I think there is some legitimate concern about Manuel's brittle knees. He's had injuries to both and were not even 1/3 the way thru his first regular season. For a QB who relies on mobility it's a concern.
There's no way Byrd plays for Buffalo next year and the Bills aren't making the playoffs this year either. Trade him now for whatever you can get which could probably be a 2nd or 3rd round pick.
One game should not be the basis of determining whether or not these are "the same old Bills." You have to look over a body of work which in this teams' case will be at least 8 games if not the entire season.
I think the Alonso pick was the result of trading down with the Rams. I don't know whether to credit Nix, Whaley, or both but so far that pick has been a homerun and long overdue I might add.
Working after practice will only help but how can you say he will be a very solid QB. He may be an all-pro or a complete bust. Nobody knows at this point.
The injury doesn't phase me in the least. The Bills have no chance of making the playoffs either way. The purpose of this season is to try to figure out if EJ Manuel can be a legit QB in the NFL. Nobody knows the answer to that question after 3 games. We'll have a much better idea after 16 of them.
Classic case of a guy being over-rated simply because he was a 1st round draft pick. We see the same thing here with Marcel Dareus. Lots of Bills fans think he is great because he was the 3rd pick in the draft but the fact of the matter is he's an average defensive tackle in the NFL if you look at his play objectively.
This team is not going anywhere this year. I'd rather see what they have in the young guys as painful as that may be than being in a vet for the rest of the season.