WhitewalkerInPhilly

Yeah, have you seen the new uniform they want him wearing?

You mean, the Bills get games that are the only ones playing at the time, so there is no getting blacked out for people out of town? And they get to test their starters against two playoff teams, in a scenario that they can work out the kinks in their offense before the season begins? Perish the thought.

Is it me, or have their particularly stupid questions being asked this offseason? "Do you know how Mario's foot is?" "Did he have permission to leave?" "Would you rather have Byrd be here, rather than not being here?" "Have you learned anything new about Mario's foot since I last asked?" "Have you hit F5 to update?" "No, I don't have a legitimate journalist whose credentials I stole ground up and in the freezer, why do you ask?" Yeesh. But I am excited to see how things shake out, especially with EJ against a defense that isn't our own. Have we simply been extremely rigorous and EJ is better for it, or does he still have a long way to go before facing the Patriot's defense?

With all the hype of the Dolphins, I can't help but be reminded about the hype about the Bills last year and the hype about the Eagles in 2011. With us, signing Mario Williams was going to solve everything, and with Fitz recovered from his rib injury, he was supposed to be all ready for action. Of course, Wanny called the most boring defense ever and Chan could never figure out that when you have a RB that can average 6 yards a carry, you should run the ball more. With all the hype about the big money the Phins spent on free agency, I have to wonder if anyone thought about whether the chemistry would be there? It's a little early to say about Tannehill (much like it's too early to say about EJ) but I really wonder if I would trade our WR corps for theirs, especially considering how Graham and Goodwin have looked.

Well, I guessed wrong. Of course, that was before Kolb had missed multiple practices and EJ was thrown to the wolves on defense. Wow...I forgot how big a troll you can be.

Oh, so many good answers: "Because knowing our luck, it's running Windows Vista" "The Robot Apocalypse has to happen somehow" "If it was apple, we'd wind up losing two copies of the playbook in some bar" "Windows 8 is better for touch screens...we ought to call a few" "Siri, what play should we run next?" "I'm sorry, I can't answer that."

He really is a Will, which puts him behind Dowtin and Bradgam on the chart. Still, if we're low on safeties, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back there, especially if we're playing more exotic variations of the nickel.

Annnd now I'm imagining a cyborg Marrone "Run Analytics.exe!"

I think Kolb starts, and they sic EJ on the second team defense on the Colts to see how he does against another squad. EJ probably gets started for the second, and the winner likely placed to start game 3.

Gator Bowl, Chik-Fil-A Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Orange Bowl and Senior Bowl.

I hope you're right, because 1) EJ has a track record of coming up big for games (5-0 for bowl games if I remember) and 2) That means that we have an aggressive and talented defense every week, which I SO WANT TO SEE!

Thanks again Astro! Was EJ as bad as it seemed in scrimmage? I know I heard stories of him having the 2nd team Oline to back himself up against the 1st team D, but it's fair to admit where he's struggling. We knew there would be some moments, and that we have over a month for him to improve enough for week one...if he plays. For those who were there, I know there are depth problems in places, but how does our 1st team D look, even without Byrd, and the Williams? I'm hoping to too. I know EJ hates the title of "running QB" and I don't want him doing it every play, but (at least to start) I'm ok with the 1, 2, 3 (Spiller or Jackson), RUN! being his thought process. We can go up tempo with the run game all the same, so I don't have any problems throwing those plays in.

Indeed. Come on, we didn't really think that a rookie QB was going to go through a season without rough patches, did we? Even Luck, RGIII and Wilson had their moments, and having EJ slowly increase his comfort level while Pettine throws the house at him sounds like we're on track for a progression for Week 1.

Thanks, we appreciate it mrags.

Thoughts on the depth chart: Rodgers looks rather low, behind Hogan, Brad Smith and Easley. We've been hearing about his physical gifts, but I did hear about some mental mistakes, so I think there's a chance Marrone cuts him or puts him on practice squad. Do my eyes deceive me, or do they have the defense in a 4-3 setup? I know that this is only a guide, but we've been expecting a 3-4 so much it seems a little jarring. I love seeing Carrington on the edge as a DE. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets moved inside a lot when they move to 4-3 and it looks like his athleticism and time at multiple positions may actually help him. We look absolutely stacked on the DE line, and I'm liking the look of our front 7 a lot better than last year. Hoepfully they can take some pressure off the DB's. Aaron Williams is penciled in as Strong Safety instead of Free Safety. It should make for an interesting combo if/when Byrd comes back with him still there.

Thanks Zac, it can be infuriating living too far away to make practices and trying to piece apart how things are going from tweets. I think we all knew EJ was going to have some bad days, but it's nice to hear that he's having them when Pettine is throwing the more complex stuff at him. Remembering how he responded to problems in the first practice, here's hoping that he bounces back tomorrow.

I had to laugh at that one. I know that I should be asking to see progress before I start hanging out congratulations, but it's still refreshing to hear a strong voice...and I kind of have to say, I appreciate the Marrone attitude that we've seen so far. He is as blunt as a sledgehammer being slammed into the knee of someone who owes the mob money and seems to loath bull****.

Hey Astro, observers were saying that EJ was looking sketchy. Any thoughts?

It's sounding like Manuel's having a bit of a rough day. Hey, the more lumps he takes now...

Joe Buscaglia ‏@JoeBuscaglia12m Rest of the team is here, and no Kevin Kolb. #Bills Manuel takes another day as lead. I have to wonder, with the first live scrimmage Monday night, if Kolb misses that as well and Manuel holds his own, is the competition over?

I honestly don't see how Geno Smith isn't the Jet's QB when we play them. Of course, I'm increasingly of the same opinion about Manuel after seeing what the man can do. I think we laughed at Kolb's injury a bit too.

I hate the wording on this question, since you can go higher than anything realistic and still be entirely correct. Semantics aside, I'd say that a reasonable minimal benchmark of success would be similar to Tannehill and the Dolphins: flashes of great play with some periods of slumps while building a rapport with the team, establishing himself as "the guy" and positioning himself for a good sophomore season. The Dolphins had a better defense in 2011 than we did in 2012 so there were fewer problems to fix. This is about as bad as it could get and still be called a "success" Alternately, there's the "highly optimistic" level, where Pettine can take a talented group which underperformed, fill in the holes and get the defense to be...average. Combined with heavy doses of Spiller and Jackson, the pressure is off EJ. In this scenario, the Bills come out strong week 1 and without a great deal of tape for the Patriots to study, and with Gronk out the Patriots are low on receiving threats. They also face the Ravens during their Superbowl hangover and a depleted roster to take 2 wins against 2012 division leaders. It wouldn't be *easy* mind you, but as PTR mentioned, the Bills went 6-10 with a poor defensive scheme, wildly inaccurate QB play and a refusal to do the smart thing and RUN THE DAMN BALL when you have CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson. ... No comment

Hey, I'd love to see the Bills dial some of those up in the regular season. They mentioned a second one as well, even if they didn't show it.

You know, I'm happy that Kolb is alright. I really would prefer to have him there during the season but I'm not going to lie: this is a windfall for Manuel. There was always a bit of a concern about Kolb's injury history, and the timing works out almost perfectly for Manuel. Manuel was already making a strong case for starter on merit, and now he's had a complete practice in charge. If he gets two, three days of this? The competition may be over.

I like the idea of the 20 personnel grouping. I kept thinking all last offseason "If I'm Chan Gailey, I find a way to maximize the fact that you have two really strong running backs" Well, we all know how that turned out. While this offseason has flipped the order of who is the starter, I'd like to see both Spiller and Freddy getting and least 30 handoffs, with about 5-10 pass targets a game. The best part of the duo is that, while they aren't one dimensional, their strengths are diametrically opposed. Spiller's hallmark is his elusiveness and Freddy's is that, when he's trucking, you have to expect at least a few extra yards after initial contact. Does Spiller get tired? Yes. Is Freddy at increasing injury risk? Yes. So why not have them back each other? Also, I'd love to see wrinkles where you run Read Option in that setup. I don't if it's possible, but the idea of defenses having to anticipate runs from Spiller, Freddy AND EJ tickles me.