RealityCheck

I didn't realize that Whaley was the GM for 15 years. Don't give up hope yet. You are still young.

Most Whitner threads are filled with bitterness. I was making a joke about that fact. You seem concerned that I might be "concerned" and that is kind of funny. KD in CT seemed to get my vibe. Cheer up dude. There is a 100+ page thread of schizophrenia about Byrd that needs your immediate attention if bias detection is your thing.

What are you talking about?

Perhaps the Colts will be in play.

I thought that there was a Byrd FA thread already.

Why is there a FA Donte Whitner thread on here? Is this where bitterness meets hubris?

Very interesting.

Perhaps the Bills will be in position to sign him for less than their offer last weekend. Testing the market goes both ways.

I would love to see Dareus playing KW's spot and a solid 2 gap plugger where Dareus was. Trade KW while he has value. You help the run and Dareus will see less double teams. He is being wasted as the dirty work DT. His pass-rushing skills from the 3 tech while having another 350lbs. player playing the 1-tech would help everything on defense. Add Spikes behind that and watch out. Soliai anyone?

I like the way you think.

I agree.

Do you believe that you speak for the human race?

Is there a statistic for that?

I hope that the Browns get everything they want this offseason. It will make it that much sweeter when the Bills smash them.

Thanks WEO. I haven't a clue what the Bills might do in FA at QB. What are you thinking?

Star Wars, a New Hope.

The premise of my concerns remain the same. I am not being harsh on EJ about struggling against the blitz and the exotic pressures that he saw this year. You want to use stats that have ZERO to do with my particular criticism. When EJ saw basic cover-2 shells and off coverage AND had time to throw, receivers were getting open quickly and EJ was pure hesitation and either dumped it to the flat or took the coverage hit/sack. As the season wore on those teams played a cover-2 shell just for it to be a cover-3 variant with one safety going high and one diving to the flat. Why? Because teams saw on FILM that EJ's tendencies were to hesitate and dump it against these basic zone looks, and the TEs and RBs were taking massive hits after the catch, in the flat, barely getting back to the line of scrimmage. It was as predictable a move as his little spin move to the weak side with pressure up the middle. If you don't understand coverages and how EJ was reacting to these alignments then just say so, but the bulk of your argument is based on stats from a broad, non-SITUATIONAL pile of numbers for the entire season. What did you see against the coverages I mentioned? I have seen enough of the All-22 to know that the Bills 3rd down problems stem from missing wide open guys that were finding the soft spots in the zones. Look, I know he is young and that it is still to early to judge him. It is just that most of the young QBs that enter the league and become good usually do a lot of damage against that soft zone garbage. The QB position needs more competition as a whole in my opinion. If a real QB competition hurts EJ's development, then he clearly wasn't meant to compete at all at the NFL level. I believe that competing against another young gun will actually help EJ in the long run even if it means that EJ doesn't start the 2014 season right away. Real competitors embrace adversity. They grow from it and gain confidence in themselves and more importantly the confidence of others due to attrition. Please don't respond with the same old stats that you've mentioned twice already. The idea of poor 3rd efficiency not being primarily a function of the QB is intellectually dishonest. If you were EJ's coach, you would not be helping him by denying the truth of his primary weaknesses at this point in his career. If you don't want to discuss EJ based on situational football and coverages specifically then I am comfortable agreeing to disagree. One thing that we do agree on is that EJ's future is far from decided. I hope he can do it.

Mr. runthedamball, I am truly with you when it comes to giving EJ more time. He is the QB that I wanted the team to draft and I got my wish. That being said I want to see a much more competitive line-up at QB. Some of his struggles against these soft zones just really give me doubts about him. It just sucks that we keep finding ourselves in the same old jam at QB. Lots of question marks and no clear reason for optimism yet. Watching the playoffs without the Bills in it is really starting to fracture my sanity. I just hope Marrone keeps running the dam ball. It's the only way they will get good at it. Peace dude.

I am really glad that the second Jets game got brought up. The Jets played primarily man coverage with either a single high safety or both safeties in the box and brought pressure. The Jets approach in that game is the polar opposite of what the Steelers attempted. Perhaps I am on the wrong message board? How can we discuss these things when it seems that no one wants to discuss the x's and o's of where EJ really struggles? Fearthelosing brought up 71% of running plays going up the middle as if that hurt EJ's performance, and yet play action off that tendency against man coverage and no safety help sealed that game. Similar play action against zones lead primarily to check-downs again in the games that followed. After that game teams reverted to playing cover-2 shells and EJ reverted to checking down. As for me having an agenda, I don't even know what that means, but perhaps that methodology is part of people's QB evaluation?

I find it curious that you referenced something that is irrelevant to EJ and didn't address the other stats mentioned. You also didn't address what my point was in reference to EJ's inability to find open receivers against soft zones. Good QBs come in to the league and tend to have early success against those coverages. Watch the Steelers game again. Basic coverages out of a cover-2 shell and the guy didn't know what to do. There were throws to be made because guys did get open while EJ was on his feet. Perhaps it is my fault for watching the games and not allowing PFF stats to explain the season to me. Then again there is no stat for non-attempts to open receivers, so perhaps what I am saying doesn't exist. The Bills ran a dumbed down, run first hurry-up offense in the hopes that teams would counter with simpler coverages. EJ got those coverages and checked down often when guys were open down field and EJ was still on his feet. That is a bad sign.

All of the stats you mentioned tell me that the Bills QB position is the team's primary weakness. I don't really understand how these stats you brought up are an endorsement of EJ moving forward.

You are a little heavy with the hyperbole. I sincerely doubt that "we" expected him to be an instant pro-bowler. The problem is that he struggled so badly against really basic zone coverages. The second problem is that when teams showed him more of it late in the season, he still hesitated and checked down or took the sack. He has some Trentative in him.

Fred is the man. Period. Dareus is second, and I think he is being used incorrectly in this defense since he arrived.

I wouldn't mind any scenario of trading picks so long as next year's picks are off the table. If EJ turns in the same performance as last year, they are gonna need next year's picks to get another QB.