JESSEFEFFER

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

Did you check out the link I gave above in post #5? On that webpage there is a video of some of his Kohl's camp punts in a semi competition with Marquette King of the Raiders. Also, in the section ................ Kohl's Workouts Attended National Elite Camp - (Free Agent/College athletes) - July 18-20, 2013 Results Tampa, FL - Pro/College Training Camp - Jan. 27-28, 2013 ......... the results link is to the stats he compiled while winning their competition/evaluation. Arkansas punter Dylan Breeding (Redskins FA signing) came in 2nd. About 25% of his Harvard kicks were inside the 20 and his net average is close to 40. He is definintely, imo, a challenger for Moorman's roster spot.

The kid has some talent. Here's my link of interest (watch the video) maybe it's the same as previous post via a different route. http://kohlskicking.com/nfl-profile/jacob-dombrowski If he can handle the directional kicking aspect, I think there's a great chance he'll win the job.

I read somewhere that he was the first Titans QB to post 3 consecutive games with a 100+ passer rating. The Titans managed to win only one of those. My thought was always that he was a better QB than he was as a passer. It's no coincidence that the best football many of his teammates will ever play was with Fitz as their QB. This applies to CJ, Freddie, SJ, Chandler and ther rest of their noname receiving corp, and guys like Urbik, Levitre, and Pears. In situations that require him to totally rely on has passing ability, he is more than likely going to be the first to fail, which is often in a clutch setting such as NE II and the Titans games in 2012. Yes, he can be a gunslinger in a shootout but "Boot Hill" is most likely his final resting place. QBs that are truly terrible never even make it into the shootout. I like the guy and I think he is the type of QB that can be a good template to build an offense around until someone more talented can step in and take over. If he has some success with the Texans, I'm ok with that, as long as it's not against the Bills. Note to Andre Johnson: Fitz will force the ball to you enough for you to have a good season. I doubt SJ ever sees 1,000+ yards again.

The Bills only lost 12 which is not bad and probably closer to middle of the pack. 7 of the 32 were credited to Leodis which seems to indicate that they are counting a muffed punt as a fumble, (of which he only lost 1.) I don't recall him having a problem handling the ball but, then again, I wouldn't think much of a mishandled punt that he dropped at his own feet, picked up and made a return.

Alex Smith, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, maybe Carson Palmer. Teams move on from veteran QBs with nice NFL resumes all the time. Maybe it's injury, or salary cap numbers, or a new GM wanting to start over. Before there was only the draft in terms of building a roster. Now, due to the salary cap and free agency, there are other options.

Also, consider this. With the 41st pick the Bills traded down to 44 and got the extra 5th. These became Kouwandjio and Richardson. These two players give them a chance to have a better starting offensive line this year along with better depth. In this regard having the 4th best OT prospect this year is better that the 1st or 2nd OT next year. The "bird in the hand > two in the bush" philosophy. I prefer this one: The value of a nail now versus a box of them later: For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the knight was lost, for want of a knight the battle was lost, for want of a battle the kingdom was lost. So a kingdom was lost—all for want of a nail. -JLA: The Nail

Picks in future drafts are generally discounted. Maybe its better to say that picks in a current draft have more value. Whaley obviously believes it as he wanted to retain their 2014 picks and managed to keep them out of the trade.

I think many people overestimate the value of a 1st round pick. because they overestimate the value of the draft. Salary cap restraints mean that free agency is a much more legitimate part of building a team. Less money devoted to rookie contracts = more money for free agents. Due to the way contracts are designed, some pretty good players get cut during training camp. Yeah, the Bills blew the Maybin pick but I think most would agree that trading for Hughes pretty much negated that mistake. Hughes was everything they could have hoped Maybin would be. Mel Kiper has made a career out of covering the NFL draft and having opinions about it. It's probably a VERY lucrative one considering that there is no real penalty fro being wrong, unlike the real scouts and GMs. I think the spectacle of the draft is such that fans do the same. This is all to say that surrendering a 1st round pick is not a franchise killer. There are other means to getting a new QB for 2015 other than a top 10 pick, if they so desire and the new QB will have Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and maybe Mike Williams to throw to and what will probably be an upper echelon o-line to protect him.

But you are forgetting that this was an all-in move by the Bills so if EJ fails, Sammy Watkins, no matter how good he is, can no longer be on the roster and the next QB they bring in won't be able to throw to him. I think I heard that somewhere.

Then there are the <1% of "fans" that would rather be right than see their team succeed. Some psych student should do a thesis on them.

It also points out that EJ's play wasn't really what cost them the close games. EJ played poorly when the rest of the team was getting handled (this is true for most all QBs) and he was rarely the guy that made the critical mistake that prevented the team from winning the close games. It was often some critical drops/fumbles, poor special teams coverage or defensive collapse that ultimately did them in. It might be a good sign that with all that was lacking in EJ's game, the games were not ultimately lost due to his gaffes.

Some more Shawshank wisdom. That movie is on all the time and I have to watch at least some part of it at each chance.