metzelaars_lives

No the response is to let it play out and may the best man win. But when "meh" cassel wins the job and plays well enough to lead us to ten wins and Manuel becomes another footnote, what will your nickname for him be?

I don't think there is a word that could sum up my feelings on the cassel signing any more than "meh" so I think it's a fair thing to call him for now. That being said, when I try and call our other qb "boyuel" everyone gets all butt hurt and acts like I'm insulting their five year old son's performance on the little league soccer team. And boyuel doesn't have two ten win seasons and a pro bowl under his belt.

Ehh. Bills fans are going to whine about this but he is not as dominant as suh and every team has good players. He's in pretty damn good company. Could he have been ranked in the 40's? I suppose, but a) who really cares and b) with the inclusion of Hughes this year the bills have gotten their due. Nothing to see here.

Apologies for the condescending post. OK but where do you stand on how last season shakes out with the 13-3 Manuel-led Bills in the playoffs? Do they win the Super Bowl?

Where did you pull "veritable" out of? Didn't think you had that one in you. Perfect usage too. But before I let this go, now that you are on record saying that the Bills would have finished 13-3 if they stuck with Manuel last year, that means that they would have had homefield throughout the playoffs. Do you think they would have went to the Super Bowl? Do you think they would have won the Super Bowl? Just curious. Through the Jets game last year, EVERYONE thought he was the answer to the question, "who gives the Bills a better chance to win this season?" Of course he was. And he probably was all season. When you say "answer" you are intimating that people think/thought for one second that he was a long term solution, which nobody ever did.

Two things: OF COURSE KYLE FREAKING ORTON WASN'T THE ANSWER!!!!! Who in the world says he was? I've said on here a hundred times that he sucked too. You said there are plenty of other EJ dreamers on this site and I agree with you. But please, I beg of you, tell me one person who believed or believes that Kyle Orton was/is the answer? And furthermore, while there are EJ dreamers, can you please find me one other guy or girl who agrees with you that the Bills would have finished 13-3 last year if they stuck with Manuel? Is anyone else reading this!?!?! But even playing with his heart clearly not in it last year, he still gave the Bills a better chance to win than the Manuel we saw through four games. As bad as Orton played at times, his numbers were still decidedly better than Manuel's Could Manuel have magically progressed last year and played better than Orton did? Sure. But he gave nobody a reason to believe that was going to happen. As I've said on here a THOUSAND times: he sucked in practice too. But as we all know, he's only played in 14 games, Doug Marrone is now coaching in Jacksonville and now my favorite new one: Kyle Orton sucked too. Therefore, there is reason to believe.

So you have shown us that Kyle Orton played poorly and certainly played a part in the loss against Oakland. Congratulations. What in the world does that have to do with EJ Manuel? EJ Manuel played WAY poorer in his last two starts than Orton did in any game he played all season. You need to go back and take some high school level logic classes. Orton playing poorly doesn't prove that another guy- who was playing worse- would have played better. You can make the same argument saying Jeff Tuel would have beat the Raiders because Orton played poorly and it would be equally as illogical. Ha well done! Exactly.

I'm not sure who has been paying attention to this recent back and forth between myself and Bills-fan-4-life but he is now officially on record as saying that the Bills would have finished 13-3 last year had they stuck with Manuel at QB. Just in case anyone was wondering. And Bills-fan: you accuse me of being some fringe, outspoken, baseless EJ basher because my stance has been that I don't think he's going to develop into a franchise QB and then you go around making statements like this? You have taken things to a new level my friend. What's going to happen is that Cassel is going to win the job, he's not going to be that good either and then the EJ dreamers are gonna come back out of the woodwork and talk about how he would have won the game that Cassel lost and he would be better than Cassel if only he were playing but they will completely ignore the fact that EJ was incapable of beating Cassel out for the starting job in the first place.

So what you are telling me is that the Bills not only would have won the 7 out of 12 games they did with Orton but they also would have won an additional 4 games? So the guy that we all saw play about as bad as a QB could possibly play in his last two starts (while scoring a QBR in the single digits in both games- Orton didn't score a QBR in the single digits all season) would have gone 11-1 in the last 12 games? Seriously dude, are you for real or are you the world's most clever troll? And not sure why I even bother fact checking you anymore but the Bills' offense finished 26th. Who are you? I must confess, I am somewhat fascinated by you.

Why do we have to make a choice? Ed Reed will obviously be a first ballot hall of famer. Charles Woodson will probably/almost certainly be a first ballot hall of famer.

This is just such a pointless debate. Greg Roman is not going to go with a guy who is worse at quarterback because he can move more. He is going to go with the guy who appears to be the best at playing quarterback. Anyone who goes around seeking a certain type of player to fit schemes and not the best player is not going to make it very far in the NFL. They started playing Kaepernick over Smith because he was better, not because they were trying to force a scrambling QB onto the field. You guys act like Kaepernick was a one trick pony; he also threw the ball better than Alex Smith (although not anymore he doesn't). Now if two players are equal at everything else and one guy can move a lot more, that is a different conversation. But as you will all see as this offseason unfolds, EJ Manuel is not going to have the decision making abilities or accuracy that "Meh" Cassel possesses and they're not going to hand the job to a guy just because he can run better. You'll see.

So forget about who you want to win the job for a second- you're telling me that if you could win $1 million right now for you and your family by correctly predicting the Bills' opening day starter that you would take EJ Manuel over Matt Cassel? Wow. You are in the vast minority I would have to think. And another thing, just because the 49ers drafted Colin Kaepernick and he had a couple good years while Greg Roman was the offensive coordinator there, doesn't necessarily mean that that is the type of QB that Roman prefers. It's like the chicken and the egg. Just because the Colts took Andrew Luck doesn't mean the Colts prefer a traditional pocket passer. He was the best QB available, just like Kaepernick was when the 49ers took him. And obviously once they had him, they're going to tailor the offense to suit his strengths. You're basically saying that right now, every scrambling QB in the league's offensive coordinator prefers a scrambling QB and every pocket passing QB's offensive coordinator prefers a pocket passer. EDIT: So throw all this stuff out the window. They're gonna go with the QB who gives them the best chance to win, period. And for EJ Manuel to prove that he will give the Bills a better chance to win than a guy who has had two pretty damn good seasons in this league is going to be an uphill battle for him. In fact, I am inclined to disagree with you and say that a tie is going to go to Cassel. EDIT #2: And why does an immobile QB necessarily translate to this boring "ground and pound" offense you speak of while a mobile QB necessarily translates to some wild and crazy offense? Why can't Matt Cassel throw the ball a lot or why couldn't Tyrod Taylor hand off the ball a lot? There are immobile QB's in this league right now who throw the ball all over the field and mobile QB's who run conservative offenses. Personally I think their offense is going to be pretty conservative regardless of who wins the job.

Specifically no Kenny Chesney concerts in Pennsylvania.

What you'd have to pay me to be at a Kenny Chesney concert surrounded by those strunzos in that picture. I'd rather hang out in a port o potty on hot day by myself.

See my other post above. So EJ had a QBR (which is not the be all end all btw) above 50 in 6 of his 10 starts as a rookie. Not bad at all. That's why I said he had a decent year for a rookie. The issue that you are overlooking is the extent to which he regressed in his second season. There is no statistic to account for the fact that he sucked at every practice and every preseason game all last offseason. Then he game managed his way to two victories (he looked adequate, sure) and then completely imploded in his next two. And why would you compare to him to Kyle Orton- who also sucked- as your benchmark? Look, this is all gonna be over soon. I wish EJ Manuel nothing but the best but I would be absolutely floored if he ended up being our long term solution at QB. I am allowed to have that opinion and be a diehard Buffalo Bills fan simultaneously. EDIT: And FWIW Orton's overall QBR last year was better than EJ's in either of his seasons. He had no games with a single-digit QBR; Manuel's had 4. And Orton got a 31 against Detroit, which is a game that EJ Manuel simply does not win the way he was playing- and a game that Orton played pretty well in.

You are right on man. I remember this one game in 1986 where Joe Montana looked really bad. Therefore I think EJ Manuel is going to be good. Can you guys please stop with this narrative that "everything was going just fine with EJ until that one Houston game..." He was literally just as bad the week before.

He has not had 1 bad game out of 14. The Chargers game was equally horrendous. How about at the Jets his rookie year? How about at the Bucs or at Pittsburgh his rookie year? And I don't even think he had a horrible rookie year. But please don't try and paint some picture that he has played 13 adequate games and 1 bad one. When he looks like Andrew Luck in 13 out of 14 games, there will be no need for this debate any longer. My issue with him is the extent to which he regressed in his second year. And then here is where you point out that he only played in four games and Tannehill struggled early last year but they left him in... but what the EJ dreamers never acknowledge is that he looked so incredibly bad ALL offseason. Every practice, every preseason game- so much in fact that they had to go out and throw a ton of money at Orton because they knew how much trouble they were in. And also, EJ Manuel does not have as much of a chance at starting this season as "Meh" Cassel. He simply doesn't. Any rational football fan with a gun to their head is going to say that Cassel has the best chance of starting against the Colts. Come on man, you're better than that.

Not sure what you mean by "one way or the other." Would it be a surprise to anyone if he still sucks?

I agree that the whole Chip Kelly thing was pretty juvenile of him but have you ever listened to an interview with him? When they first signed him, John Murphy had on the Eagles longtime announcer and he was gushing about McCoy and what a great guy he is- friendly with the media, great ambassador for the city, etc.- and then a few days later, McCoy himself was on the show and he couldn't have come off any better. I knew nothing about the guy but he appears to be smart, friendly, active in the community, etc. I would wait and reserve your judgment on him for a minute. Also everyone says that Harvin is like the hardest working player on every team he's ever played on. Not sure what his deal is- what did he bang somebody's wife or something? Let's wait and see what he's all about for ourselves as well. Remember these are still relatively young guys. They might very well come together here and be great guys here. In fact, I expect it.

Why do I only get to watch it one more time? Thanks for costing me an hour in the middle of my Saturday chores!

He's got about as much of a chance of making this team as James Buchanan. Or Pat for that matter.

That's gotta be the case at least a little bit. I watched all four of them and I was thinking to myself, maybe EJ wasn't as bad as I remember him being last year. I wasn't really sure what to think. Cause I remember him being pretty bad.

Not convinced EJ could beat out Matt Simms for a starting job. EJ Manuel has had 14 starts, Matt Simms has had 0. That should give Simms way more credibility with the EJ dreamers. That's what I think.

Great post. Agree with pretty much every word you said.

Duh.