metzelaars_lives

Here we go. Yes they are. He is not going to sit out this season. From all accounts, he looked good in camp and in his four preseason series, he looked fine. Dumping him was a salary cap move, plain and simple. Once his 2016 salary is nullified and he becomes a free agent (is that how it works, I'm not really even sure), he will sign with someone as a #2. I just don't understand why half of you guys are so obsessed with constantly spewing venom at this guy.

You are correct.

No, I would've kept Cassel as my #3. I just really think they're rolling the dice with their first and second options. And I love Tyrod Taylor. I'm glad he won the job, I think he clearly earned the job and I can't wait to watch him play on Sunday. And it's not like I own a Matt Cassel fathead. I just liked him as insurance. That's it.

Because it's annoying. And no, that's not true. I never said EJ Manuel should be in the arena league. I don't constantly mock and berate him. I certainly don't root against him or relish in his failures. For the hundredth time, the most damning thing I've ever said about him is that I think it's unlikely he develops into a franchise QB. Do you think he will? As far as Cassel goes, for one, you're not right. He's not going to end up in the arena league. He's going to get signed by someone tomorrow. You better hope it works out for Taylor and if it doesn't, that Manuel looks like he did against the Pittsburgh Ghosts and not like he did the last time he played in the regular season. And God forbid, they both get hurt. But that's never happened since- oh wait, yeah, two years ago when Jeff Tuel had to play in a meaningful game for us. We'll see if you're right. I would've kept him around as insurance over a freaking fifth tight end when we don't even have good tight ends. You really get your rocks off piling on Cassel. Tell ya what, when Manuel throws his 96th TD as an NFL QB, I'll send you a cake with his likeness on it. You have my word.

It's pretty rare that fifth round draft picks don't make the team their first year. So if that's what you mean by politics, sure.

Why are you so obsessed with sh***ing on Matt Cassel?

This board has officially sunk to a new low. What in God's name did Matt Cassel ever do to some of you people? We knew what he was when we traded for him. He is who we thought he was. He has not played poorly this preseason. He's Matt freaking Cassel. He's a backup NFL QB. And a good one at that. It is so unbelievably blatantly obvious that the EJ fanatics (who are starting to become eerily similar to the Tebow fanatics of yesteryear) think that by belittling Matt Cassel it will help them feel better about EJ not winning the starting job. Carry on, make fun of Matt Cassel, hahaha, never gets old. Who "loves" Cassel? ABC means anyone but Cassel for the STARTING JOB. Anyone who doesn't realize that Matt Cassel is a perfectly good backup QB simply doesn't understand what you're supposed to get out of a backup QB. He's a great backup QB. At his salary? Different conversation.

Yes of course I will judge Tyrod Taylor based upon his regular season performance. Nope, no I didn't. I'm simply arguing that I think it's pretty clear that Taylor won the job fair and square and if you think otherwise, it's sour grapes. I've never said that preseason means nothing. I'm saying that if all you judge the whole thing on is what you see when you watch a preseason game and think that should be all that factors into the coaches' decision, then you don't understand how it works.

Do regular season games count for you too or just preseason games?

So your contention is that it's impossible that Manuel played better in the preseason than he did in camp?

Of course EJ makes the team. But as I've said a million times, John Murphy who was pulling for EJ more than Bills Fan 4 Life multiplied by Ryan L Billz and who watched every second of practice, stated right around the time of the first preseason game, "the other two guys seem to really be progressing and learning the offense and I'm just not seeing it with EJ," to which Mark Kelso agreed. Just last week, Sal C and the Bills Digest guy, who also watched every practice, said that despite Manuel's preseason play, he simply dug too big a hole for himself in camp. It's the same narrative echoed by the Rochester guy, the Syracuse guy, et al. You can choose not to believe everybody, that's fine. I, for one, do. Was hoping someone would catch that.

That's fair. I was at the Green Bay game when Edwards went out by running out of bounds short of the line of scrimmage on fourth down. We've all watched preseason. I think Taylor was the best, Manuel the second best. If you wanna say Manuel was ever so slightly better, fine. I think you're trying to see something that's not there but fine, it's not an absurd opinion to have. But please understand that every report out of camp had Taylor ahead Manuel going into the preseason. That's really not up for debate. So if Taylor was way ahead of Manuel going into the preseason, did Manuel do enough to unseat him? Or put it this way- if Taylor was ahead, did he play poorly enough to fall behind Manuel? What the hell are you talking about? You're a real nincompoop, has anyone ever told you that? And what's with your infatuation with 'z's?' "Billz," "LOLZ," "cuz?"

You're aware that I've already stated that I think Manuel has done enough to move up to #2, right?

Yes, you are correct. That was the narrative of the practice threads. It was an incorrect one. Chris Trapasso said he didn't have EJ third. Did he give an order? So one guy. Did he attend every practice? I would say everyone who was there for the entirety of camp had EJ a distant third. Sal, Joe B, the Rochester guy, the Syracuse guy, John Murphy, Mark Kelso, etc.

I don't know man. Regarding camp, after it became clear that Manuel was a distant third, you still heard a lot of "I can't keep track, one day Cassel was the best, then one day Taylor was the best, then one day Manuel was the best..." on here.

That's fair, you seem like a reasonable poster to be honest. I just think it's a little ridiculous if you guys are nitpicking at Taylor all year and acting like a mistake by Taylor is a victory for the EJ supporters when that is the guy who EJ could not beat out in the first place. If Brian Hoyer falters that doesn't mean that Ryan Mallet is good or would be any better.

I can't believe there are posters on here who have the gall to think that they saw enough and know more than the Bills brass in terms of who should have been named the starter. I pay pretty close attention to this stuff guys. Everyone on planet Earth had EJ behind Cassel and Taylor in camp. Everyone. In the preseason, I think Taylor showed the most. I think EJ played great but I think Taylor was even better. Most everyone agrees with this as well. There has been a HUGE buzz throughout the NFL surrounding Taylor all summer. It was a relatively easy decision for the coaches. I'm not sure what some of you are missing here.

Not knocking EJ one bit. He had a great preseason. I've never said anything to the contrary. What are you saying? Are you being sarcastic? Do you think EJ Manuel should've won the job? If that's what you're saying, fine, just be clear about it. I don't know what you're saying after that about the three quarters thing.

I made a post about apples and you replied with a post about orangutans. But I'll take your bait. Are you going to argue with the coaches and say they got it wrong and that the entirety of Manuel's offseason (camp + preseason) was actually better than Tyrod Taylor's? And I'll tell you another thing: I don't care how many preseason TD passes Manuel had (go look up Dan Orlovsky's preseason numbers- QB's were putting up inflated numbers all over the league), Tyrod Taylor looked better than EJ Manuel in preseason action. Period. Manuel looked very good. Taylor looked even better. And that's not to mention that everyone on planet Earth familiar with the situation will tell you that Taylor was well ahead of Manuel throughout camp. So go ahead, accuse me of being a "hater" and then root against Taylor or Cassel or whoever, so that your golden boy will finally get a fair shot, but keep ignoring the fact that he's already had two seasons opening as the starter to prove himself. And yeah, Manuel stunk up the joint in his 13th and 14th NFL starts, but Tyrod Taylor better damn well light the place up in his first career NFL start or else you're calling for blood. Good to see you're giving him a nice leash there. I think it's high time you change your name to 1EJfan because that's clearly where your priorities are these days. Wow. One of the biggest stretches of a post I've ever seen on this website. I almost think you might be joking. Yeah that 2006 Bills team was sure loaded. For one, Eric Moulds was no longer on the Bills in 2006. Losman had a very talented Lee Evans (seriously he was great that year) and Peerless Price 2.0 as his big weapons that year. I wanna say the tight end was that Campbell guy and Josh Reed was the #3 wideout. Anthony Thomas- the "A Train" if you recall, shouldered the load at RB. Yeah Losman sure had it good back in '06.

While EJ Manuel no doubt had a very nice two quarters of a preseason game, he hasn't even come close to the level of play that Losman displayed during the 2006 season. Losman took every snap all season and finished 11th in the NFL in passer rating.

I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want them to just keep all three- at least from a football perspective (I understand there is the cap argument). I mean, everyone knew what Cassel was, he was better than Manuel throughout the entirety of camp, Manuel shined in the last preseason game but it's not like Cassel completely sucked. He still only threw two incomplete passes, one of which was a blatant drop. I just don't understand how anyone could hate Cassel now more than before he got to town. It seems to me like the EJ folks lost out on the starting QB sweepstakes, so instead to feel better about themselves, are piling on Cassel and their new victory would be if the Bills cut him. I hope they keep all three.

I'll be at the first two games. Let me know if you would like to get a chance to meet and talk football with metzelaars_lives himself. Would be great to meet some of you guys.

Jerry Sullivan is not a Bills beat reporter.

I honestly think the bills ceiling is 13-3 and the Super Bowl. I honestly believe that. I wanna say their floor is 8-8. But the Bills definitely have that "I'll believe it when I see it" stigma attached to them- which they should. IF Tyrod Taylor can even be Russell Wilson lite, which I think he can be, AND they stay healthy, there's absolutely no reason the Bills can't be a legitimate Super Bowl contender this season.

Perfectly stated. That's it.