OldTimer1960

I agree. I was alarmed at the poor play by the entire offense, including EJ and especially the OL, but to criticize his press conferences is silly. I believe than he is working hard and I *hope* that the OL shuffling is over so that maybe they can get some cohesion. I am less confident today than I was before the game, but I am still hopeful that the O can pull it together. There is lots of (young/inexperienced) talent on this team. Hopefully, they can grow quickly.

I have been staunch in my belief that EJ needs to be given at least a full season this year to determine if he can be a competent NFL QB, but that 1st half performance was worse than JP Losman ever put together. Still, I agree that the problems really began with the OL. No holes on 1st down runs and a myriad penalties put the offense in no-win position. I get that the OL has been shuffled and reshuffled over and over, but they were flat abysmal -and that is a LOT for an offense to overcome

The OL was embarrassingly horrendous. Did they block anyone? How many penalties did they have on top of that? How could they be THIS bad?

The OL was embarrassingly horrendous. Did they block anyone? How many penalties did they have on top of that? How could they be THIS bad?

This isn't even professional football. Ugh, there is way too much talent on this team to play this poorly..

OK, I've been defending EJ since he was drafted, but he is terrible.

Very uninspiring. OL has played very poorly so far.

Maybe in a year, they have lots of young talent. My question in response is how many top 5 QBs are there in the league (5 right?). That means that 27 other teams don't have a top 5 QB and I think many of them reject the notion that the only way to get deep into the playoffs is to have a superstar HOF QB.

In spite of all the bashing that he took on this board, Buddy Nix had a hand in improving this roster, too. I believe that the overall talent on the Bills' roster is far greater than when Nix first arrived. Still, if the idea for THIS year was to compete with a dominant defense while developing the young offensive talent (Manuel, Watkins, Woods, and the young OL, etc), then from my vantage point they have taken multiple significant unplanned hits (Byrd, Dareus, Pettine and now Alonzo) that will very likely weaken the defense that they were counting on and put more pressure on a very young offense.

Did you even read my post? Nowhere in there did I say that there was no young talent or that the entire foundation of the team was gone. Nor did I say that EJ Manuel was bad. I described Manuel as a young inexperienced QB whom I think can develop into a good game manager - and that isn't a criticism, teams can win with strong defense and a solid QB that manages the game. Further, I said that the team was built counting on a very strong defense to carry them while they assembled and developed the young talent on offense. The point of my post was that the defense (that they were counting on to be very strong) has taken several unplanned big hits this offseason and doesn't look like it will be a big strength - at least it doesn't to me. My post was lamenting the Bills' bad luck. I happened to agree with their strategy. So, for everyone that tried to simplify my post into "one player's injury doomed the season" or worse inserted things that I specifically did not say - chill and learn to read.

Also lost the Defensive Coordinator who manufactured a lot of pressure with his blitzes.

This team was attempting to build a very strong defense to keep it in contention while they added young talent to the offense. The team was intended to win with defense and not lose the game on offense. This is illustrated by the selection of EJ Manuel as it's QB. I think that Manuel can be a competent starter with a very good defense to take pressure off of him and significant talent around him on offense. However, I don't see Manuel as a top 5 QB. Who can carry a team on his back. I felt that the Bills' strategy of building a very strong D and adding offensive talent around Manuel was a good one. Unfortunately, the defense that was the foundation of the team has crumbled this offseason - mostly through no fault of the organization. Byrd didn't want to be here, so one Pro Bowl defender gone. Then the Browns hired DC Mike Pettiness away leaving Jim Schwartz and his whack wide-9 scheme in its place. Next, talented but under-achieving Marcell Dareus put himself in position to be suspended. Finally (hopefully), the Bills lost their only starting caliber LB. (Alonzo). The team is now left with 3-4 personnel trying to play a 4-3- likely missing Dareus for a chunk ofmthenseason. I would venture to say that the defense went from potentially very good to a liability with perhaps a bottom 10 defense. The offense now has some young talent at WR and OL, with an inexperienced QB who has shown enough to be hopeful that he could become an effective game manager. Unfortunately, they really needed to focus on winning 14-10, but now they'll be lucky to hold many opponents below 25-30 points - that is a pace that this young O could not sustain for an entire half

That is how I remember it and Wikipedia says so - Williams was the 4th pick

FAIL

I would like for them to get Brandon Oliver today. I know he would be a long shot to make the team, but he was very good for UB and I think he'd have a chance.

She is correct. Mr. Oldtimer, esq

I like the gamble on a 1st round talent with a question on health. Certain that the Bills' Doctors were comfortable with him.

I don't see it this way at all. A good backup QB is worth a 4th or 5th round pick, especially if you have a better grade on him than other positions.

Don't really like giving up next year's #1, but Watkins is a great prospect.

They now have 2 very good corners and didn't give up much to move 1 spot

Usually next year's picks are devalued by a round in this year's draft. So consider it a 2nd and 5th to move up this year.

Ugh next year's 1 is gone... But Watkins IS a great prospect. Suspicious arm? I am not saying that Manuel is a sure thing, but his arm strength is not a question in my mind.

Not liking this move no matter who they pick

NO!!!!

Good news that Bortles has gone. Let this start a run on QBs...