JESSEFEFFER

Yeah, I noticed that. Nice to think he learned something during his time here.

Bills have two against the Jets and can take care of business against them. As for the rest of the Jets schedule, I am enjoying watching Fitz do his thing. The man cried as he hugged his teammates on locker cleanout day after the 2012 season. He wanted it pretty bad and knew his time here was over as was Gailey's. He's played better for the Titans, Texans and Jets. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/0ap3000000562801/Sound-FX-Ryan-Fitzpatrick I would love to see him do that against the Pats.

EJ has now compiled a TQBR of 50+ in 9 of his 15 starts. This is actually a high success rate of competent play. Most QBs with his level of experience do not break 50%.

I took it a different way. It seemed like Henderson was shocked that JM brought it up. Almost as if he were revealing classified info. JM said he didn't "hear" it anywhere, just was specualting as were some fans. Henderson said something about keeping that talk low key. Maybe he was messing with Murphy.

I will state that I hate any argument based on the NFL's passer rating. If statistics are like bikinis as stated by Aaron Levenstein, the NFL's NFL Passer rating is a retro fashion, one piece suit of QB stats. It is not only missing vital insight but it can be misleading as well. Some things missed: 1) QB runs for first downs and TDs which obviously is a plus for EJ and a huge plus for Tyrod. 2) QBs that avoid sacks or minimize the yardage lost to them, often by throwing an incomplete pass or sensing pressure and moving forward. 3) QB that lead scoring drives that are capped by a short yardage score by a RB. 4) QBs that can protect the ball at all times, whether in the pocket or out. QB fumbles are huge game changers, moreso than ints. Some ints are like punts or offer no advantage to the other team but a QB fumble lost rarely is . 5) The game context of when attempts, completions, TDs and Ints occur. The NFL passer rating can hide many flaws. Kyle Orton is the type of QB that benefits most from it.

I was struck by the amount they paid for the Bills. Billionaires don't get to be that way by overpaying above and beyond the market value set by other bidders by $300,000,000. Then, Mary Wilson formed the foundation from the most of the proceeds and it's now being used to fund community development in and around Buffalo and Detroit. So maybe they looked at it as a good will overpayment to help endow the foundation.

Sure. But a preference for what? QB #2 job description: 1) Study the gameplan and work practice reps behind the #1. 2) Enter the game as a substitute for #1 sand run the offense after having had minimal practice reps during the week. 3) Start any of the games that the #1 is unable to.

During the spring there was a thread here about Ryan Tannehill that went along the lines of who'd we want to see as the Bills QB, him or EJ. Tannehill never impressed vs. the Bills, didn't show much clutch play especially late in the season and now has the big contract. I said that I really wanted to see EJ play in this offense for these coaches because I thought this situation is more suited to bringing the best out of him.

You have to realize that TV coverage will almost always give us a better look at these plays than the officials get calling them live. There is no other way to make calls other than how they "look." Umpriing a stolen base attempt at second base from behind home plate, you make a call based on whether the ball was there in time and whether the ball is caught and the glove is down before the runner reaches the bag. Don't tell the umpire that the tag was actually missed because it is impossible to see if a tag is actually applied from that angle. I am surprised at how poorly the wording is for the horse collar rule. There should be language about pulling the runner down from behind while striking the back of their legs. That's the dangerous play it is intended to prevent so why not word it that way. The Titans did this to Tyrod and the Bills did not do so to Mariota.

Travel anywhere in the other 49 and tell someone that you are from New York. All of them will assume you mean the city. Kind of irritating in a way. This is more subtle evidence that Rex is an intelligent, observant man who has picked up the sensitivities of our region rather quickly.

Once he beats the RT, he becomes the fastest moving player in that clip. He also had a very good game against the Bills last year. I think much of Kyle Orton's difficult day was the result of Mack. Also, as happens often, the o-lineman that gets toasted becomes the most likely to recover the fumble because he is the first to know that his QB is going to be road kill.

Thanks for the serious reply. The best of the smart ass replies was the one about the wings but they certainly can add something extra to the conversation.

When Rex was going over the history of how he developed an interest in Tyrod Taylor he mentioned that he had gotten positive reviews from guys like Ed Reed and Ray Lewis. What was most interesting to me was the one he got from Cam Cameron after Cam had left the Ravens. Rex said he COULDN'T share what that opinion was which left me to wonder why. Since Flacco was not very good much of the 2012 regular season which probably lead to Cam's firing, I think his opinion may be along the lines of "Tyrod is better than Flacco and if it were my call, he'd have been the starter." NFL coaches are adverse to having their names attached to opinions like that because it could bite them in the butt down the road. Often we hear opinions with unnamed sources, whereas, in this case, we know the source but not the opinion.

But, I heard from multiple, well-informed, expert analysts that the Bills had the worst QB situation in the entire NFL. So this just can't be true. I also heard that Darby was a 4th round talent that could not play the ball and that the Bills were screwed because they did not have a 1st round pick to leverage to draft a QB.

Christian Ponder? There is evidence to suggest that the Bills liked him in the draft.

I particulaly liked the descriptions of the blocking miscues and the "Surrender Cobra" term. I hadn't that one before. I think I'll search the term and see if it had been used before. Fairly new but maybe common to the college game.

Maybe this will get moved because it is Bills related only because Chad is related to Jim, but this is the funniest breakdown of a play I have ever seen. It's from the Mississippi vs. 'Bama game. I think I laughed out loud 5 times reading this and thought it was worth a share. http://www.redcuprebellion.com/2015/9/23/9372921/ole-miss-touchdown-alabama-chad-kelly-quincy-adeboyejo-tip-6

Within the normal context of #2 / #3 designations, the question makes sense. But, if Jerry were paying attention, he might have sensed that there was something different about the MC / EJM situation. The first clue was that they cut Matt Cassel, so obvioulsy there was some thinking that the risk of losing him and having EJM as the #2 was acceptable. What Rex said and didn't say at the PC when Matt was brought back certainly left room to speculate that there was something abnormal about what the #2 and #3 designations meant.

Gameweek practice can only accommodate getting 1 QB fully prepared to play and 1 QB to play, if needed, but without nearly as much preparation. You can't really have both at the same time. EJ was probably doing well with the scout team work and it could have helped him with decision making, throwing mechanics, use of time and space and overall accuracy but that was doing nothing to help him grow in Greg Roman's offense.

Which is more valuable to a franchise? A #2 QB that has extensive NFL starting experience and can thus work the practices and the games with the #1 QB who has very litttle starting experience while offering no long term value himself or a #2 QB who is showing signs of developing into the QB he was drafted to be and needs more experience within its offense and its weekly gameplans. That's two different visions for the role. So, to say that Matt was the better QB for the first two weeks because EJ didn't dress is to ignore that there are different reasons a QB could be best suited to be #2. A short term one (for Tyrod's benefit) or a longer term one (who has more to offer should they become #1.)

This is what I threw out there when Rex had his press conference after they brought back Cassel: I'll play the game. In the following quote: What was going to follow the "....."? "We brought Matt Cassel back,” Ryan said in an unscheduled meeting with reporters. “We said all along we like our three quarterbacks which is obvious. For your depth chart purposes Matt will be two, EJ [Manuel] will be three, but that means…. As I have said from day one we like all three of the guys and we never want to lose anybody obviously. So that is why we made the decision we did." The "your depth chart" implies the one released to the media. The "but" implies that there is more to the depth chart than appearances. What that is, I do not know. But I will speculate for the fun of it. The Bills like to have Cassel with the ones in practices, running plays that are in the game plan. They think there is something of benefit to Tyrod to have Matt Cassel there with him during practices and reviewing the tape. EJ will run the scout team because it's a better look for the D to defend a QB that can challenge them more and good for EJ because it gives him more reps that what the typical #2 gets. If they were actually going to miss/replace Tyrod for any significant amount of time, I don't know what the hell happens then. But if the answer to that is EJ, then what you have is an atypical #2/#3 situation which seems to be what Rex was starting to say and then didn't finish. #2 and #3 for the purposes of your (the press release roster) roster, but the Bills' situation is not what it seems. Somehow. This is totally consistent with the trade. If this was the correct reading of the situation, Matt Cassel might have wanted the move because he has a better chance of actually earning the money back with the playing incentives that were added in to his new contract. If he was a gameday #2 only and EJ were the long term replacement #2 then I could see Matt Cassel being OK with the trade where he could see more actual playing time in Romo's absence.

One occurrence can happen with any random thing. Twice can be just a coincidence. Three times is a trend. This could be three consecutive NFL franchises that tried to improve their QB play by getting rid of FItz and have failed. Oh, the irony.

Nailed it. I am not sure how the blame gets divied up, but the o-line from deterioration from 2012 to 2014 is the biggest problem they had. Not EJ or KO. Going into a season with an o-line in disarray as they did last year is the prescription for a disappointing season. Decent o-line play in the first two games says that maybe Williams was going to help. Choosing Richardson over Urbik was probably more Doug Marrone's decision as was moving Pears to guard but Whaley wanted to keep that 2nd round pick and Cyrus Kouandjio was not of any help to them in 2014.

I bought season tickets to ensure that my 80 year old aunt and 76 year old mother could go to one more game of their choosing. I told them that they should pick the 2nd week to go to with all the implications of that matchup and hoped I could get some of the money back on some of the others. I have people in mind for the Giants and Dolphins games which I will sell at my cost but I'll be curious to see what the market for those tickets will be in the remaining games.

I took this as road rage sarcasm. But, it sounded like a slight exaggeration of genuine malice. Much like I felt toward the driver of a semi tractor/trailor who decided to change lanes from the righthand lane to the center lane, in heavy rush hour traffic on the eastbound 90, right where my minivan was, then changed back to the original right lane, then drove on the berm to pass all those taking the eastbound 33 exit. I felt genuine malice toward that truck driver for having put so many people at risk of inury/death. Practically speaking, let's weigh a single vehicle accident and his serious/fatal injury vs. a multivehicle pileup and serious injuries/fatalities to others, including my 5 year old son and 4 year old daughter, my wife and me. I suspect we all know that feeling and, I suspect, that feeling is the source of Schopp's comments. So I can't call him out on it.