All_Pro_Bills

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.

Too bad for NE the ref's could not control the weather. Driving rain at the end helped thwart NE's final chance..

The rule book states that because the defensive player in this situation did not play for the Bills it was not a penalty. If it had been a Bills defender then a flag would have been thrown for either illegal contact or pass interference. Typically, this is called late in the 4th quarter when the favored team needs a score to get back into the game. LOL..

Who among those mentioned as possible are familiar with and can run the read option type of offense the Bills are running? Tell me. Nobody else but maybe V. Young and he's been here before and has some issues. Its time to stop making the safe decisions and make the bold move for a change.

Most are down on the idea of Tebow but consider the offensive scheme the Bills are running. Of all the QB's mentioned, Freeman included, I've got to believe Tebow is the best fit and would have the shortest learning curve to be ready to start against the Bengals next Sunday. If you feel he comes with baggage that's just part of the process at this point since none of the options available are perfect or else they'd be out there playing or signed somewhere already.

And yet it was the Bills that got flagged for what I recall is two unsportmanlike penalties. FJ on the sideline and a touchdown 'demonstration' in the end zone. The ref's did not appear to be willing to flag the Browns for any such indescretions..

The issue with the Bills offense is similar to what I face in the business world working with companies on process reengineering. Everybody wants to do everything faster. So they define all these intricate processes with the intent to cut cycle time without regard to their capacity and capability to execute the system. The more important variable they fail to comprehend besides speed is certainty of execution. Simply, if you can't do it right it doesn't matter how fast you go. Like a pitcher that throws a 96 MPH fastball but can't get it over the plate. Speed is irrelevent. As with the Bills offense, if they can't get at least 10 yards over the course of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down then the pace of execution is not a factor acting in their favor. Until the offense develops the ability to move the ball with regularity and put more TDs on the board this no huddle fast pace offense is ineffective and as these statistics on the Bills defense indicate might be doing more harm than good. Do it slower right and then work on speeding it up. That's the way to do it. Sooner or later the coaches need to deal with this reality and modify their strategy. Given current time of possession numbers this defense might be on the field for what amounts to 2 or 3 extra games over and above what is typical for a 16 game season.

Agree with the OP about some posts being on the extreme but in general I find most responses to be fairly well thought out. Maybe I'm in the minority here? But you have to take comments from Bills fans in the context of 14 years (sorry, I'm already counting this season) without a playoff appearance. The point I'm making is we've been here before during this stretch and have yet to see any positive results at the end of any of these 3 or 4 year 'plans' to return to the glory days of the early 90's. So I can forgive a lot of people for being overly pessimistic. My own view is that this time it is different. This coaching staff has a different 'feel' to it. Are they going to make mistakes? Sure, but I think they're smart enough to know learn and adapt as the season goes forward. This draft class looks pretty solid at the top and with time I think Manuel is be a very good QB and leader. Once the defense assimilates all of Pettine's scheme we should see great improvement. Assuming they get some of the injured back and don't suffer any more serious personnel losses I can see this team rounding out in the second half of the season and being a tough bunch to play against. They should be getting a decent draft spot for next springs draft and I look to 2014 as the season they turn the corner.

How about Graham returning kicks and Easley taking 3rd receiver spot on Offense?

The problem with #3 is the Bills got close to zero pressure on Smith blitzing or not. So mixing it up with dropping more defenders into zone to confuse the rookie QB might have been called for here. I think the Alonzo pick was a zone call on that play. The defense gave up over 500 yards in total offense. If people want to characterize that as a 'good' effort well okay but that's not going to win many games in the NFL. Not that the offense did anything either. Of that 182 rushing yards so using the secondary as an excuse for that weak effort doesn't hold water since it wasn't like Pettine committed extra defenders to coverage at the expense of the run defense. To me it looked like a lot of over-pursuit and guys out of position. Things that should get corrected as the scheme becomes more familiar..

I suspect part of the 'solution' might be putting A. Williams back to corner while McKelvin and Gilmore mend which assumes Bryd is ready or Leonard goes to starter at FS. Williams at corner might be a marginal improvement. That certainly is not going to strike fear into the Ravens passing game on Sunday. Expect more of the same but this time from a SuperBowl winning QB and a veteran team. If the Bills were serious about the secondary they would have brought in a veteran back up when Gilmore went down in the preseason or looked at possible late cuts to fill out the secondary rather than keeping guys that from regular season game action can't cover #1 and #2 NFL receivers. Anybody they brought in then would be up to speed by now so that wouldn't be an issue.

The Bills O-line is dreadfully thin. Wood is solid at center while Glenn and Pears are adaquate at tackle, the guard position is weak. The front office did little to nothing to address this obvious deficiency and specifically ignored the need to replace Levitre when he signed with the Titans. While it could be argued there were few free agent options out there during the offseason doing something like signing some vets to a one or two year deal rather than doing nothing would have been a better way to go here. Using some two TE formations to give the QB a little more time, get another big body on the field, and to balance the formation was something I was waiting for yesterday but this didn't happen. The D-line and LB core is even more puzzling. On paper the front seven looks pretty good. In practice they are not playing up to potential. We all saw it but the most troubling thing to me is how easily relatively slow RB's were able to get to the outside edge of the defense and rip off so many long runs. Rather than scheme that looks to me like a lot of over-pursuit and undisiplined play from the DE, OLB position. The secondary is dreadful and how can you can play man-to-man with safeties up close, to do what I am not clear but it certainly wasn't run support, and leave your #6 corner on their #1 receiver? Its hard to comprehend what other than a bad outcome you'd expect if you're the DC in that situation. Pettine made no adjustments to the scheme to help cover the weakness at corner, which was magnified by McKelvin's injury, and left those guys out there swinging in the breeze. The good news is that its only week three but that might be the bad news too..

I think the Bills will win and more importantly I expect it!

I get the culture of failure thing but the Bills lost the game because they failed to make plays down the stretch on offense to hold or increase their lead and failed on defense to hold NE off the scoreboard. They didn't lose because of some mental 'block' that kept them from winning. The simply failed to make 'good' football plays while their experienced and veteran opponent did just that. The team has a new coaching staff, a new system, a new QB, and its going to be a building process, not something that is going to happen overnight. I saw some bad things last Sunday but I also saw some good things and its a question of taking the next step this Sunday where progress and improvement are evident. To me that's Manuel taking the next step with Hackett adding more to his plate this Sunday and the defense (minus all the secondary injuries) installing and picking up more of Pettine's system. A win would certainly be a sign of that happening. If things come together as I suspect the Bills are going to be a pretty tough team to play against moving into the second half of the season.

I also believe the replay would show that Freddie was horsecollared to the ground from behind on the last play of the game which should have resulted in a 15 yard penalty moving the ball to the 49 for one untimed down to end the game. Not saying the Bills would have successfully pulled off the Hail Mary and won the game but that should have been called. Anybody else see that?

This is something many here had speculated was the objective more or less from the beginning. It didn't appear there was a lot of 'good faith' bargaining although it wasn't clear whether it was the team, the agent, or both that was not interested in reaching a deal. So now its more or less confirmed that Byrd hired Parker to 'get me out of Buffalo and to a team that will give me the best long term deal I can get'. If I'm the GM I sit down with Parker and Byrd and tell them that I am willing to work with them to move him to another team but that support is not unconditional. I don't expect the team to take a hit for giving the player and his agent what they want. If that's their objecive then they have to work with me and the first part of that is getting out on the field and playing to your full potential and I don't want your bad attitude getting into the locker room. Don't 'dog it' and expect I'm going to help you. Second, we expect adaquate compensation in draft choices or players back. It has to be a win/win kind of deal for both the team and the player.

Your right. Why tell Billy B. who your starter is going to be even though he;s smart enough to figure it out. Might as well take advantage of a potential element of surprise. And maybe not ever seeing the Bills offense and defense on film with the exception of preseason is another advantage for us. We could use a few for a change. Whether its a false sense based on hope or a geniune competency I feel Marrone and his staff will have this team prepared to come out of the gate "guns blazzin'" on week one. Not something I could say about previous regimes.

I agree on overplaying. With the deadline past the only deal that can be signed is a one-year deal or the tag offer. About the only thing Parker can hope to extract from the Bills at this point is a 'promise' not to tag Byrd again next season. The team would be foolish to agree to that at this point. Brandon made a comment the other day that the team is committed to working a long-term deal with Byrd when the labor agreement allows negotiations to resume. All business with no attempt to negotiate in the press or anything negative about Parker or Byrd. I suspect Byrd will sign the tag and report right before the season begins to avoid missing any game checks. Although he can report anytime prior to week 10 and still get credit for the seaon it makes no sense to leave something like $4 million on the table to prove a 'point'. Whatever that point might be at this stage because at the end of the day we all know that money talks and B S walks.