'My head was spinning inside my helmet': Bills quarterback J.P. Losman compares his transition from college star to NFL newbie with driving a fast car. It's exciting and challenging—and it's all a blur

Sporting News, The, June 7, 2004 by J.P. Losman

The other day at minicamp practice, I became a little confused. I was in such a hurry to get the play called that I guess I mixed in some terminology from my days at Venice (Calif.) High School and Tulane University.

My Bills teammates looked at me as if I was from Mars.

My coaches chuckled.

I was so angry at myself I wanted to rip my helmet off and bounce it off the turf at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

See, I've always been a football player, and I've always had an excellent grasp of the game. But these past few weeks, I've discovered that the transition from college star to NFL newbie can be both complicated and humbling. I'm trying not to be so hard on myself, but it isn't easy. I know I need to realize this learning process won't happen overnight. I've got to be patient.

I've been through two minicamps with the Bills, and there are three more to go before we get a six-week break before the start of training camp July 31. Actually, the NFL refers to these recent workouts as organized team activities, or OTAs, instead of minicamps. Sounds like we're getting together for field trips and cookouts, but I can assure you that although this is fun, we aren't sitting around campfires toasting marshmallows and singing "Kumbaya."

Coach Mike Mularkey and his staff cram a lot of material into a short period of time. This truly is a crash course. There's so much to learn and so little time to learn it.

I believe it's all starting to sink in. I'm becoming more familiar with the terminology and the concepts of changing formations and putting people in motion. I'm feeling more comfortable and confident each practice. But there have been times when I felt like my head was spinning inside my helmet.

Life has been a blur since the Bills traded up on draft day so they could select me with the 22nd pick in the first round. But it's been a pleasant blur. I liken it to cruising the Ventura Highway in a really fast car. I love it. This is what I've dreamed about since I was a little kid.

I was so excited to come to Buffalo because Jim Kelly was one of my favorite quarterbacks growing up--along with Brett Favre and John Elway, a Californian like me. Although I'm from SoCal and lived near the beach, I've never liked that surfer-dude stereotype. I admired Kelly and Favre most of all for their toughness. I think that's an essential quality to being a successful quarterback.

I can't help but feel as if I am coming here with something to prove. The competitor in me wants to show all those NFL personnel people and media types who dissed me that they were wrong for not pulling me in the same category as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers--the three QBs drafted ahead of me. I have nothing against those guys; we've become friends and have exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses. We even traded our football cards with one another at the NFL rookie photo shoot in L.A. I just believe that I'm as good a quarterback as they are.

There are people who think I'm arrogant for saying that. They really got on my case when I made those statements before the draft. But I felt that NFL people had really overlooked me. I was the other quarterback, the fourth guy in a party of three. I just said what was on my mind. I'm sure if you asked Eli, Ben and Philip who they thought was the best among us, each of them would say he was. That's not being cocky; that's just believing in yourself, and you better have that belief if you want to play at this level.

NFL teams don't waste any time indoctrinating you. The day after the draft, my quarterbacks coach, Sam Wyche, was faxing me plays that I would be running in drills during my first minicamp just five days later. They test you right off the bat. They throw you into the water to see if you can swim.

I feel as if I'm in a great situation here because I get to work with Coach Wyche. He really is one of the masters. He's a guy who molded quarterbacks such as Joe Montana and Boomer Esiason, so when he says something, you know you can take it to the bank.

I love working with him because he is passionate about the game, just like I am. During last week's practices, he was constantly throwing pop quizzes at me on the field. He challenges you mentally to make sure you understand the entire concept of the play, and he's really big on technique. He'll notice the little things, such as your arm angle on your throws or the length of your drops. He'll notice if you dropped back a few inches too far or a few inches too short. After each minicamp--oops, I mean, OTA--he'll send the quarterbacks a DVD critiquing every throw they made. He'll also call me during my off-days to talk about football. The joke is that he spends more time on the phone with me than he does with his wife, who won't be moving up to Buffalo to join him until the summer.

The other thing I like about Coach Wyche is his sense of humor. He's extremely organized, but he also likes to keep it fun, and that's so important because football is such a repetitious sport. You run plays over and over and over again. If you aren't careful, it can become pretty monotonous. But Coach Wyche finds ways of making sure it stays fresh.