anointed the starter in 1985 by Kay Stephenson. That astute decision was a big reason Stephenson got the axe four games into the season, as Ferragamo threw 17 interceptions in only eight games before he, too, was fired.
Even going way back to the Bills' glory years, the Jack Kemp vs. Daryle Lamonica debate was never a true competition -- Kemp entered every season between 1963 and 1966 on top of the depth chart. Lamonica was almost exclusively a relief pitcher, starting only four games in the four years the two were on the roster.
In all, there have been just six times in 46 seasons that the Bills approached the regular season without a clear-cut starting quarterback -- 1997 (which, as explained above, deserves an asterisk), and 1960-62 (before Kemp arrived midway through '62), '68 (when Kemp went down for the season early in camp during a full-contact scrimmage ordered by Joe Collier, who was fired as head coach soon after), and '70 (when Shaw prevailed over Dan Darragh and James Harris, and went on to win Rookie of the Year honors).
Besides Collins, Hobert, Darragh and Harris, some of the luminaries in those epic struggles included Tommy O'Connell, Richie Lucas, Bob Brodhead, Johnny Green, M.J. Reynolds, Warren Rabb, Al Dorow, Tom Flores (who would make a much greater impact as a coach) and Stephenson (who wouldn't).
Don't remember most of those names? There's a reason for that. In those six seasons, Buffalo went a combined 28-54-4, with three of the wins coming in after Kemp, who the Bills grabbed after the Chargers foolishly exposed him to waivers, took over at the end of '62.
All of which reinforces the truth behind a classic Levy-ism -- if you have more than one of anything, then you probably don't have any.
Despite the breathless coverage of Losman v. Holcomb v. Nall that will inevitably fill the airwaves and headlines for the next six weeks, we won't know if the Bills, despite the three competing quarterbacks, really have any until their first real game in New England on Sept. 10.
If then.
The offensive line depth chart has been shuffled yet again. Free agent signees take over at left guard, where ex-Panther Tutan Reyes replaces Benny Anderson, and center, where former Viking Melvin Fowler succeeds Trey Teague.
Lurking behind both is Duke Preston, who many considered the center-in-waiting. Then there's the project of camp, the mammoth Aaron Gibson, the 27th overall pick in the 1999 draft, who washed out in Detroit, Dallas and Chicago. A tackle throughout his career, the Bills are working the 371-pounder at guard.
The quarterbacks didn't do much to help themselves last year, and Willis McGahee regressed badly, but the line's weakness -- especially up the middle -- had plenty to do with Buffalo's offensive woes.
The Bills were also soft up the center defensively, where Sam Adams is no longer around to tie up blockers and hog the oxygen mask on the sideline. In his place is Larry Triplett, who arrived from Indianapolis to provide a penetrating force at left tackle.
While right end Aaron Schobel has put up some nice sack numbers, he tends to disappear against top-flight tackles on good teams. It's still better than the other side, where the equally undersized -- if anyone who weighs 275 pounds can truly be "undersized" -- Ryan Denney and Chris Kelsay remain difficult to tell apart, even after three years of trying.
The biggest hole on the defensive front, though, is at right tackle, where Buffalo needs first-round pick John McCargo to be better than Tim Anderson. Which isn't asking a whole lot.
Then there's the wide receiver position. Lee Evans has shown that he's capable of replacing Eric Moulds as the No. 1 target for whoever emerges from the quarterback pile. After him, though, it's nothing but questions. 1) Can Peerless Price regain his form of 2002 after three seasons in the free-agent desert? 2) Can Josh Reed catch the ball? 3) Can Roscoe Parrish do anything? 4) Do Sam Aiken, Jonathan Smith and Andre Davis have any chance to make the team? 5) Is Chris Denney related to Ryan Denney? 6) Who are George Wilson and Martin Nance, anyway?
Answers: 1) Not without Moulds and Drew Bledsoe around and four years younger; 2) Not based on compelling evidence; 3) The Bills had better hope so; 4) Yes, if Buffalo keeps six receivers; 5) They don't think so, according to buffalobills.com; and 6) Two young men who should probably have their resumes up to date.
All in all, a lot of points for discussion, and that's without mentioning Takeo Spikes' Achilles tendon or Willis McGahee's brain. But let's don't kid ourselves. There's only one we're really going to be talking about from now until Sept. 10 and beyond.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | August 1 2006 |