hondo in seattle

Is anyone else old enough to remember when Tom Landry used to alternate between Craig Morton and Roger Staubach? Landry went to the Super Bowl with both those QBs. There's no coaching rule that says you have to stay with the same QB forever. Yep, fans and players both like continuity under center. But it's not the right answer for every circumstance. I won't say Marrone is a great coach - that remains to be seen. But this is the right move at the right time. EJ seems to be regressing while Orton has been progressing with his understanding of the offense.

How close are you to EJ? Personally, I'm not convinced that this isn't the best thing for Manuel. Besides throwing poorly in Houston, EJ looked downright hangdog and it appears some of the players were losing faith in him. I like EJ but have to concede that Orton probably gives us the better chance of winning right now. But I also wonder if EJ might also benefit.

I think that EJ hasn't played poorly for a 'rookie' overall. But yesterday he looked lost. It wasn't just that he was inaccurate, the expression on his face seemed to say he didn't expect to win. Sitting on the bench watching a more experience QB play might just be the best thing for EJ. In the old days, rookie QBs always learned by warming up the pine and carrying the clipboard. Maybe EJ will benefit from some old fashioned pressure-free learning. Outside the Bills organization, who knows how Orton has looked in practice. I'm assuming he's been here long enough now to learn the offense. And I'm assuming the coaches have seen that he's beginning to run the offense better than EJ and that's why he's starting. What I've seen of Orton in the past, he's a better QB than EJ is right now. Let's hope EJ continues to learn and earns the job back someday because he's become so much better.

Congrats on finding a diamond in a pile of crap. It was good to watch though. Late in the game, Houston had a lead and just wanted to run out the clock. But they had to pass because they were going to go 3-and-out if they tried to run it successively. Our run D made the game winnable late in the 4th quarter. As bad as Hackett called plays, as bad as EJ was throwing, we still had a change to win the game until late in the 4th quarter because of the defense, particularly the run D.

This is dead on. EJ was horrible yesterday. As much as I like EJ and have defended him, I can't criticize the decision to bench him. But Hackett's play-calling was downright bizarre. We were never out of the game. Our defense, particularly our run D, was playing well. We had two good backs who flashed some ability to run against the Texans while EJ was completing less than half his passes. All that ought to result in a lot of run calls. Instead Hackett kept throwing the ball. It's very hard to understand or justify.

I've been a EJ supporter - at least a cautiously optimistic one - all along. But he was flat our horrible yesterday. If you had to blame one player for Texans the loss, it would have to be him, hands down. I was actually thinking of kayaking next weekend or something less painful than watching the Bills. But, with Orton under center, I'll be joining my fellow Bills Backers in Seattle after all. Orton's now had enough time now to learn the offense and will give us a better chance to win. Hopefully EJ learns while riding the pine, a la Aaron Rodgers.

Most of the power polls have Houston rated low because of the low quality of their wins. Nonetheless, if the Bills win I think a lot of average-joe fans, not to mention the media, will begin to take notice the Bills are 3-1. Going 3-1 in any quarter of a NFL season is an accomplishment. Even if it's just a fumble or missed FB better than .500. The Texans aren't talentless. I expect a close game in Houston. But as a homer I'm 2-1 picking the Bills to win so I'm staying with them and hoping for the best.

Obviously, every GM takes input. Obviously not all of Whaley's input was acted upon. If Whaley loved all of Nix's decisions, why was he so quick to change to folks at the top of the personnel department? Do you have inside information so that you can tell us when Whaley agreed with Nix and when he dissented? I'm personally not privy to that stuff so I give Whaley a pass on Nix's tenure. And, yep, cutting TJax and signing Williams were mistakes. Then again, trading Shep for Jerry Hughes and drafting Alonso were both very good moves. So far, early in his career, Whaley's had some hits and misses - I'm sure we both could enumerate more of each. But, all-in-all, I think the roster is getting better and I'd like to see what Whaley will do with more time. BTW, calling me "clueless" doesn't add to your argument. In fact, resorting to ad hominem attacks is usually a tactic employed by people either short on facts or short on logic. There's an old saying, "When a pickpocket walks down the street, all he sees is pockets." Likewise, when a football critic observes a team, all he sees are things to criticize. Since Whaley has made both good and bad decisions, like most rookie GMs, I'd like to see what he does with more time. I don't think changing the FO and coaching staff every couple years makes Buffalo a desirable destination.

Geno is fun to watch. He throws these beautiful tight spirals with lots of zip that often seemed directed at the other team. And clownish Rex has a winning NFL record while serious Marrone has a losing record thus far. But his antics seem to be wearing thin in New York. I'll keep EJ and Dougie.

Nix was his own man and made his own decisions. And Whaley isn't simply carrying on Nix's plan and vision. As soon as Whaley took over, he shook the personnel department up. He hired an outsider - Jim Monos - to be the Director of Player Personnel. He brought in another outsider - Kelvin Fisher - to run college scouting. He also, I believe, replaced one of the regional scouts. It should be clear Whaley isn't just a Nix clone. So I'm not judging Whaley on Nix's tenure - only his own. And that tenure has only lasted 1.3 years so far. There's not a lot of evidence on which to base an opinion. Yeah, that was questionable!

I personally voted for EJ but I think the Orton and Vick supporters can make strong arguments for their choice. It's curious that 2nd strings are outpolling some starters.

Didn't Nix cut Fitz? In any case, you can't put every transaction - every decision - under a microscope. Not one single GM in the NFL would survive that kind of analysis. Personnel is an inexact science. Even winning GMs miss on draft picks, miss on FAs, and sometimes cut players who go on to star on other clubs. If you get close enough to an artistic masterpiece in a museum, you might see flaws in the execution. Not every brush stroke is perfect. But when you step back and look at the overall painting, it's beautiful. What's Whaley's overall body of work? I can't say because he hasn't finished the painting yet. But my sense is that the roster is stronger now than it was when Whaley took over. If he keeps making it stronger, we might get to cheer a playoff game someday. If we change our FO every couple years, personnel guys will want to work here, coaches won't want to coach here, and players won't want to play here. I don't want Pegula to turn us into the Raiders.

This is an interesting thought. After the dismal offensive effort last week, I hope Hackett's gone back to the drawing board.

Just take the eyeball test. ~ In short yardage situations, is the OL getting a good forward push? ~ On other running plays, are they creating running lanes for our backs? ~ On passing plays, is EJ being pressured? I'd answer negatively for the first two questions and my answer to the third would be ambivalent. We might not have the worst OL in the league, but it's far from the best. Their play will hinder our ability to score. I'm really hoping the three rookies get better because what we have right now today just isn't good enough.

Exactly.

I agree that the "Dougs are not off the hook." I just don't think they're on the hook yet. Obviously, they will be held accountable for the performance of the team. If the personnel isn't there, Whaley needs to go. If the players are capable but Marrone still can't produce wins, he needs to go. I'm just not willing to make either of those pronouncements yet. My guess is that the Pegulas aren't ready to make that assessment yet either. As has been pointed out, we're 2-1 right now - and tied for 1st place in the AFCE. Let's see how this plays out before calling for anyone's head.

I looked it up... Silver's Elo formula gives the Bills a 62 point better rating than the Texans. Each Elo point represents 1 point of scoring in a game. That makes the Bills 2.5 point favorites. But it's a home game for Houston and Silver calculates that home teams have a 2.6 point advantage. Thus: pick'em.

Good hunch, I think. It will be something to watch for this weekend. But I thought there were at least 2 illegal picks used by SD that should have drawn flags.

Nate Silver is a good statistician. He's the guy who correctly picked the winner in all 50 states in the 2012 presidential election (after Romney's folks had some disparaging remarks about his methodology). Silver had previously gone 49 for 50 in 2008. I'm not sure how successful he's been in his football work. But if he's picking the Bills over the Texans, I'm with him. According to Silver's Elo ratings, we have a 34% chance of making the playoffs.

Kemp? Didn't we win mostly with defense in those days? Mike Stratton's hit-heard-'round-the-world and all that?

It was a little more complicated than that! Sometimes on 3rd and long it was OJ draw!

Bill Walsh was wrong about Trent Edwards. Ron Jaworski has been wrong about lots of QBs. So has Mel Kiper. Even the people who know pro football far better than us are often wrong about the future success of young QBs. I think the problem is no college QB is NFL ready. They all need to learn and improve. And it's hard to say who will improve and who won't. Or how fast they'll improve. Jim Plunkett didn't become a good NFL QB until his 30s. And, yes, some QBs do improve their accuracy, their decision making, their poise, etc. EJ has no flaw that some other QB didn't once also possess - and then fix. I'm not predicting success for EJ. I'm not predicting failure. But I do hope for success, and hope that success comes faster than Plunkett's.

Joe Ferguson. In 1975, the Bills scored 30 points per game. They led the league that year in both yards and points scored. In fact, I believe it was the most points scored by any NFL team in the 1970s. OJ and Braxton racked up nearly 3000 yards rushing in a 14 game season. Fergy was efficient throwing the ball - tying Fran Tarkenton for the NFL lead with 25 TD tosses. The Bills were an unstoppable offensive powerhouse that year. Too bad the defensive secondary was as porous as colander. I believe Fergy called the plays that year but couldn't guarantee it. Maybe a Bills old-timer or NFL historian can correct me. If it wasn't Fergy then probably Head Coach Lou Saban was calling plays or OL Coach Jim Ringo.

This might be contagious. I suffer from the same malady.

It's cool to receive some good press. But this is hilarious. With GM changes, coaching changes, free agency, trades, career-ending injuries, and drafts, it's impossible to look five years out with any accuracy. But let's hope five years from now this author looks prophetic - at least regarding the Bills.