The offense is bad. Not Ej.

[Solomon Grundy]

I watched the game Thursday night until the starters were pulled. I didn't need to watch it again to see this offense is struggling and it is not struggling because of the Quarterback. Are they struggles that having an elite guy back there might be able to cover over? Sure... but there are only 4 or 5 of those guys around.... there are Superbowl winning Quarterbacks playing in the NFL today who would look a mess in this Bills offense at the moment. The slant to Sammy apart EJ didn't play a bad game..... but the line is bad, CJ still wants to bumpe everything to the outside and we had two key 3rd down conversion drops on catchable balls.

 

CJ, Bryce Brown and Fred are bumping everything to the outside because there are no running lanes up the middle. This line has to gel quickly! They can't handle line stunts.

[The Wiz]

Does anyone rememeber seeing EJ fire the ball accurately into a narrow window where you say "that was a bigtime throw?". I just can't rememebr it. Completeions always look like receivers are overreaching for balls due to his innacuracy.

Does this count?

 

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000294348/Stevie-Johnson-33-yard-reception

[PromoTheRobot]

Does anyone rememeber seeing EJ fire the ball accurately into a narrow window where you say "that was a bigtime throw?". I just can't rememebr it. Completeions always look like receivers are overreaching for balls due to his innacuracy.

Yes, many times, but they don't count because it goes against the narrative.

 

I'm confused. Which part of the offense makes EJ throw inaccurate passes and shy away from downfield throws?

 

I think it's the preseason part.

 

Funny, I got ripped to shreads for making this same observation after the Tampa game. Now other people see it.

Edited September 1, 2014 by PromoTheRobot

[GunnerBill]

CJ, Bryce Brown and Fred are bumping everything to the outside because there are no running lanes up the middle. This line has to gel quickly! They can't handle line stunts.

 

Yea no argument the line is bad, but there was at least one occassion when CJ could have got 4 or 5 yards if he had just gone north to south and instead he bounced out looking for the big run and just about got back to the line.

 

It's depressing. At the moment this offense looks badly conceptualised, badly coached and badly executed. I hope to God Hackett has something up his sleeve to show us on Sunday but at the moment I can't believe that he has.

[Nanker]

In the era of spread offenses Hackett is one of the few with a true fullback on the roster. Hopefully something new comes around with the regular season but last year and through this preseason i have been very underwhelmed with the offensive concepts that are being deployed.

Boy, you sure do know your NFL rosters! What an informed statement you made. Here. I did some quick research of the league's "final" rosters as of 8 AM today and lookie what I found! Hardly ANY teams have a FB on their roster. Well, I did find a few, and here they are with with team site links to their profiles in case you think I'm being untruthful and simply spreading misconceptions and biased innuendoes.

 

Jets: Tommy Bohanon

Miami: none

Pats*: no "FB" but this is one of their RBs James Develin - 6'3" 255#

Ravens:

Bungles: no "FB" but like the Cheatriots above this guy's a "RB" Ryan Hewitt - 6'4" 254#

Brownies: Ray Agnew

Stealers: Will Johnson

Texans: Jay Prosch AND Toben Opurum

Colts: Mario Harvey

Jags: Will Ta'ufo'ou AND Eric Kettani

Thumbtacks: Jackie Battle

Broncos: none

KC Chefs: Anthony Sherman

Rayders: Marcel Reece AND Jamize Olawale AND Karl Williams

Bolts: none

 

Dullass: none

Jints: Henry Hynoski

Philly: none

Washing: none

Bears: Tony Fiammetta

Lions: Jed Collins AND Montell Owens

Pack: John Kuhn

Vikes: Jerome Felton AND Zach Line

Saints: Erik Lorig AND Austin Johnson

Falcons: Patrick DiMarco

Panthers: Mike Tolbert

Bucs: Jorvorskie Lane

Cards: none

Sams: Kadeem Jones

Niners: Bruce Miller

C-Hawks: Derrick Coleman

[PlayoffsPlease]

One of the themes around the off season was to give EJ "weapons". A second theme was beefing up the o line. Most expensive free agent pick up was Chris Williams a guard, and three draft picks were used the offensive line. The team has performed poorly in preseason ( I am not talking wins and losses which don't matter, but simple failure to execute which does matter). There are a range of explanations for this all of which could be true, most of which are not mutually exclusive:

1. EJ simply isn't a good QB at this point and it doesn't matter what weapons he has or how the offensive line plays
   
2. Whaley isn't as good a judge of talent as people think and Chris Williams, Cyril Richardson and Kuondjo were not good pickups and won't be able to help the team much.
   
3. Coaching isn't adequate
   
4. Bills are playing some version of possum by giving up sacks, putting up a weak completion percentage and all the while not throwing the ball downfield much.
   
5. Fans need to have another dose of patience. The o line picks and trade up for Sammy Watkins are expected to pay dividends further down the road, not 2014.
   

[Green Lightning]

Over the next several weeks we'll have all the information we need about EJ. It's useless to speculate now. I'm not feeling it and the FO's Orton signing shows their concern but the kid may be a gamer. We'll see. I'm tired of talking about it. It's go time so let's see what we got.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Green Lightning

[machine gun kelly]

I can only assess what i've seen in pre-season. What I saw was an inaccurate QB, staring down WR, and just looked bad. I also saw an O-Line that is not giving enough time maintaining a pocket, and only marginally decent at run blocking (which should be their strength given the size and power on the line). The WR were not given enough time to get open, but still were not getting open.

 

what looks exciting is the defense, and specifically run stoppage for once.

 

I'm not chicken little so the sky is not falling, but they better look like a different team this Sunday, or the Bears are going to crush us.

[Dan]

...

 

It's depressing. At the moment this offense looks badly conceptualised, badly coached and badly executed. I hope to God Hackett has something up his sleeve to show us on Sunday but at the moment I can't believe that he has.

This is my take of our offense, going back to last season. It's a badly conceptualised mess. The coaching staff keeps trying to run plays that just don't work, that don't fit the players we have, that are poorly designed... and we're left to blame the players for executing. Then this preseason, we get all the OLine shuffling while our coach tells us that having the same 5 guys play together isn't a big deal for line play... and now our line looks to be the worst unit on the team.

 

The offense has steadily gone downhill since Chan left, yet by all accounts we have more talented players. How does that figure? It's much more than just one player, that how.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

If you can't objectively see that EJ is easily one of the worst starting QBs in the NFL, if not the absolute worst, well then I salute your fanhood but have to say you are either pretty uninformed about football or being blindly optimistic because you love your team.

 

Due to NFL regulations, anyone who in any way appear to condone or otherwise endorse Doug Flutie as a legitimate nfl QB, are immediately and categorically unqualified to make any assertions about nfl QB play.

 

Carry on...

[ALF]

The OL is back to last years starters except Chris Willams at LG a big ??

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Watching that game, it seemed like kuandjo was singlehandedly responsible for blowing up 10 plays himself. I have never seen anyone get beat so easily and consistently. It's frightening that he was out there with EJ.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Before watching lions game i thought like a lot of fans here (not that much), that Ej is holding us back. But after watching 1st q vs lions, it doesn't look like that at all. He was not perfect. But damn, give the guy some help!

 

Pocket collapsed real quick on his 2 allowed sacks.

Fred Jackson dropped an easy one. He got up pissed off. He knew he effed up. That would have been a first instead of a punt.

R. Woods dropped another one, that while not perfect, was very catchable. That would have been a first, instead of a punt.

Lets not talk about the negative plays of the rbs that are bringing the 3rd and long situations. Dude I thought we had great rbs.... wthell!

 

Anyway this is not all on ej. Yeah the slant pass to sammy was not good, but it wasn't intercepted either. It was batted down by Sammy.

 

Do u guys see what I see? Or im just on blind ej affection?

 

It's a team game...... They all failed to execute, which is repairable. Reality is opposing defenses are going to stack the box and take away the run, until our QB shows he can beat them. Maybe he will, and maybe not.

 

On accuracy, Ej hit that deep cross to woods 10 to 15 times last year with some lasers, so choose to hope for what you wish, the team will be what they will be irrespective of your position. continue being positive and optimistic, it's better than just pissing and moaning in misery all the time!

 

 

[MattM]

I did the same thing yesterday and came to the same conclusion. The O-line play was brutal and those were two drops by FJ and Woods that would have been firsts. That said, the O still seems to work only in fits and starts with EJ in there--"herky-jerky" is the adjective it brings to mind. And good Lord I hope we end this no huddle crap. All it does is tire out our own defense.

[Big Gun]

or it's just preseason.

 

Right, it's just preseason. That's why the Bills and Pats were talking about Ryan Mallett. Please with this preseason crap, EJ is not a good QB!

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

Right, it's just preseason. That's why the Bills and Pats were talking about Ryan Mallett. Please with this preseason crap, EJ is not a good QB!

Right EJ is not a good QB. That's why they were talking and bringing in Palmer, Mallett, and Orton FOR THE BACK-UP QB JOB. Mallett was going to be the #2 QB.Because Thad and Tuel were horrible, where did you get the idea he was going to replace EJ.

[Big Gun]

Right EJ is not a good QB. That's why they were talking and bringing in Palmer, Mallett, and Orton FOR THE BACK-UP QB JOB. Mallett was going to be the #2 QB.Because Thad and Tuel were horrible, where did you get the idea he was going to replace EJ.

 

and if you think Mallett was going to be brought in to be the backup, I have some waterfront property in Florida for sale, you interested?

[Chandler#81]

For a little perspective, OP, the Bronco offense was abysmal with Orton & Tebow at the helm, sneaking out miraculous 'W's with last minute drives 10-9; 14-13. In walks a guy named Manning and the same bunch of bums overnight turn into the most prolific offense in the history of history.

 

Correlation? The other 10 guys have to believe in the QB before they seem to hold themselves to a higher level.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

For a little perspective, OP, the Bronco offense was abysmal with Orton & Tebow at the helm, sneaking out miraculous 'W's with last minute drives 10-9; 14-13. In walks a guy named Manning and the same bunch of bums overnight turn into the most prolific offense in the history of history.

 

Correlation? The other 10 guys have to believe in the QB before they seem to hold themselves to a higher level.

Yep, that's true, and to build off that. Manning held everyone accountable to achieve a higher level, but as a QB, you must have the clout to do so.

[MyHorseAteTheKid]

Blame Hackett... What worked in college isn't working in the pro's!!!