Luxy312

I hate the favoritism that Tom Brady gets from the referees as much as the next guy. He appears to get the calls every time he's even so much as touched and defenders seem to have to stay 5 feet off his receivers or risk pass interference calls. That said, whether you want to call it arrogance or ignorance doesn't really matter. Take me back to the Jim Kelly era Bills and I would tell you that they were going to win every road game and every home game before it started AND it wasn't going to even be close. Winning brings this to a teams fans and media. I'll root for the Bills of course, but not going to expect them to win at that stadium. Hasn't happened in 14 years.

I honestly don't care whether Manuel plays or not. The season was already over before the start of this week. In fact, that goes for any player in my mind. If they're not 100%, you don't play them and risk further injury in an irrelevant ball game. 6-10 and 7-9 get you the same view of the playoffs from your sofa.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give EJ about a 6 in terms of confidence. The positives and negatives of his play seem pretty obvious to me. On the one hand, he's shown some pocket elusiveness and escaped the possibility of even more sacks than what he has taken. This has given him time to either run or dump the ball off. Regardless of that positive, he's been sacked quite a bit. He's sacked 8.4% of every passing play. That's around 40% more than what I would consider the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. Clearly that has to come down for him to be successful. It seems like he's taking his shots down field, which I also think is a positive. At the beginning of the season, he looked far too much like captain checkdown (Trent Edwards). None the less there, he hasn't been accurate down field. So it's a plus/minus at the same time. He's taking shots, but has to wait for plays to develop, which means a higher risk of getting sacked even more and when he throws long, he's been off target. The one thing not in question at all is his demeanor. He appears poised and doesn't get rattled from taking a shot. I think if this team wants to build his confidence, that it has to start with improvements to the offensive line.

I concur with this sentiment. The Bills biggest need in the 2014 draft is offensive line. Chandler has been more than serviceable. Heck, he has only 4 less receptions than Stevie Johnson on the season at 48. The Bills just don't use the position like the Patriots or Saints do. If they did pick TE early, I would see it as wasteful when they could use upgrades at both guard positions and even right tackle. As you state, there's a lot more glaring needs.

Because we as fans are tired of signing and starting other teams' journeyman quarterback throw aways and giving them a chance to revive their already pathetic careers? They drafted EJ to start him. They didn't draft him to start him until he goes through a little growing pains so they could turn around and bench him again. This team is not a playoff team with Kolb under center, even if his career weren't over due to concussions (which it is anyway).

If I had to pick the 4 weakest starting players, I would have to start with Doug Legursky. While he's OK next to Glenn in pass blocking, he's downright awful in the running game. Next I would probably have to go with Eric Pears. If I were in charge of the draft next year, I would likely be thinking offensive line with my first two picks or trading down to get more picks and still taking linemen with the first two. I'm still not sold on Aaron Williams being anything more than a transition at strong safety. He's made some plays, but hasn't been great by any stretch of the imagination. After the first 3 guys which quite honestly were pretty easy, it gets tougher for me. I would probably have to go with Nigel Bradham. This year has been too up and down in terms of pass defense to not consider the whole OLB group to be suspect. Alonso is the only bright spot.

A lot of people would disagree with me except the one that matters the most. Jerry Jones. Fans in no way direct what he decides. http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/10152810/jerry-jones-dallas-cowboys-owner-supports-tony-romo

I wasn't being anything, but wild trade speculations are a waste of time unless they have some element of potential reality to them. Jerry Jones isn't spending 20+% of next years cap to move someone. So it's pointless. So Romo made bad throws? Statistics actually prove that his QBR actually goes up every quarter in games. It's simple minded fan misperception that somehow it goes the other way. At the end of the day, tell me what the Dallas defense did to stop the Packers. I'll tell you that it was virtually nothing. By that account, they should cut all of them too. Also a ridiculous notion/suggestion.

He goes nowhere. He just this year signed a 7-year $119.50 contract with $55.00 million guaranteed. For the Cowboys to move him, they would have to take a $34.92 million cap hit next year. Next laugher suggestion?

He also wasn't a situation master this last Sunday. LOL.

They're letting Graham do himself in for the season. He will continue to drop passes as he's just a speed guy, and next season, they will cut bait.

The biggest problem this team has is turnovers. They're bottom 5 in the NFL in fumbles lost and are +/-0 in net turnovers. That won't win you a lot of games. Posted in another thread though, 11 of the 12 current predicted playoff teams is in the top half of the NFL in turnover differential. Single biggest successful predictor of the W/L record in the NFL.

Interesting question from the OP, but I would counter with a simple observation. You say that we need more effort from the coaches next season. However, you don't address the fact that there's one huge issue that's squarely on the players. Turnovers. The Bills DST is 7th in turnovers caused. They're #1 in sacks and #1 in interceptions. Clearly, they're getting pressure on almost every QB they face. However, on the flip side, the Bills are the 6th worst team in the NFL at giving the ball away. Let's not pretend that turnovers don't matter. They're the single greatest predictor of success in the NFL and by a long shot. If the playoffs were to start next weekend, there would be only 1 team participating that isn't in the top half of the league in turnover margin. Interestingly, here's how they stack up: AFC BYE - DEN (#29), NE (#10) AFC WC - MIA (#13) v. CIN (#16) AFC WC - KC (#1) v. IND (#9) NFC BYE - SEA (#2), NO (#15) NFC WC - SF (#8) v. PHI (#7) NFC WC - CAR (#5) v. CHI (#11) Statistically speaking, the fact that 11 of the 12 playoff teams fall within the top half of turnover ratio, or top-16, says an awful lot about what is going on with the Bills. Even if you looked solely at turnovers given (versus the net), 10 of the 12 teams above are in the top-16. So that poses a question. Is it really coaching or execution that is the problem? I would contend that if you stripped out a dozen turnovers that this team would probably be sitting on 3-4 more wins right now notwithstanding the coaching "effort". I will say I agree there should be more aggressive play calling, but will stop in saying that that's the biggest reason this team lost some games.

From a data/analytical perspective, it's hard to tell whether EJ is making progress or not. There simply isn't enough data to draw a definitive conclusion. What we can say is that despite W/L, that EJ has had good performances in 4 of his 5 home games (Baltimore is the exception) and poor performances in 4 of his 5 road games (Jacksonville being the exception). Is the game yesterday a sign of improvement? Maybe. The first road game against the Jets he was horrible. Jets pass defense is rated worse than Jacksonville. Game prior against Tampa Bay he was atrocious. They're marginally better against the pass (16th) than Jacksonville as well (21st). One thing that I'm seeing that I like regardless of the outcome is that EJ seems to be taking more shots down field. Watching some of the early games again, you don't see that at all. He was constantly checking down, even on third and long. Yesterday, I would bet there was at least a half dozen times when he was putting the ball out there 15+ yards. There's always going to be a negative-nancy out there that is going to want the Bills to draft yet another quarterback. However, I have significant doubts that will happen in 2014. Manuel appears to be moving in the right direction.

Free safety - much more oriented towards passing game and thought of somewhat as a "last line of defense" in that aspect of the game. May serve as the double cover in some dime and nickel packages. Strong safety - also asked to cover, but thought of as being more important to assisting in the running game. Has to be able to tackle pretty much like a linebacker. There's overlap for sure, but Aaron Williams strengths aren't the same as Byrd's.

You know what I did was looked just at Manuel. I do think he makes a difference as well, but clearly he didn't play all the games.

Spiller doesn't become a free agent at this point until 2016. He is in fact signed for 2014 and 2015 seasons, and not for a lot of money.

Offensive line is an interesting topic. One thing interesting that I would like to point out is that this line has, but for one game, provided very good pass protection. Take away the early Jets debacle and they gave up 9 sacks in 10 games. Not all that bad really and even the total of 17 for the season isn't terrible. With that said (and I posted this in another thread), the running game has regressed significantly. I didn't think it would be an issue, but it has. Going from 5.0 YPC to 4.1 YPC should be alarming to us as fans. There are 4-5 tackles and 1 guard that if I were in the front office, I would consider in the first round in next years draft.

I honestly don't understand why people think the Bills need a TE. Chandler is not at the tail end of his career and has been more than serviceable. In addition to Chandler, they already have 2 more guys on the roster (Gragg, Lee). The Bills just don't use a TE like some other teams (NO, etc.). To put it in perspective, TE's have been targeted 73 times in the passing game by Buffalo. Buffalo has thrown the ball 379 times and ran it 363 times. That means the TE is only 9.8% of the offense. Compare them to a Saints team that targeted TE's 128 times. That's 128 times on 439 pass plays with 277 runs. That's 17.9% of their offense. Sorry to say, but TE just isn't a priority for the offensive system they're running. In terms of playmaking pass rushers, the Bills are already loaded. They lead the league in sacks and as a result of pressure, interceptions. What more do you want? Making the argument that they should just take a good pass rusher "just because" is like saying they should take the top RB if they're available in the first round because you can never have too many scoring threats on offense. It doesn't make any sense. Mack's talent does extend well beyond rushing the passer, but I would stick to my conviction that they need to address other parts of this team first. Productivity in the running game is down 18% from the prior year. That's just too much.

From now through week 17, there are 11 games between teams that are still in the mathematical hunt for a wildcard spot. What that really means for the Bills is that we have to be hoping to a degree that these teams win one/lose one. The Jets for example have 4 games versus other teams in the hunt. They get Miami, Oakland, Cleveland, and then @Miami. Similarly, Miami has 4 games @NYJ, @PIT, @BUF and finishing versus NYJ. No matter how many ways I slice it, there will in all likelihood be a team sitting at 8-8 with the tiebreaker over Buffalo. Even running the table only guarantees this team a chance at a playoff spot. None the less, it's nice to be discussing possible playoffs before Thanksgiving in lieu of "next year".

While Mack is obviously a fan favorite because he's local, I would honestly be happy with any of the top LB candidates. The question will be whether a mid-major player will rank out ahead of the likes of Anthony Barr, CJ Mosely, or even Ryan Shazier. I would also concur with bigK's comments regarding Hughes. I seriously doubt that the Bills will be looking for a pass rushing LB considering what Hughes has done this season. I know this thread in general is about Mack, but would throw out a question for the board. If Mack were available in the first round, would people really want to see him drafted ahead of offensive line? My strategy (should I be supreme ruler) would be to target best OT/OG in the first and then consider the less heralded Alabama LB in Adrian Hubbard or similar in the second.

To state the obvious, after this week at least 2 of the teams that currently have a 5-6 record will also become 6-6. Oakland and Cleveland hold the tiebreaker over Buffalo, so I see those games as being most critical. None the less, both of those teams have a very difficult finishing schedule, particularly Oakland. To a degree, I think the Bills control their own destiny here. Just win is an understatement.

Sounds like rookie mentality. Sign him, but to a SMART contract. Don't be a dipship. too many of those in the world.

Stats provide odds and that's what you need to be enlightened to. The one offs don't really matter. You offer one offs and I offer realism. Might be too complicated for you I guess. LOL.

Crossing the NFL with the CFL would be like slapping a Lambo emblem on a Pinto. You just don't do it. LOL.