JESSEFEFFER

There's 4 or 5 from which to choose so any advice would be appreciated.

1) The offensive line has stabilized as it no longer is letting stunting lineman come through untouched and JJ Watt does not play for Green Bay. 2) There is no difference in production between Orton and Manuel in games not involving the anomolous NJ Jets, Both have a .500 kind of look to their games. EJ's 4 and 6 rookie year rookie record has the Cle and Atl games in the mix. 3) Orton has had excellent 4th quarter production which tells me he is a viable relief pitcher option if need be. 4) I'd want to see if there is anything different about EJ's approach now vs. then and that doesn't happen without playing him. 5) As a fan, I am much much tolerant of a 2nd year QB's mistakes than those of a 10 year vet. 6) Many of EJs bad, wtf plays did not seem that way under "further review." Kendall Reyes tipped that pass, Sammy stumbled in the middle of the route, there were lineman blocking down field on a designed run play that made a throw to avoid a loss a poor option, etc. So, when I am repeatedly wrong about what I saw in live action, I tend to think that criticism of EJ's play was overblown.

Watch the nose of the football rotate toward the sideline. No actual pass is ever released in such a manner. It's a maneuver intended to help maintain the grip. This is all occurring below shoulder height. No actual, pass is ever released from there unless it began as a sidearm or underhanded throw. So, JM did two things inconsistent with an actual pass but consistent with an attempt retain it. There's a whole range of motions that occur between the last, possible release point and having the ball safely returned, i.e. tucked. The rule doesn't address any of them. One could easily argue that once the nose of the ball is rotated away, it is no longer going forward as it is no longer oriented in a forward direction. That's two observable facts from the video I've seen to support the call on the field.

How to know that the ball was being tucked and not thrown? The ball is chest high, pointing toward the sideline and in his hand when it comes out! No QB releases a pass from there. He held on to it way past any realistic point of release because he was tucking it. And those two throws by RF in 2012 where he lost his grip during the forward throwing motion (first one in Cle second was a home game) and managed to propel the ball 15+ yards down field were ruled fumbles without any contact from a defender. Violation of basic Newtonian physics.

ESPN has a story up about how the NFL's court settlement with former players DOESN'T help the likes of Darryl! Yikes! NFL needs to wear that one like "skunk on a rope." http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11899196/nfl-concussion-settlement-bob-stern-objection

A story about a proud, sacrificing man who has become the victim of circumstances beyond his control and the community that wants to show him that he matters to them in his time of dispair. Wait....... I think Frank Capra has already told that story.

I donated $32 in honor of the 32 pt. deficit that DT rallied the defense to do their part to overcome. Maybe Darryl can make something of a comeback in his own life. Just thinking. Buffalo Bils fan site + Thanksgiving + explayers in need = a yearly tradition?

I made some of these points in other threads but to summarize: 1- Watt got the highest defensive grade ever from PFF for this game. 2- Two of Watt's nine hits were just above the knee and were flagged. The rest of the defenders added nine more. EJ did well to walk away from this game. 3- EJ was sacked only twice which tells me that he was very aware of the protection breakdowns. Maybe too focused on them. 4- The last pick, by a diving defender, was a blatant, gutless no call. It was not subtle nor could it have gone unnoticed. It occurred over 10-12 yards of the route and over 1-2 seconds of time. It's nothing that could be missed in the blink of an eye. It directly lead to an over throw pick and ended the game. 5- There was an over throw on a deep cross where Sammy was able to only get one outstretched hand on the ball. The torch and pitchfork crowd used this as evidence to rip EJ for poor accuracy. Sammy actually stumbled across the back legs of a defender as he made his break, after the ball had been delivered, easily costing him a step or two, imo, and a legit chance to catch what was probably a decent ball.

He has produced at similar levels to Joe Flacco and Ryan Tannehill over their first 14 games (and most every other 1st round QB with "potential.") I think he could use some controlled anger/agression in his game. Most young players are deferential to the veterans but EJ seems to be too deferential. Maybe the benching will change his emotional approach to the game. Think about his last game. Multiple drops by receivers (Sammy with 3?) JJ Watt earning the highest defensive grade that PFF has ever given even with his 2 of his 9 QB hits being illegal. Plus another 9 hits he suffered from the other Texan defenders. But only two sacks taken. Yeah, EJ looked bad. He probably was messing up on some of his drops and protection calls. It was as if it was all he could do to avoid bad plays. There was no reason to be confident behind that line, that day. I can't think of too many QBs that would have had a good game under those circumstances but the Bills were still a gutless PI nocall away from having a legit shot to win the game. He should be angry about that game.

Bengals v NO. Those with NFL Replay check out the intentional grounding no call at ~6 minutes to go in 1st quarter. An aborted flea flacker where Dalton made a throw from within the pocket that did not land within 15 or 20 yards of ANYBODY! Can't help it. This kind of crap makes me angry.

Jeff George 2.0? No thanks.

Which .500 QB to play? The 24 year old with 14 career starts or the 31 year old with 80+ starts? I am much more inclined to suffer EJ's mistakes than Kyle's because he still has a chance to learn from his. JJ Watt and the Bills' inability to pick up a line stunt knocked EJ's development of the rails. Hit 18 times but sacked only twice tells me that he was too focused on the pass protection breakdowns to make enough good plays to sustain the offense. Now is the time to see if he can back on track behind an offensive line that has gotten better but is still not good enough to protect statuesque Kyle Orton.

I've seen many of those already mentioned. An excellent one to add to the list was about the Kirkland, Washington Little League Champs and star pitcher Cody Webster, Little Big Men. At least I think that was a 30 for 30 production. The power of the national media unleashed on 12 and 13 year olds is not a beautiful thing. What the coaches gave up to prepare them and how each of them took that experience, good and bad, into adulthood makes for a great story.

And Andre Reed wasn't "black enough" for Ronnie Harmon. This is a real issue in the locker room and some sort of workable balance needs to exist, imo.

Both times that he pulled it down there was a leaping defender in the passing lane. That's Fitz. In the clutch it is 50% probable that he screws up. It seems like his team mates were 50% as well. Sort of guarantees that you finish with a with a sub par record. With Johnson's fumble in Colt territory at less than 4 minutes to play on a beautiful 2nd and 20 pass play, Texan's suffered both.

The Bills had him at #1 on their board, supposedly. From Whaley's point-of-view it was a fair price to get the palyer they considered to be the best in the draft. The EJ argument is/has been a bad one. Sammy can be great independently of EJ's career. Josh Gordon had a great year with Hoyer, Weeden and Cambell throwing to him. At one time the draft was the be all end all. Not so anymore. Whatever they decide is their primary need in the 2015 off season, there are multiple ways to address it and a first round draft pick is but one. But hen again I considered this year's team to be an improvement over last year's, which was essentially a .500 team that gave two games away.

He likely would have had a 4th if SJ or Chandler had protected the ball in TO.

Those celebtating the demise of EJ's NFL career are guily of premature joculation. He's on a 5 year rookie deal where his base salary will make it easy to keep him around. He will need circumstances (injury, ex.) or merit (winning a training camp battle, ex.) to get the job back but both of those scenarios are not out of the realm of possibility. I hope if he does, he plays well enough to keep the job.

Some are trying to compate him to Sproles but I think Joe Morris is a better comparison. I think this makes it official. I am old.

My thought has been that Ralph valued loyalty above most any other human trait. It is an explanation that fits the evidence. It expalins his generosity, management style and decision making -- often times what were some of his worst football decisions.

Nice pictures Bangarang. For some reason I can't repost the particular ones I was interested in seeing; the 3 photos of Sammy's crossing route. EJ has released the ball (I think it's at the blur at the 31) and Sammy is at the 45 and just about ready to trip across the back of the defenders legs which causes him to stumble to regain his balance. The throw ends up going off his outstretched hand. How much time and distance did the stumble cost Sammy? Did it effect his angle across the field? An inaccurate throw or a play where the timing was disrupted by inadvertent contact between Sammy and a defender? A stride and a half and a slightly different angle could have gotten him to the 41 instead of the 43 and he'd be ready to YAC and Roll. Much like the dig route to Sammy in the SD game that everyone complained about. "Worm burner," "Dirt dart," etc. That ball was actually tipped by Kendall Reyes but not so much as to be blatantly obvious to everyone watching. EJs game has crumbled under pressure. It's all he can do to avoid sacks and turnovers while being pressured by 16 or 18 hits. Consistently making positive plays under these circumstances is beyond his capability at this point. It's good to sit him down. I hope Kyle's game has an answer.

The defender had to dive to make the pick. That tells me that Woods catching the ball while upright would have happened in space. That penalty no call wasn't fleeting. It happened over an extended distance for an extended time to a player that the throw went to so there's no way it was "missed." It was calculated decision to ignore it, imo. Often times I think that they wait for the result of the play. "No Harm- no foul." Except in this case it ended the game.

Three points. 1) Using a game played in 30+ mph winds where the protection fails on nearly 40% of dropbacks is a not a good barometer of a QBs accuracy. Add in the mystery of apparent missed route adjustments and you have very shakey conditions on which to judge EJs accuracy. 2) The "poor" pass to Sammy that came in at his shoe tops was actually slightly tipped by Kendall Reyes. He drove Pears deep into the backfield and had closed to within a few feet of EJ as he swiped his hand right at the release point of the pass. If you have it on high definition, take a look and see if you agree. That's why the flight of the ball looked odd and Tasker mistakenly blamed it on the wind and Buerlein correctly pointed out that the throw was with the wind but incorrectly thought it was just a ball that EJ let get away but without any other cause. 3) I've seen lots of windy, run dominated games at the Ralph where the downfield passing game was greatly affected. What Rivers did on his deep throws was rather unprecedented. I thought there was no way that a QB used to playing and practicing in San Diego, probably the best weather anywhere in the continental US, would be able to handle a blustery day at RWS. Maybe Rivers was lucky or just really good or maybe Frank Reich was able to add some actual, game experience wisdom to the equation.

To me "game manager" is all about how agressively a coaching staff thinks about their offensive play calling. Run first, patient teams with defenses and special teams units that are succeeding and that are developing a young QB want a game manager performance. It means their game plan has worked. If their plans work then there is no reason for their still developing QB to make 40 pass attempts. When things are going well in all three phases, as they have so far, EJ will look like a game manager and the Bills will likely win. If not then circumstances will dictate that they need him to play more agressively. So, the difference is between what they ask of a QB while the game is going well and what he is actually capable of doing when things aren't going well. True game managers typically have no upside and are limited by their talent. I think Murph is right in that EJ is limited by design and circumstance but he can do more when circumstances change. It will be interesting to see just how much he can do and how soon he will show us.

Statistics are like words in that they only reveal the truth when viewed in their proper context. The Bible is full of truth but there are far too many in this world that are willing to remove the words from their context to serve some other agenda. Wars have been fought over the misinterpretation of words but at least with statistics in the sports world, our disagreements don't really matter. That's the beauty in it. Passionate discourse without life or death consequences.