jletha

I dont think the Bills are scared at all, Im the one thats scared. They can be as confident as ever but that doesnt make Ortons passes more accurate. Im more on the "were not good enough" side right now just looking at the complete team and the site of the game and how meaningful it is. I think were a good team with a great defense, certainly good enough to be in the playoffs. I dont know if were good enough right now to go into NE and beat them when they really have something to play for. I will be rooting for Cincy but with that said I am not going to be upset if we get some help in winning week 17 with a Cincy win this week.

I do realize that but Im just conflicted. I know ultimately we need to beat NE but based on our track record that is going to be VERY difficult in NE if they have something to play for. To me the most unlikely piece of this whole playoff prognostication that is going on is us beating NE. Everything discussed assumes we beat NE. The likeliness of that happening can go way up if Denver loses this week. We will need more help from other teams but it wont matter what help we get if we dont beat NE. If Cincy loses I will be happy because I know it was technically the best scenario but if Cincy wins I am not going to be upset.

The Denver over Cincy game scares me. I know we basically want Pitt to win out and theyre home for both which is good but if Cincy loses to Denver then NE has a lot to play for week 17 when we come to town. I just dont know if we can beat them in Foxboro when theyre really trying to win. If Cincy wins this week, knowing it makes things more complicated moving forward, it greatly increases our chances of winning week 17 which is the most important/difficult part of all of this.

Christain Ponder? Oh god no...please no. You want a terrible first round pick to "mentor" another bad first round pick? Ponder needs a mentor himself. They will just reminisce about FSU and not make each other better at all. Drafting a QB is not going to get us to the playoffs in the first year based on the odds - rookie QBs just arent good enough that early unless they are special, most are not. TJ Yates is hardly a veteran, no chance we get him as an upgrade to Orton and I dont think hes a better #2 than EJ would be or Orton if he stays as a back-up. Cutler is certainly the most talented QB that will likely be available and he is better than Orton. The Bills will likely call everyone offering trades but if it comes down to cutler or anyone else we have to take Cutler. He will be an upgrade. Orton has a $5 mill player option if I remember correctly. Even if we bring in Cutler as the likely starter, Orton isnt going to get $5 mill anywhere else and I doubt someone will bring him in as a starter based on this year. Because of that I think Orton stays no matter what. We could have Cutler as a the likely starter with Orton as a back-up, that seems like the best case scenario to me.

Only 4 years? Thats a long time in the NFL in the absence of a HOF type guy that you get young and those dont come available often. Look across the league and tell me how many teams have had sustained success for 4 straight years, I would take that in a heartbeat and roll the dice that we can find ways to keep it going during those 4 years. If by some strange occurance Eli is available we have to get him. Otherwise I think Cutler and possibly Kaep might be the best available but both are improvements over Orton IMO.

Yea it is very clear that Orton isnt sustainable for a playoff run next year, all the shine from the first couple games has worn off and now he plays like a slower EJ. Everything is a dump off and deep balls are innacurate. The priority needs to be to keep this defense together for another year and then do whatever they can at QB. Keep EJ and Orton on the team but they need to draft a rookie and get the best FA. One guy that isnt technically a FA but I think will come available is Cutler. chicago is really getting sick of him and while I know Cutler makes some really dumb decisions, IMO he is an upgrade from Orton. It may not be a huge upgrade but he may be the best that's out there. Hoyer or Sanchez or Bradford I dont think can get it done next year.

Head to McGearys

Didnt you read, we were playing with a lead. No need for any more points.

this is part of what drives me BONKERS. We run it up the middle, which almost never works, and set ourselves up with some 3rd and long and almost get it with the only throwing play of the drive, on a play when they KNOW we are throwing. Imagine if we ran that play on first when they werent positive we were throwing. How many yards would we get then? Imagine if we ran it on second when they werent sure if we were going to throw it. "What if its incomplete on second down, then what?" you say. Well, it leads to 3rd and long, which would have happened anyway cause we cannot run it. Throw it more often please Hackett

He says they werent conservative and his examples are from the first couple drives when we were in fact not conservative. He shows our throws deep which resulted in touchdowns, praising them even as examples of great plays. Then he doesnt mention anything about the 5 possessions where we didnt get a first down despite only being up by 7, 10 or 13 points. Talking about "playing with a lead"...really? Just in the second quarter Vick marched right down the field and scored a TD, youre going to convince me that we were totally fine run, run, passing it with a 10 point lead? That is bogus. If those throws early were working so well, and Sammy was so awesome how can you justify completely ignoring him until the 4th qurater? I usually really like Jeremy but this one didnt do anything to change my mind. Im not in the first Hackett camp, but I am in the " I want to see more fire power...soon" camp.

They also brought in Boobie and Bryce when Fred is getting older CJ is in a contract year and not living up to expectation. They are both going to be significant contributors.

what is this post about? How great the Broncos are because they let Decker walk and signed Sanders? That doesnt really take a genius to make that move and it is definitely a move we would make if we happened to have Peyton Manning at QB. Manning makes every WR look awesome so this discussion can basically start and end at Manning. Sanders wouldnt have signed that deal if Manning wasnt the QB so its not like the Broncos are finding diamonds in the rough, they just know they can take something thats half coal and turn it into a diamond making their FA signing process becomes much easier. Why would you overpay for someone that you know you can get just as much production out of for much less money? The Bills dont have that luxury. Also, the Bill shave made some good moves in evaluating talent with the recent regime, along with some real missteps. Bringing in Bryce Brown in anticipating not re-signing Spiller after this year was smart and now its really helped because of injuries. We didnt really overpay too much for Brown but if that move wasnt made we would be scrambling for a backup RB right now and if we let CJ go after this year we would be in dire need to sign a FA or draft another. Also Aaron Williams re-signed and we let Byrd go which is looking like a great move by the Bills. Williams has played well for significantly less money and Byrd is now done for the year. Since we saved so much in not re-signing Byrd we also have money to spend on Hughes and Darues. Where did we get Hughes? We pretty much robbed Indy blind with that one, another great move. We also drafted a seemingly generational talent in Watkins going all in on EJ. Well it quickly became clear EJ wasnt ready so what did Whaley do? Signed Orton. Probably the best available QB on the market, keeping us competitive and out of a top 5 pick when we dont have a 1st rounder next year. We trade Stevie for a fourth round pick and his production is being made up with the likes of Woods and Hogan, cheaper and younger options. This regime has made some nice moves, if we had Manning they would look like genius moves as well.

Did you see what happened when he was out against NE? He is not overrated at all, if anything he is under rated. He is an above average safety and his tackling, while not perfect, is much better than it used to be. I can remember several times hes made one on one tackles along the sidelines.

This is a post on reddit but the user skepticismissurvival It has tons of gifs and great breakdowns of how bad he has looked this year. We need to capitalize on this Sunday. If we can pressure them like the Lions did this game should be a W. Go Bills

I really think Hackett is trying to force a square peg into a round hole with Spiller and hes not budging. You either need to drill a square hole or find a new peg, preferably a round one but either way something needs to change. Hackett, keeps running him up the middle (which Spiller is bad at) and Spiller tries to bounce outside (which he is bad at but thinks hes good at) and we end up with negative yards. Both Spiller and Hackett are inept in my opinion. I have come to terms with the fact that Spillers ceiling is Darren Sproles, which admittedly is a high ceiling if he is utilized properly but he is not a reliable every down back. He needs schemes and he will be a good total yardage from scrimmage guy but not a great running back. I really think we should get Spiller out wide more but Hacketss refuses to. The first play from yesterday (maybe it wasnt the first play) was a fake sweep to Watkins and CJ broke it for a good chuck, WHY DONT WE DO STUFF LIKE THAT MORE OFTEN????? ** **OK I just rewatched it and it was on our second possession but still CJ got 5 yards which is a descent chunk compared to what he usually gets, and he lowered his shoulder at a guy which he never does. If he happened to beat that guy somehow then there was tons of space which could happen if it was tried again. Needless to say it was a good play and stuff like that should be tried more often

The second isnt surprising to me because our run game is terrible. Were not breaking long runs which are required for rushing touchdowns, or you need the ball to be downed at the 1-2 yard line. Even when we do get to the 1-2 yard line our rushing is so bad we never make any push and end up throwing in the endzone. Our RBs have scored plenty of touchdowns though but not on rushes.

I think this is the same game we may be playing with Fred. Both will play.

Man, I had forgotten about all of those years. Now I will be sure to not get excited this Sunday....because of what happened in 2003. And if we make it to the playoffs this year I will make sure to not get excited because of what happened in 1999. And if we happen to make it to the Super Bowl this year I will make sure not to get too excited because of what happened in 1991.

How about this screen shot. Look at where Goodwin is when Orton throws the ball to him. This is from the twitter account of @yardsperpass btw. A good account to follow for Bills stuff

Yea it seemed like he told Chandler that he would really have to run out now because the Orton was going to actually get the ball out and down field.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/11646779/tension-tom-brady-new-england-patriots-impact-quarterback-future-team Seems like things are getting ugly in NE

My source that goes to the practices when the media is allowed in says his arm has always looked better than EJ from what hes seen. This is in reference to velocity of the ball in the air, accuracy of the passes and how easily they are caught by the WR. Before the Chicago game he told me in a text "I feel bad saying it but Orton is definitely better at throwing a football, you can just tell" He also tells me that in practice against no defenders he often sees the receivers having to wait for EJs passes while it pretty much never happens with Orton. I talk to him after every practice he goes to and he has never once said EJ looked better than Orton but again he sees such a small part of the practice so it hard to know for sure. They only let the media in for throwing drills and stuff, no game planning or against defenses.

Yea I think so as well. I have nightmares he showed up here only for the paycheck, strategically making sure he missed camp entirely and is going through the motions an cashin checks but in reality I think were going to be much better offensively with him this season. I also think its going to boost Woods' and Watkins play because they know the ball might actually be coming to them on time in the right spot. All that could go away though with two ints in the first half though. Go Bills

I know someone that is part of the media that goes to the practices and into the locker room when allowed. He said that from what hes seen in the parts of practices hes allowed to watch (which admittedly isnt much) it is very clear Orton is a better thrower of the football than Manuel. He said the ball is crisply thrown and much more accurate most of the time. That being said he always said that he is pretty disengaged from team camaraderie in the locker room. He doesnt talk to anyone, including the media and mainly keeps to himself as much as possible. From what I gathered I think were in better hands when it comes to talent but my worry is about chemistry. If he is not engaged in being a part of the team maybe he will struggle getting on the same page as the offense than if he had been actively trying to be a part of the team and ultimately win the starting job at some point. We will see on Sunday. I think he is a competitor and now that his number is called he will be ready to play as best as he can.

Something to think about for people thinking we screwed ourselves out of a franchise QB because we dont have a 1st rounder next year: Denver, KC, NE, New Orleans, Philly, Seattle, Cincy, San Fran. all made the playoffs last year with QBs they did not draft in the first round. Obviously Manning isnt going to become a FA again but it just goes to show QBs can be found in a number of ways