Andrew Luck: Why He Should Be the Buffalo Bills Franchise Quarterback
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck played as good a game as he possibly could Saturday when he led the Cardinal to a decisive 48-14 defeat of the California Golden Bears. Luck played a basically perfect game and his stock will undoubtedly rise even higher as a result of this contest.
How can we call his game perfect? Try leading his team to scores in all eight of the different possessions that he played in during the game. This wasn't some Mickey Mouse defense he was up against, as Cal had just held top-ranked Oregon to only 15 points last week.
As the college season continues its final action in the regular season, it becomes more clear that Andrew Luck is the real deal and should be ready for the next challenge. What organization or team can he turn around, as he did with Stanford's program?
How about the Buffalo Bills, a team that has been in search of a franchise quarterback ever since Jim Kelly retired and went in to the Hall of Fame?
We present to you the top dozen reasons why Andrew Luck should declare for the NFL draft and find himself drafted as the future franchise quarterback of the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills Have a Rich Tradition of West Coast Quarterbacks
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Over the 50-plus years of the Buffalo Bills franchise, they have enjoyed a long parade of quarterbacks that have hailed from playing their college ball all up and down the West Coast.
From the earlier days of the American Football League you have Jack Kemp (Occidental), who led the Bills to the only league championships they have ever won. Another example was Tom Flores (University of Pacific).
When the Buffalo Bills joined the NFL in 1970 due to the merger with the AFL, their initial starting quarterback was Dennis Shaw (San Diego State and USC). Other post NFL-era Bills starting quarterbacks included Vince Ferragamo, who started out at Cal and later transferred to Nebraska.
From 2000 on, there has been a steady stream of West Coast influenced quarterbacks, beginning with Rob Johnson (USC), Drew Bledsoe (Washington State), J.P. Losman (Venice High School and UCLA, before transferring to Tulane University) and then, finally, Trent Edwards (Stanford).
While Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard) is the odds-on favorite to break the West Coast string and be named the Bills starting quarterback to open up the 2011 season, Andrew Luck can easily see that there is plenty of precedent set before him.
Now, we are not going to be so naive as to state that every West Coast quarterback played to rave reviews in Buffalo. The truth is that there is a mixture of reviews. Your results may vary.
Ralph Wilson Is Going to Make Andrew Luck a Very Wealthy Man
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Top pick Sam Bradford became the first draftee to receive a $50 million contract when the St. Louis Rams gave that to him this year. While the new NFLPA labor agreement waits to be completed, we have no way of knowing how the salary cap and subsequent slotting of dollars allocated to first-round picks will come down. But by being the top quarterback selected, Andrew Luck will receive enough money to comfortably retire on his first contract.
Ralph Wilson has been thought of as being—how should we put it delicately?—cheap, and he started rebuilding efforts through saving some payroll for the 2011 season by mostly staying away from the free-agent market.
What More Does Andrew Luck Have to Prove at Stanford?
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After yesterday's shellacking of California, No. 6 Stanford is now sitting with a lofty 10-1 record, 7-1 in the Pac-10. Sure, Luck could come back and return for more college football, but he has done what he was supposed to do—raise the stature of the Stanford program to new heights.
Stanford closes out the regular season with a game against Oregon State next Saturday. With three more touchdown passes, Luck would tie John Elway and Steve Stenstrom for the most touchdown passes in any Stanford season with 27. If he throws four, he obviously will break the record.
The only blemish on the season was a loss to Oregon, back on October 2, 52-31. Losing to the top-ranked team in the country is nothing to be ashamed about.
In fact, with everything looking so good and rosy right now, one might be worried that the only way to go from here is down.
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The Bills Have a Talented Interior Core of Offensive Linemen
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The Bills have a solid trio of interior offensive linemen in guards Eric Wood and Andy Levitre, along with center Geoff Hangartner. This trio of Bills linemen will be the cornerstone of the Bills offense for many years to come.
The offensive line is still in search of better tackles, and that search will undoubtedly include looking at free agents that are available in 2011 along with evaluating talent available at the draft.
Demetrius Bell, son of NBA legend Karl Malone, is playing better in his second year at left tackle and shows some promise. He is coming off a serious knee injury and the Bills have been cautious about letting him get rest and sitting out at least one practice each week to allow him to make it through the season.
Right tackle has been a big question mark, as the Bills were handed a big surprise before the season began when Brad Butler announced he would retire from football so he could begin his political career. Since then, the revolving door has produced Cornell Green, Cordaro Howard and now Mansfield Wrotto.
The offensive line needs to improve to allow all facets of the Bills offense to continually improve. This is another priority, along with drafting Andrew Luck.
Andrew Luck Has Some Talented Receivers to Throw To
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Unless you have been sleeping in a cave, third-year receiver Steve Johnson has emerged as a legitimate star this year as a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills. Bills fans have been waiting patiently for Johnson to see some extended playing time to see what he could do.
To date, Johnson has made 44 catches, good for 591 yards and six touchdowns. Johnson tied a Bills franchise record by catching a touchdown pass in five consecutive games. He consistently is getting open and he has an uncanny knack of picking up valuable yards after the catch.
In addition to Johnson, the Bills still have speedster Lee Evans to stretch out defenses. Roscoe Parrish was in the midst of having a solid year until he dislocated his wrist and was placed on the IR list.
Add to the mix undrafted rookie David Nelson, who has emerged as a solid possession receiver. Don't forget about speedster Marcus Easley, a fourth-round draft pick from the University of Connecticut, who was injured in training camp. He is a big-play receiver and will also spread the field.
Andrew Luck will have some talented people to throw to.
Bills Have a Talented Backfield in Freddy Jackson and C.J. Spiller
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Having a strong backfield is necessary for any quarterback to succeed. The Bills traded away Marshawn Lynch earlier this season (another product of the Cal versus Stanford series), but still boast the talented Fred Jackson, along with No. 1 pick C.J. Spiller.
Spiller is currently out due to a hamstring issue, but figures to become more involved in the Bills offense as the season rolls along. The Bills did not want to overwhelm him but chose to gradually give him more and more to do as the games unfolded.
Fred Jackson topped the 1,000-yard plateau last year and he is now seeing a steady diet of 20 rushing attempts per game. As a result, his yardage totals are starting to climb again, so it would not be a surprise to see him eclipse the 1,000-yard mark again.
Both of them are talented receivers coming out of the backfield, which is just one more reason why Andrew Luck should be comfortable playing in Buffalo.
Play for an Offensive-Minded Coach in Chan Gailey
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Chan Gailey is an offensive-minded coach. He played quarterback at the University of Florida and evolved to become a solid offensive coordinator. He has a knack for putting his players in a position to be successful by utilizing their talents and creating plays that bring those talents to the forefront.
The Bills team is in transition. They are in rebuilding mode and made it loud and clear that this year was the first step in turning the franchise around.
Chan Gailey was brought in to turn around the offense. It did not happen right away, but it took some time for the players to learn what he wanted them to do, just like it took him some time to learn what his players were capable of doing.
Trent Edwards had a dreadful start for the Bills coming out of the gate. He was replaced after two games by Ryan Fitzpatrick and the offense started to produce immediately thereafter.
When you can produce over 500 yards of offense against the Baltimore Ravens' stout defense, you are on to something. When you can convert 10 of 16 third downs against the Chicago Bears, the best team in the NFL at preventing third-down conversions, you are on to something.
The Bills will not have a winning season and they will not make the playoffs yet again. But the team is starting to turn a corner and put things in place for future success. Andrew Luck would be part of that formula.
Bang for Your Buck in Western New York
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Western New York is a struggling region due to the issues with the economy. While the city of Buffalo works to turn things around, the reality is that real estate is much more affordable here than in many other parts of the country.
Whenever Andrew Luck does sign that rookie contract, he will be amazed to see what kind of property values he can have in Western New York. To say that his dollars will allow him to live like a king is putting it mildly.
If he is able to turn around the Bills franchise and lead them to the promised land, he will be also treated like royalty.
Jim Kelly has remained in Buffalo and hopes to be able to put together an ownership group to keep the team in Buffalo when Ralph Wilson passes away. That is a good owner to play for and someone that Luck could turn to for advice down the road.
He Will Become an International Star Playing for the Bills
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No other team is guaranteed to play more games outside of the United States over the next two years than the Buffalo Bills. The Toronto series still has two more years to run, so Andrew Luck would get the chance to play in Toronto either in 2011 or in 2012.
The Bills have yet to win a game in Toronto, which is another story completely. But if he gets exposure to the Toronto fans and can show them what he is capable of doing, it would go a long way towards generating a region of fans to come down to Buffalo to continue to support the team after the five-year contract expires.
Who knows, maybe there will be another contract to play games there later after Andrew Luck has become a member of the team.
Unique Pedigree of Quarterbacks: Stanford and Harvard
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Let's face it, if you play at Stanford, you have to have a high I.Q. score. When you enter the NFL, I suspect that you are dealing with players whose I.Q. levels are all over the place, but would be considerably lower than what you normally see from a Stanford graduate.
Enter Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills starting quarterback, who is a graduate of Harvard University. Who else in the NFL is as qualified to speak at a level that Andrew Luck could relate to other than Fitzpatrick? Breaking down defenses, game tape, offensive schemes and all the rest, Fitzpatrick would prove to be a great mentor to Luck.
The two of them can have some intelligent dialogue and can probably relate to each other in ways that few of us could appreciate. For good measure, they can expect a visit from NFL Hall of Famer and ex-Bills head coach Marv Levy, who also holds a graduate degree from Harvard University.
Hopefully they can use their smarts to figure out a way to get the Bills back in to the postseason.
The City of Buffalo Would Appreciate Andrew Luck's Physical Style
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For those of you who were able to watch the Stanford-Cal game yesterday, you were treated to an unbelievable run by Andrew Luck in the first quarter. Luck took off down field when he saw that his receivers were covered and the middle of the Cal defense was vacated.
He showed some great speed as he pulled away from the Cal defenders. After running for about 30 yards, he saw a Cal defender coming up quickly from the side—Luck absorbed the hit from safety Sean Cattouse and continued on with his run as if Cattouse never existed.
That play alone made me sit up in my chair. The play resulted in a 58-yard gain and it was the longest rush of Andrew Luck's career. It demonstrated how physically strong and tough Andrew Luck is. That is a quality a blue-collar, hard-working city like Buffalo would appreciate in its starting quarterback.
That is also similar to how current Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick plays. When Fitzpatrick scrambles, he doesn't look to do the Tom Brady slide. He puts his head down and tries to deliver a bigger blow to the defender than they would deliver to him.
If Fitzpatrick and Luck watch the tapes of each other's physical style of play, they would have a mutual appreciation for each other.
What Other Team with a Top Pick Needs a Starting Quarterback?
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If the season were to end today, the Bills would be one of five teams that have two wins or less to their credit. The five teams are the Bills, Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals.
Take a second and examine the quarterback situation for each of the five teams.
The Bills have Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Brohm and Levi Brown. Fitzpatrick is thought to be the consummate backup QB and would mentor Luck. Brohm has not been able to get much playing time and Levi Brown was waived by the Bills at the end of training camp, only to come back after the team released Trent Edwards.
The Panthers are giving their baptism by fire to Jimmy Clausen and are set there. Sure, they are taking their lumps now, but much like Sam Bradford now, both quarterbacks will eventually be better for having gone through the real live-game experience they are receiving this season.
The Cowboys have Tony Romo. He will undoubtedly recover from his injury to be back next season, and will command the Cowboys for years to come. The only thing that concerns me about the Cowboys is that, if they finish with a worse record than the Bills, Jerry Jones could turn around and trade away the pick to a team that could leapfrog the Bills and select Luck with that pick.
The Lions have Matthew Stafford and hope that his shoulder injuries will heal. In addition, they also have a solid backup in Shaun Hill, who just tossed for over 300 yards against the Bills last week.
The Bengals have Carson Palmer and also claimed a future quarterback when they picked up prospect Dan LeFevour, who was waived by the Chicago Bears.
So it just figures that, if the Bills wind up competing against any of these five teams for the first overall pick, they are the team that would most likely select Andrew Luck.
There you have all the evidence you need on why Andrew Luck should be part of the Buffalo Bills in 2011. All we ask for is a little bit of Luck to make it happen.
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