RuntheDamnBall

Just checkin'.

I guess one of my biggest points is that he has looked pretty human if not abysmal at times, on the road. I don't think that's just the rah-rah crowd action helping him out. He plays far better in a dome, and Buffalo ain't getting one during his career timeline. And to boot, Buffalo weather is not going to be kind to an older man's arm. We saw how Brady and Manning played come winter last season, and they certainly looked closer to ordinary. None of this takes away from the fact that he is having an all-time great career, I just think Buffalo is not a place that would play to his strengths, as a location. I'd be happy to be wrong and he would be a huge upgrade over what we have, but as you say, the point is a bit moot.

Trade a first round pick for a late-career Drew B? What could possibly go wrong? Past performance is not a predictor of future performance, especially when you're talking about a guy for whom arm strength is not his forte, suddenly playing in Buffalo instead of a dome 8x a year. I wouldn't do this. And I think Brees is amazing.

Yet when people who supported EJ felt that coaching was shackling him and curbing his development...

This is terrible. My heart goes out to those families. I can't believe what some people are capable of.

Nor can you afford to complete < 50 % of your passes.

You know who else gets flagged a lot? Seattle. Flags fly forever, though. I'm pretty sure Kerry Wood is sitting on a couch or a riding lawn mower somewhere hoping his arm doesn't fall off.

Gross.

I'm so glad that you're full of it. I think EJ could play better than Orton has these past few weeks (it simply wouldn't be easy to produce less futile efforts), but I am resigned to the fact that we're just going to live through Orton. I don't think either of them would get us to the Super Bowl, but Orton's a vet and that will matter down this stretch. Also, despite the naysayers, I do think something important is happening behind the scenes, here. If EJ is going to be any good at all, they want him to be very good -- not average. The more he learns, the better the chances of that. I concede now that I wanted EJ to start this past week. I felt this way under the premise that the season was probably over, GB was a likely loss, and that it would be good experience for EJ. And I'm so glad to have been wrong there. But I think the experience he is having - watching, learning, preparing, being a good teammate during an unlikely playoff run - is a better and more important one. He is getting to watch every situation unfold, and when he watches Orton fail, he can begin to understand why, and how to adjust to those situations.

They won. Laundry is laundry.

I'm with you on this, but so skeptical about his ability to stay healthy that, for me, it is a "buyer beware" situation. Part of the reason the Rams are in a funk is that Bradford makes mad money but can't stay healthy. No team should make the mistake of allocating a disproportionate amount of resources toward him for that reason. If the deal is good, then sure, why not? But I suspect that in today's NFL, a good deal on a QB free agent is hard to find.

they won't recognize us and hence it will work to our advantage.

You're right. With a legit OL he might only slide a foot short of the first down. I'd rather have Fitzy back at this point. From a distance I would have agreed with you over the course of Orton's career, but having seen him up close this season, there are simply too many flaws in his game to mask, and not enough desire to overcome it. If the running game were clicking better - and not habitually abandoned by the OC as it was last week - Orton *could have* proven a capable enough game manager. They're asking him to throw 40+ passes and that is lunacy.

ROFL

This.

Or to gently slide it into the ground short of the runway, as the case may be. I guess like any Bills fan, I want a reason to believe. Orton provided that early on, but teams are keying in on his shortcomings. I also guess that like anyone who would like to see EJ in there, I'd like to see if he's grown. Honestly, I think the chance that he plays and succeeds is probably the only good potential outcome here. Right now he is learning from Orton, I suppose, while hearing his coach publicly voicing no confidence in him. Is that really any better for his development? On a side note, I wish Marrone would really have done the simplest thing in his responses to the media and just said Orton is our quarterback, EJ is making progress, and that's our plan for now. This "what other people think" canard / shot across the bow at Whaley is stupid, petty and could be career-damning if he isn't careful. Sometimes mundane coach-speak is the only prescription even when we hate hearing it.

The title should be "F--ing Donahoe." JP turned out not to be good, but like Marrone, Mularkey had zero interest in developing or teaching his quarterback prospect. It was doomed from the start. So, as with Whaley and Marrone and the handling of Manuel, coach and front-office were not in sync with the JP selection and with giving him a legitimate opportunity to grow into the role. When your strategy is to save your own ass, it rarely works out in your favor.

You guys, this is totally out of context. The missing part of the quote is "If all the other quarterbacks were dead, one could say I will have shown flashes of being a Pro Bowl quarterback."

Slide short of first downs, attack their strengths, lots of 3 TE sets. They'll never expect it.

I see we're trying the "repeating stuff to make it true" tactic.

Saint Doug is earning his nickname around here, though. I guess riding two strong DCs for two years earns you some leeway even when you can't score your way out of a paper bag.

tons of money for Malzahn to take over the HC and offense duties, and a raise for Schwartz if he requires it.

How about "the slide"? Hard, physical football personified right there. I'm not going to argue this one is Marrone's fault, but still.

with a qb capable of directing the offense to better results, with a better balance in the attack, game planning against opposition weaknesses? A playoff team. Are you seriously asking the question? Instead we went with a QB the staff apparently didn't believe in enough to stick with, another that got picked up on the eve of the season, and a series of baffling decisions on offense. Of course there has been progress. The team has 7 wins and can still end on a positive. I chalk that up to the talent Whaley has assembled. They should have won one, possibly two more games, and we wouldn't be having this moral victory conversation again / yet.

I hope you have a word document set up to copy and paste this bullsh-- every time, because otherwise this crusade has got to be a big drag on your productivity.