JohnC

In Nix's last year he had the scouting staff come up with the best qb prospect in the draft. It was the priority mission of the scouting department. They came up with EJ at the top of their list. I'm not assuming that he is destined to fail but it is obvious that he is a qb with major flaws, accuracy and reads.

Brandon was not involved with the football side of the operation prior to the purchase. There is no doubt that Whaley informs him on what he wanted to do but he is not now making those football type of decisions. As far as the restructuring of the organization the change is already occurring with Wilson's passing. Littman and the business model will no longer have the suffocating influence as it did during Wilson's tenure. If you want meaningful change the solution is not in found the organizational flow chart. Get a freaking high quality qb like all the other successful franchises do. We have failed in that endeavor for a generation. That's a testament to institutional incompetence.

Bill, The scheme that Schwartz runs is the same scheme he has always run. His philosophy is diametrically opposite of Pettine's mad blitz scheme. When you bring in an OC who runs a west coast offense you get a west coast offense. In other words you get what you buy. There shouldn't be any surprise as to what defense Schwatz is going to run because it matches his philosophical approach to playing defense.

Do you need exhalted consultants doing a comprehensive study of the franchise to tell you that what will dramatically change the dynamic of this lumbering organization is a higher caliber franchise qb. That in itself will do more to improve the prospects for this meandering franchise. Under Nix's tenure the organization had multiple opportunities to select good prospects, not necessarily in the first round, who would have offered the fan base some realistic optimism. As it stands it selected EJ and has an invested its future in a prospect that has exhibited significant flaws. If he doesn't work out then this franchise has to go back to the drawing board and start over again to address its most critical need. Is Orton a decent bridge qb? He is what he is: a mediocre qb who knows how to play. But he is also a limited qb who is not going to get you anywhere. Our situation is far from being dire but it is not close to being resolved. When you have a void that hasn't been filled for a generation then what does it say about the wisdom of the people running the operation? The owner can bring in all the costly high-powered consultants he wants without getting the same advice that a druken fan can give: Get a quality qb prospect and get the best bridge qb you can acquire to buy you time for the prospect to develop.

The primary difference between thesse teams is the disparity in qb play. Brady quickly got rid of the ball and he made some incredibly precise passes. The TD pass with Gilmore draped over the receiver was fantastic. Orton is the best qb option we have. KO is a pedestrian qb at best who is going to get you nowhere. He'll allow your team to compete against most teams but he is not going to bring the team along to any meaningful status. The Bills have been out of the playoffs for 14 consecutive years, and still counting. By the time we have a more gifted qb taking the snaps it will be approaching the 20 year playoff drought. If I recall correctly the announcers stated that the Pats have beaten the Bills in 22 of the last 23 games. That is more than pathetic, it is laughable. The Bills' safeties in this game were embarrasing. Duke Williams was the worst player on the field. I'm not going to put the loss on him because the better team and the better coached team and organization beat the lesser team and organization. This game was a good measuring stick. It demonstrated how far this team still has to go to being a factor in this league. My level of irritation over the officiating is at the boiling point. The calls had nothing to do with the outcome but it has a lot to do with the diminishing enjoyment of watching the games. This so called "emphasis" on inconsequential touching is moronic.

A few weeks ago former Bill Joe DeLamielleure was on WGR and was asked about Kujo and his problems. He responded that the first thing he watched when evaluating o-linemen was how they moved their feet. He stated that Kujo had very slow footwork. In college a lineman can dominate with their size but in the pro ranks the speed of the game is so fast that if you can't react quickly you will struggle. Joe D was asked what he would do to help with his foot speed deficiency. He said that he would have him play a lot of racket ball to improve his reaction time. The contrast between Kujo and Henderson is very stark. Henderson is very athletic while Kugo is more lumbering. I'm not sure that his limited mobility can be overcome, at least at the tackle position. So far he appears to be another high draft miscalculation. (I hate saying that!)

As others have said his OL is atrocious. Not only is he constantly scrambling away from the pressure his run game is nearly nonexistent. Last year as a freshman was more telling about his talent level and precocious understanding on reading defenses. There is no doubt that he needs a couple of additional years of playing in college before he is ready for the pro ranks. Penn St and the Bills are good examples how not having good line play hinders what your qb can do. If the play of the OL is at a reasonable standard the talents of the skill players will be better utilized. Grunt work doesn't get a lot of glory but it is critical for success.

It doesn't really matter where he intended to hit his child. What is apparent is that he hit the kid hard and frequently. He's a professional athlete and his kid was 4 yrs old. That is ridiculous and unacceptable. I can't give you percentages but there is nothing unusual about court ordered drug restrictions associated with bond releases, even for crimes that have nothing to do with drugs. Without knowing the particulars of his terms odds are that he also had curfew restrictions and a stay away order included in the terms of his release. Whether the terms of the bond were fair or not is not the issue. He was well aware of the terms of the agreement. The judge, the court personnel and his attorneys made it very clear to him what he couldn't do. He was required to sign documents that listed the terms of the agreement that included on demand drug tests. I don't believe that AP is a bad person. I also don't believe that he feels he did anything wrong in the way he disciplined his child. However, being ignorant doesn't mean that the behavior in question doesn't rise to a criminal act. Smoking weed is usually not a big deal. But when you are under court scrutiny something that may seem trivial can end up being a big deal. As he now knows very well. What is going to happen is that he will be jailed for a short period of time and then be released with stricter terms.

We can go in circles and never come to agreement. But what I know about the court system is that the terms of his release are the same for everyone involved in that court system for a similar offense. As NYC Bill stated it is the judge who is dictating the terms of the release not the person standing in front of him. If you sit in a bond/release hearing you will find that the judge is not acting in an inconsistent or discriminating manner. He is acting for the most part in the standard manner. The proceedings are planned out like a script. All the attorneys in the room are aware before the proceedings occur what is going to happen. In fact if the Judge acted out of the ordinary he would come under scrutiny by the legal review system. Don't worry about AP being treated unfairly. He has one of the best criminal attorneys in the country representing him. He's the same attorney who represented Rogers Clemens. Maybe beforehand AP believed that he was immune from following the court orders. I'm sure he doesn't think that way now.

Get him a more effective OL and you will see it. He is still a very young qb who has a lot of room to grow. What he accomplished last year as a true freshman and under a program undergoing tumolt was quite impressive. When he comes out in the draft (not this year) in my estimation he is going to be a near top of the draft pick.

I'm not suggesting that you condone his actions. The drug condition is a condition placed on most bond releases. He is not being singled out. I'm sure that there were other conditions such as having to be home at a certain hour and not being in the vicinity of his child. My point is that the conditions placed on him are standard. He wasn't treated differently or unfairly in that respect. You are suggesting that he should be treated differently from everyone else because what he does as a profession. My position is the opposite. AP is a high profile professional athlete, as was Ray Rice. It is impossible to avoid the outsized publicity because that is a byproduct of the very public and richly rewarded profession he is involved with. There is no way around it. When you play on the big stage you can't expect to avoid the attention your own aberrant behavior causes you to attract.

No one outside the organization can be sure if EJ was Whaley's selection. But there is no doubt that Whaley was intimately involved in ranking that qb draft class. Maybe he didn't want to select him in the first round but odds are that Whaley and the scouting staff considered EJ as the best long term prospect. Many people consider the EJ benching as controversial. I don't see it that way. The EJ issue was a concern prior to the season. Whaley and the coaching staff recognized very early on that Manuel had issues as a potential starter. He simply was very erratic as a passer. That was clearly evident in the offseason workouts, training camp and preseason. There was a good reason why Whaley aggressively pursued Orton in the offseason. The Bills don't have a history of paying backups very well. Yet Orton got an offer much more generous than he could have gotten anywhere else. Whaley said prior to the season that he felt that this team was a playoff team. With EJ taking the snaps it was painfully apparent to all to see that this season would be lost if he continued as the starter. When you have no other choice you go to that choice. You can bet that Whaley was just as on board as Marrone was with the qb change. That topic of discussion wasn't a new discussion that only happened during this season, it had to be an ongoing discussion even prior to the season.

Penn State has a very young team. They stressed getting young with the expectation of a longer probation period. What has hurt Hackenburg this season is that his running game is moribound. His OL at this point is overmatched. He should stay in school for at least another couple of years. What has impressed me most about him especially in his fresshman year is that he has a feel for the position. You can't teach that. While EJ is mechanical playing the position Hackenberg moves much more naturally. Hackenburg is the type of talent that after another year or two he is going to be a coveted player at the top of the draft. His style of play reminds me of Brady. If you are a Bills' fan it is acceptable to "lust" for him.

AP is not on probation. He is on a bond/release status. He could have been held in jail for the charges made against him. He and his legal reps went before a judge requesting his release from custody. The judge and his reps informed AP that there were conditions associated with his release. Taking drugs were prohibited. He couldn't go near his child etc. He certainly was informed that he was also subject to being tested. Not being available for drug testing would result in a return to custody. Take the high profile football player out of this situation. If Joe Blow small time criminal was released on bond and was tested for drugs and failed what would be the result? The fool would be quickly sent to jail waiting for another release hearing. What you are advocating is that AP should be treated differently because he is a high profile professional athlete. That's not how it should be. He should be taken to jail like anyone else. Then he should have another opportunity to go before a magistrate to request another bond consideration. The magistrate would then probably release him on stricter conditions, such as an increase in bond,daily drug tests, electronic monitoring etc. My point is he should be treated like everyone else would be.

I'm not defending AP because I do believe in accountability. It seems to me that he is simply an ignorant and ill-equipped person who is incapable of functioning in the "real" world. Most people find his half dozen or more "momma babies" strewn all over the country to be outrageous. He doesn't because he didn't grow up in a structured family environment. For a faction of society there is a sub-culture (Travis Henry falls in that category) where they didn't have a normal family life and roll models that instilled good values. Based on his initial public responses to the child abuse allegations he didn't deny that he hit his child. He stated that it was simply his way of discipling a bad behaving child. In his distorted reasoning he was acting in his rightful role as a parent. While you and I consider his acts as brutal and criminal he saw it in another way. His perverted mentality is a reflection of his ignorance, not malicious intent. That doesn't mean that he shouldn't be held accountable for his conduct.

I agree with you that Whaley was substatively involved with the EJ pick when Nix was the GM. In Nix's last year he made it clear that selecting a qb was the priority of that draft. There is no doubt in my mind that Whaley was on board if not the most instrumental person in that selection. Most draft analysts stated that there were no elite prospects in that particular class. Was the EJ selection a mistake? At this point you can't say for sure. The draft book on Manuel was that he was a qb with tools who fell in the category of being a developmental qb. Although it is obvious he struggled with immediate playing time it is fitting that he is now in a role that was intended for him i.e. learning as a backup. (To be frank from what I have seen of EJ I have major concerns (accuracy and feel for the position) about him.) Putting aside the qb issue, although the Orton pickup was a good insurance move for the qb position, Whaley has demonstrated that he is not a passive GM. Nix took a more conservative approach to drafting while Whaley is much more aggressive. The Watkins selection was a demonstration of that, as was the willingness to draft Henderson, a player taken off of most draft boards. Anyone who has eyes recognizes that Watkins can be a special player. That doesn't mean that those who argue that too much was given up to get him don't have a valid point. I'm confident that Nix wouldn't have considered such a move. The new owner is very wise in his retention of Brandon. In my view it was Brandon who was most responsible for steering this franchise from being a backwater franchise to being a more normally and progressively run operation. What his critics don't factor in is that he was still a Wilson employee and was required to follow the owner and his busineness advisors' (mostly Littman) directives. Not only was Brandon a good from an operational standpoint he was very smart from a strategic standpoint. By regionalizing the franchise he made it more viable to remain in the western NY market.

One way for CJ to play in space is to use him in the passing game, mostly short routes. That rarely happens. According to Whaley he wants to re-sign Spiller. As far as not spending too much on him that is an issue that applies to every player whose contract is up.

I don't understand why the OC is so stubborn in his usasge of Spiller. Ted Marchiboda developed an offense in which Thurman Thomas was a multi-faceted back. Not only was he a tremendous runner who read the blocks as well as any runner but he was also smartly used as a receiver, mostly short passes in open areas and with swing passes, where he would make the right cut and get maximum yardage on the play. Thurman Thomas was an exceptional pass blocker, something CJ will never be. Thurman Thomas was one of the smartest backs in the game as far as reading the blocks, something CJ will never match. However, CJ has attributes associated with his speed and quickness that are not now being fully used. My problem with the critics of CJ is that they focus on things he doesn't do well while not acknowledging to the extent they should the things he does exceptionally well. Since CJ has been on the team no player has come close to making the number of big plays for this team.

As you noted selling a ticket to the NFL ticket exchange will immune you from the consequences of bad behavior of the second hand ticket holder. On the other hand the organization, as noted on the ticket in fine print, has the right to revoke the season tickets of the ticket owner who sold the ticket to the goofball. The organization doesn't have to prove anything. They certainly can't discriminate against people but they can exercise their authority to regain their seat. Would they have to compensate the season ticket holder if it is for the rest of the games? They probably would do so just to get rid of the nuisance.

Brandon didn't drive the franchise into the ditch. He was the persom most responsible in getting it out of the ditch. When someone is finally steering the lost franchise in the right direction it wouldn't be surprising if the new owner continued to allow RB to continue on. There is no doubt that Pegula is going to have a major review of the operation. If he is as wise as I think he is he will conclude that RB is a major asset, and not a liability. I'm someone who is very impressed with Brandon. He worked in a setting in which his former boss had some very antiquated views on running the franchise. It was a very tough and awkward position for him to be in. He managed to win the confidence of the elderly owner and was eventually given authority to run the operation. He steadily modernized an archaic operation in both the business (marketing) and football sides of the business.

It doesn't matter how much talent you have on your team if you don't have a competent qb or a not ready qb behind the center. As has been demonstrated in the first quarter of the season a talented receiver corps is wasted if the passes are consistently thrown in a scatter-shot manner. A very vulnerable OL, mostly at the guard positions, is even more exposed when the qb taking the snaps is indecisive and inaccurate. Orton playing at simply a competent level at the minimum limits its obvious vulnerabilities. Orton is an average to below average starting qb. But he still falls in the category of being a capable starting qb. The difference between a raw young qb and a veteran qb who knows how to run an offense is very stark. I'm not an EJ basher. He is a high character person with an impressive work ethic. In time he may or may not become a franchise qb. But at this time he simply isn't ready. Many people are praising Marrone for being courageous in making the qb swithch. Not I. He had no other choice. Unless he was willing to witness a season in its early stage spiral out of control. There is a bright glow from the ownership change and confidence in knowing that the team will be anchored in western NY for a very long time. But when I watched Orton complete some tough throws and with poise hang in there against a high quality defense I was as optimistic about this team more than I have been in a long time.

The rescinded interference call was baffling. Even the TV analyst, Ronde Barber, stated that although he doesn't like to criticize refs he felt that call was simply bad. The only justification for the non-call is that both players were jostling with each other on the play. To be honest I would prefer more non-calls over the excessive calls that are interrupting the game and making it difficult to watch.

Freaking communists are buying the company. Putin is going full throttle to defeat America. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/19/pabst-brewing-sold-to-oasis-beverages/15894189/

The Redskins are going to let the franchised Orakpo go after this season. I look for them to be a serious suitor forHughes. The Skins have a lot of needs but their main emphasis when it comes to the market is going to be on defense. Assuming he stays healthy Hughes is primed for a big payday this offseason Whaley trading Sheppard for Hughes was a stupendous deal!

I believe that the Bills are making the transition from being an irrelevant and inconsequential franchise to stepping up and being a relevant and competitive franchise. I credit Brandon assuming authority that Ralph bestowed on him and then steadily moving this backwater franchise into the modern world. He was instrumental in hiring Whaley, someone who was young and energetic and who came from a winning organization. At least now there is hope compared to the past resignation that institutional failure was tolerable because it was better than not having a team. Talking about football matters certainly is more enjoyable than talking about what the future holds for this franchise.I may at times be irrascible but without a doubt I am more happy.