BillsVet

I believe OBD has been terrified of a having anyone threaten their anointed one at QB despite the re-arranging of people in the front office. Happened with Fitz and it's happening again with EJ. They even went out of their way to say Fitz wasn't going to challenge Trentative in '09 when the former was signed. There's been no competition at that position while they preached about it at other positions. At a minimum the QB controversy will crop up when EJ struggles, because as we all know, the backup QB is the most popular guy in town. At the same time, this is move to send a message to EJ that his play is unsatisfactory (despite how delusional EJ is post-game when he says he played well) and he can be yanked by someone better than Jeff Tuel or Thad Lewis.

QB controversy here we come.

John McCargo (in trade for a 2nd and 3rd), Ashton Youboty, Trent Edwards, James Hardy, Aaron Maybin, Torrell Troup, Alex Carrington, and Kelvin Sheppard. And those are the guys picked while Tom Modrak (who amazingly served under Donahoe, Levy, Brandon, and Nix) was college scouting director. That's 8 1st-3rd round picks that busted in 6 drafts. Every team makes mistakes in evaluating talent, but few have dropped to the depths Buffalo has. Just hitting on a 1st or 2nd every now and then isn't enough. Small market teams need to win the draft and the Bills haven't/aren't.

EJ's got his own personal QB coach, Bills QB coach Todd Downing, Senior Offensive Assistant Jim Hostler, the new backup Palmer, Hackett, and Marrone in his ear. That's as many as 6 guys giving him advice. And EJ is apt to say he doesn't think he did a bad job last night. Is he delusional or are his handlers doing an emperor has no clothes type thing with him?

Are the Bills better with Jairus Byrd and Aaron Williams at safety or Aaron Williams and one of Duke Williams/Da'Norris Searcy/Jonathan Meeks? How will they replace the turnovers, particularly in a new defensive scheme? We will soon find out. No one player make a team playoff worthy, except perhaps the QB and that's being discussed elsewhere. The Bills allowed Byrd to walk and saved some money in the process. They then signed Chris Williams, Keith Rivers, and Corey Graham in UFA. We'll see if this plan works.

Italian Catholics are fast talkers?

If the play call is right for the situation, each receiver runs the right route and great protection, the QB can still destroy the play for a variety of reasons. Misreading the defense, a bad throw, failure to feel the rush, etc. I saw throws in last year's TB game that were dreadful...and he wasn't under pressure. EJ has a lot of potential and athletic ability. Whether he brings it all together is another matter entirely.

Art Modell was too busy cheating the city of Cleveland off the field for Belichick to do too much of the on-field variety.

Belichick's a cheater and he probably cheated with the Browns and Giants too. His drafting Brady in 2000 was pure luck and he's, frankly, cheated and lucked his way into 3 SB wins and 2 more appearances as a HC. And Bob Kraft is a bad owner because he wants a team in London and L.A After all, Greggo, Mularkey, Jauron, Gailey, and Marrone would have the same record with Brady. No question.

The HC search was conducted by a team led by Brandon, and while Nix was in the room, it was clear neither he nor Whaley's voice out-weighed Brandon. Marrone's introductory press conference was led by Brandon, who days before had assumed the role of team president. It was clear RB was taking control after his promotion. I think Marrone was RB's guy and the others supported his hire This is a nuanced topic, but after the debacle in 2009-10 hiring a GM and HC, I think Russ wanted a little more control. And far be it from the outgoing GM and the then Assistant GM to tell the team president they didn't want his guy.

It's the NFL...no one's got much patience given the mandate to win ASAP. It's already too late for them to make a move for a starting QB, HC, OC, etc, so mid-season is way beyond the point of no return. Yep, he is. But they handed him 3.1M guaranteed in December and signed him for 4 years total. Not a big contract, but for them to sign a guy to decent money and then said player is cut after such a poor off-season. You would expect better from a NFL pro personnel department.

Just a thought, but I don't think this is the first time the there have been differences. In February we learned the coaches wanted a new training staff. And it was vetoed from on high by presumably senior management. Coaches leaked their displeasure, forcing Brandon through Chris Brown to say there was no issue and the trainers would remain in place.

John Butler was fired. Buddy Nix was retired. Much different scenario. The point is, the organization decided 2013 would be Buddy's last go-round as GM. And I highly doubt during the transition in the winter/spring of 2013 Buddy have significant input in who the HC and QB would be for the next GM. Buddy had no ill-will toward Brandon, unlike Butler who left under bad terms with RW. Nice try. This is turning into a dumpster fire.

One of the funnier things I've read on here in a long time.

I don't believe EJ was Buddy's pick. At all. It was pretty clear during HC interviews in late 2012/early 2013 that Nix was being pushed aside and the transition had began given Nix's comments about Marrone. No way would any pro organization allow the outgoing GM to pick the player who would most affect the future GM's performance.

And if you're the Bills, given KK's injury history, you put all the escalators in that contract you can. Cause he wasn't going to meet any of them with that kind of injury history.

Marrone: Russ, I could use Whaley to beat you. Russ: I'm the CEO Whaley: Guys, can't we just get along? You're scaring me!

The kind of contract Kolb received (2 yrs 6.1M) indicates to me they considered him a backup, but I digress. Agree on the bad planning part, which makes me wonder if it's more important they protect their reputation as new ownership enters the situation or if they're invested in winning games. That said, it's far too late to be looking for a backup QB. There aren't any left and the time to be charting a course was in January, not August.

If they considered signing Kolb in 2013 to presumably backup a rookie, doesn't it make sense to seek a veteran after a season in which that now-2nd year man started 10 times? it does, unless you're terrified that the 1st round pick may not be as good as advertised and the veteran shows something in TC. If anything, OBD has avoided anything resembling a QB controversy like the plague going back about 10 years.

No one ever said getting a good QB was easy or that one would fall in your lap. Aside from the Colts drafting first overall in 2012, it's been a struggle for most teams in the last 10 years. The Bills haven't gotten it done at the QB position since Polian signed Kelly in 1986 aside from brief interludes with Flutie and Bledsoe. There's no "easy button" when it comes to acquiring and developing QB's.

Ernie Accorsi said Reese should be GM. And his recommendation was taken by ownership (Well Mara and Bob Tisch) above Mara's son Chris. Kudos to the Giants ownership who would make that move.

Con: History of below average email forwarding skills.

It's ironic that some players think it's a fan problem.

Amen. There's gotta be better perspective than just comparing stats to indicate the greatness of a player. While we're at it, how about comparing Johnny U in the late 50s/early 60s to Montana in the early to mid 80s?