All_Pro_Bills

I still plan on watching the game on Sunday but my level of interest would be a lot higher if the game meant something more than jockeying for draft position. Perhaps we'll get a glimmer of hope from a solid performance by EJ? And maybe that's the thing to watch for in the last 3 games. Will EJ show improvement that might provide Bills fans some comfort through the long off season that the team has a potential 'good' QB? And maybe this week the defense won't give up any big plays for once this season? And they won't get called for holding on what seems like every decent punt and kick off return?

News out of Jacksonville indicates Jordan Todman, former practice squad player for a couple teams, may start at RB. This will probably be yet another case of an obscure running back having his career high rushing game against the Bills. Seems like they do it a couple times a year and the perfect set up appears in place for it to happen again. Something like 22 carries for 149 yards and a TD would be typical. Then the guy disappears forever..

I went back to Draft Insider to see what they said about EJ prior to the draft. They concluded he offers starting 'potential'. Sounds about right to me based on the body of work so far except a couple things IMO I disagree with which I'll bold. The underlined statement might be a negative since that positive got him hurt. The negatives are right-on. Bio: Full-time starter the past two seasons and awarded all-Conference honors as a senior. Passing totals last season included 68%/3392 yards/23 TDs/10 Interceptions. Junior totals included 65.3%/2666/18/8. Positive: Athletic quarterback who makes plays with his arm and legs. Patient in the pocket, remains poised under the rush, and possesses a quick, powerful release. Gets rid of the ball with a flick of his wrist, drives deep passes downfield or powers the ball through tight windows. Loses nothing passing on the move, effective running with the ball, and keeps the play in bounds trying to pick up as much yardage as possible. Flashes the ability to throw beautiful strikes down the field. Can escape the rush, improvises when things break down, and makes a lot of athletic plays on the field. Consistently keeps his eyes downfield looking for targets and stays in the game. Negative: Inconsistent with his mechanics setting up and delivering the ball. Must improve his accuracy and pass placement. Late getting the ball to receivers or finding secondary targets. Doesn't show good timing on throws. Makes poor choices throwing the ball. Analysis: From a physical standpoint Manuel rates with any quarterback in this draft, yet he displayed minimal development last season at the position. He offers starting potential at the next level, yet is a passer who needs work from the ground up and is a long way from being NFL-ready.

The first Bills game I remember is the AFL championship game against the Chiefs which decided who would lose to Green Bay in SB I (that was before they called it the Super Bowl). I also think there is more than the incompetence of the Peter Principle and the suspected insecurity of the leader. My big issue is simply that winning has never been a priority of ownership. Sure, we might be able to cite a couple examples where Mr. Wilson mentioned the importance of winning but this has not translated to action in the organization and ownership has not taken enough responsibility for those failures. And with the exception of a few periods of success this franchise has been a consistent failure on the field of competition. Why? Because winning is not a goal. Many believe making as big a profit as possible is the goal of the Bills management team and while all businesses should seek to make and maximize profits the goals of making money and satisfying their customers (in this case winning would satisfy Bills fans) are not necessarily incompatible. Making statements as Mr. Wilson has many times that the reason for losing is that the team doesn't have enough talent shows a lack of accountability. If you're the leader and make that statement you've got to look in the mirror and see the source of that problem is you! You hired the guys who are evaluating and acquiring talent. So if they can't do the job then its your fault for hiring them into that position. I know they're out of favor and this might strike a nerve for many but contrast this with the Sabres. Sure they stink now but when Pegula took over he put winning as priority number one. The sole reason for the organization and team to exist if I recall. His mistake was a failure to recognize that he was pursuing a course of action (with Reiger) that had a proven record of failure - the failure being not able to successfully lead the organization to acheive the goal of winning. He let his emotional attachment to the GM (and the team) get in the way of logic but finally realized or was convinced that this GM was not going to move the team forward to that goal. After waiting a little too long to take action, I believe he did move in the right direction by bringing in LaFontaine and Nolan to stablize the situation and re-set the plan. Which one would you prefer, 50 years never having the goal of winning a championship or having that goal and waiting a couple years too long to realize you made a mistake and correcting it?

As my wife and I watched the end of the Cleveland- New England game and the PI flag was thrown I glaced over to her silently and she said 'go ahead and say it'. So I said 'OK, i will. If it was the Bills they would never have thrown that flag for pass interference and we would have lost the game'. Honestly, how many of us feel that way? And truth be told, how many fans of some other also-ran franchises feel that way? The problem is not one of conspiracy but rather of complication and inconsistency. The ref's have too many rules to enforce and they do not consistently call the game team by team for 60 minutes much less call them consistently throughout the league on any Sunday afternoon. Hit on a defenseless receiver? Define defenseless. Is a guy that is catching a touchdown pass getting hit by a safety with a shoulder trying to jar the ball loose defenseless? For some crews and teams yes, for others no. When a WR gets nailed a couple seconds later as the ball sails over his head or a cheap shot out of bounds I can see that call. You know it when you see it. Protect the QB? I understand late, head, and low hits but if you want to protect the QB then you should block better. Why should a defender get a flag simply because he hit the QB 'hard' within the context of the game just as the ball is released? What's the guy supposed to do? Lay down a pillow under him first? Too many rules, too much regulation, too much commericalism, too many games decided by suspect calls rather than football plays is ruining the game and beginning to alienate the core fan.

SJ drops too many passes and has gotten flagged for a lot of stupid demonstration penalties in the past (although I can't recall any this season). Whether the drops are a lack of concentration, hand to eye coordination, or something else, he isn't that clutch guy you can count on to make a play when it matters. That seems obvious to all. Another part of his problem is his candid honesty in making comments to the press and public. He tells you what he really thinks and sometimes its better to keep things to yourself or in the locker room. The team needs an upgrade at the #1 receivers spot. If you look around the league most successful passing games have big, physical, athletic WR' (or TE's which is another area). You're not going to win the phyical battles downfield when your receivers are outmuscled by aggressive secondary play. SJ isn't that guy but who on the roster is?

The problem I had with the Robey call was the contact between the CB and WR was within the context of how the game was being called to that point. So suddenly late in the 4th quarter the downfield official decides that contact warranting a PI penalty is judged to a looser different standard than the previous 58 minutes of the game. That's my issue, if that is PI then other instances where both teams were guilty should have been flagged during the game. But they were not. The way the game was called to that point set the understanding for both the recievers and secondary on how the game would be called and what they could and could not do as defined by the enforcement of the rules. To call it then, and to clearly insert the officials into determining the outcome of the game is unacceptable. The officials need to call the game on a consistent basis for 60 minutes, not 58.

Winning would be solution #1 for solving any attendence problems. But another part of the problem might be the Bills ticket sales policy. At least it is for me. My story is that two times a year we used to come from out of town and attend a home game in September or October. Generally, a party of 7 or 8 people. My group was part of a bigger group that would get tickets through group sales. We did this for 11 seasons. We stopped coming up when they changed the policy to give season ticket holders first crack at individual home game tickets. For a year or two we had a season ticket holder get us tickets but that stopped when that person didn't renew their tickets. So now if I want to get seats to a September and October game I need to go to after-market to get tickets where prices have been higher and getting 7 or 8 tickets together difficult. Maybe this policy is good for the team and season ticket holders but it isn't for people like me. So instead of coming into town and spending maybe $1500 or $2000 between us in the local economy on lodging, food, and entertainment, we stay home and watch the games on NFL Sunday Ticket at my house. So the Bills want to regionalize the team but they have a counter-productive ticket policy that gives those non-season ticket holder 'new' fans absolutely no opportunity to buy individual tickets to a game or two (except in December when they are either eliminated from contention or the weather is unpredictable) and then someday perhaps convert to a full season ticket holder.

Having an expectation that tens of thousands of Bills fans are going to make the trip up to Toronto more or less invalidates the entire concept behind the regionalization approach. The goal is to attract 'new' fans from Toronto and Ontario not to market the game to current fans. The game in Toronto doesn't appear to be generating any fan interest in the Bills in Toronto and is a negative from the point of surrendering home-field-advantage to play at what is at best a neutral site game in an atmosphere that has the look and feel of a pre-season game. While it is providing some financial benefit to the team based on the payments from Rogers that's about it. And what benefit the Canadian sponsors are deriving from this arrangement at this point is unclear. Ending this would appear beneficial to both parties.

"What if's" can be argued forever because they are mostly opinions and speculation. The key "fact" here is that playing in Toronto provides the Bills with absolutely no home field advantage. Zero. That should be obvious to everyone. The question is whether or not you believe the presence of that home field edge would have altered the outcome in favor of the Bills. IMO, it would have but as I stated its speculation on my part and maybe they lost because the Bills simply suck when it comes to the big pressure moments in a game and if they didn't they would have won on Sunday and an additional couple other games this season.

#5 - George Wilson drop. The Football Gods have evened this one out. On Sunday George Wilson, now playing for the Titans, dropped an easy interception which hit him in the numbers. The Colts held on to win the game. But another, cannot recall the exact date but it was at the beginning of the Brady era in NE. The game tied in overtime the NE receiver catches the ball on the right sideline. A big hit by the Bills secondary jars the ball loose, The hit also knocks out the receiver. The ball laying on the ground is recovered by the Bills. But replay show the NE receiver's helment hit out of bounds and then his heel touched the ball meaning the play was dead at that point and NE maintained possession. A few plays later they kick the OT FG. Only play in league history were an unconscious receiver recovered a fumble as his lifeless body hit the ground.

Your probably right, Toronto is not going to support the Bills playing one game a season under the dome. So why not end this? Its not good for the Bills on the field or the people in Toronto. The Bills objective of expanding their fanbase is clearly not working as evidenced by the lack of interest in the game and the only benefit is on the business end of an addtional $10 million. Certainly they should be able to generate another $10 million somewhere to replace this? Just playing the 8th home game as 'home' would be a start. Raise ticket prices something like $2. Anything but this. This is an embarrassment on both sides of the border to both parties.

Every team the Bills needed to lose yesterday lost, and the head to head outcomes, Steeler vs. Ravens, Dolphins vs Jets, went to the team they beat this season. All they needed to do was win yesterday. For many reasons they didn't get it done. Playing a dome team at a neutral site dome in Toronto to make an extra $10 million might be good business but its not good for football or the team. You put this game in Orchard Park with 39 degrees, a little rain, a little wind, wth a loyal home crowd, and I suspect the outcome might have been a little different. Now they have zero chance for the playoffs and we've got 4 games left that mean jockeying for draft position. Unfortunately they also made a lot of mistakes, gave up too many points, and too many yards to a 2-9 team. There's no excuse for that. Still, this Toronto series is a complete disaster. Unfortunately it will go on.

The Bills have 7 losses and there are 6 teams in front of them for the 6th playoff spot with 6 losses. From a probability view, its doubtful they are going to run the table and have every variable fall in their favor to pass all 6 teams for the final playoff spot. Beat the Falcons on Sunday and hopefully some of the 6 loss teams are defeated and drop to 7 losses. 8 losses probably gets you eliminated. Nice to look ahead but time to take it one week at a time.

A play that was preceded by the famous 'just give it to them' statement by one ref to the other referring to the gratuitous 4th down play spot (when it was obvious the catch was a yard or more short of the 1st down) that gave the Pats a 1st down leading up to the Hail Mary call that would have never been if they go that call right. They screwed up not once but twice in a matter of a couple plays in that game.

If you watch his throwing motion, footwork, and body position from the Pittsburgh game you will note some issues. His mechaniscs were terrible, flatfooted, no body motion, relying on arm strength. He appears to have regressed somewhat but most of this should be correctable given a decent QB coach. Compare EJ's throwing motion to that of the leagues most proficient passers and you'll see this like night and day.

The stat is random but your point about the Bills organizational failures is right on target. The Bills have had some periods of excellence and I'll put out 4 names that I think are key to those periods: Saban, Knox, Levy, and Polian.

The problem is I don't see much seperation between the performances of Manuel, Tuel, or Lewis. All these guys suffer from a lack of experience so you'd expect some decision making and performance issues that should be resolved with game experience. But you get drafted in the 1st round because of talent and you get drafted in the later rounds because of potential. So I would expect a 1st round QB to have some 'natural' talent or ability that would be allow his play to rise above the performance of his peers. I don't see that. I see a pratice squad QB and a free agent rookie QB coming in with less preparation and playing as well or better. If the coaches are 'babying' EJ then they are making a terrible mistake. They need to take the training wheels off and let him show the talent and ability that convinced them to draft EJ in the first place or they need to begin to re-evaluate their decision process for making the selection.

The Jets are a different team on the road this year, like night vs. day. They can beat a team like the Saints at home but get routed by the Titans and Bengals on the road. The Bills players and fans need to make sure the Jets 'know' they are on the road this week. And lets hope Sunday's dud against the Steelers won't be repeated.

I like the Bills chances and expect a win but they are playing a QB on the road that has the ability and track record to make those 2 or 3 big plays in the game (like escaping a sack, rolling out, and hitting a receiver down field for a big gain when all seems lost) that seem to beat us. For all the improvement with this years Bills they still make too big miscues on offense and allow too many big plays (20+ yards) on defense.

They put the kid in a position to fail and that's what happened. A couple weeks ago he gets replaced by PS player Lewis after a bad showing in 2nd half loss to Cleveland and now all of a sudden they have 'faith' enough to call on him to throw the ball 30+ times? On the other side of the coin they've kept the chain on EJ tight with his starts? Puzzling..

Watching the games at home this season we've commented about the poor quality of the play by play and commentor teams. This weekend was no exception. At times I wonder if these guys are watching the same game. Maybe they're up in the booth texting their wives and friends instead of keeping their focus on the game? There are a couple exceptions but this lack of quality spans the broadcasting spectrum from CBS, to FOX, to the NFL network, to ESPN. And Dierdorf, he's the guy that calls the NE games by referring to Brady as 'Tom' saying things like 'looks like Tom put the ball in the right spot but the receiver ran the wrong pattern'. Referring to one player by his first name provides the impression of favoritism. The producer, director, somebody at the network, or his partner should be pointing that out. Yesterday was typical gushing over one of the league darlings, the Sants and Drew Brees. I'll grant they're a better team than the Bills at this point but not by as much as I expceted, mostly in the area of pass protection (and as some have pointed out the 'art' of holding on the offensive line and not getting called).

Mario and Marcell make a big sack, fumble, QB sandwich hit on Brees that knocks him out of the game. This levels the playing field somewhat behind center. Can anybody name the Saints back up QB? If you can then I'll say you're one helluva football fan!

That's the second game a 15 yard penalty gave the Jets a makeable FG attempt for a last play win. Against Carolina the Panthers were flagged for a 'late hit' on the QB running out of bounds. The problem with that call was the hit by the defender occured while Smith was still in bounds and it was a clean hit to the body, not the head or knees.

Lynch was headed for disaster while playing for the Bills with two major run-ins with the law. So while it looks like a terrible trade now there was some rationale to it at the time. Maybe the change of scenery and the support system in Seattle helped him get his head straight? And from what I know he's kept out of trouble since. But no doubt it looks like a bad trade now based on performance.