TXBILLSFAN

+1 They not only went all in with EJ, they went all in with no safety net ! Completely boggles my mind.

I've been told numerous times on this board that Littman and Overdorf have oversight and a lot more to say than they should. A lot of teams will have a President or VP of Football Operations that works hand in hand with GM and the two are responsible. In this, case I believe that's Brandon, however, I've also been told that Brandon has no responsibility for anything that has ever gone wrong. ;-)

OK, you tell me who is to blame for signing these contracts, Santa Claus ? The Cookie Monster ? God forbid someone is held accountable for bad decisions, no, let's not do that, it might actually lead to real change and producing a winning product on the field. Don't blame Littman, don't blame Overdorf, don't blame Brandon. I know, let's blame the dead guy. That's convenient. Oh, wait, I know Nix was responsible for all the contracts Give me a fing break

I couldn't disagree more. Dead money is usually a reflection of an organization's poor track record of signing players.(with the notable exception to team's that structure contracts during Super Bowl contending years to keep team together, which has not been the case here). In this case it's most definitely a poor track record, just take a look at the names. It's an indictment of the past FO. The debate I raised is WHO is that past FO, my argument is that these contracts were signed by the current FO, with the exception of Whaley. Agree it was right decision to cut these guys (with exception of Stevie). It still doesn't take Nix/Brandon/Overdorf/Littmann off the hook for signing them in the first place I never said I expect Bills to be perfect. But I don't expect them to be the worst in the NFL at it either.

I'm not privy to what is going on inside 1BD. I hope EJ is owning his own shortcomings, because that's a critical step in becoming a leader. If he's not, he's doomed. Assuming he is, he might not be comfortable being outspoken yet, I'm willing to cut him slack in that regard. I didn't care that Fred pulled the team together on the sideline, EJ was in there and contributing. It's hard when you're not playing well to tell others to pick it up. As for Eli and the Giants, Strahan has said on multiple occasions that Eli is not outspoken and rarely in his first few years said much if anything.

Spiller was only an example to illustrate how dead money could create an issue -- assume we wanted to extend Glenn, Dareus and Gilmore, we wouldn't have the cap space today to do it When you spend bad money on a player and cut/trade him because he no longer fits -- it impacts your ability to spend money on good players -- the only reason it hasn't "impacted" the Bills quite yet is because we don't have many good players that are up for FA(except Byrd)and apparently there isn't any FA's you wish we would have signed this off season --- There is a bad pattern here and at some point you won't be able to afford good players and won't be able to add good FA's. Teams cannot afford to use $25M of the cap on players not even on the roster long term and expect to win.

The issue with the DEAD MONEY is: 1- It's symptomatic of an inefficient and ineffective front office 2- It's higher than all other teams 3- That money could have been used to resign other players now that aren't here --- OR --- resign players that are here so we don't have to spend as much later -- in other words, we could extend CJ and pay him more in 2014 so we can pay him less in 2015 and 2016, so we could sign other guys to new contracts in those years In a cap, there is a fixed amount of money, the more efficient you can spend the better off you'll be over the long term

It's relevant because in a salary cap league every $ you spend needs to count. Dead money is money that is wasted. The Bills could, in theory, use the dead money to extend Glenn, Spiller or Gilmore with front loaded contracts or roll over those savings to years when they need the money. In a salary cap league, every dollar spent eventually matters. I'm not suggesting that the Bills need to be perfect, every team makes mistakes, even the ones that win Super Bowls. What I'm suggesting is to be the worst team in DEAD money, at the very least, implies that this FO has mismanaged their spending, at lease for a period of time. While others feel this is all on Buddy Nix, I think there is blame to go around to others.

It's been a mixed bag since January 2013. I didn't like that we renewed the Toronto series. I didn't like that we have no Plan B for QB. I would have at a minimum signed a veteran backup (I advocated for Vick) I didn't like the Watkins trade. A 2014 and 2015 1st and 2015 4th is too heavy a price for a WR I didn't like the S Johnson trade. I think it was at least a year early to move him. I didn't like Marrone keeping Crossman. I liked that we suspended the Toronto series. I liked both drafts for the most part (except the trade; I think Whaley is a good judge of talent. I liked the Mike Williams trade, low risk. I liked the Bryce Brown trade. Jury is out, but, from my vantage point, it doesn't feel a whole lot different around here than it did the previous 14 years. See later post. FO includes: Brandon, Littman, Overdorf and Whaley. I guess you are of same mindset that Nix was in complete control and made all decisions. I'm not.

So, Whaley, Littman, Overdorf and Brandon had no say in those contracts when they were signed ? Come on, Nix wasn't acting entirely on his own back then, you can't possible believe that.

Bandit's right, what the poster did, which is fine is analyze the results of the decisions EJ made pre and post snap. It doesn't analyze the decisions he COULD have made or SHOULD have made. For that you need All 22 and a sense of the playbook and audible options he had at his disposal. The analysis is good, but limited in value.

I posted in the Who Should stay thread, we now LEAD the NFL in DEAD MONEY ! Amazing. Yet, people on the board still don't connect the dots that this FO needs to go. I accept that spending money doesn't guarantee success, but wouldn't we all feel better about our OLine with Levitre ?, wouldn't our backup QB situation be better with Vick ? Somehow we've under spent the cap each of the past few years and still have the most dead money ? I agree the players that are on this list shouldn't be on this team, but who signed them in the first place to these contracts ? There is no accountability in this organization.

^ +1 A good QB gains perspective and begins to understand PRE snap what the defense is doing and makes adjustments to ENSURE he can get rid of the ball quickly. Recognition and reaction are two critical skills a good QB must have. I posted earlier, I think they need to put EJ on the move more often, he does seem to be a better QB when he is rolling out or moving -- standing in pocket he lacks the presence or awareness that is critical.

Bills released Alan Branch. They now have more DEAD MONEY $25.1M than ANY team in the NFL ! I guess were #1 in something

Nice perspective, always needed. I do want to say that I root for EVERY player on this team every game. My opinions never impact that. I think most of us feel the same way. The issue we all have is not experiencing any on the field success for so many years makes us even more anxious to see progress, and when we don't see it (like yesterday), it's human nature to unload our opinions. I know it's preseason and there is perspective to be respected, however, all of us saw what happened and from what I saw, there is reason to be very concerned about this team this year.

There should have been a Plan B put into place t QB and there wasn't. No 1st round pick in 2015 No proven veteran backup (hello Michael Vick?) No mid-round draft pick from last year's draft All eggs are in the EJ basket. The choice now to create a Plan B are very limited. If I was Whaley, I'd take a serious look at Ponder (who, if not cut, could be had for lower round pick), Josh Freeman (I know he's looked bad, but, he might have something left) or comb the waiver wire. Options are not good in August, the time to do this was back in March-April

I'm not sure. To be honest, it's hard to tell what system Hackett is running. Last year it seemed so scattered. The bottom line, is a great QB will be great in almost any system. I think you can compensate for limitations by limiting the playbook, the number of reads/progressions etc., however, when you do that it's much easier for the defense to game plan to stop you. My thought with EJ is to get him rolling out and throwing on the run, he has the arm strength to do it and he seems more at ease and more natural. It also helps to compensate for poor line play and simplifies his reads/progressions. I'm not sure if that's within Hackett's system or not.

I'm not an expert either, but what you are seeing is a lack of natural instincts for the position. Again, if you compare EJ to Doug Flutie, for example, you will see the difference between a QB that isn't very gifted physically (Flutie), but extracts every ounce of what he has because he has a "feel" for the position. With EJ, he doesn't have that feel. I don't know if it can be taught or learned (I never played the position at a high enough level to know from personal experience). I've spoken with friends who are still in football and they said they doubt it can. Does that mean EJ is doomed to fail ? Not necessarily, what it means is that his ceiling is lower. However, if you couple that with his accuracy issues as was pointed out earlier and the difficulty reading, reacting to defenses (that' what Bandit saw at the game), and there are several warning flags on this guy that he won't make it. The worst part is that this Front Office (Brandon-Whaley and Marrone) went all in this year and next on the guy. So there is no Plan B !

I have faith that Pegula as owner will change the culture and turn this franchise around, establish high expectations and make the Bills a winner !

Right, but, pre-game and halftime was back in NFL network studios, so no stadium tour or showcasing of renovations -- even during broadcast -- wasn't sure if local feed did something pre-game or during halftime

NFL Network feed did a poor job showing the stadium -- assume local Buffalo feed did a much better job

That was filthy, I sure hope we don't have to use Brooks against the Bears wideouts, who by the way, are as tall and much more talented.

One of the first lessons I learned was "study the best if you want to be the best !" I'm NOT suggesting that EJ should be as good as those 3, that's why I threw in Fitz --- I'm suggesting that if you watch those 3 (who are the best at reading and reacting to defenses) you will see where EJ is creating a lot of the OLine issues himself --- the good thing about that is it CAN be taught -- he should get it in time --- however, accuracy and instincts might not be teachable and he has serious issues with both of those, too.

And what about the guy who hired Whaley ? Signed off on Marrone ? Signed off on the Watkins trade ? Guys, wake up, you will never change the culture of losing if you don't start at the top and replace Brandon. It's not personal, although it feels that way, it's business. You want to change, put someone else in charge of making those decisions.

Keep it. I've had the same dilemma the past 10 years, I've always kept it. In the end, you want to watch, regardless of how ugly it gets. And, if you get to the point where you can't watch, you have the RED ZONE or 15 other games to watch