2003Contenders

I think Cutler would be the ANTI Rex choice at QB. While Cutler has the talent to carry a team on his back and win a shootout, he also has the propensity to single-handedly LOSE games with untimely poor decisions and turnovers. That is the recipe for a coach killer, which is what Cutler has been throughout his career. I honestly think Rex would prefer a journeyman type like Cassell who would be more of a game manager than a gunslinger. Heck, I think Rex would be more content to rely on EJ, who has actually done a decent job of NOT turning the ball over in his short career, than test the waters with Cutler.

Well, this one isn't even hindsight. The Whitner pick was a dumb one at the time and a dumb one in retrospect. Not that Whitner was a horrible player -- but he was never expected to be an elite safety, which is what you expect from a player taken #8 overall. The Ngata pick was an obvious one. IIRC, I think the issue was that there was fierce disagreement at the time about which player to take. Modrak supposedly was pounding the table for Cutler. There were also offers to trade down, which would have made a lot of sense at that time. The Whitner pick always felt like a safe, something everyone in the room could live with selection. Even worse was trading multiple picks away to move up for McCargo later that day.

Serious question: How much better is Bradford than Jake Locker?

In all honesty, how many franchise QBs have come out of the college ranks in the last 10 years? 2005: Aaron Rodgers 2008: Matt Ryan 2009: Matthew Stafford, Joe Flacco 2011: Cam Newton 2012: Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson I am probably being generous listing some of those guys (Ryan, Flacco, Stafford) as franchise QBs, too. The rest (Cutler, Dalton, Smith, etc.) have been competent starters at best.

Yea, pretty much follow the Seahawks' 2012 model. That is: EJ is the incumbent (Seattle's was Tarvaris Jackson), bring in a veteran (Seattle brought in Matt Flynn) and roll the dice with a mid-round draft pick (a la Russell Wilson). Obviously Seattle hit paydirt with Wilson, and that is the exception to the rule. Still, the Bills need to keep throwing it up against the wall until something sticks.

The thing I always noticed about EJ was his unnatural feel for the game. He always seemed to be very robotic in terms of his mechanics and progressions. Usually that is a signal of being over-coached. Being reminded over and over again "Do this!" or "Don't do that!" It is almost like he had to go through a step-by-step sequence in his head on every play, rather than just (as Ted Marchibroda used to say) "Ler 'er rip!" I hope Roman/Lee/Palmer can work jointly to provide EJ with a cohesive plan for progression. I hope that they also work with the young man to identify what his strengths are and what he is most comfortable doing. He clearly has all the physical talent, is by all accounts very bright and is willing to put forth the effort. This will be a big year for him. As Bill Parcells used to say, every team should have a 4-year plan for a QB. Year 1 should be considered developmental for a rookie. Year 2 should show progress. Year 3 should be the year that the evaluation rings true: either the guy has it or he doesn't. So that in Year 4 he is THE man -- or the team elects to acquire a different QB in year 4 instead. This is the year for EJ where he needs to prove for once and for all whether he CAN be the man.

That is all great news -- and also indirectly squishes any assertion that the team would be looking to make a move for a high-dollar QB. I am coming around to believing that Rex believes that he can win with EJ Manuel as a potential game manager: given all of EJ's faults, he has NOT been a turnover machine in his brief NFL career.

I wouldn't say that Henderson was poor either. I thought he was average -- below average at worst.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Bradford was the last #1 overall draft pick to sign a ridiculous contract (the rookie cap as we now know it was implemented the following season) -- and he is still working off the final year(s) of that contract. Bradford has definitely had his moments -- and has at least shown to be a competent NFL QB -- which is in painfully short supply. It is all about supply and demand, so those believing that Bradford could be had for a measly 3rd round draft pick are dreaming. Like the last 2-3 years, this is a bad year to look for a QB in free agency or the draft -- and the Bills are not the only team in the market for a starting QB. Teams like the Browns, Bucs, Titans, Jets, Texans, and Cardinals all have significantly more ammunition than the Bills do to pull a trade. There is some speculation that even the teams at the top of the draft, may prefer Bradford over Winston or Mariotta. That also begs the inverse question: Why would the Rams be willing to trade him with no bona fide replacement on the horizon? Given the price tag in $, the hefty price in trade compensation -- and the fact that there is no viable alternative for the Rams at the QB position, I suspect that it is highly unlikely that Bradford plays for any team other than the Rams this year.

I've had a bad taste in my mouth about this guy going all the way back to 2004, when he admiited that he couldn't throw the football in Buffalo's windy conditions. Bledsoe had no problem that day.

Sounds like the Bills are legitimately interested in Hue Jackson. Interviewing him will satisfy the Rooney Rule.

Well, knowing what we know now -- that Orton was 8 days away from announcing his retirement (reportedly without cluing the coaches in ahead of time), I think it helps to explain some of the spineless things we saw out of him in that game (and others). The Bills also lost their top DT (who had helped shut down the Raiders running game prior to his departure) as well as their top corner (the Bills had only allowed 6 receptions to that point). Meanwhile, the Bills have always had trouble winning games out on the West Coast -- even when they were good 15+ years ago. And even with all that, the game down to one fluke play on a 3rd and 22 conversion.

Trying to get him involved in the must-win game was understandable. Doing so and inactivating Bryce Brown in the process was unforgivable.

Honestly,I think part of the issue with Orton is that what we see is in some ways a representation of the coach's mind-set. That is, by his very nature Marrone is a conservative coach. He prefers to condense the clock by playing strong defense and not take unnecessary chances with the offense. This is similar to how Jaraun used to be -- only, Marrone has a far superior defense to any that Jaraun ever had. That is just the way it is. As long as the Bills are in the lead or within a score, you are not going to find Orton take many shots down the field.

I wish we all had a crystal ball back then. I can't personally blame the Bills front office for what went down with all of this back then. In fact, I distinctly remember watching the Bills and Packers scrimmage back in 2005/2006 and thinking to myself how much better JP looked than Rodgers at that time. Shows what I know! I think the moral of the story is that the Packers did a masterful job of grooming Rodgers. Truthfully, regardless of who has been in the front office or coaching ranks for either organization, the Packers have shown a great tradition for developing quarterbacks over the last 20+ years. Favre, Brunnell, Hasselbeck, Brooks, Rodgers... Who have the Bills EVER developed? Even Jim Kelly came to the Bills after a couple of years under the tutelage of Mouse Davis and June Jones in Houston.

Bingo! I couldn't have said it better myself. I honestly thought the coaching staff put the players in a pretty good position to upset the heavily favored Broncos and the players (with some hindrance from the officials) failed to come through. Hopefully Orton understands that he is playing for the team's season, his job and likely his career next week against the Packers. I hope the coaches understand this as well -- and are willing to make the quick switch to Manuel in the event that Orton once again fails.

Exactly. The Bills lost for a number of reasons yesterday. Orton was terrible for 3 quarters. Aaron Williams whiffed on a backfield tackle that led to a long gain, which ultimately led to a TD. The defense eased up in the redzone. The offense was incapable of moving the ball quickly late in the game. The team did indeed commit way too many penalties -- and was unable to overcome those penalties. And -- yes -- the officiating was incredibly one-sided. I can't wait to see the All-22 angles to determine whether or not the holding calls on the INT-returns were legitimate. If they were not, then that is a minimum of 6 points that the offense would have scored that was directly forfeited by field position. We know that the well-documented questionable penalties against the secondary provided the Broncos with their first 14 points, which likely would have been 6 without those penalties. There was a missed (and obvious) hold on one of the Broncos long runs that set up a TD. Was I the only one who saw the defender tackle our punter on what what went down as a "shank" after a poor snap? How about the defender who head-butted a helmetless Lee Smith? That should have been a 15 yarder, automatic first down and possibly and ejection. And it happened right in front of the officials! They sure didn't miss Pears foolish late hit after the whistle later in the game.

Or... maybe the coaches identified that Peyton Manning was simply not going to allow any of our defensive linemen to touch him. The ball was coming out of his hand on the rare occasions when he decided to pass the ball within 2 seconds. In fact, the defensive formations were more or less pleading with Manning to run the ball, which is exactly what he decided to do. For the most part that plan worked, as the defense kept the Broncos' offense in check. Alas, the whiffed tackle by A. Williams on the long Thompson run and the poor officiating on the part of the refs further aided the Broncos' offense and led to the 3 TDs they scored. I really think Hughes' playing time is a non-issue. I guarantee he sees ample snaps next week against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

You would think that the "crack" journalists in Buffalo would get the inside scoop on what is really going on here. I personally find it hard to believe that Marrone is the villain here. After all. let's remember back to the preseason. Williams was the one getting most of the reps with the first team, while Robert Woods appeared to be the guy in Doug's doghouse. Williams was also a key component early in the season when EJ was starting. He had some notable receptions -- including one that helped to set up the winning field goal in overtime against the Bears in week 1 and the long TD in the Houston game. He has been practically MIA since then. Maybe it is Orton who has a problem with him? I only wonder because the timing of all these issues appears to coincide with Orton being named the starter. I also remember that when Williams' agent asked for a trade, it was Whaley who said something along the lines of "Well, if he really is a #1 WR like he thinks he is..."

Orton and Fitz are different quarterbacks with different skill sets, but they are very similar in that both lack the consistency to be good week in and week out. Even the great ones will have off days -- but they consistently play at an elite level most weeks. Orton (like Fitz) has also shown that he CAN play over his head every now and then. If he can do that once or twice over these last 4 games, the Bills just may have a shot at the playoffs.

I actually think Hackett tried to come up with some plays to get the ball in Sammy's hands on multiple occasions, including some rarely seen screens yesterday. I think Sammy's lack of success yesterday was multi-fold: 1. Joe Hayden is a genuine shutdown corner 2. Sammy is not fully healed from the groin injury. Has he had a big game since? 3. Orton was particularly awful yesterday.

My guess is that the ref forgot that the tuck rule had been revised last year. No excuse for that.

Let's see... What was the over-under supposed to be for this game again?

Why doesn't this make me feel better? Maybe it is because the Bills themselves could have had Arians. In fact, the Cardinals wanted Marrone over Arians too -- but the Bills swooped in first.

Yea, despite everything else that went wrong in the game, it really did come down to colossal blundering on that sequence of plays -- all 4 downs. Orton probably threw his 4 worst passes of the day on those consecutive plays. There really seemed to be no plan or strategy from a play-calling perspective there. It was almost like each pas was a wing and a prayer. There was over 3:00 to go (and they had all their timeouts) when they got down there around the 15, and I still do not understand why they were playing in desperation fashion like there was under 30 seconds to go and no timeouts. It was in their best interest for a variety of reasons to take their time, eat the clock, mix in some running plays, etc. If the strategy was to conserve time in the event that they didn't score a TD -- then they should have kicked the field goal. Just poorly handled by Marrone/Hackett/Orton.