Dr. K

I have never been the least impressed with Sanchez. I think Orton is a much better QB.

This is exactly my question. Sanchez? Sheesh.

At least this clarifies the situation a lot. The team knows exactly what it is up against at QB. I would normally expect them to give EJ another shot at it except I think Marone has already made up his mind on EJ and doesn't believe he will ever play well enough to make a difference. I suspect Whaley does not agree about this, and that is the source of their conflict. I don't see an easy way out of this situation as long as Marone and Whaley are both there. Or there is one way--if Whaley can come up with a QB from outside that BOTH Whaley and Marone like better than EJ. Happy hunting, boys.

It's great to see the Bills beat the Pats, no matter what the circumstances. But I'm worried this may insulate Hackett & Marone from making changes. I still want Hackett gone and a new OC with a new vision. I think Whaley should be kept. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks what comes of this. I'm very interested in seeing what personnel moves happen in the off season. I'm afraid that Freddy, who has played with great heart his whole career, has slowed down too much to be starting. I'm worried about Kyle and Mario W both getting a year older. Need to keep Hughes and sign Dareus long-term. Kiko comes back, so that should be like getting a #1 draft choice at linebacker. I'd like to see some serious attention paid to the offensive line. As for QB, I have no idea what they can do that will insure better play next season.

In my opinion, firing Whaley and keeping Marone would be a very bad move. On a much lower level (since their achievements are much less) it would repeat the firing of Polian and keeping Marv back in the 1990s. Yes, the Bills have won more games than they have in ten years. Whaley has improved the roster a great deal in the last few years. I do not understand what they gain by firing him.

Addendum: Fitz threw 71 touchdown passes in three seasons starting for the Bills. When he left and everybody was cheering, the first thing I thought was, who the devil on this team is going to throw 23-24 touchdown passes next season? Yes, he threw interceptions, but under Gailey the Bills' offense had a pulse. Under Marone, with better personnel, they are beyond pathetic.

I take your point, but my point is, why should we trust this person to be able to make better decisions than the people we have already? I can hear you say, "There's no way they could be worse." I get it, but the flip side of them being an outsider is that they also don't know the pieces of the puzzle as well. Whaley, it seems to me, has made very credible decisions and given whoever the coach is a lot to work with. Even his drafting of Manuel is defensible, given where they were at the time. I don't think Polian is available. I will say here that when Ralph fired Polian back in the Super Bowl years, I thought he fired the wrong guy and should have dumped Marv. Poilian gave Marv an absurdly talented roster and Marv managed to coach them to losing to a Giants team they should have beaten, and to getting blown out by the Redskins and Cowboys. I've been following this team since the mid-1960s and Ralph Wilson was the problem. You could count on Ralph to meddle and get rid of people like Polian and Butler. Maybe the Pegulas will do better, but I'm in "prove it" mode.

All this talk about the Pegulas hiring a football "expert" or "tzar" to come in, look over the organization, and set things right makes me laugh. I guess they'll go down to the football guru shelf at Target and get one off the shelf. Who is this magic person, and if he is such a genius why isn't he working for another team right now? It's like saying the Bills will just go out and hire a franchise QB and he will fix everything. Right. Got it. If he hires some MBA corporate management expert, that is not going to do the job. Plus, most of those outside consultants who come into businesses in order to shake things up and make the trains run on time end up making a bad situation worse. I see that they will want to seek advice, but the idea that some mysterious Man in Black is going to ride into town and see things that nobody else can see, and make suggestions that nobody else can make, is a joke. ONE MORE RANT: If I see another sentence saying that the Bills gave up two number one picks in order to move up and draft Watkins, I am going to send a letter bomb to the writer. The Bills gave up their 2015 number one and number four picks to move up. Yes, they also gave up their 2014 number one, but they got Cleveland's number one in return. To say that the Bills gave up TWO number ones is either dishonest (trying to make the decision seem worse than it was) or idiotic. Que up Jerry Sullivan's latest column. Maybe I'll send that letter bomb anyway

This is a test of Marone. He has to see that this offense, whether it is Hackett's or his, is not working. He has to fire Hackett AND bring in an OC with more of a clue about how to get the best out of these players, even if that means he (Marone) is less "hand's on" with the offense. Sure, they need better QB play and it's not likely to come from Orton, in my opinion. But that does not get Hackett and Marone off the hook. I'll be interested to see what Whaley and Pegula have to say/do after the season is over.

I think it's funny to read all the people here who want to fire Marone because he has not been able to win despite having plenty of talent on the roster, and then they want to fire Whaley (and excoriate Nix whenever they get the chance) for the bad job he's done as GM. Who do they think GOT all this talent that Marone is wasting? The tooth fairy? You can't hold both of these opinions at the same time.

I stand second to none in my admiration for Fred Jackson, but it seems painfully evident that he is slower than he has been. I don't think it's just the injury. He's just hitting the wall that all great running backs hit at around his age. Early in his career he did not play a lot, so he played younger than his age. But in the last five years he has been a workhorse and it has taken its toll. It happened to Thurman, and it's happening to him. No shame attached to this, but he is not the player he used to be, especially this late in the season.

Casey: You sound like a rational person. I don't know if you are right, but you make reasoned arguments and I appreciate it. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts in these last six games. We will find out a lot about the players and Marone as head coach.

I do not want the defense to be playing the fifth different scheme in the last five years. Unless Schwartz was made head coach after firing Marone, that's what we would be facing. I'd rather see Hackett fired and replaced with somebody who knows WTF he is doing. Let Whaley look over Marone's shoulder as they make the choice. I also think cleaning house just puts the Bills back on the same treadmill they've been on for the last fifteen years. Changing coaches every three years is a prescription for treading water, Granted, the results we are seeing this year look like treading water already, and I have issues with Marone as a coach, but blowing it all up does not seem to me to be the wise thing to do--yet. Fans always want to blow it up and start over, with the idea that the new faces will sprinkle magic pixie dust over the team and--presto, the Bills sweep the Patriots. Nope.

Nothing would make me happier than if you were right.

I need medical scotch. Realistically, the Bills season ended on Sunday. They are in 10th place in their conference with a 2-4 conference record. They have lost to KC and San Diego and the Pats. All the teams ahead of them have better conference records, in most cases MUCH better conference records. They are not going to be able to climb past those teams They have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs but there is no way in hell this team wins the six out of seven, including a win over the Pats, that they will need to win to even have a fighting chance, and even then it will take a huge number of breaks--other teams losing crucial games--for the Bills to see the playoffs. I expect them to lose to Miami, maybe a blowout but knowing the Bills probably a heartbreaker on crucial mistakes and bad penalties, and that will be it. This team is completely incapable of winning a crucial game when they have to, let along putting together an uphill winning streak. They make me wan to puke.

I have mixed feelings about Marone; the jury is still out. I don't see cleaning out the front office as necessarily making this a better team. I sure worked for the Sabers, didn't it? Nick Saban? I know he's a god of college football, but his stint with the Dolphins was a complete disaster. Please, no.

I was yelling about Hackett, but in the end it comes down to Marone. I have never been more frustrated by play calling in a game the Bills were winning. Run-run-pass in a long yardage situation with the Jets sending everyone at Orton. They did not have a first down in the second half (save for the third-quarter TD ten-yard drive) until the fourth quarter, and that was by penalty. What the hell is Marone thinking? Does he really think he's going to get six turnovers against every team they play. If they take this tack against the Chiefs they will be blown away.

The idea of bringing in all these totally inexperienced famous players as coaches and expecting them to be better than people who have spent decades coaching is ludicrous fantasy. Very very few great players make good coaches. The ability to play and the ability to teach others to play are different abilities. How many Hall of Fame players became Hall of Fame coaches? How many great scientists are even adequate teachers? This whole post is silly.

This is a ludicrously stupid question. Ask me in December.

Orton was very impressive in that presser. He handled a tough situation perfectly, keeping account of a number of different issues, and answering quickly and precisely. I don't know how much if anything his self possession and intelligence in that circumstance will translate onto the field. After all, if he can't throw, he can't throw. But I have to feel that the guy is going to go out there, not be overwhelmed, and give the best he's got, earning the respect of his teammates.

Really well reasoned. It's stuff like this that makes this board worth reading.

Give me a freakin' break!

According to facebook, there is no county in the U.S. where facebook users say they prefer the Jets over every other team. http://www.cbssports...ts-have-no-fans

EJ threw with anticipation repeatedly in the second Jets game. Go watch it. For instance, he hit two long passes on successive plays (the second for a TD) to Graham and Goodwin. IN both cases he had to fire the pass before the receiver broke open. Also, for all those who say he never or can't throw long, these were both long passes, over thirty yards in the air.

Nope. I'm not sure it is entirely rational, but I think EJ has more potential. Have not been impressed with Tannehill.