RuntheDamnBall

What is this I don't even

Ryan Leaf: swagger. JaMarcus Russel: swagger. You gotta earn it on the field. I can think of plenty of soft-spoken guys who grew into the role, too.

OK. C'mon, BB, would you have characterized Brady as having "swagger" in year one? Does Manning have "swagger"? He's just good and experienced and confident. I think of "swagger" and I think of some punk kid who thinks he owns the place, regardless of reality. I respect you guys a lot as posters, but this kind of nebulous catch-all terminology bugs the hell out of me and is terribly reductive, especially when you pinpoint clearer areas for improvement in the same post. His footwork needs work, and he does need to trust his receivers more. I think this mystical quality can just come with more practice. Some guys are put into situations that really work for them and others really need to develop. Rodgers was a guy whose own coach claimed he was a mess before he started really working with him. The point being here that the coach saw the raw tools and saw that the guy was coachable. We need to see if EJ is coachable - he certainly has the outward appearance of being that kind of player. Meaning he'd probably be the first QB available to the Bills. Good one.

If "er" = "laughing," why yes, yes, I have gotten 'er done. Seriously, this would be like picking up Jake Delhomme a year after his worst year, but with more chicks, I guess.

Point being they weren't always high picks. Most of the people who think drafting a first round QB is a bad idea also think it'd be a good idea to draft one sometime this April. Only one of those guys was a #1 pick and he got a lot of time.

EVERY YEAR. WHETHER THEY EXIST OR NOT!

I don't know. I think it'd be pure lunacy. At some point you are costing yourself when you can only put one of these guys on the field at a time. You have to give the kid the keys and let them drive for awhile. Luck has impressed everyone but he has also made errors that every young QB is capable of -- and he is thought of as one of the very best to come out in a long time. Young QBs do need to struggle a little bit to get somewhere.

I think the real thing is that Mallett was never going to get his chances behind Brady. Rodgers got a seat behind Favre a good bit later in Favre's career timeline. Favre was costing them games at the end by trusting his declining skills even while putting up pinball numbers. Brady hasn't quite done that yet, but we can hope. I think the other thing is you can draft Murray and have no expectations on him for 2014 while letting EJ know there will be competition in the long run if he doesn't succeed. Also, drafting Murray in no way precludes picking up a first round QB in 2015. Drafting EJ, then Bortles or someone else... kind of does. Unless you want the picture of dysfunction.

This is why drafting Murray isn't a bad idea at all if the scouts like him.

Best response to the "draft a QB Round 1" crowd I have ever seen here. Bar none.

So the new regime, led by a guy who coached for four years in the same Big East that Marcus Easley starred in for one year, is blissfully unaware of this guy's star potential? Maybe Easley is just a warrior in practice and can't translate it to the games. Look, I'd love for everyone who believes in the kid to be right. I'd also like to point out that I and others have been saying this exact same thing for the past three offseasons. I am not sure how he has instilled so much belief in a fanbase that is usually pretty quick to draw a dagger on better players. True, that.

Definitely a big target with soft hands and sick moves. Happy Birthday, EJ. Get 'em this year, for everyone's sake!

[/thread] I was gonna say. I'd personally drive a Brinks truck to Jones' house. But it still ain't gonna happen.

We don't have a lot of evidence on our starting QB, so let's draft a guy who shot up the draft charts out of nowhere from Central Florida, and beat exactly two quality opponents? We think our current starter doesn't take enough shots downfield and has footwork issues, so why not draft Bortles and have two guys with this rap on them on our roster, right? I'll eat my hat if this guy isn't Blaine Gabbert II: Blainer and Gabberter.

If Bridgewater fell to 9, sure. Pass on the overrated guy and on the Manziel circus.

I look at it this way with Williams - we were all kind of jazzed at one point when Urbik became an odd man out a year after being a third round pick for Pittsburgh, and signed with the Bills. On talent, Williams should be a guy who is even more impressive to pick up. It's not like there aren't concerns, but teams have done well with worse.

Again, the chicken-egg scenario. Do they have stability because they are good, or are they good because they have stability? Having Dick Lebeau in tow at DC for years -- even across two coaching regimes -- kind of helps them out, a lot. Has there been a bigger loss from the Bills' coaching staff during this playoff drought? I don't think so. Other than that LeBeau wanted to go back to a winner, there is no good reason and a better Bills organization would have made it their object to hold on to him. This, too, could have been a good argument for bringing back Wade in that he could have fit that profile of a career DC who might coach out the rest of his years here with a lot of success. Marrone went for the "talented young mind" approach, instead. Make no mistake: if Schwartz has great success he will get offers elsewhere, and we will be having this discussion again. The really good teams can sometimes handle that kind of turnover, but the Bills haven't yet grabbed a foothold and are still losing coaches.

It will actually be more surprising to me if TJ Graham isn't cut. I'd love for the light to come on in year 3, but the guy has hands of stone and it would take a lot of progress to alter that reputation.

It doesn't really matter to me if they are the same style of runner or not. They are both guys who excel in open space -- it doesn't make sense to me why you wouldn't make it a part of your strategy when you have that kind of player. But that's a function of Spiller's troubles, EJ's, and the line's.

It would certainly come as a surprise if they cut him again, yes.

You would think that a coach who came from a team that figured out how to get the most out of Reggie Bush would be able to do the same with Spiller.

I think you have to look in the direction of the receivers, and it's really going to depend on the upgrades made there. Better play at that position is a must. Hopefully coaching and QB play can be pointed to as factors, and improvements on both fronts this season can help. If I were any receiver besides Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin, I would not get too comfortable. That includes SJ even if he and Marrone are now "on the same page." I really hope they make something happen at this position somehow. You look at what Keenan Allen did last year as a third rounder and you've got to believe that there are kids at many different draft slots that can help the team - not just the top ones. I'm also surprised no one says Pears or Urbik. I think that's in part because no one looks like a viable replacement, and to cut either would probably be dumb in terms of depth. Still, I could see it happening to produce savings if either underperforms in the preseason / camp.

I'll give you that, but I'll also say that EJ could do better if he could depend on someone like CJ for blitz pickups, and for him to have better field vision on those dump-offs. The latter should result in those plays where CJ makes something out of nothing, makes the defense pay for keeping everything tight to the line of scrimmage, and thereby opens things up for the longer and intermediate routes by keeping everyone out of EJ's grill. Both parties need to improve. CJ far too often seems to miss holes that FJ finds.

Agreed completely.

Mentioned in its own thread, but these guys are underrated, maybe on the verge of being overrated. http://pitchfork.com/news/54292-stream-the-war-on-drugs-new-album-lost-in-the-dream/ Definitely recommend seeing them live.