Dibs

I agree. The onside kicks would definitely be different in the NFL now. I don't know the stat but there seems to be a huge increase in touchbacks this season......so his average start line of the 33 yard line(from the video) giving up only 14 yards would be changed to close to 27 yards given up in the NFL. Most likely the math wouldn't hold for such a large field position advantage.

That's a bit of a tease stat. Who has the largest difference in the league is my question.

That drop would have been his first NFL catch. Though not an excuse, it happens a bit. Graggs bad drop last week would have been his first catch as well. It would certainly be nice if both of them stepped up this week now that their first catch nerves are gone.

That'd be a good reason then lol.

Just bad luck? We released him prior to last weeks game. At that time we were healthy at WR. I'm figuring that it was determined that the potential of the young WRs made Smith's place on the roster counter productive to the young WRs development.

How do you figure that?

Ahhh.....I didn't realize that the assessments are done by different teams of guys(or there abouts). This now makes a lot more sense how we could have good success with later picks and horrible success with the early picks. Thanks for that.

6 sacks so far this season......5 1/2 over the last 6 games......4 over the last 3 games. This is only good for the Bills.

I'm not so sure on that. From 2004-2008 we found 4 great late picks(or UDFAs) FJ, Peters, Stevie, K.Williams. Over that same span we only really had one player in the first 4 rounds who panned out for us......and that was McKelvin who has only really caught on in this his 6th season. I'm not convinced that finding success from late drafted - UDFAs is anything more than luck.

I really don't think there would be too many people saying that EJ is better than Fitz at this point. He clearly isn't. And yes, Fitz would likely have been a great mentor......but it wasn't to be(legit future cap reasons)......and yes, EJ really hasn't looked the part so far(particularly last week). And finally......I totally agree. Very frustrating being a Bills fan. Hopefully EJ will show us he belongs in the NFL over the next 6 weeks.

Do you say that because you have an irrationally high view of Fitz......or because you have made an irrationally quick determination that EJ can't even become a good backup(Fitz's level).

Meh....who asked you thebandit27? (I agree with your post btw.)

My first reaction to your post was that of disagreement but after much consideration, I have come to the conclusion that, assuming I haven't misinterpreted what you mean, I agree with your post. To a Bills fan's mind I think it totally fair to view it as a moot point. A rolleyes situation heavy with irony resulting in an understandable reaction of basically "Don't be hypocritical and ask for others to not hinder your chances while you are happy to hinder them yourselves." To an impartial NFL however, looking at the bye and Thursday game situation, it is a fair point(as you stated). It took me a full day to reconcile the seemingly opposed statements of calling it both a fair point and a moot point.

Ugg.....I hate putting up stats that show negatives for our players but.... In the 11-20 yard range he has been 14-29-281 (48.3% completion). In the 21-30 yard range he has been 3-8-59 (37.5% completion). Personally I am not concerned with his accuracy at this range at this point. If I see him standing comfortably in the pocket yet still remaining inaccurate I will start to worry. At this point he appears(to me at least) to be very unsettled. Towards the bottom of the page: http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/15803/ej-manuel

18.3M below our adjusted cap. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap-hit/

This season has been just so frustrating! Not so much that there have been injuries, more that the injuries all seem to occur in the same group at the one time. First we had multiple DBs out.....then RBs.....then QBs.....now WRs. Very frustrating

Good point. Does the US have a standard straight up bet? When I used to bet on the football over here(Australia) there was always the two options of betting(straight up and against a spread).

I've always thought that it makes sense to bet against your own team. If your team loses you get some money to soften the blow.......and if your team wins you don't care about losing the money. That being said, I would have thought there were some better bets than the Bills/Jets game this week.

As you looked at several stats based upon per play, I feel it only fair to do the same here. If one is going to use YPA instead of Total Yards, one should really use Sack and Turnover percent instead of Total Sacks/Turnovers. The Bills are currently 9th in sack percent. Though still good, it is not as impressive as the overall sack number ranking of 2nd. I can't find the turnover percentage stat but that too would be lower than the total turnover stat.

In fairness......and personally I don't think one can look at the stats and make any argument past "you can't call him a bust yet".....putting RG3 on the list provided would still see EJ at #4.

I feel that people's impatience has a lot to do with our recent history. We have had a long stretch of sub-mediocrity(one where our best player on the field was a punter)......and bad drafting put on top of that. Year after year we have had virtually no star players, our rookies perform like rookies & then develop into at best good players(usually busting or mediocre players). I tend to think that when a team has a good handful of good(or better) players.....and there is an occasional rookie sensation(like Kiko).....that fan expectations would naturally become less as the need for instant performance by said rookies becomes less. I am hopeful that we are finally getting to that position. For the first time in a very long time we have quite a number of good(or better) players.....partly produced by relatively solid drafting the last few years. If EJ pans out(or any other QB), I think the somewhat irrational expectations from fans for instant production from young players will become a great deal less.

I don't think that should matter. Either it's a legitimate thing to do, or it isn't. It shouldn't matter that you haven't had a legit QB in 3 years or 13. In today's NFL you definitely need one. For the record(and I wrote this in another thread so I'm pretty sure this topic is doubled up now), I have no problem with the Bills selecting back to back 1st round QBs.......if the situation warrants it.

I think I should point out that in post #1 of this thread, Bill wrote "Dareus and Branch both looked very good too." It was indeed odd for him to be called out for having noted some weeks ago that Dareus had a bad game.

Though not exactly as you put it, yes......it is OK for Manuel to stink at this point. Very few rookie(young) QBs have legitimate non-stinky stats. Not all of those that do become great QBs......and some that don't become great QBs. All I was intending to achieve with my post was to highlight that to bluntly point out that his stats stink(in relation to legitimate QB play) is doing a disservice.......in the same way that bluntly pointing out that he stinks less than other QB's rookie years(either stars or scrubs) is also a disservice to the situation at hand. From what I can tell we basically agree. EJ's stats cant predict his future......and though there is a chance that he pulls it all together and becomes a legitimate QB, the odds are against him(as they are with every QB drafted regardless of draft pick). I'm still hoping though......and will be rooting for him this Sunday.

Fair enough with that call.......I admit that my assessment on Goodwin being serviceable-good at this point contains a little too much emphasis on hope in potential rather than actual performance.