flmike

I know it's not an EJ thread, but having watched his whole college career for both good and ill, his main attributes are atheleticism (especially running) and his ability to shake off all the mistakes and pull out a winnable game. His losses to the big programs (Oklahoma, especially) were more due to a crappy game plan and a horrid DC (Thank God, that guy is gone). The Bills need to let the guy run and deal with the injuries when they come. You are not going win with Manuel as a pocket passer. If they try to make him one, they are morons.

Requiescant in pace Mr Wilson. Many thanks for everything you did for my hometown and for fighting for the small markets in the NFL.

No to Incognito. We cut him once already. McCown? Seriously?

When he ran all over the Bills, people said "that's just the Bills" but when he ran all over the Colts, they game planned. Blount went back to being Blount.

I won't put them in order because they have/had different strengths. Brady Marino Unitas Stabler P Manning But 5 is so arbitrary, I could swap out these guys too Favre Staubach Aikman Griese Kelly Tarkington YA Tittle wnysteel, Kelly would have won the big one had his defense held up in 1990. Sorry, forgot Montana and Young

I've watched Benjamin a lot. He's really tall. Makes those catches in the endzone and EJ has thrown to him many times before. Why not grab a guy like that early. Oh, about the Pats taking linemen early. They already had their skill players and they usually pick past no. 20...

Mr. Wawrow, Glad to see you here. We often wonder who reads these. I understand your frustration, but please remember that internet forums have no "entrance exams" to join. This is a mostly good group but like others, it's a mix of knowledgeable and level-headed fans with some self-medicated folks and everything in between. I understand Marrone has been a tough public interview. I would go crazy transcribing his ramblings. Good luck and keep up the good work. Mike in FL

Still, it makes one wonder how brilliant Belichek is if he didn't realize what he had in Blount until the end of the season. Like the old saying goes, "A great quarterback can make a coach great." I offer Marv Levy as an example. Good, but when he got Kelly, he became great. Similar examples in Denver and Miami.

Winston does need another season of playing against top teams, though. He had trouble in the first halves of the Auburn, Florida, and BC games. He seems easily flustered and needs to show that he can lead w/o his team always picking him up. If you watched the NC game, you also noticed that you don't want him running...

Maybe so, but EJ ran a ton in his senior year. He was inconsistent on passes, though. Some really nice, some real headscratchers. Hope he gets better.

OK, I watched EJ for his whole college career and for Winston's so far. Here are the differences I noticed: EJ was a running QB that had to pass sometimes. Ponder was a much better passer and Winston seems to be so far. Teams were always concerned about EJ taking off. He's not quick but covers ground and has good moves (He seems to have been told not to do that anymore which is asinine. Why did they pick him?) The biggest loss of his career was against Oklahoma on the road and that was the defense's fault. DC Stoops is gone now and our defense looks a lot better. The amazing recruiting class in EJ's senior year were sophomores, so while had good talent, Winston is blessed with more. There is something about the FSU team that keeps them from starting games on fire. They always take a half to heat up and it almost cost them in the BCS game. I predicted this BTW. Have a great day.

NE got lucky with Bledsoe and Brady back to back too.

Any new coach gets to pick the people who work for him. After the first year, all bets are off.

I may be alone, but if Spiller left via a trade, I would not mourn his loss. Maybe with a better OL, he improves, but for all his speed, he is slow to the hole. In the NFL holes close quickly. I'd be perfectly happy with a rookie there. There would still be time for Fred to teach him to pass block, which Spiller still can't do. Every time he gets the ball this year, he runs E-W and never crosses the LOS.

Merry Christmas, Bill. I always enjoy posts more than the professional media's. Another season w/o the playoffs, but I see some positives from this year. Hopefully sacking the ST coach will satisfy the blood lust for now. They have really been atrocious as most would have predicted from Crossman's history. Anyway, there are still big problems, but I have more hope than in past seasons. Happy New Year, all. Mike in South Florida

CJ is a threat only when he can get past the LOS, which is a rare occurrence.

Thad played a good game against a team he had seen before, but he also showed why he is not the answer at QB. EJ might be, but he might not. We'll know next season.

1. WR 2. ILB (move Kiko to outside or go to 3-4) 3. OG 4. CB 5. OT

It's painful to watch an inexperienced coaching staff (outside of the D) get schooled in the NFL. My glimmer of hope is that they are smart enough to learn from the experience. I have my doubts about EJ as an NFL QB in this system. Maybe somewhere else, but they are not using him well. What I saw yesterday was an entire team that did not believe in themselves or the system. You can't overcome that. I don't doubt their heart or their abilities, but that's not really enough. A team has to believe in each other and their leaders. Without that you lose cohesion and everything comes apart.

That's the worse-case scenario. If they changed to some artificial name like the Toronto-Buffalo Bills. It would be hard to give them up, and I wouldn't call them that anyway! If they pick up and move for good, then I start following the fish, just for something to do...

He didn't drop. It was a legit strip from behind.

Having watched EJ at FSU, I notice two things. Someone has screwed up his mechanics, royally. He is not letting the ball go very well when he has to check down, and he'd dumping too quickly. The latter I believe is a result of the coaches not letting him run. The reason he did so well at FSU was that when nothing materialized, he could rip off 10 yards easy with his feet. Defenses respected that and had to keep a LB in.

Rooting for the Bills keeps me tied to where I was born and my earliest memories. I haven't lived in Buffalo since I was in 1st grade, but I've moved so much that I hate the question of "What's your hometown?" I just say I'm from Buffalo now. Go Bills!

Can't blame the current group for the previous 13

As someone who has watched Manuel play for a long time, this was not normal. Something was up and I'm not sure what. My guess is that he needed another week to get ready. If it helps, I don't expect to see something like this ever again. The man could get the ball downfield to some great FSU receivers. I expect he will rise to the level of this game. He's still better than the other two we have. Oh yeah, FSU's problem wasn't offense while he was there. Their defense (secondary) was awful.