Mike B. in VA

Also, for all the feels: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/aaron-williams-bills-retirement

Seriously. AWill would have been great in this D.

With Bills fans, it's apparently any time the other team has a lead.

Seeing how he's played in Houston, I think that was addition by subtraction. Nothing like coming in as a high-priced free agent and getting benched...

A couple of crap penalties, a couple of bad reads by Orton and a receiver not reading the blitz, and this game is over if this TD stands.

OK, that was water up the nose. Well done. As someone who watched every game of the '99 season - that was one of the best defenses I've ever personally seen. I'm not old enough to have seen the '65 D, but I've certainly seen the '85 Bears and the Bills' D in 1999 was damn near as scary. Oh, to have a safety like Henry Jones again...

Criticism of EJ is not by itself an incendiary thing - if the ball is coming out faster and Orton makes the reads faster, why shouldn't Sammy say so? EJ was clearly benched for performance issues, so maybe hearing what they are from the WR perspective will light a fire under him to sort it out - or at least underline than he can learn something from Orton.

Damn. That was brutal. He looks like David Carr out there, flinging stuff in the general direction of the receiver before he gets hit. I figured it had to be bad for Marrone to pull him, but this is Akili Smith level bad.

That happens anyway. Orton is not a long term solution, even if he suddenly morphs into Rich Gannon.

I know the upside of EJ is probably a qb like Donovan McNabb. Having said that, I'll take it, given the crap we've had since Kelly retired.

No, and they're currently beating the Niners, so...

Done.

Who wrote this? The Eagles had pretty awesome offense, you know, WITHOUT Maclin. I can't see where signing him would be a priority over improving the defense. The others are just as bad. How do I get this job?

I think EJ *was* being media savvy. He could have answered stupidly, or just ignored it, or done the "I don't make personnel decisions for the team" line. Instead he made everyone's favorite "journalist" look like a complete ass.

Here's the article with the context for those slideshows: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buffalo-bills-re-watch/2013/12/27/5240096/ej-manuel-scouting-report-analysis-pocket-play-accuracy

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64557588/ I generally agree with what Tanier has to say here. Thoughts?

I was thinking that exact same thing when Rodgers came out in sweats.

It's definitely fixable. IIRC it's one of the things Rodgers fixed, and that turned out pretty well. (This is an interesting read, but only obliquely mentions footwork: http://thesidelineview.com/columns/nfl/can-quarterbacks-mechanics-be-altered )

His specialty was losing NFC Championship Games, though I think that was more on his QB than him.

Historically, FO's system has been reasonably accurate in it's prediction of future performance. They accurately predicted that the Bills weren't anywhere near as good as their 5-2 start a couple of years ago when the team disintegrated, for example, and that the 5-1 Trent Edwards team form 2008 was not good enough to be a playoff team. Their stats generally pass the eyeball test, too, although like any other system you get the occasional "WTF?" moment. It's hardly a perfect system, but has seemed to be more useful than any of the others I've followed.

The offense was 18th before EJ got hurt.

That was one of the worst displays of quarterbacking I've ever seen. I knew he would look bad - two weeks is not enough in a new system - but the Vikings would have been much better off with Cassel.

I think this is the point - it's not even that he started bad, it's that he started bad and regressed. Just like Powell. I like the tone that's being set by this - good coaches hold the players accountable when they don't improve while others around them are. The line as a whole is playing pretty well, and definitely seemed to be better with Legursky in. Dump Brown and get someone who at least has the chance to improve to back up Legursky.

True. His arm's not as big as EJs, though. I also saw a guy who was only looking at half the field, and locked on to a couple of receivers. Yeah, I did.

Probably a 4th, if I understand the size-of-deal thing, and provided the Bills don't sign any big free agents next spring.