Koufax

I caught that specific call and was highly amused. I know a lot of terms are used just for clarity of communication (I don't think there is any Nebraska roots to Peyton's "Omaha"), but I can't help but wonder if one this clear and distinct might have deeper roots. Did you happen to notice what play they ran after? I'm remembering a goal line run to the left, but might not have that right.

Why do you hope he keeps his hands off the D? I want Schwartz to stay and remain the DC. I don't want the team to completely change the scheme. But we are adding Kiko back in to an elite talent group that was good before Schwartz worked with them, and Rex is a very smart defensive coach. I think unless there is too strong a conflict of personalities, having Schwartz do what he does and be the continuity, and have Ryan work with him and add to the mix and drive for excellence using his extensive experience and talents would be the awesome first choice. But this defense got better when going from Pettine to Schwartz, and I don't think will collapse if we end up losing Schwartz, but more importantly can get better if Ryan can add to what Schwartz is already doing.

I still think we trade/sign for a veteran and have a competition that EJ gets every opportunity to win. And if we don't then we draft in 2016. It is too early to give up on EJ and use another top pick, and the franchise impact of using three first round picks (EJ, and two for Watkins) to net one WR and two nothings, instead of three very good players, would have an even bigger drag on our franchise talent level if we give up our highest pick this year for someone not necessarily better than EJ. I don't think there is much of a chance we draft a QB this year who is likely to beat EJ and Cutler/Sanchez/Bradford/Dalton/Whoever in a competition, and I don't want to use a high pick in a draft we are missing our first rounder on a roll of the dice/backup. If we think we have our Russell Wilson fall in to our lap then definitely, but I don't see that player right now, and need to have a HC/OC in place before we can project who might realistically fit.

I want Schwartz to be in Buffalo next season for continuity, but think the best continuity is him as DC. If that isn't an option, then I would consider him as HC, but that would be my second choice. I don't think Reich is an OC candidate, since he already has that job with another team (and better situation with a franchise QB). Lateral moves without being fired are hard in the NFL, but maybe he could get a title promotion like Asst Head Coach in that case.

Yeah, I'm in conceptual agreement. The difference might be how the 2015 expectations differ. With the Bills being 9-7, it would be tough to expect them to take big leaps forward without the QB play improving, and it would be difficult to consider anything short of 10-6 a success. While with the Jets having a miserable season, he might be able to do a 6-10, 9-7 again and not have an instant playoff push expected. Either way, I wouldn't mind him in the division, as I don't think he is as good a coach as Rex, and I would love if he brings Hackett along. How would that work since Hackett is under contract but we won't really want him? Can we get compensation? Do they have to give him a "title promotion" to assistant HC or something? Or maybe Marrone knows his friend isn't so great at this and doesn't stick himself out much for it and we ahve to just fire him after the Jets hire someone else to OC?

Let's see. Doug preferred EJ to Geno, and doesn't like dealing with the media. We will see how this works out...

Marrone would have started EJ against New England if he thought he was a better chance to win than Orton. That can be very different after getting a whole off season and preseason back as the #1 if he has shown signs of deserving it. I personally wouldn't be surprised by Cutler, but with the GM/Coach turnover in Chicago that's hard to tell. Could be a Bledsoe #2 moment.

I am hopeful that EJ will compete with whatever free agent/trade QB we bring in, and I'm confident that he could do the job if he emerges from that competition as the leader. The part of your post that I do like is that the Bills get to sort of do this: "With the 19th pick of the 2015 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills select Kiko Alonzo, Linebacker, Oregon"

I know you are just trying to be funny, but using "being gay" as a comic insult to a player and a coach you don't like is pretty small minded and I don't think belongs on TBD or just about anywhere else.

I think you can count on it. I think EJ had accuracy and decision making issues and wasn't ready to be an NFL QB, which is not the case for all young QBs, but for some it can take time. It remains to be seen how good a QB he can be. Kyle however competent he might have been able to be in 2015, has a defined ceiling and while he might have benefited some from being in the second year as starter in a system, we wouldn't expect 33 to be that much better than 32, and there was a lot of acceptable disappointment this year as the defense carried us. So I think by the end of the season I would expect that EJ had already narrowed the performance gap through his hard work, based on what I would naturally expect and by comments by Orton himself, Marrone, and others. I fully expect EJ to continue to work hard and improve between now and September, and to be roughly similar to Orton in performance on the conservative side, with the hope that it all clicks and he can take bigger strides forward. Clearly another QB has to be brought in to compete and be backup if EJ improves, and that won't be with one of our limited draft picks. I'm not sure yet who will be available, and the likelihood that we find someone clearly better than EJ vs an honest competition, but I don't think that our 2015 QB pair of EJ+??? has a long way to go to be better than our 2014 QB pair of KO+EJ.

Chargers were all over him. They traded up to take Matthews at #12, might have waited a little if both were available, but if Spiller fell out of the top 10 they would have been working hard to get to at least 12 to take him.

I agree with this. Clearly it seems like the incorrect predictive decision, but we don't see the positioning at the time of the decision. I think Orton tends to decide early, and when he doesn't he tends to fold in the pocket feeling the pressure even before it happens. A couple more observations on this include: -The check down receiver in the flat would probably be stopped for no gain by the time the ball got to him, and as he is going backwards, he would be closer to the pick six defender at the time of the decision and going from past the far hash back across his body, that probably wasn't the right decision. -The two open receivers look like they were likely not yet open at the time of the decision, so it is an anticipation thing rather than just a seeing the field thing. -The Raiders are brining five so definitely a pretty hot read. -At the time of the decision, he might have seen the deep safety still on the Raider's logo and much less likely to get to the route he threw then get to the receiver very open in this image but who is running straight towards the logo.

This team was better than expected and not as good as we hoped. We had four losses we can live with, but KC, HOU, and OAK are hard to stomach. But similarly, CHI, DET, and MIN were all games we could have very easily lost. I think this is and has been an 8-8 team from the start. Every 8-8 team should find a way to get to 10-6, but we were not a 10-6 team. This is not a terrible thing. We haven't been an 8-8 team in a while (quality of team, not results), and that is a positive, but we aren't going to be much better than that without solving the QB situation. Maybe next year's team is a 9-7 team and manages to overachieve and win 10 or 11 on the field with Orton year #2. We clearly don't go to EJ unless he has shown he is the better QB, and I think what the team sees every week in practice is probably a much greater indicator of things than our hopes and projections. If they think it is close, I wouldn't mind EJ getting a chance to play on Sunday, but not because "who cares, and let's see what we got", but because I think it is plausible that he gives us the best chance to win if he has been improving from the #2 spot. Next year is EJ and Kyle without our first rounder to step in. It isn't a draft where there is likely to be a great QB ready to step in from the second or third round, so while we can draft a project, being without a first, we probably need to concentrate elsewhere, and try to get as much out of Orton/EJ next year as we can, and evaluate the position more deeply after the 2015 season. Cutler is better than Orton, and there might be a few others out there who are better as well, so I'm open to improving the roster at that position if an opportunity presents itself. But we aren't going to find an amazing option out there that falls in our laps, we aren't going to draft an amazing QB this year. So doing our best to get better at every single position through roster improvements, coaching improvements, and hard work, and hoping that KO/EJ 2015 can be at least a little better than KO/EJ 2014 is the path we are on.

Forget all that stuff, and we can worry about the Bills in week 17. What really matters THIS weekend is that the Browns beat the Panthers and the Falcons beat the Saints. With those two outcomes, we keep alive a very good chance that a six win team makes the playoffs. Six wins! That's the kind of stuff that keeps 7-9 Dick Jauron up at night!

No. I think you put him on the 53 roster immediately, and then decide during the week and on Sunday if he is active or not for the game. I want him active even if he only plays a few snaps, so that New England isn't the first time he sees the field.

Not this weekend we aren't. We are going to try to beat the Raiders first. After that we will have as many as four straight need to win games on the road against very good teams before the Super Bowl. If we come up short to the Patriots or in the wild card game or the divisional playoffs or the AFC championship I will be disappointed after that happens, but beating the Raiders is all that stands between us and effectively starting the playoffs a week early and not playing any meaningless football all season. We know Belichick doesn't rest his starters, etc. We also know that the game could very well matter enormously to them and decide the location of the AFC championship game. So we know that we won't have an easy time of it. But after limiting Manning and Rodgers, I'm pretty sure this defense is ready to take on Brady and if a couple plays go our way on special teams and offense there isn't any reason an upset can't happen like when the 16-0 Pats played the 9-7 Giants. I don't think Kyle Orton wins a Super Bowl this year, and I think beating the Patriots in week 17 is a tough thing, just like beating Andrew Luck in the Wild Card game the following week would be, or the Patriots or Broncos in the divisional playoffs the week after that. But getting a chance to play one or more of those games and see what happens is awesome.

Nope, if the Chiefs, Chargers, and Ravens win Sunday, we are still alive (try it in the playoff machine): If we win out, and week 17 Browns beat Ravens there are a lot of scenarios where we are in. There are plenty of scenarios and they start to get confusing, but in almost all of them, the Bills beat the Raiders. There are very few absolutes after that because there are still tons of combinations and tons of head to heads. The head to heads really work in our favor, because regardless of which way most of them go, either outcome tends to open another door elsewhere. The one game we have a clear rooting interest in no matter what is the Niners beating the Chargers. If the Chargers win we have no 9-7 scenario at all (and have some of our 10-6 options blocked too). Other than that one, I'm going to save most of my rooting energy for week 17, even though there are a bunch of games we *probably* prefer to go one way or the other.

There are not any individual games that we need one outcome in. There are lots of ways for us to get in at 10-6. Also there are still some paths in at 9-7, but only if a lot goes our way. If we lose to the Raiders, we are eliminated unless Cleveland beats the Panthers, Denver beats Bengals, Chiefs beat Steelers, Niners beat Chargers (all things we want to root for anyway) But if we can't beat the 2-12 Raiders when it counts, we don't deserve to even talk about playoffs. I have a feeling we will do fine next week and get to talk about this up until the final minutes of the season.

While I am very hopeful we go 14-6 winning our next six games, to be in the hunt after dropping the Chiefs and Dolphins games in a span of five days, and to go after our ninth win in Oakland with our hopes very much alive is not a failure.

We are alive for another week, and very likely to be alive in week 17. We still have one path to a 9-7 playoff spot (without ties and weird stuff), but it isn't likely at all. Even at 10-6 we need help. But enjoy this big win, and get ready to beat Oakland next week.

Glad you are looking past one of the most important and exciting Bills games in many years. You do know that they are 4-4 on the road, they have a weak run defense, and our defense is actually really good? It will be a very tough game for us, but as definitely not to be looked past. Oh well, I will still humor your original post. The reason you don't start Tuel is that he is not as good as EJ and Orton. If we are eliminated from the playoff chase, which could happen Sunday, but is unlikely (because even with a loss we still could have some 9-7 hypotheticals, and you don't quit when you are alive), we can play our final two games focused on developing and evaluating. I still think getting our 8th win is really important, and trying for our 9th after that is really important. Tuel can get some late game playing time, but has no reason to start. EJ is the wild card. I think this game is crucial for Orton. If he loses it AND struggles, I think there is a strong case that EJ is just as good to help us win the next game, and it also gives the front office a chance to see if EJ has improved on decision making and accuracy during his benching. They probably have a really good idea from practice reps on his progress, and if Tuel has come close to either of the other two. And then you mentioned the draft ladder. You know we don't have a first round pick next year, and moving from #48 to #46 isn't really worth sandbagging and not doing everything you can to avoid another losing season right?

No you don't punt in that situation, like you don't punt a minute later even in 4th and 16. We ran out of time to rally and win the game on Sunday, and one big reason is that we punted on that play and didn't go for it, preserving time on the clock and time outs (even though our D got us the ball back pretty quickly). Horrible choice at the time, and the same in retrospect. Even trusting your D to stop Peyton, there just isn't enough time to play with, and if you can't get two yards when you need to, you probably aren't going to get 21 points to tie the game. So if you want to win the game, you go for it there. Different situation, but similar to the Pats going against Peyton's Indy and coming up short. I still completely agreed with that call much as I disagree with this one.

No you don't punt in that situation, like you don't punt a minute later even in 4th and 16. We ran out of time to rally and win the game on Sunday, and one big reason is that we punted on that play and didn't go for it, preserving time on the clock and time outs (even though our D got us the ball back pretty quickly). Horrible choice at the time, and the same in retrospect. Even trusting your D to stop Peyton, there just isn't enough time to play with, and if you can't get two yards when you need to, you probably aren't going to get 21 points to tie the game. So if you want to win the game, you go for it there. Different situation, but similar to the Pats going against Peyton's Indy and coming up short. I still completely agreed with that call.

I'm very sorry that Norwood and the drought have impacted your judgment, or maybe if you are just trolling, but the Bills are far from eliminated. Just like 31 other teams they are almost certainly not winning the Super Bowl this year, and like 19 others, they are very likely to come up short of the playoffs when all is said and done. But what is not up for discussion is right now they are *playing* for the playoffs, and winning three games has a really good chance of getting them there. So a team who doesn't play the first of those three games like they expect to win them would be pathetic. Playing meaningful week 17 football would already be a big positive step forward as well, as this team continues to try to change culture and history and just play good football. Regardless of what happens in the next few weeks, that is part of the foundation of 2015. And lastly, I don't think this team is a lot worse than the 9-7 Giants who ended up getting hot and upending the 16-0 Patriots. I'm not expecting that to happen, but I sure am expecting this team to do everything in its power to win the next game and feel like they are playing for something meaningful while trying to do that.

Has EJ learned decision making and accuracy since he was benched? Because while I hope he has been progressing, unless both of those things are different then they were in week 4, Orton gives us the best chance to beat the Packers, and that should be our only goal. If EJ can play better, I'm fine with a move at any point, but we have no reason to think he has made enough adjustments for that to be true, and week 15 isn't a time to be messing around. By the way, Luck lost by 7 in Denver, the Chiefs lost by 7 in Denver, the 10 win Cardinals lost by 21, San Fran by 25, the Chargers by 14, and the Fish by 3. Some pretty good teams have fallen along the way to the Bronco's 7-0 record at home. Orton isn't the answer, and the defense did most of the work, but right now I don't think EJ is a better chance to beat the Packers, and we aren't playing for 2015 quite yet.