metzelaars_lives

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I can tell you that Roman is firmly in Cassel's corner.

Did not watch the game tonight but I saw that the Bills scored 11 points and according to this poll, everyone is super psyched about Taylor and Manuel. Assuming Cassel must have really sucked tonight?

I like the fact that there seems to be a semi-intelligent EJ discussion brewing on this thread without the name calling, etc. I would disagree with you however. I think a lot of people have this "we know what we have in Cassel so there's no point in starting him whatsoever- may as well let EJ start because he has a higher ceiling" attitude. Well for one, EJ may never hit the ceiling that Cassel has hit as a pro. My guess is he won't. And two, people say this while seemingly dismissing the fact that as we bicker on this board, the three of these guys are competing right now man vs. man and I'm sorry, bad coaching or not, third year in the league you better be able to beat out Matt Cassel for the starting job. Win the job. That's it. I agree with all the last three things you said: he has had a better camp than last year (I would hope so), he needs to improve more and I don't think any of even the staunch anti-EJ folks have said he "definitely" can't/won't improve. I just find it unlikely. Look, the Bills are going to start whoever gives them the best chance to win RIGHT NOW. The EJ people need to give up this idea that the organization should/will give him this leash to develop even if he's not producing. It's not 2013 anymore.

I was reading the Buffalo News article on Henderson this morning and I thought of the perfect way to explain to the EJ people something that they don't seem to understand. A typical conversation will go something like this: someone will say, "you guys, he's not showing us enough, he clearly has regressed since 2013." And then an EJ guy will say, "how could you possibly know, he's only played 14 games, he hasn't even gotten a chance to show us what he's got..." Or I will say he had a lousy 2014 and then someone will say, "he only played 4 games and in 2 of them he wasn't bad." The point that I've been trying to make forever is that practice and preseason counts. That is the time for guys- unless you have a starting spot locked up- to earn a job. EJ had a DISASTROUS 2014. No one says, "How could we possibly know anything about Cyrus Kouandjio? He's never even played in a game." No, everyone says, "Kouandjio had a disappointing rookie year." And people who just want to hand the keys to EJ because he has tools and he was a first round pick- did anyone say, "well even though Kouandjio had a bad camp and preseason, just give him the job over Henderson because he has a higher ceiling/was a higher pick?" No. You have to go out and earn your job. Go earn your job tonight EJ.

That's simply not true. Losman was bad and lost his job in 2005 and then in 2006, took every snap all season, led a miserable team to 7-9 and finished 11th in the NFL in passer rating. Manuel, on the other hand, was decidedly worse in his second year (don't say "but he only played four games"- I'm including all of camp and preseason 2014) than in his first year. I question if he's any better today than he was in August of 2013. That is the concerning part about him. He was promising at times in 2013 but he has not progressed at all since then. I would concede that he is not appearing to be having as bad a camp this year as last year but he is still running third in this competition. Hopefully for his sake, he plays big tomorrow and changes that.

His wife would agree with that.

All five of their injured RB's, with the possible exception of Dixon, will be ready by September 13th so unless they think he's better than any of those five guys, which he's not, then they might as well just sign another college UDFA and not draw the attention. If I was a team that didn't have a legitimate RB on my roster and thought he had a legitimate chance to compete, I would have no issues signing him.

That's really cool. I am now officially rooting for this guy. He's definitely gonna get plenty of reps on Thursday with everybody banged up. Hopefully he makes some plays.

The old me would say "hey the EJ guys will have no right to complain about Cassel or Taylor's performance this season because he had ample opportunity (and perhaps still does) to win the job himself" but instead I'll let it go and say cheers to the 2015 Bills. I don't care who their quarterback is, all I care about is being able to attend my first Bills playoff game since Kelly got carted off the field right in front of me in January of 1997. I have vowed for many years that I will be in attendance at the next Bills playoff game no matter where it is.

Well maybe a group of EJ haters can intervene and break it up before it gets out of hand.

Nah man, I'm just done with this. Go Bills to you too. Our family has parked in the 7-11 lot since 1986 but rumor has it they recently replaced the grass with gravel so maybe I'll give this Hammer's Lot that everyone's always talking about a try.

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure if I can recover from that one. That one stung a little bit. I don't wanna argue anymore. I am tired. I am broken. I'm a Bills fan. It occurred to me last night that I love the game of football so much- it would be great to spend some time on here debating, say, the top ten all time greatest running backs or something. But instead, I spend all my time arguing with people like you about EJ Manuel. Quite frankly, it's more than a little childish on my part. I don't know what you want me to say. I don't think he's going to develop into a franchise QB for the Bills. Evidently, you disagree. That's fine. I don't dislike him, I do not wish to revel in his failure, I don't care about being right, I would not make excuses if he were in fact successful. I did not join this website back in 2008 with the hopes that someday the Bills would draft a QB that I could root against. I only want the Bills to be good. That's all. I just don't want to argue about this anymore. This is my peace offering to you and everyone else who takes issue with me on this and anything else Bills-related. Go Bills, my friend. Go Bills. Anyone else going to the opener? Maybe we can drink a beer and have a laugh about this.

What you don't want is for the Bills to go to the Super Bowl with Taylor because then they might believe they have found their guy? Now I've really heard it all. Let's just enjoy the ride guys. The 2015 Buffalo Bills are going to be really good. As much as I have somehow become the face of the "haters" even though I've never said anything beyond "I think it's less than likely that he develops into a franchise QB," I honestly believe that this team is a playoff team with any of the three guys at QB. I want them to keep all three guys, I really do. A poster the other day made an excellent point when he said that he doesn't want us to be the 2014 Arizona Cardinals- stuck with a great team and no QB because of a couple injuries. Let's just enjoy this season and not worry about 2016. We're going to be drafting in the 20's, who the hell knows what QB might be there. And then we have to wait around for him to develop and by that time, Kyle Williams is retired, Mario Williams is past his prime, etc. Let's enjoy the moment. And if that post was controversial then I really give up.

I'm not necessarily "enthused" about Cassel- certainly not nearly as much as you are about the guy he's beating out for the starting spot. I am very much enthused about the 2015 Buffalo Bills however. Anyone else with me on that?

Anyone see that Matt Cassel looked great in practice yesterday and threw three TD's against the Browns starters? Figured I'd mention it considering no one else had- what, with this being a Bills site and all.

Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed. Still can't believe when you look at Thurman's career stats it shows a year with the Dolphins. It's almost surreal that it happened.

Yeah I did. And we get it, you find it hysterical that I said no one is talking about Tyrod Taylor. Congratulations.

Yeah you're probably right. Guess we'll see.

So you're saying that season 3 is too soon to expect him to be outplaying Matt Cassel- the guy who all the EJ guys mock in every thread? Tell me more about this plan...

Not enough to hinder the careers of guys at all sorts of other positions. Hell, Ryan Fitzpatrick played his best football as a pro in Buffalo with Donald Jones and David Nelson as his #2 and 3 receivers. Was he great? No. But he maxed out his talent here.

Hysterical. Am I more involved in the EJ threads? Obviously. Cassel's name (or his nickname- LOL wink, smiley face) comes up in this topic all day long and Taylor's never does. You win.

See, you are intimating that I am out to get EJ Manuel. What have I ever said to lead anyone to believe that? You really believe that I have something against him personally and that if he was playing wel for the Bills that I would somehow resent him? Stop using the word "support." These aren't the troops. No one "supports" guards when they suck, why does everyone have to coddle this guy so much? Go out and beat Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor for this job and I will support you all day long.

Yeah after this thread. Are you still at 50.1%?

Brett Favre attempted four passes in Atlanta!!! And let me ask you this: because Drew Brees got better in New Orleans than he was in San Diego, that means that there's a better chance that EJ Manuel could still develop into a franchise QB, correct? OK so does it also mean that Jamarcus Russell has a better chance of coming out of retirement to become a franchise QB? How about Tebow? The "well QB X sucked for a while too" argument doesn't have anything to do with the fact that in his third season, EJ Manuel is running third in this QB competition. Those guys' teams' saw enough in them to ride it out. This team hasn't. Are they wrong? Were the Bills wrong for only giving Brian Brohm two starts? Does every QB in the NFL deserve three full years of starts no matter what even if they are not showing signs of progress in the offseason? You guys need to focus more on EJ Manuel and less on every other imaginable extenuating circumstance in the universe.

And around and around we go. See when you take on an EJ guy, before you know it, you're arguing about when they started coaxing Orton (there is no doubt they became more desperate and upped their offer to him after EJ's preseason). But you see, it doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with how good EJ Manuel is. Just like the fact that Doug Marrone is now an assistant coach in Jacksonville has nothing to do with how good EJ Manuel is. I wish you guys understood how convoluted and contrived your defenses of EJ Manuel appear to most people. You have an argument for everything. "So he threw one bad pass against Houston... JJ Watt couldn't be stopped that day... the offensive line... Marrone... Joe Flacco had a bad game against Houston once..."- I've heard it all! Nothing could possibly convince you that it is less than likely that he is going to develop into a franchise QB and that it has nothing to with anyone or anything else except EJ Manuel, period. Conversely, I am not stretching to make any argument. It would be SO EASY for EJ Manuel to convince me that he is going to be a franchise QB. All he would have to do is be good. That's it. Do you think I would then say, "well he's only good because of the coaching... well their offensive line is good... Ryan Leaf had a good game once..." NO!!!