TheBrownBear

I guess I'm going against the grain, but I was a huge skeptic when it came to Orton and he's looked pretty darn good to me through two weeks. The two picks were bad but he's been asked/forced to make some pretty ridiculous throws into tight windows. I feel like we can win with him. Even in the playoffs. Clean up the penalties and stick to your assignments on defense yesterday and we might be talking about an exciting win.

Yeah, that really was shameful by Hopkins. Felt bad for Fitz to lose the game that way. Uncanny how he almost always makes the big mistake when the game's on the line. Now that he's gone, I choose to remember him by those great performances against Oakland and New England at the beginning of 2011. Truly Fitzmagic in those games.

(guy who lives in a refrigerator)

lol. i remember when the goos were considered a solid up and coming local punk band. it's amazing how their image and reputation changed over the years. their early stuff is still pretty good to my ears and some of their poppier stuff (up to and including "a boy named goo") isn't bad .

Awesome and strange at the same time. I live in San Diego, so apparently I get the game this weekend, but folks in LA are stuck with GB/Mia

I suppose anything is possible. I'm not sold on the guy, but he's the best we've got for this season.

Who cares? It's just a friggin game! Have fun with it! And enjoy watching the quality play while we have it

Lol. Orton is 31, roughly the same age as guys like Rivers and Rodgers, and a half decade younger than Brady, Brees and Manning. He was out of the NFL for all of 5 weeks. Jackson is old, yes, but that's why you have quality depth like Spiller, Dixon and Brown. And we have a strong group of playmakers at WR. Outside of TE and the interior OL, we are about as complete of an NFL team as you are likely to see in the salary cap era.

The thought of making the playoffs this year with a great roster, built to win right now, and helmed by a good quarterback in the prime of his career makes me absolutely quiver with disgust. Gosh, I feel so dirty even writing that. For our sake, let's hope the team gets crushed this weekend and heads into a tailspin, so we can be bathe ourselves in the purity of our new 2nd round QB of the future next September.

I agree that this is a huge game. It's a game that really scares me, since the Patriots proved this week that they still have the capability to explode on offense, against a very good defense too. This is exactly the type of game that can propel an upstart to greater things or derail a team for the season. Win and I really do like our chances of finishing above .500 and maybe making the playoffs. A close loss wouldn't be the end of the world, but if the Patriots blow our doors off (like they have in the past or like the Jets did at the Ralph in 2011) I can see this season getting ugly. I'm hoping that the veteran presence at QB is the difference between this year and all those past failures.

Wood has sucked this year

Nice throw

Jfc...this oline is getting gaped.

Nice. Let's get it going Kyle. This is far from over.

Willie Totten /thread

Stop making sense!

Yes. We had no chance at the playoffs with Manuel at QB. At least with the changes there's hope for another week or two.

He's a veteran running a simplified offensive scheme. 5 weeks is more than enough time to settle in. I expect he'll prove to be an immediate upgrade from EJ in his very first start.

I'm actually in favor of giving EJ the entire season to work out the kinks, but, if you were going to go the Orton route, I think you give EJ one more game against a good Lions defense to bury himself. I honestly don't see any possibility of him playing well in that situation, so it's almost a guaranteed loss and EJ meltdown. Then, coming back to the Ralph, against the Pats, there is absolutely no way you can play EJ without the crowd showering the field with boos. It's the perfect setup to insert Orton and give the team an emotional lift against a divisional opponent.

Fitz is clowning us.

By the time every Sunday rolls around I've convinced myself that EJ isn't that bad and that we should stick with him. Then I watch him for 30 minutes and long for orton. Lol.

Fitz seems like a really cool dude, but he was infuriating to watch as the starting qb for the Bills. I so wanted the guy to succeed. Would have been a great feel good story for Fitz and the city of Buffalo, but it just wasn't meant to be. I'm ok with us moving on. Let's hope Manuel or the next qb finally deliver what we've been patiently waiting for these past 15 years.

I'd argue that Hackett has a better o-line and a much better receiving corps than Gailey had to work with. QB and RBs about the same. I'm not one that is necessarily down on Hackett, but I do think Gailey did a good job with the tools at hand. Our offense was absolutely putrid under Jauron.

Maybe. But you're not making your 22 better if the better option isn't seeing the field. As for your question - yes. Especially if you're dealing with a young, unconfident qb, and you're directly responsible for creating and placing him in a situation that will increase his likelihood of being boo'd on his home field.

Does anyone else feel like it was a huge mistake to bring in Orton if they don't intend to play him? If I'm honest with myself, I know I would be far less critical of EJ after a game like yesterday's if he only had Thad and Tuel behind him. The fact that there is a legitimate, experienced, QB option on the bench, makes performances like the one we saw from EJ against the Bolts much harder to stomach. I think they've put EJ in a bad position. He's going to receive constant catcalls from a large segment of the fanbase and will be looking over his shoulder as long as Orton is here. As a front office and coaching staff, if you're committed to EJ and comfortable with the idea of this being a rebuilding/learning year, then why not go with a guy like Jordan Palmer (as terrible as he was) to serve as EJs mentor, instead of a guy that is a real threat to steal his job?