JESSEFEFFER

I think of all the football I have watched, the normal thing to see that close to the sideline is an upper body shot that forces the runner to step out. I do not think shots below the waist are all common. EJ saw him late and lowered his shoulder but was not anticipating a thigh high blow. The gloating afterwards made it a near certainty that the defender was retaliating for Kiko's legal hit that destroyed the late sliding Hoyer.

As I see it, it's a style vs. substance argument. Think of a scale with Ditka at one end and Walsh at the other. Many fans and members of the media strongly prefer an emotional, say anything, give a good interview, give 'em Hell and kick some butt kind of coach over the reserved, cerebral, calculating, professoral type. The same preferences exist in politics as well. My inclination is more toward the Walsh type and I put Rex more toward the Ditka type. Most of the praise I hear from other fans is more for his personality or public persona. Given that he never could fix his offenses after repeated attempts I question just how much substance there is in Rex Ryan's coaching record.

Brett Favre got to play that retirement drama a few times but I don't think Orton can. He has retired twice now so he does not get third chance. Plus, in games not involving the Jets, Kyle gave the Bills nothing beyond what EJ had.

Stevie Johnson vs. Miami, December of 2012. I tried to find the video but couldn't. Pretty much the same so I figured it would be incomplete and would have been angry if it weren't. Yes, I hold grudges that long. If attempting to make a catch while off balance and falling to the ground, the ball must still be secured after player contacts the ground. Only difference is the ball actually touched the ground during the process so it negated the "recatch." What I have a problem with is when they invoke this rule in such instances and an action by a defender caused the ball to be dislodged after an element to end the play has occurred (knee down, out-of-bounds, etc.) I think that was what was wrong with the similar call involving Goodwin last year (Bengals game?) He went to the ground, rolled over and the defender dislodged it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LyM--o1R98

Some of the best players on the current roster did not make much of an impact as rookies. As a matter of fact, the Bills have traded for and signed free agent players that have made more of an immediate impact than many of their first round picks of the last decade. The draft is over rated as a means to improve a team's roster. It's just, by far, the one that is the most fun about which to talk. The Texans improved 7 games without Clowney's help. The Bills' potential for improvement in 2015 does not rely much on the draft.

Ralph reacted badly when he thought he was dealing with someone who was not loyal and/or was downright deceitful. I remember when he tried to get John Butler resigned and Butler balked. I think Ralph sensed a man that was ready to flee. Given the salary cap issues to be dealt with, his "opting out" to San Diego was even more attractive.

Just wanted to show off the modified title to the moderator. Seriously though, I got to wonder what a guy with this kind of resume is doing coaching at Duke? Nice school and a nice town and all. Maybe he really appreciated the challenge of changing their program.

OK. I like him even more now. It's a nice read. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/cut-duke-coach-serves-mentor-peyton-eli-article-1.1456105 He seems smart enough to know the difference between coaching men and boys. 1) Has roots back to Bear Bryant. 2) Recruited Peyton Manning to Tennesee for Phil Fulmer. 3) Eli chose Ole Miss when Cutcliffe became their head coach. 4) Fired after first losing losing season for refusing AD's call to fire some assistants. Alumnus Archie Manning said his firing was an embarrassment. 5) Was OC for Tennesee's NC team-- Tea Martin the QB? 6) Signed to Charlie Weiss staff but nearly fatal heart issues prevented him from coaching there. 7) Manning brothers still seek him out to refine there games in the offseason and bring their teammates to Duke with them. Peyton did so after his latest neck surgery. Cutcliffe had interesting way of proving to Peyton that he could make the comeback. 8) Has taken Duke to bowl games the last two years. Barely losing them to Texas AM (JF's last college game) and Arizona State. 9) He should have some interesting thoughts on best using our ACC based talent. 10) He seems smart enough to appreciate what a good gig college coaches have. He is loved at Duke for going 8-4 and getting a bowl berth. I bet he'd be hard to convince to leave the ranks of Southern college football.

I like this guy's resume: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cutcliffe He has managed to win in places were others haven't. He seems like an honorable man that seems to get the best out of rosters. He is QB centric, having worked with both Mannings and if Eli hits the market maybe Cutcliffe would make the Bills an attractive choice. WGR had him on last year in regards to Thad Lewis and he left a favorable impression with me. Seemed like he knew his craft very well and was easy to listen to.

Interesting point. I personally never really thought play calling was an issue. When the offensive line can't be trusted to execute basic blocks there aren't all that many decent plays to call. The pass/run split got way out of whack but this was never the plan which I think is more the result of Orton getting into the lineup and injuries. So they went with a short passing game to compensate for the struggling run game. I am sure Nate Hackett would have some interesting stories to tell. Here's another bit of rampant speculation. All the "Orton gives us the best chance to win" and "Kyle is my starter unless someone else intervenes" talk makes me think that someone was lobbying to get EJ back in there. The stories about what EJ was working on combined with the analytics department says Kyle gives us nothing extra so Whaley/Hackett/Downing/?????? lobbies to get the new, reworked EJ back in there. Marrone has none of it and sticks with Orton and says that's the way it will be unless someone pulls rank (Pegulas probably) and orders him to start EJ.

Because Polian described it as a "heavy lift." He also talked about 3 and 5 year commitments. Neither of which seemed consistent with a consulting/advisory role. That left me somewhat confused as to the Pegula's vision for this "outside set of eyes."

Some things I liked about Marrone away from gamedays: That he seemed heavily invested in the reclamation of Marcel Dareus. That he seemed willing to let Mike Williams help this team out after their SU history. That seemed like he was making a wise choice. That he seemed to be asserting his authority by sending messages to Woods and Hughes about either work their ethic or taking their complaints public. That he seemed wise when he told EJ upon his benching that what how he handled himself next would matter greatly to his career and that he should be prepared for much crap to be directed at him going forward. That he seemed never satisfied with wins because he thought there was so much more that they could be and that it was his job to get them there. That he seemed to be doing what was best for his team when he benched EJ saying that they needed more production from the position. While all these things seemed right to me at the time there are other spins that could be made to each one of them. Then there's this. That shouting match in the August practice. I think that was Marrone doing all the shouting. He was just as guilty as Hughes about airing disagreements publicly. Coaches with sour dispositions are nothing new. In fact, many of the greats have been wired that way. This does not pardon any behavior that demeaned Bills staff. I doubt that we are talking Brandon/Whaley here. I think this is about the cleaning crew, PR, the cooks, the sales and equipment staff. It's one thing to be hard on your players in an attempt to get the best out of them or to cue them in that public challnges to his authority are not the way to go. It's totally another to subject everyone else in your work environment to your sour disposition in some lame attempt to make yourself feel superior to them.

True. I'd love to see what Chan could do with a young QB with actual tools to work with.

When stories like this come out one should ask themselves "who benefits from the spin on this?" Why claim to know the mind of Bill Polian assuming that Bill is not the source? It makes Marrone look connected and influential. It makes it seem like Marrone is sensibily leaving a badly structured organization. Say the conversation actually happened. Who benefits most from this spin? I'd say Marrone or his agent. I think agents are the source for most of these type of stories. It's all an attempt to manipulate the conversation to create more potential suitors and bigger and better deals. Hollywood gossip NFL style.

All these reports coming in are tough to keep straight. But, when I read "in line" for something I do not think "it's in place to happen." I see it as a take someone has about a circumstance. LIke Hillary is "in line" for the nomiation in 2008.

Any new HC will get a 4 year deal from the Pegulas. I do not blame Marrone for asking for a similar commitment as well. But, from what I have seen, I think the Bills can do better than him and probably will. The opt out clause made sense given the reality of the time the cantract was made. The lack of some type of offset is the part that is more troubling. It actually made it a financial slam dunk to exercise it. I liked Gailey's style. I would love for him to be the one to work with EJ. Gailey had been making chicken salad his whole career and, mixing metphors, giving him the job of making "the ball of clay" into something special is intriging to me. Too bad Nix never gave him a young talent to develop and Chan couldn't get the DC choices right. Great head coaches are often jerks. Trouble is, why suffer having a jerk at the position without evidence of greatness?

Certainly true. I was ok with benching him at the time because the pass rush pressure EJ had seen in his last two games had really rattled his mechanics and his internal play clock. I don't think he regressed so much as was exposed for not having an answer to consistent pass rush pressure. Guess what, most veteran QBs struggle in the face of consistent pressure. Joe Flacco's tQBR in week 16 vs. the Texans was lower than EJ's. I was not ok with EJ not seeing the field again for the entire 2014 season. Mostly because I do not trust Marrone to have read it correctly. He can say that Orton gave them the best chance to win all he wants but there was little evidence of that after the bye week. Fix the o-line so whoever the QB is can have a consistent run game and not have to look for "unabated" pass rushers.

And when you factor in the effects of sacks, the net yards per attempt becomes 5.88 for Orton and 5.80 for EJ.

Consider this play: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000402069/Morris-intercepts-Manuel It was EJ's last play of 2014. Every time I see a flag for a defender grabbing a jersey, I think of this. In hockey it's obstruction. In basketball it's a blocking foul. Here it's illegal contact evolving into pass interference that occurs over a 15 yard span. Robert Woods sees the ball and the defender never looks. It was the worst no call of the Bills' season, imo. What's my point? In a game where EJ is hit 18 times, 9 by Watt (2 of which were illegal) but only takes only 2 sacks and has 5 passes dropped the Bills were this no call away from having a legit red zone possession to take the lead in a game they lost by 6 points. I do not think Kyle Orton could have stood up to that pressure. We would have seen a record number of turtle maneuvers. Yeah, EJ struggled. But he was not the disaster some try to make him out to be. His rookie season production was on par with Joe Flacco's (who, ironically, had a similar game against the Texans this year.) I would like to think that being put on the shelf for the last 12 games of his 2nd season could do him some good but I do not really trust this coaching staff to make it so. If anything maybe it could change his onfield demeanor from ultra cautious to being more agressive/assertive. Top myths of EJs 2nd season. Running out-of-bounds play was a zone read option. Eric Wood was blocking down field and there was no pass to be made. He would have had to know how much he would ultimately lose vs. an inelligible receiver downfield penalty. The ball thrown to Sammy on the dig route against SD that came in at Sammy's shoe tops was tipped by Kendall Reyes who was driving Pears right into EJs lap. In the Texan's game, Sammy stumbled over a defender's legs as he made the break, with the ball already released, on the deep cross where he could only get one hand on the ball. When a defender stumbles like that in coverage, he is likely to be beat by a step or two. Why point these out? Some EJ detractors wanted to hold these as superior evidence about some perceived EJ flaws. In the court of TSW, I say these were not evidence of anything of the sort and the jury should disregard them.

Is there anything that Whaley could hold against Marrone? I don't know but how about the putrid play of the offensive line and how unsettled Marrone let it become entering the season? The refusal to start Urbik when Richardson was continually whiffing on blocks. The collapse of CJ Sillers' productivity. The inability to make any use of Mike Williams while having huge issues in the red zone. Repeatedly using the "he gives us the best chance to win" line when in most of their games there was no real difference in the ability of the offense to score points or help the defense.

EJ Manuel's 10 game rookie year production was on par with Joe Flacco's 16 game rookie season. In an interesting bit of irony, Joe Flacco might have had a worse game against the Texans this week than what EJ had against them in week 4. I was ok with benching EJ at the time because his game may have been collapsing worse than the Bills' pass protection vs. the Texans. But I am not ok with him not seeing the field for meaningful plays the rest of the year. Quite frankly, I'd find it much easier watching EJ make mistakes than Kyle. I could convince myself that EJ might learn form his. I have little confidence that this coaching staff has the juice to be developing him away from in game experience. I really hope I am wrong about that. It feels like a wasted year.

Win or lose, I'd think it's an experience better off shared. The jubilation is multiplied and I'd think the post loss let down might be mitigated. I know I am more miserable when I watch a bad loss alone. Just a thought.

Tavern on the Tracks it was. All those recommendations were spot on. I won their halftime trivia a got a T shirt, met folks from Geneseo, Clarence, Rochester and Jamestown. The Bills won and I spent less than $40 for my wife and I to eat and drink for 6+ hours. Oh yeah, and the Bills won!

Definitely a personal foul, trip on #91. In hockey they call it a slew foot.

Thanks for all the input. I can now put a plan together. As far as parking near the Tavern what area should I aim for? I tend toward the frugal side (I park at Bert's Bikes across from ECC South for $10 for the Bills' games--my wife has complained about the walk but I told her to suck it up since she was only 6 months pregnant at the time.) My wife and I are checking out the area in respect to a potential job related relocation. My thought is 1) I get to see the game with some great, like minded friends who we haven't met yet and 2) talk to other relocated WNYers about the area. Only pregame and during commercials, of course.