JESSEFEFFER

It was always my opinion that Ralph valued loyalty as a virtue above most everything else, even above and beyond winning. Many of his decisions make more sense if you have that opinion. Ultimately, he was loyal to WNY and he stacked the deck in our favor.

This is not just a consideration for the first game of the 2014 season but is pretty much the true for all of 2013 as well. If you think of franchise QB as a "marriage" between an NFL team and their QB, then Fitz was like a living arrangement with an out clause but Eli and his $20 million against the cap this year and next might be headed to divorce court.

I was wanting to listen for a whistle on the rewatch. Often the officials are lazy with calling the play dead and then want to hold the players accountable to knnowing when to stop their play. I'll give Chandler credit for finishing his block as of now.

1. The Bills will be eliminated from playoff contention... F. the Bills will make the playoffs! 2. EJ Manuel's passer rating will be... C. in the 80s. 3. Who will lead the team in tackles? B. Aaron Williams. 4. The Bills Divisional Record will be... B. 4-2. 5. Who will lead the Bills in receiving yards? B. Mike Williams. 6. Will Doug Marrone be the head coach of Bills in week 16? Will Manuel be QB1? A. Yes and Yes. 7. How many of the Bills 8 home games will be blacked out? D. 1. 8. Will the Bills have an offensive player in the pro bowl? A. Yes. 9. (In total yards) the Bills Defense will be... F. Top 18 in the NFL. 10. Mario Williams will have how many sacks in 2014? F. 10-11. 11. The 2015 first-round draft pick traded to Cleveland will be: I. In the top 28. The way 9 and 11 are worded, answers (F) and (I) have the greatest probability of being correct (>60% and > 95%, respectively.) So, yes, I am pretty smart but I have no claim to great prognostication skills. The season will be better than most are predicting. I just see no reason to think they are in worse shape now than at the start of the 2013 season.

I think we should go on record as to whom from the 2014 draft we would nominate to have more of an impact as a WR than Sammy. Evans? Benjamin? Beckham? I'll even throw in Ebron. I did like Jordan Matthews as a 2nd round talent if the Bills had gone OT in the first. The Bills think Sammy was the best offensive talent in the draft and the closest to a sure thing to improve the team. I can accept their move.

View the trade in terms of the price to pay to get the best player on their draft board. It's not like that if they move on from EJ that Sammy gets left behind too. If Sammy has a HoF type career, it was more than worth the price. I do not see how this team is worse than last years as it starts the season. The statement that Orton is needed to get them to .500 is plain stupid. EJ was .500 last year if SJ or Chandler protect the ball. Yes, with the steep rookie learning curve and injuries and lost practice time, EJ still did enough last year to be a .500 QB.

Three of his last four starts (NJJ II, Atl, Jax) were well played and the Bills should have won all three. In six of his ten starts he had a total QBR higher than that of their opponents' QB (includes Brady, Newton, Weeden, Roethlisburger, Smith and Henne.) In nine of his starts, he threw only five picks. Yes, he was playing a cautious game that attempted to not "throw wins away." He had a 10 game rookie season and played much like Joe Flacco's 16 game rookie season.

The cost of mediocrity has gone up. At least Joe Flacco was been above average most of his career and actually was on a Super Bowl winner.

I booed the team as they left the field because I believed that they had played like crap, I wasn't happy with them and I needed to express that much as I did two decades ago when a team with multiple Pro Bowlers and future HoF'ers was losing at home to a terrible team (Colts? Bengals?) after 3 first half picks from Jim Kelly. The throws by EJ that I thought were horrible really weren't so upon further review. Woods stumbled from his break, Fred stopped his route when a defender got between him and the ball and EJ lost his grip on the downfield duck to Woods. The 2nd and goal from the 7 was a strict read option run all the way. Woods was blocking and Wood had gone to the 3 before EJ took 4 steps. Yeah, he could have thrown it out of bounds and risked intentional grounding (tough to square up while running left) or an inelligible receiver down field. But, he tried to make the best of a bad play and avoid taking an unnecessary hit. Can't fault him for being unable to predict that they'd lose 7 instead of 2 or 3. EJ was not as bad as I thought while watching in the stadium but the whole team deserved the boos that I gave them. If there weren't so many prepubescent butts in the seats, the booing would have sounded much worse.

I am of the opinion that he lost his grip on the ball just prior to release. It was fluttering almost immediately and was way under powered. This thing happens but it still bugs me that Fitz had two like this in 2012 that were ruled fumbles (Cle and Titans?) Sir Isaac Newton says no way.

I have a hard time believing that a QB that finishes games better than he starts them is anything worthy of criticism. For all the crap EJ is taking I do not recall him losing any games late the way Fitz had a tendency to do. EJ was a cautious and injured rookie who played better late in close games.

I have the opinion that the Bills would have drafted Ponder but were stunned to see him taken by the Vikings that high. Gailey recruited when at Georgia Tech and stories I read had the Bills with some interest in him.

As I recall, Hackett eliminated plays from the playbook when EJ returned from the 2nd knee injury. The reason was that EJ had missed too much practice time and that they could not get enough new reps on all the plays that had been installed previously.

What I saw tonight was a guy that when pressured and trapped in the pocket, not only doesn't step into throws but actually makes them while backpedalling. This throw can work to a RB on a screen but not to a receiver beyond the line. He better correct that fast or he will get abused by the speed of NFL defenders reacting to his softer throws.

Joint practices vs. scrimmages, not the same thing. Probably not going to allow much hitting except maybe line drills. It would be nice for EJ and the offense to get many more reps against a defense that is not so familiar to them. I think Fred is overstating it bit by presenting them as 3 games in 4 days but he is probably speaking up for the sentiment in their locker room.

The truth of the matter is that most of WNY has more in common with the residents of Southern Ontario than we do with our own countrymen that live in places like California, Texas or Florida. Climate dictates much of that but it's also a hyper sensitivity to being treated as an afterthought because we often are.

A good nickname because we expect him to be a "Special Weapon" invovvled in many tactics and it comes complete with it's own funky theme song:

Erie is actually in the Bills broadcast market which causes quite a backlash when a Bills game is televised rather than a Steelers/Browns contest. I think there is a significant fan base there, although still #3, and the Erie media do try to provide coverage of the Bills' goings on. In a business sense, one of Ralph's biggest mistakes was to cling to the traditional AFC East opponents instead of realigning to a division with the Steelers and Browns. That's two guaranteed home sellouts and the basis of two potentially very strong rivalries.

When considering a "QB situation" I think you have to consider both the short term and long term prospects that any team's QB roster presents. Houston is a popular choice but I think Fitz is fine in the role some call a "bridge to the future" QB. I would call Fitz a good "template" QB--a guy that can make all the surrounding parts of the offense function enough to allow the coaching staff to properly evaluate them in the new offense that they are installing. Their long term answer at QB probably comes next year. I think the Jets Smith/Vick combo has the least short/long term upside of all those listed. Both can only be relied upon to produce turnovers and I think the Jets won't be able to sustain any offense with either guy, this year or any year.

EJ can be as good as or better than Joe Flacco or Eli Manning. In fact last year he was better than both of them.

Steve Tasker did not play much WR at Northwestern. He was always viewed as a special teamer and if he wasn't so great at that he probably might have gotten more opportunity as a WR. In many ways, Steve was a better football talent than Welker is. Better hands (wouldn't be surprised if Welker has an above average drop%), better at beating blocks/tackling, physically stronger and if you were an olb you certainly did not want Steve Tasker blocking down on you because he would light you up. Everything Steve had that made him great as a special teams ace would have translated well to making him an exceptional slot receiver, imo.

There's always that. Apparently his degree is in economics too. I wonder if he even took the Wonderlic test.

So where is the 5+ yard difference to which you alluded? Maybe career numbers?

I have his (JD) Sr. stats as a 44.0 avg with a 39.1 net, 11 inside the 20 (out of 42) with 6 touchbacks. The Aussie appears to be 3 years older which means he was a more mature athlete for the duration of his college years and Dombrowski has likely gotten better (as per the video) since his graduation. At the Kohl kicking camp I linked, JD won their Elite Camp competition with an average of 52 yds and almost 4.9 sec of hang time. The kid has an NFL leg and to me it's more of a question of how well he can handle ball placement. Back in the days of consecutive 7-9 seasons my brother asked me who I thought was the best player on the Bills. Moorman was my answer to which my brother agreed and added that it was a "sad situation." Brian is no longer an upper echelon punter and Dombrowski could take his job,imo. One thing for sure is that Nix/Whaley have seriously upgraded the roster and I can't help but think this will be obvious to the entire NFL this season.

He had a tryout with the NFL franchise in Washington (where his lack of experience as a place holder was a big reason why they didn't sign him) and the kicking combine held in Arizona which I knew nothing of prior to reading this: http://www.petoskeyn...8d5836e808.html