JESSEFEFFER

Sounds to me like they are getting Cassel more time with the 1's in preparation for Carolina. Seems like Taylor will be 2nd in. The real test would be how they prepare for the Browns and Steelers.

That's quite punny!

I loved watching Gash play so if Felton is anything close that's good enough for me. Football without FBs and MLBs is just less interesting to me.

Flacco had 6 games with a tQBR at <25 in 2012. Eli's tQBR in 2007, his 4th NFL season, was sub 40. Both of these guys were taking alot of heat from their respective fanbase/media as they were far from great for those 16 game regular seasons. Football Outsiders' DVOA had Flacco at 17th and Manning at 34th in those years. They played good enough to get to the playoffs and then they played great when they got there. IMO, they are the best examples for how middling QB play can finish with a big result. By the way, the Giants' and Ravens' defenses were 13th and 19th, respeectively, in the those years by DVOA. So going back to the OP, these defenses were far from top 3 while their QBs were far from top 10. As for the bolded, do you the comparison now? If you believe that you have to have a great QB to win it all, then you just assume that Manning and Flacco must have been great QBs those years. They were not by any measure.

I think of the 2007 Giants and 2012 Ravens as models for what the Bills could be. Manning and Flacco were not good those years but had great playoff runs capped with SB wins. I don't think either of those defenses qualified as a top 3 but they were certainly a strength.

The thought has come to me that it is a good thing that Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and the like did not exist 25 years ago. Social media and those Bills' players would not have been a good mix. The stories we have heard are bad enough without them having been documented for posterity. Social media is becoming like many social diseases, ugliness that's shared and lasts forever.

SJ in Miami in 2012 and Goodwin at home vs. the Chiefs in 2013 were worse in my book. SJ lost the ball after hitting the ground in the endzone and rolling over and Marquise had the ball pinned to his helmet while on the ground and the defender dislodged it well after the play was legitimately over. I wish I could find the clips but, then again, I'd probably just want to throw something at my computer monitor. When Dez made his play I was convinced it would be a "no catch" and would have been upset if they allowed it when considering those two plays invovling the Bills. There is no way that the nuance of reaching for the endzone with the ball being becoming "a football move" when he never had been balanced and upright with the ball would have set right with me.

There were things about Marrone that I did like and times when I felt like he was showing good management of his team. Backing Dareus, challenging Hughes, giving Mike Williams another chance, sending some sort of message to Woods, talking about players not being good teammates and the like. At the time he benched EJ because of his apparent regression, he said something to the effect that there would be alot of crap coming out but that it wasn't all EJs fault. There things for him to work on and improve and that if he handled his business the right way, EJ could still have a decent NFL career. I was ok with this. It sounded like wisdom. But then Orton started playing like crap, in many ways worse than EJ, and DM kept trotting out the "he gives us the best chance to win" line right up through week 17. Maybe this was still wisdom in that it gave EJ a chance to be remake himself in the offseason without any recent failures to weigh on his confidence and still be a viable starting candidate for the 2015 season. Then we heard the stories about St. Doug how he wasn't pleasant with any of the staff at One Bills Drive, football or otherwise. Wanting the best starting 5 o-lineman not named Urbik, the misreading of his own marketability and his attempted power grab. None of this speaks of wisdom to me. Enter Rex, the new staff and a new season. There certainly is some mystery about how EJ will look in this offense with these coaches. The general assumption outside these parts is that EJ's benching sealed his NFL fate. I'd give that a Lee Corso "Not so fast!" and predict that EJ will succeed under these coaches if given the chance.

I Here's my theory. I think they wanted Orton earlier and he played hard to get. Maybe it was money or a desire to miss training camp altogether and still get a big payday to be the sideline, clipboard holder. Only Marrone messed with the plan by naming him the starter for week 5 and refusing to bench him no matter how bad he played the rest of way. Kyle's plan backfired and he played way more football than he either wanted or was prepared for, so retirement was his best option.

A larger stadium in a smaller market has always meant that fans had some buying options. There was no pressure to buy season ticket to have access to games and no real reason to buy season tickets that included preseason and cold weather games that they would rather not view in person. I do not think the existence of this buyers' market is the same thing as having "Bandwagon" fans. Contrast this to markets where there are season ticket waiting lists and fans do not give theirs up because they know that they will go to the end of the line and will be waiting for a generation to get them back. The fluctuationsin the levels of interstest, enthsusiasm and passion from year to year would be a more accurate definition of "bandwagon fans" but what is the best measure. TV ratings, merchandise sales, out-of-market fan clubs, maybe? The Bills Backers at the Tavern on the Tracks in Charlotte did not strike me as the bandwagon type.

I think that many of us have stated beliefs that EJ performs better 1) under center and 2) with play action. This most likely is the case with the 1st down passes that the article is talking about. Being in the shotgun combined with poor pass protection (3rd and longer passes) injected enough doubt into his game to allow him to perform consistently well.

Being blitzed and being pressured are not the same thing. Some meaningful context about QB performance that comes to my mind: 1) Plays where the QB is hit or sacked. 2) When the pressure is "in his face" vs. from the edge. 3) Plays where a defender has an unabated path vs. just collapsing the pocket. 4) Performance when the blocking scheme against a blitz succeeds vs. when it fails. 5) Plays where only one block failed vs. ones with multiple failures.

Having doubts is realistic and acknowledges the actual historical record but bending the truth to the point of breaking it needs to be called out. When it goes beyond accurate observations and reasonable conclusions, I and many others can't let it go. I haven't kept track of the sources for all the crap I have read here and at the BB site but it does make me think that there are some who'd rather win their crusade than have EJ prove to be the QB we have all been waiting for. They are the same sorts of people who predict the end of the world and are then disappointed to have been wrong.

Part of the punishment is for the "crime" and part is for the lack of cooperation with the investigation. I would believe that the latter is considered worse in the eyes of the NFL (or any other employer.) It would be a bad precedent to let Brady benefit from this tactic when the CBA specifically requires much more on his part. His approach to this in the hearing should matter.

I thought of them as well. The thing is, as soon as Russell Wilson gets his deal, I doubt that this method can be sustained. And I really question if the Seahawks with Russell Wilson at $20+ million/ year will have as much success. The Bills will still be a close to 50/50 run/pass team, imo. It's just that the circumstances that they choose to run or pass may be much different than past Bills teams.

Ever heard of game splits? Stats by quarter, by down and distance, score differential, home/away, grass/turf, formation, etc, etc. etc, This is not deletion so much as looking at production in isolation. How and where it occurs. People complain about "garbage time" stats all the time. Kicking the crap out the Jets is much the same and having 2 great games does tend to skew the view. Beware the mean and embrace the median.

Or this: vs. NYJ ........................ 34/49 for 468, 6 TDs and 0 ints for a rating of 139.3 vs. the other 10 ........... 253/398 for 2550, 12 TDs and 10 ints for a rating of 81.3 and the Bills averaged 18.3 ppg. Kyle fattened his stats against the Jets and the other 83% of the time he produced like EJ (passer rating wise.) When you factor in sacks and the lost yardage and the potential for rushing yardage, EJ would come out ahead. "Kyle gives us the best chance to win" is the big fallacy of the Bills' 2014 season but it did give EJ a chance to Cntl ALt Delete on his career path.

They wrecked Joe Flacco and the Ravens in week 16. How does that fit your narrative?

Better Qb, better offense, worse game against the same defense that wrecked EJs 2014 season. The story is that you don't overreact to one bad outcome where the entire offense played crappy. EJ has 8 of 14 starts with a tQBR at 50+. Orton had 4 of 12 in his 2014 starts. EJ PLAYED DECENTLY (tQBR at 50+ is somewhat arbitrary but fair, imo) IN A MAJORITY OF STARTS AS A BUFFALO BILL, KYLE DID NOT. This is the counter to the Kyle Orton saved the season/gave them the best chance to win argument, the EJ has shown nothing argument, the EJ sucks argument, etc. etc. etc. So, yeah, I do have a point and might be "right on" and your point is what exactly?

I'll add another. 21 of 50 for 195 yds, 2 TDs and 3 Ints with a composite tQBR of 3.2. That was Joe Flacco's December game with against JJ Watt and the Texans with playoff implications attached to the outcome.

EJ was getting beat up against the Texans and Sammy was complaining about a throw (which he dropped) being a foot too low. Three drops by Sammy that game plus two by others while EJ is hit around 18 times with JJ Watt hitting him both legally and illegally 9 or so times. Didn't set right with me.

I am beginning to think that there is a generational component to how Bills fans view QB development. There is a whole list of HOF QBs that were not very good at the start of their careers. This is no surprise because those of us that were raised without the internet, smart phones and satellite HD television know that this is true of most every human being doing any job. History teaches the value of, if not necessity for, patience.