Cheddar's Dad

If Buffalo is to compete with the Patriots and Jets in the years to come Legursky and Pears must be replaced. You know Belicheat will fix the interior of his D-line before next year and the Jets D-line is young and will only get better. A team's O-line makes everything go on offense yet many who comment here do not want to draft O-linement high in the draft preferring instead that glamour receiver or TE. The development of EJ, CJ, the young receivers depend on having time to pass and holes to run through. Marrone said Buffalo needs to get better push and I give him credit for the recent signing of Unga. But if Buffalo's first two picks next May are a tackle, any one of the top three, and Guard Cyril Richardson from Baylor, I will be delighted.

Hey man; You've never been nervous and did or said something that was just plain dumb??

Kiko is playing at 237 lbs. He might be the smallest, in terms of weight, middle or inside lb in the league. He need to add 10 lbs of efficient weight in the off season. I hope he doesn't get hurt in the meantime. Brown too lanky to be a guard? That's exactly as I see it. He can't get low enough to drive block. Marrone was an O-line coach yet he entered this season with such a starter. There were experienced guards available yet Whaley made no move to get one. Very disappointing.

Tennessee did and last year's losing team is now 2 & 1. Levitre was signed for what 60 mil? Tennessee then drafted the guard from Alabama with it's first rd. pick. So the idea that you don't give big money to a guard or use a high pick for one is simply uninformed. If you watched last night's Chicago/Pittsburg game you might have noticed the comments about how good Chicago's O-line looked with the insertion of Kyle Long at guard. Long was a second round selection in this last draft. If you think the pass protection was good enough after E.J was sacked seven times I might be talking to someone who just doesn't understand football. It all starts up front. With a good O-line C.J. runs through holes, without one he gets stuffed behind the LOS. With a good O-line E.J. finds a receiver that has time to shake a db. Without one he gets sacked. Simple as that. You simply waist the employment of good QBs and running backs if you don't have a competent O-line. Now that the entire league knows that Buffalo is playing with no left guard, and journeymen at the right guard and right tackle positions, you can expect a lot of blitzing this year. Lets hope it doesn't shell shock E.J. Regarding our new GM; Byrd had planter fasceitous last year yet our gm chose to let Levitri go with the intention of trying to resign Byrd? There were free agent guards available before the season started and our new GM failed to sign any of them except Legurski who was beaten out for the LG position by a swinging door. Two years ago, when Mankins was recovering from a knee injury, Belicheat brought in guard after free agent guard for a try out to learn which one was the best to sign in the event Mankins could not go. I don't recall out new GM bringing any one in except Legurski. And what about our new head coach, the one time O-line coach. Many feel that 6'7 and 6'8" O-lineman can't play guard because they're too tall and can't get low enough to drive block. Our new head coach apparently doesn't feel that way. I don't know. It's so hard to follow this team I don't know why I've stayed with them since 1960.

1. Short routes were covered. 2. Hackett tried to get DB to back off short throws which seem to be E.J. strength. Problem is E.J. throws ducks or out of bounds when he throws long. This could be a major problem with him. Does anyone have stats on E.J.'s completion % with throws over 25 yards?

Hackett seems to lack confidence in his receivers beating man coverage. He also seemed to lack confidence in the O-line protecting E.J. This could be due to the fact Buffalo has no left guard. Those who feel anyone can play guard; that you do not need to spend a high pick on a guard, need to think about Colin Brown. Additionally, E.J thows the worst deep pass I have ever seen and his mid level passes lack zip. Smith looked like the better QB today.

I thought our pass blocking was decent but or run blocking was bad. Those out there who feel that you can get guards off of some scrap heap need to re-think that. Why were our corners and safeties held so far back of the los? Cut Kolb immediately. Team management, (talking to you Whaley), messed up by cutting Fitz and signing Kolb. What did you save, about 1.5 mil? What is Alan Branch doing on this team and why did you pay him a signing bonus Mr. Whaley? Mr. Marrone, why are you using C.J. as if he were a battering ram in goal line situations? Why did you put him back into the game after his injury? Did you watch the N.E/Detroit game? Get C.J. out in space. Use one of your 230 pounders to run the middle from 4 yards out. It's been one week since E.J.'s surgery. Why have you not given us an update or some kind of prognosis? You're beginning to look like a pretty good college coach.

This looks to me like agent bargaining position talk and not something that Byrd actually wants.

The pats have one of the best O lines in the business. They have invested heavily ih high round draft selections to make it one of the best. I'm very concerned about our O line. We do not have quality debth and a huge question at left guard. I think we must upgrade that position in next years draft. Problem is we also have situations at corner and OLB which need upgrades. This year's draft saw two guards drafted in the first round so it may take a first or second to fix LG. We need to protect EJ like Belicheat protects Brady. I'm hoping we can make due this year with what we have but the O line is a real concern.

Apparently you're not up on college football. Ternnessee has a new coach and he's a recruiting demon. Check to see who has the best 2014 commits.

Me too.

I called EJ our starting QB because I think he will strart the season. I think Marrone will play him exactly the way Pittsburg played Ben after he came from Miami of Ohio. Buffalo will be a running team with enough passes to keep defenses honest. This will be the plan until EJ begins showing a good degree of competency reading defenses. Marrone doesn't appear to be one to keep a talent like EJ on the bench just because he needs some development. What better place to get that development than from behind center in a game?

How great is it to have a talented rookie QB that is also gentlemanly and respectfull and smart? I just finished watching the video interviews of Coach Marone and EJ3 (twobillsdrive.com) and am more impressed with our Head Coach and STARTING QB every day. EJ is not intimidated by the job and neither is the Coach. I don't know which reporter asked about Mario one too many times. Could it have been, I know nothing about football and am not likely to expand my football knowledge by hanging with Schoup, Sullivan? I thought the Coach handled it very well. I think Bills fans are in for a long and successful run of Marone and Manuel.

E.J. was drafted to start. Kolb was signed to a backup contract. That is what the team and fans want to see happen. But neither E.J. nor Kolb have played a game in a Bills uni. The answer to your both parts of your question will come with preseason game results.

Why you ask? Because that billionaire new owner would likely have to spend another billion to build a stadium. How long would it take for that owner to recover that cost in a new city? (I like to be optomistic. It's too early in the week for gloom and doom.)

Buffalo has a 52 year history of selling tickets; when the team wins, lots of tickets. There are larger cities with franchises that do not do that. Additionally, Buffalo has, perhaps, the most advantageous TO THE OWNER lease agreement of any in the league. It costs Ralph and the future owner nearly nothing to play at the Ralph. Jarra Jones, on the other hand, frantically works to schedule non football events at his 1.2 billion playpen in order to pay his mortgage. A rabit fan base + low facility costs are good reasons for any owner to want to stay here. Add the fact that each team gets most of it's revenue from TV contracts and the reason for not moving the franchise become ever more compelling. I think we should all relax and enjoy our team.

This is simply great. Thanks for starting my morning off with a hearty laugh. :lol:

Didn't Manuel have the best percentage of completion numbers of any of the top ranked QB candidates in this past draft? Didn't he also have the best yards per completion numbers? There are flaws to his game and he may not start vs, New England but the scouting staff felt he had the best potential for greatness of any of the candidates. I think they will take the approach with Manuel that Gailey took with Glenn; i.e., give him lots of reps meaning as many reps as Kolb and if he looks better than Kolb, more reps than Kolb. From what I have been hearing, both Manuel and Kold have been throwing interceptions in training but Kolb has trouble with rushers closing around him. Whereas Manual has a better pocket awareness and escapability. If everything else is relatively equal, that factor could make Manuel the starter on day one. If he is, I'm certain the coaches will give him a limited package to work with but the chance is there that he will start. The ugly truth about this team is that, although there are 53 roster players, Buffalo does not have 53 quality players to fill those roster positions. This, actually, is true of most team. Teams carry a certain amount of borderline players to have a body in case someone gets injurred but if it came down to retaining one of those borderline players over a young QB that looks like he can be developed into a very good player, they will not choose that borderline player over that QB candidate for that last roster spot. That would be plainly stupid. Coaches just don't look at this comming year. They also look at next year and beyond. Belichick, for example, selected Mallett in the 3rd round a few years ago even though he had Brady in his prime and two other QBs on his roster. He retained Mallett and everyone is wondering if he will keep him or trade him. Rumor has it that Brady wants to play 4 more years and Belichick is looking for a second round pick for Mallett. So he turns a third into a second. Someone will likely take that trade although no one has seen Mallett enough in pre-season to get much of an idea if he can play. I can't stand that santimonious, egotistical jerk but have to admit he knows how to play this game.

????? I don't think so. I'm beating the, it may be that the staff preferred Tuel over Jackson as the primary reason for Jackson's release, drum. Why is that so difficult for some to understand? Many think Jackson's release was primarily to give Manuel more reps. It may be that the staff always intended to do that regardless of who was second or third string. I'm just saying - oh, forget it!

Every coaching staff is interested not only in developing starters but also backups that can perform well when starters are injured. That's why it matters. If Tuel (not truel) shows indications that he has the telent to not only back up but to effectively start, it matters greatly. Everyone knows that Manuel is being developed to be the starter. It may have been that they have little doubt that he will do well. If so, what drives a staff's decision regarding who will be backup? Easy answer if you think about it. It's the player that has the most upside, talent, best future, most promise. Call it what you want. That may have been the reason why Jackson was released in favor of Tuel more so than what the coaches feel about Manuel.

1. They have more ex-Patriot Patriot boosters on ESPN and NFL Network that any other team. Example Health Evans, Willie McGinest, Teddy Bruski. Everytime I watch football analysis shows on those networks, one of those three, sometimes two at the same time, are making some Patriots are the greatest comments. Makes me sick. Then there's Peter King, the unashamed flaming Patriot booster/principle writer for SI. With those four, there is more Patriot propaganda thrown our way than anything we get from any other team. The latest was Evan's rant that Tebow will become great under Bilichick. Enough already with crap like "the Patriot way". How well has that defensive genious Belichick done over the past six years drafting corners and safetys? He's known those positions were week for sometime and has drafted a bunch. But most have failed. Yet failure and Belichick are never mentioned in the same sentence. Fire those ex-Patriots and get some honest unbiased analysts on those shows. 2. Yes, I do.

"He (Tuel) got some more work in the minicamp this week and has what look to be good physical tools. Clearly the Bills believe he can be developed since he was kept over Tavaris Jackson". - Chris Brown, July 14, 2013 - 11:46 AM. I think he read my post here before writing his Fan Friday piece. It's not about snatching up some undrafted player. Teams cut and sign players throughout the pre-season and season. It's always about improving the roster. Would love to take that wager but can't afford to risk more than $5.00. Is that ok? I do agree that it's all about Manual. Never said it wasn't. Really like him staying in town until training camp. Nice sparing with you Kirby. Gotta go take the wife out for Friday night dinner.

Jacksonville's acquisition of Kafka and subsequent statement that he, Kafka, could be their starter. tells me they are still frantically looking for someone else. Then there's Cleveland with Weeded and a cast off (can't remember his name). Who is their starter and backup? Tampa Bay? They don't seem happy with Freeman. Do they have a backup? Arizona? They have Palmer. Do they have a backup? Then there are teams with aging backups and not yet established starters like Tennessee. Ya think they might be interested?

Oh, how bout Jacksonville and Oakland for starters?

OK Carnack. Have it your way. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but seems to me that once a team selects it's 53 man roster, other teams can claim whatever player remains. That is why the team has to wait 24 hrs. or so before signing players to it's practice squad. If Tuel performs well I don't think Buffalo will risk that. Recall that the Patriots and others had Tuel in for pre-draft meetings. So there is certainly interest among others in Tuel. Not certain but Buffalo may have had to sign Tuel as a priority free agent meaning he received more $$s than other FAs. The same is true, I think, for Da'rick Rogers Regarding Duke Williams; Williams is, most likely, a safety. However, Buffalo looked at him yesterday at corner and reports are that he did not look out of place. If true, that gives him a leg up on a player like Searcy from the get go. (I think it was Pettine who said yesterday that he would rather have a lighter safety that is rangy and can cover than a larger thumper type safety.) That is why Buffalo's staff looks for payers that can play several positions.