RuntheDamnBall

We aren't. Hell, we want to sit our Pro Bowl talents on the bench to teach them a lesson and cut them. It is better for your reputation as a Bills player to leave than it is to demand compensation consistent with top players in the league and stay.

I do like it. It makes top seed very, very meaningful. #2 seed gets a consolation prize of at least two home games in the playoffs if you go with the chalk. And you still aren't letting half the league into the playoffs a la NHL / NBA. You also avoid some of these ghastly scenarios where 7-9, 8-8 teams are making it over 10-6 ones.

Real fans 1) live in Buffalo and / or are wealthy so they can travel and have season tickets 2) blindly support the team 3) berate other fans for not being good enough fans Dontcha know?

This is the best case ever made for not selecting Johnny football.

??? I'll go to RWS early in the season when travel is not a hardship and doesn't blow my budget, and later in the season when they prove they're worth that expense. Capice? Fan blaming is fun, though.

No doubt. Wilson came in a more complete QB. This can't be discounted. I think as far as the running game goes, CJ had his own injury battles, and we can all argue about the effectiveness of situational play-calling in run situations. In an RBBC scenario you really need to give the RBs carries. In some of these losses we're seeing FJax with 7, CJ with 5. Sure didn't seem like they were effectively relying on the running game at some points. You can say that defenses were stacking the box and daring EJ to beat them. You might be right. It just didn't all come together this year, for myriad small reasons. There's temptation to make EJ the one big reason, but then you can identify moments like the two ATL game fumbles, other drops, run-D miscues, Dareus' bad habits, etc and you realize that it was a team-wide effort that wasn't good enough.

Gee, I dunno, multiple knee injuries?

And threw for TDs during the wins. It's as if the TDs helped his team win, and he played poorly in games in which the team played poorly. The TB game was the worst. And it was bad. There were other flashes of brilliance. Even against the premier division opponent in week 1. QFT

Imma make a pact with you on this one.

With this I agree. Seeing so many designed QB runs from Alex Smith, Andrew Luck and even Rodgers makes me think that the Bills really need to work this into their game. It's my hope that the reason that they didn't had more to do with the injury than with philosophy.

Fan blaming is fun. Try this one on for size: I live in NYC. It is hella expensive in December to fly to Buffalo to see a game. I am the kind of person who would come to one if they were moderately competitive and in the playoff hunt. I just can't see why it's some kind of sin to lose interest when the team has nothing to play for. In an era where the tickets and concessions didn't amount to two weeks of grocery budget, that might be different, but even the playoff teams are struggling to sell out in this market. A winner in Buffalo will be a hot ticket. Build it and we'll come. Tread water and we'll be smart enough to know it's more of the same. Conversely, I would never in a million years battle the traffic in Toronto to see football in a bad atmosphere. There hasn't ever been any good faith effort on the part of ownership to convince fans to go there. How about a "Bills tailgate train" Amtrak direct to the stadium, or a discount for season ticket holders? The PR man seriously seemed to have run out of answers for making this a success. Are we all supposed to buy in just because they are "our Bills?" Get real!

The FO has been bad for quite some time, but I feel we do have to give Whaley some time to figure this one out and put his stamp on the team. Even though he was here under Nix, he wasn't calling shots. Now he is. Polian didn't figure it all out in year one; he built it up. And he SERIOUSLY lucked into a situation where his new QB was ready and willing and had three years of seasoning against pro-level opposition. I really hope they got it right with EJ and that the best is yet to come. They definitely need to address what went wrong at the guard position, though.

Rushing TDs only count for elite QBs like Russell Wilson, I see.

Uhwhut? Now the rest of this makes some sense.

You don't get "put" on the practice squad. You choose to sign with a team that places you on the practice squad after clearing waivers. Big difference. The player is in the driver's seat and free to sign with any team. Why would Rogers sign back with the Bills after they clearly hesitated in their belief in him? Furthermore, why would he sign back with the Bills when he could catch passes from Andrew Luck?

This is the cold, hard truth, and I like all three of these QBs.

I have a difference of opinion about EJ, but at no point did he have an outing like Wilson's in his seventh game last season, a 9 for 23 showing with a rating lower than his 39% completion percentage. So much for brief. His struggles were like those of any rookie QB. If EJ had ended the season on a high note the narrative would favor his end of game comebacks. I encourage you to look outside of the narrative. I know you have some objectivity in you, and anyone objective would say that EJ showed some good things and that he also has a lot to work on. He shouldn't go into 2014 thinking he's got a lock on the job, but nor should he go into it thinking he doesn't belong in this league. Playoff QB Andy Dalton has looked as bad as some of EJ's worst today. Luck came back from some major mistakes yesterday. Every young QB has growing pains.

"well enough to help them to 4-2" in games that included some sub-60 QB ratings simply isn't "outstanding" from day one, your claim from earlier in the thread. He has *become* a terrific QB. The history needn't be revised to whitewash the kinds of early struggles that most rookie QBs tend to face. Anyone who insists upon doing so simply isn't interested in having a serious conversation about QB development. Should EJ come around next year I hope you will all be so charitable regarding his early ups and downs.

That's simply not a fact. Game log here for anyone who wants to look at it. http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/14881/year/2012/russell-wilson

It is possible that Hilliard screwed this up, and Marrone was simply listening to his charges, no?

I can't imagine the kid is going to the Pro Bowl next year, but if he has that kind of turnaround, I'll be happy for him. It'd be hard to defend Marrone, but I think we also need to remember that at the moment Rogers was cut, he was a free agent. Getting him on our practice squad was not a process of claiming - they would have to have signed him. If Rogers felt this wasn't a good fit, or that he was perpetually in Marrone's dog-house, I could see why he'd try to latch onto another practice squad - with a winner and with a premier QB in tow. We're just missing so many details - details we're never going to get - about why the kid didn't stay here. I agree that cutting him and keeping Hogan looks like a REALLY poor move in retrospect. But given the responsibilities of a 5/6 receiver, I can understand the desire of the coaching staff to have everyone on the same page and not take a developmental flyer on a kid with promise and trouble written all over him.

He is really remarkable. Just throws lasers all over the place. There is little doubt the kid is going to be great - he may be already.

Chris Brown has suggested as much. You can debate whether he is too close to the staff to weigh in objectively, but he probably does get to see more than the average bear with his own two eyes.

Or... you see a kid who has already been given multiple chances squandering it, and you decide you have way too much to focus on in your first year to be holding the hand of the #6 receiver. I'd love for him to be developing here, and hope that they'll continue to take chances as they build up the "buy-in" from the players on the roster. They'll hit on some of them.

Holy schnikes, 34 pages on Da'Rick Rogers. GG's post above should pretty much end the thread. Kid might be a player, but right now he is a role player - and that's all they need him to be. Hilton is the baller here. Rogers could be a nice part on a team that already has its leadership solidified. If Rogers came in to camp with a bad attitude and had been rewarded for / despite it in Marrone's first year just because he has a good skill set, the risk would have been far greater than the outcome thus far.